Need swing help

[mrrick]

I seem to have alot of trouble with my swing! My PW-7 iron I hit straight but not very far, the 8,7,6 all travel about same distance 145 yards. Lots of the time I seem to top the ball. With the 3 wood and driver lots of the time they go 50-60 yards and dive straight down. Forget about the long irons cant seem to hit those at all. When I swing I feel like I am falling off the ball. I think all my problems are related, butI cant seem to figure it out.
Thanks,
Rick in MS

[TeachingPro]

Re: Need swing help

If your driver and 3-wood dive straight down that means you're hitting down into impact rather than up into impact.

A sharp decent into impact is normally caused firstly by incorrect turn of the shoulders and torso and then your brain is telling you 'hit the ball!!!", so your arms send the club to the ball but on the incorrect swing path - normally the shortest path between where your club is at the top ofthe swing and the ball is straight down, so that is exactly what your arms do - send the club straight down onto the golf ball and there is where the steep angle of approach comes from.

By falling off the ball, you are clearly not keeping balance. There is always a link between turn and weight transfer and balance. It is impossible to stay balanced if your turn and weight transfer are not executed properly. The indications that you hit many clubs the same distance is screaming to me that you are not turning properly, getting 'jammed' and then have to get out of the way to hit the ball at all.

You need to work on the turn to get your body and right knee behind the ball and getting your backswing correctly executed first. That is always key to good ball striking. Next work on the downswing to the hips and finally downswing from the hips to impact.

Also need to look at your address position, weight distribution and your hand vs ball position. If your ball position is too far forward or your hands are too far behind the ball - you cannot strike the ball correctly.

There is lots to do but if you take it step-by-step breaking the swing into 4 sections ... no problem.

Post if you need specific advice and I'll help you with pleasure.