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Ross Jul 21, 2021
I sounds like you are flipping. You are using your back hand to help. This can happen for many reasons, but I will focus on two.#One reason: You are subconsciously change your wrists on the backswing. Maybe rolling the face open or more than likely, hinging. Then on the downswing, you will have the need to do the opposite (to undo what you did on the backswing), and many times that turns into a flip (throwing the club head into the ball at impact… thin and picked shots). Fix: Learn to setup correctly and use only the shoulders to execute the backswing, keeping the hands fixed. This takes practice (see the Fixed Wrist Drill). This will help oliviate the need to throw the club head and allow you to just hold the correct shape and let your body rotation, accelerating, move the ball. It feels more like dragging the handle of the club to the left using your body turn (for right-hander).
#Two reason: You are raising up through impact. Raising up happens from not setting up “Athletically” in “Balance” to start with. This is usually from bending over to get down to the ball in a non-athletic way and then not being able to maintain that “out-of-balance” setup during the swing, so you raise up to “right yourself” (the body finds balance for you). Fix: Learn to setup “Athletically”. Watch “Athletic Setup” and “duplessisgolf Setup” for help.
Ross Jul 06, 2021
It kind of depends on the shot you’re trying to hit. A basic shot, the ball for 3 wood might be just inside your front foot to on the front foot so you’ll hit slightly up or ascending into the ball. This is not done with the hands doing anything, it just naturally will happen as your rotate to face the target. Teeing the ball is also up to the individual golfer. Experiment for different results.Ross Feb 25, 2021
There are many reasons or combinations of reasons to shank. There are many different discussions here (search the word shank) in the forums that address these reasons. In general… you start at setup with the club face square and the ball lined up in the center of the face, but at impact the face is very open and the ball can make contact anywhere on the face. This usually sends the ball going to the right (for a right handed player). One aspect that is usually part, if not all, of the problem is the hands opening the club face on the backswing and then not getting it back to square by impact.Start by searching shank here in the forums and read all the different discussions to get answers and see where you fit in. The best way for me to know what is causing it is to look at a couple of swing videos through a golf swing analysis and direct you to the Lesson Videos that will help you build a repeatable swing.
Ross Aug 06, 2014
Hi Patrick
It is essential that the wrist angles at setup, are maintained as your rotate through impact. Eventually, the club head will relase (after the ball is gone). If you’re getting a high draw, you are either flipping (throwing the club head, closes the face and can add loft)… or you tried to help move the ball with your arms, which stops the body’s rotation and moves the ball left (right hander). You may have a driver with too much loft or regular flex, and the new ball position, makes the “effective loft” too high. If I see a couple swing videos, I can tell you for sure. I suspect you’re flipping vs. rotating. The body’s rotation must dominate through to the finish. You want to learn to keep the wrist angles from setup, the same as you return through impact. Sometimes holding the back wrist bent in a bit, helps keep the shaft in line with the front arm as you turn through.Ross Aug 04, 2014
Yes. If that works for you use it.For many years, I taught the “knees” start the downswing (from ground up), but many of my students had trouble with that concept, so I moved up to “hips”. I guess the feet might be helping initiate the start, by pushing against the ground in a rotary move. I feel more like I use the feet as “anchors” for the body to unwind against. The good thing is… it is repeatable and powerful (if the backswing wound up correctly to begin with). Thanks Davew
Ross Oct 14, 2014
I always think of the rotation as if I’m throwing a ball. It is exactly like it just bent over a bit. If you can turn faster throwing a ball than you can with your golf swing, then you should be able to speed up your golf swing once you find what’s holding you back or is in your way.It may be your front foot. Some golfers have their front foot pointed 90° to the target line and that can choke off the knee and limit the rotation (if they are not rotating to the outside of their front foot – some can’t). The answer is to setup like Hogan with the front foot flared out about 30-40°. Then there is more freedom to turn and I’m thinking for you, maybe faster if you don’t feet so restricted or that you may hurt your knee.
