Takeaway becomes too rounded

[redmen1892]

Hello to all,
Took the trouble of videoing my swing as my ball striking has gradually gone downhill, most shots I hit are straight, however I am consistently not striking the ball out of the centre of the clubface. Well, I noticed that after my club gets to hip height on the takeaway I then turn the roll the left wrist skywards and then continue to take the club around my body instead of up into the slot. I tried to swing the club with my backside close to a wall but the club bangs straight into the wall. I've then tried pre-setting the wrists and then swinging the up club upwards while turning the shoulders and everything now looks on plane. Are there any other drills or training aids that I could use to stop me swinging the club around my body.

Thanks

Jon

[gord962]

Re: Takeaway becomes too rounded

Try my drill for the correct position at the top. The check points at the bottom of the page are the key to correct positioning.

http://members.shaw.ca/gord962/drills/top_position.htm

[LowPost42]

Re: Takeaway becomes too rounded

Jon,

Why stop? It sounds like a one plane swing to me.

I started golf after playing years of baseball. After a few online 'lessons', and looking at video, I tried more and more things. Eventually I went to a CPGA pro, and over the past couple years, worked on a two plane swing... that hasn't worked out all that well.

Recently I read 'The Plane Truth for Golfers' by Jim Hardy (the man who taught Hank Haney - the man who now coaches Tiger), and tried some of the 'one plane' fundamentals. 'All of a sudden', I had accuracy like I've never experienced. My blocks to the right were gone, and all of a sudden I started drawing the ball, something that usually never happened to me.

The one plane swing is very much 'around the body'. The shoulders turn around the spine and the arms go more around as opposed to up and down.

First, figure out if you're going to swing two plane (the 'classic' golf swing), or one plane. Then commit to it.

[briguy]

Re: Takeaway becomes too rounded

You know, I stumbled into the one plane swing last summer before that article in Golf Digest hit the streets and it essentially vindicated me because I was bent over more with less spine angle than all my cohorts (I wanted simplicity). It has worked fabulously. Get extended at address and let the club orbit around the body and let it rip.

[redmen1892]

Re: Takeaway becomes too rounded

Folks,

That's for the responses, i'll try and hunt out a copy of Jim Hardy's book in the UK, i'd like to get more consistency in the strike, I put some impact markers on the club face tonight and only about 2 out of 10 on average came anywhere close to the sweet spot, mostly towards the toe of the club.
Something else that I picked up on later whilst watching my swing was that I seem to raise the hands at address, arching my wrists and thereby bringing the heel of the club off the ground at address, viewed down the line the shaft if extended would run through my belly button and out the otherside half way up my back, if as I suspect this is incorrect, should the clubhead toe end should be only slightly (so that you can slide a small coin underneath the gap) off the surface. Would raising my hands at address cause me to pull the club around my body.

Thanks Jon

[briguy]

Re: Takeaway becomes too rounded

Actually, I'm a fan of arching my wrists. I don't know if this contributes to pulling around the body, but in your case I certainly is not causing it. A litle heel off the ground is O.K., hey were all amateurs this is not going to make or break us. The crtitical issues 1) how is your tension at address, meaning I'm sure your adding to areas you have no idea that you shouldn't at address. For example are you ACTIVELY raising your wrist and holding the tension throughout or are your elbows locked more than you know. Your left arm should be straight and the shaft 90 degrees to your back, but in the context of harmonious posture/ stance. this is not an overnight thing to groove, and neither is this... 2) more importantly and I hate to say this, but your takeaway may be much too inside, I won't bore you with the details, but one piece move ie your triangle from shoulder to hands moves in synchrony away from the ball, but the trick is keeping straight for at least 2 feet before the turn (a big if ). Grooving that is annoying, but is the single most important thing a golfer could do besides his grip. Take driver, think 100 foot putt with a putter, notice you don't turn your back yet and the face of club faces target as if you were putting the ball a 100 feet. Hey maybe I did bore you!

[LowPost42]

Re: Takeaway becomes too rounded

A little heel off the ground is O.K., hey were all amateurs this is not going to make or break us.

I've got to disagree here, briguy. If you watch your swing on slow-mo video, you'll notice the phenonmenon known as 'toe droop'. This is the act of the toe of the club dropping closer to the ground during your swing, due to centrifugal forces. This is why most swing coaches say to have the toe slightly up at address (as redmen has said, so that you might slip a dime under the toe).

The crtitical issues 1) how is your tension at address, meaning I'm sure your adding to areas you have no idea that you shouldn't at address. For example are you ACTIVELY raising your wrist and holding the tension throughout or are your elbows locked more than you know. Your left arm should be straight and the shaft 90 degrees to your back, but in the context of harmonious posture/stance. this is not an overnight thing to groove...

Tension is a killer. You shouldn't be holding your arms at any position. Stand at attention, then bend at the waist, keeping your shoulders and arms relaxed. Notice where your arms go? No clap your hands. Notice where your hands go? Now stick a club between them at that spot. Manipulating your hands and arms at address means they'll have to be manipulated back to that spot during the downswing.

2) more importantly and I hate to say this, but your takeaway may be much too inside, I won't bore you with the details, but one piece move ie your triangle from shoulder to hands moves in synchrony away from the ball, but the trick is keeping straight for at least 2 feet before the turn (a big if ). Grooving that is annoying, but is the single most important thing a golfer could do besides his grip. Take driver, think 100 foot putt with a putter, notice you don't turn your back yet and the face of club faces target as if you were putting the ball a 100 feet.

Good advice for a 2 plane swing. But for a 1 plane swinger, he'll always 'seem to be too inside'.

[briguy]

Re: Takeaway becomes too rounded

I 'll say I know next to nothing about damages of heel rising, but I guess I wanted to impress to redmen1892 that this is a red herring keeping him diverting him from higher yield stuff. His original question was concerning the club going around the body and this sounds like a nice one plane body swing to me too, but then he complains that he doesn't hit the slot which I think takes us back to what exactly is going on with his takeaway anyways? It's hard to know, but I couldn't agree more with your statements on the tensionless posture and slipping the club in there, I was saying the same thing I thought, but too many people think they're tension free and at peace in the stance, when in fact they've scarcely experienced it and wouldn't know how to repeat it the next time out.

[LowPost42]

Re: Takeaway becomes too rounded

True, Briguy, heel up or heel down (or toe, for that matter) doesn't impact the swing (but it certainly effects ball flight)!

And you're right - it sounds like we're talking about two sets of clashing fundamentals.

Redmen, try this: Think about picking your hands up into the air. This is the element of the 2 plane swing: Your hips turn horizontally, while your hands and arms swing vertically (hence the 2 planes).

So you need to (if you're going to swing 2 plane) start lifting your arms up on your backswing. This is why the bum-on-wall drill isn't working for you - because you're swinging 1 plane right now.