Swing review

Hi Douglas, welcome to the system/site. Hopefully, we can help you on your journey.

I always think what you should focus on should relate to your biggest issue. With any one swing, there's usually a few things that you could work on, that all could help you progress your swing forward, but the one that will be the most impactful to your game. If the miss that is hurting you the most is contact, that's a different solution than if the miss hurting you the most is direction.

I think there are some good pieces in your swing, I especially like the arm structure you maintain from impact to follow through. But I think that we would benefit from working on your impact position. There's not a lot of lower body and core rotation. I'd probably start with impact drills, then work back to transition/delivery to get past 9 to 3's. I'd like to see what happens when working on the downswing, but we might have to tidy up a few things in the backswing to help make the downswing easier. So, I'd start with impact. What does it look like if you try an impact fix or push ball drill?

Happy Golfing,
Tyler

Thanks. The two photos below show what confuses me. On the left a full swing in action, on the right is me just statically getting my body in impact position as I understand it. In the full swing video below (the first video), to my untrained eye, my attempt at the "Jackson 5" propels my hips more forward than they are in the static impact position. Which is correct or are they both wrong? Also, in the full swing impact photo, my trail elbow is much further back than in the static impact position. My sense there is that in the backswing my trail elbow moves back behind me and there is really not enough time to get the elbow up to where the static impact position has it. In the video you can see it does eventually get there, just way late. Does this make any sense? I find that even in 9 to 3's (the second video), the right elbow is behind where it should be at impact. (Note: My 9 to 3's are to long, I need to work on that.)

Adding to what I wrote earlier above, I was just watching your "Arm Shallowing Errors" and "Connecting Lead and Trail Arm Shallow" videos and I From the "Errors" video, am I guilty of the 4th Error you discuss, essentially using the body to tilt at the pelvis to get the club shallow?

I've set myself a drill list to work on in practice (comments, changes?):

1) Trail Elbow in Front of Pec
2) Door Knob Shoulder Blade Lock
3) Drop to delivery
4) Delivery and Go
5) Combo Delivery and Go with Delivery Pump
6) Lead Arm Shallow
7) Feeling The Arm Shallow Timing
8) Connecting Trail Arm to Sidearm Throw
9) Side Arm Throw - Downswing Body Sequencing

Hi Doug,

I like your attempt to put together a plan. Let me try to help with the diagnosis.

To me, it looks like in the full-swing version you go into more early extension than weight shift when you try the Jackson 5. It might be easier to see that from the DTL view. I like the drill swing. It looks like you're making some good changes with that drill. The impact body position is better and the arms are a little more ahead.

Part of the reason the trail elbow is more back in the full swing is that the rib cage is in the way, this is common when you get into more of the early extension pattern. But I do agree that working on keeping it more in front during the backswing could help and shouldn't be that much more complicated to add on to your impact drill.

Yes, you're essentially using your body to shallow instead of the arms, but I'd usually work on it from impact backwards. If you work on arm swallowing first, it often results in very poor contact. I'd put a pin on that and work on the body position at impact first.

Happy Golfing,
Tyler

I've added an earlier DTL video. I've also added a current DTL and FO of 9-3 focusing on hands low. Thanks for your direction. I will continue to focus on my impact drills to start with. It appears I'm starting to make some progress on shaft lean.

A couple of observations:

1) I struggle with the "9 to 3" swings. I've come to understand that the reason I feel like I can barely swing from the "9" position is that the power from my swing mostly (or completely) comes from me "loading" the shoulders and left lat on the backswing, and without that load, my body doesn't know how to swing the club with any amount of force, if that makes sense. In the backswing my body wants to load the shoulders, so even though I think I'm taking a short swing, when I see it on video I'm actually taking almost a full "swing."

2) In my at home indoor impact drill work, I have found that the videos on getting the hands low and unhinging/ulnar deviation are the keys for me to be able to rotate and therefore get the correct shaft lean at impact.

Edit 12-04-24: In addition to working on impact, I have spent some time also working on cleaning up my backswing. I've attached another video that shows my progress. What I have found is that if I slow everything down, at least for awhile, I can get in a better position at the top. Comments?

Feeling powerful in a 9 to 3 is definitely a learned skill for most. One thing that might help would be trying a swing holding a ball, balloon, or buck in between your arms. It would help you feel a little more arm connection which would make you feel like you might have to rotate your body more to move the club.

As far as the backswing, slowing it down makes sense. Often, a body driven movement feels slower than an arm driven movement. For many people, feeling slower, or a pause at the top can really help make the arms feel like they are doing less.

Glad you found an at home 9 to 3 key, it's fun when the pieces start to click and make more sense.

Happy Golfing,
Tyler

Thanks. I will work with a ball on this. I also came across your clap drill today. I feel like some combination of these two drills will get me both transitioning correctly and applying force at the correct time, thereby breaking my habit of applying arm force from the top to swing the club.

Your website is tremendous, this is the first time, as a senior golfer, that I realize I can swing with rotation. I'm not doing it consistently yet, but there have been a few swings where it all clicks and I feel the proper movements and sequence, so now I know my older body can do this. A huge step forward for me. Thanks so much.

Hi Douglas,

Thanks for the warm endorsement. Comments like yours are really motivating. It pushes me to try and make the site easier to use and digest. I know it's a lot, but I'm thrilled when I hear that you figured out a way to feel a body-driven swing (even if it's not perfectly repeatable yet). In my opinion, there's no better feeling in all of sports!

Happy Golfing,
Tyler

FWIW, I think this site is excellent. My favorite thing about the site is having the ability to easily build my own playlists and just as easily I can manage the content of those playlists. It helps me organize my current couple of things that I'm working on, and when I feel good about those things, I very easily can move them to another list and put a couple more items in my current list. Also, since you have the basic level of playlists, it is always easy to locate content that is in an area I am working on, for example the Transition playlist has been so helpful. Thanks for your hard work building this site, I've explored others and nothing comes close to GSA, IMO. I don't want to forget the Courses and the Mulligan Virtual Coach. I've used both and think highly of those content organization paths.

Thinking about what would help from the site. I would like to see your slow motion swings to use as a model to compare against in programs like V1. Even having them available to compare in a program like Quicktime as a side by side would be helpful. I know we all swing differently, but to compare against a known good model for the key positions and pump drill motions both down the line and face on would be very helpful.