Ross
Ross Oct 11, 2014
Great. Yes, wish it was that you learn something and from then on it would just work and you would not have to ever worry about it again. I have found though, that it does become easier and easier to get back on track.Ross Aug 25, 2014
More and more, I’m thinking that a real focus on keeping the shape from setup, fixed during the backswing, and then back into impact and through, helps keep the hands busy “holding” vs. flipping and trying to help. You may need a bit more grip pressure to maintain the setup angles. That club wants to flip, if you don’t hold it from flipping… but your body must keep turning and accelerating.Traditional instruction has the hands doing many things on the backswing, and just before impact, trying to find this “ideal”* impact position. That take exceptional skill and luck… and is the first thing to go under pressure. You want impact to feel like a rotary/trapping move vs. a hit at the ball feeling.
* Shaft in line with the front arm, being supported by the back hand/wrist bent in. Then, this shape is essentially, drug through impact around to the left (right hander). This has the shaft leading the club face for a solid golf shot, and the body controlling. So, instead of trying to find this at impact, during the swing… we just setup like impact and maintain this using the Large Muscles for a repeatable golf swing. Makes golf more fun.
Ross Jun 27, 2014
Yes… right Dave! Lateral (away from/towards the target). Actually, if you’re focusing on the chest not really moving at all, it covers all directions and gives the shoulders something to turn around via a bit of resistance (like the lower body).Ross Jun 27, 2014
Wow… thanks Jay. This has been my passion (to find a better golf swing), ever since my dad took me at 10 yrs of age, and I spent the entire day on the right side of every hole looking for my ball. I was determined to know why that was happening… and that lead to the next thing… and the search never ended.Ross Jun 08, 2017
There is a Lesson Video in the “Mental Game” section called “Relaxation” … but a good start is to … Stop and stand still … then breathe in slowly through your nose … hold for a count of 4 … then let out through your mouth … repeat. Breathing through your nose should make your stomach go out (the diaphragm). You do not want to take a breath where your chest goes out. That kind of breath is for fight or flight and could make you more anxious.If you are concerned about breathing to relax, the real key to relaxing is to follow up the method above with an iron clad “Routine”. The Routine is the key to a repeatable golf shot. I also have a series of Lesson Videos called “Pre-shot Routine” that can help you develop your routine.
Ross Mar 06, 2016
Just about every golf course has an old bag of clubs they acquired over the years. I’ll bet you could find some older clubs to experiment with out on the range. Also, many times you’ll see old (perfectly good) clubs at garage sales or at hock shops or used sports equipment shops. They will be harder to hit if you don’t have a square face at impact, but you’ll learn a lot about your swing if you practice with them.Now, perimeter weighting can really help the average golfer who does not have (or wants to put in), the time to practice. This helps some with miss hits, but the open/closed faces and offset or exaggerated shaft angles are trade-offs. I’m sure there will be those that disagree (one reason I don’t talk much about clubs).
Ross Mar 06, 2016
Great post !! Yes, club makers have been “building in” compensations into clubs for years, to try to “fix” setup and swing issues. The problem with that is … “everything is a trade-off”.Let’s take the “extreme shaft angle” you’re talking about. If the golfer happens to get the shaft in line with the front arm at impact (a good thing), what happens to the club face?… or if it is a closed or open face compensation, and the golfer actually squares up the face correctly?
I loved my old pings, but eventually they had to go because of the offset hosels. As my method developed and I used my rotation for much better contact, I was constantly fighting the ball wanting to go left. I think I was helping in those days with a bit of a flip that had to go too. The two together made for some scary shots.
I’m not suggesting anyone run out and buy new clubs, but you do want to know the characteristics of the clubs you’re playing.
Ross Aug 13, 2016
Yes, but I don’t call the backswing, the upswing… but you’re close on the feeling of the inside of the back foot. It is across the inside of the whole foot… not just the heel. The downswing the push off (as you say) and the hips (plural) work really simultaneously. There is no separate push off… then the hips.