Tool: Covering the ball and wrist position right after impact

When looking down the line at swing I saw how the pros wrists really flipped over right after impact.   On the range I though about how this would happen with the wrists other than having amazingly strong wrist muscles and the timing to flip your wrists at the exact right time.  Then I thought of using my shoulders to flip over my wrists.  The feeling is pushing one shoulder forward with your arms extended pushes that hand over and visa versa.  So I tried the swing out.  The feeling is to push my right shoulder over right before impact and let it then rotate my right arm over, then wrists, then hands.  This also feels like it create a whipping effect.  As well this keeps my right shoulder going forward and gets me to cover the ball more.  I think the best example of this is Rory's swing.  It's looks like he's throwing his hands forward through impact.  And instead of pulling up right at impact he covers and drives through.  Something that my and my son have been working on with his swing as well.

Coming in too steep redux

Once again I was just comparing my swing to Adam Scott's from behind and thought that I was coming in too steep and my hands were too far away from my legs at impact.  It turns out that I went through this exact same process in May.  I just re-read through that coming-in-too-steep post and it's exactly what I need to do.  So since May till now I just went through a regression to my old swing.  Will go and work on the range this weekend.

Head Back at Impact

The breakthroughs keep on coming.  In the last few weeks my swing has made major strides each time thanks to video and just thinking about body positions and how to get in those positions.  Compared my swing to pros' swing and at impact my head was looking at the ball and already turning forward.  Pros heads were held back behind the ball.  Tried this and got my follow through much better head staying down, better release, and more speed and distance.

Really Turning Hips

With driver really turning hips instead of sliding hips.  First time that I was correct with the driver swing.  Hips not pulled in and back rounded.  Just really thought about turning the hips.  Also trying to keep more weight over my heels and rotate around body.

Leaning over and extending after impact

Just really concentrated on doing it and made my swing finally look good after impact.  Thinking about throwing my arms out and forward.  Just try to let my right shoulder pull my head up.

Also was watching the girls swing at my son's golf team.  The thing that amazes me about their swings is how beautiful their extensions are.  They all kind of have their head go down at impact and after like Natalie Gulbis instead of up like mine.  So I just tried to imagine how they swing and try to copy them.  It works for a while and it looks good on film then I lapse back into my normal head coming up after impact.

Anyway here's a swing where head stays down.

Theory: Building a swing from the inside out

I'm starting to have a theory about how to build a swing.  After a year of constant and intensive experimenting I'm starting to think of how I would try to build someone else's swing.  Once all the real basics are covered like grip, address, etc.  I think you should start with a close examination of the impact position while hitting balls.  Is the wrist supinated, scooping, hands infront of club face, laid off or not, etc.  I would then correct that first because I think that the body compensates in the backswing and downswing for the improper wrist/hand positions at impact.  I think a lot of people cast to close the club face and not because they want to hit at the ball like most teachers say.  So just having them layoff and supinate their wrists more throughout their swing will then tell their body that they don't have to cast anymore to make the ball go straight.  Changing wrist positions is a lot easier than trying to get your body to sub-conscientiously react a different way.

I'm also starting to think that most teachers work from the outside in (address, plane, backswing, downswing, follow through) and they brush over impact.  The reason is quite simple in that you can only give feedback on what you can see.  And since they can't see what's happening at impact because it happens too fast they don't know what's happening with the wrists.  But they can see everything else so that's what they correct.  The poor students are compensating for a bad impact position in their backswing, downswing , etc.  to hit the ball straight.  And the teacher tries to correct the compensations and not the root cause which is squaring the clubface at impact.  With the high speed camera you can see the wrists and club face.  The root cause of the bad swing.

Tool: Laying off the club (part 2)

One thing I love doing is filming my swing in slowmo and then compare it frame by frame to the pros swings.  It gives me lots of ideas of places where there are obvious differences and then I can work on those things.  So I was looking at my driver down the line compared to Adam Scott.  One thing I noticed was that he has the club layed off (so looking at his right hand and wrist) at the top, bottom, and even at impact.

Right wrist not laid off

Laid off at top

Right wrist still straight

This is the frame that really captures it for me.  Right wrist bent back.

Still straight!!

Even at impact you can see his wrist is bent back.

So one feeling I remind myself of is trying to get in the position right when the club is parallel to the ground to have my right wrist bent back.  This gives me way more lag and whip.  Just try to have the feeling of being laid off the entire swing and grip the club more in the fingers.

There are other differences I see mainly the distance from my hands to my hips.  And also how extended I am at impact compared to Scott.  But I'll address this in another post.  One tool at a time!