Big problem with my swing

milligan2

Hey guys,I have been browsing this site for a while and have decided to ask for a little advice.I have been playing 2 years now[late starter 37] and have done ok untill last October when the wheels fell off the wagon.
I started off 26 and got down to 20 over 2 years which was great,but this winter has been ****e.My big problem is that I can make a good practice swing but when the ball is in front of me I cut right across it.
The thing is, I know what Im doing wrong but no matter how hard I try my brain keeps telling me to hit the ball rather than swing through it.
Any advice or drills to enable me overcome this problem?

GreeBo

Head to the range, line up the balls so that the logo points 45* out to the right and just concentrate on swinging along that path.
Dont hit more than a 7 iron, all you are trying to do is groove a swing path, nothing else, so you dont want to introduce more complications by taking more club etc.

Stop when you are consistently hitting the ball right and its drawing back left.
(This will be maybe 2 -3 visits to the range)

Then do the same but with the logo aiming dead straight.

Also, practice swings always feel great because they are relaxed, however you could still be cutting the ar$e off it...check your divots on the practice swings too

Wombatman

Similar drill for the range.
7 iron again.

Place one ball at the "center of the clock."
Place another ball at the one o'clock position about two club faces from the first.
Place the ball you are trying to hit between there two balls and hit it "through the gate".
Narrow the gap between the two balls as you get better.

scubapro

OP hitting at the ball is a tendency faced by most golfers. A golfer will step up and make a nice loose practice swing and them BAM step up to ball and the instinct is to hit at it instead of through it. For me the natural instinct is for the right hand and arms to dominate which invariably ends up trying to hit the ball. A couple of drills you could try are to swing with the left arm only feeling the connection with your chest and let the pivot swing your arm after a while add your right hand but very loosely, I try and have very little pressure on the grip with my thumb and trigger finger gripping the club only with the two middle fingers. I also try swinging with my eyes closed to ingrain that feeling as well.
Definately worth putting the work in as it will go along way in helping to build a repeatable swing.

Edit- if your problem is OTT or not getting the clubface closed well then the two posts above should be read.

milligan2

Thanks for the advice guys, will try those drills at the range.Regarding the practice swings Greenbo,the divots are bang on,but the real swing divots are like bananas!.I do tend to hit a lot of fat shots too if that's connected, I don't know.

slave1

I wasn't quite the same as you but not far off at time, good practice swing then another story for hitting the ball.
My solution was I don't take practice swings anymore, I just hit the ball with my "practice" swing i.e. first and only swing, helped me a lot I must say.
Try it.

P_1

After having the advice offered and taken here I booked a few lessons, even after the first one I've noticed a fairly significant improvement in my swing.

It could work for yourself too, especially if the pro has a camera setup

John Divney

Sounds like the classic 'over the top action', when I started and saw my swing on camera a bit of vomit came out, after one particular horror show at the range I was coming way out to in and everything just flying right..

You are swing from the top too aggressively most likely and spinning out of the shot, and possibly you are early extending (thrusting your hips at the ball before impact, standing out of the shot), not transferring wight to the left

_Work on the weight shift as the key to starting the downswing, the left ankle should feel a driving force into the ground.

_At the same time imagine the club 'drops' into the slot by gravity don't force anything from the top of the downswing

-Feel The swing path from 'in to in, or in to out being a good start.

- make sure your arse (glutes) do not stand up until after impact, does this by activating them in the downswing by tensing right glute at top of back swing, the left glute as the weightshifts.

Hogan had a drill where he was backed up against a wall with a small club or and on the downswing moved his arse as he was dragging, both cheeks against the wall until impact and naturally turned to face the target.

Buy your own high speed camera, imo they are worth spending over any lessons, once you learn the tell tale no no's, they are glaringly obvious after a while, you can easily adjust through the feedback the high speed give you.

Go to the pro after the basicsa are down imo, because he's just going to tell you the same thing until you get that right, weightshift, weightshift, weightshift, don't unwind from the top.

BoardsMember

Here's another not-complex drill. Take out a 7 iron, half swings, pitching the ball, get the feel of solid contact, get the feel of easy back easy through.

Balance really is key, you can get as technical as you want, but unless you have weight mostly on your heels, and your arse stuck out, you will not make much progress. If you have these two things, and do the above drill it will help an awful lot.

Another thing you can try is counting 1-2-3. 1 as you take away the club, 2 at the top, 3 coming through the strike zone. Should be nice an calm/slow/evenly spaced.

This is something I came up with practising chipping in the dining room last night so not really tried & tested!! It helped me enormously take my hands out of the shot, and swing with my arms. Hands are the enemy!!

ShivasIrons

milligan2 wrote: »

Hey guys,I have been browsing this site for a while and have decided to ask for a little advice.I have been playing 2 years now[late starter 37] and have done ok untill last October when the wheels fell off the wagon.
I started off 26 and got down to 20 over 2 years which was great,but this winter has been ****e.My big problem is that I can make a good practice swing but when the ball is in front of me I cut right across it.
The thing is, I know what Im doing wrong but no matter how hard I try my brain keeps telling me to hit the ball rather than swing through it.
Any advice or drills to enable me overcome this problem?

Don't take advice from anybody unless they've seen you swing. All the drills given here will cure some fault, but how does anybody know what will work for you unless they see you swing.

BoardsMember

ShivasIrons wrote: »

Don't take advice from anybody unless they've seen you swing. All the drills given here will cure some fault, but how does anybody know what will work for you unless they see you swing.

I vote this as the best piece of advice.

Perhaps extend it to including you having seen them swing the club, just in case you are taking lessons from a hacker

scubapro

BoardsMember wrote: »

I vote this as the best piece of advice.

Perhaps extend it to including you having seen them swing the club, just in case you are taking lessons from a hacker

Sure aren't we all hackers:)

milligan2

I did have a few lessons early days and learned good posture,setup and grip which was invaluable, but he did tell me that I had a very dominant right side.(prob from work).I also had a lesson lately and he told me to keep the toe of the club facing the sky halfway through the down swing which I practiced at home without hitting balls.I do swing the club alot in the backyard without balls;am I wasting my time?

P_1

milligan2 wrote: »

I did have a few lessons early days and learned good posture,setup and grip which was invaluable, but he did tell me that I had a very dominant right side.(prob from work).I also had a lesson lately and he told me to keep the toe of the club facing the sky halfway through the down swing which I practiced at home without hitting balls.I do swing the club alot in the backyard without balls;am I wasting my time?

Personally I don't think you are, its something I've started doing lately. I find putting a tee into the ground and using that as a target to swing at helps a lot

ShivasIrons

milligan2 wrote: »

I did have a few lessons early days and learned good posture,setup and grip which was invaluable, but he did tell me that I had a very dominant right side.(prob from work).I also had a lesson lately and he told me to keep the toe of the club facing the sky halfway through the down swing which I practiced at home without hitting balls.I do swing the club alot in the backyard without balls;am I wasting my time?

How do we know unless we see you swing?