Laying it off at the top

[Tmason]

How bad am I laying it off on the top here? I've got a 5 iron in the photo. I dunno if it's really laid off or I'm just not completing the backswing.

[GregJWillis]

Re: Laying it off at the top

I look for the left hand's position. It is in good shape, straight, not bowed back. The right hand is in a great position.

[30yearlayoff]

Re: Laying it off at the top

I would say that it really doesn't matter as long as you can get the club back on plane by hafway down.

To me, it does look flat. Whether that is an issue depends (i.e. Furyk looks worse at the top)

[Tmason]

Re: Laying it off at the top

To me, it does look flat. Whether that is an issue depends (i.e. Furyk looks worse at the top)

Sheesh, I know it needs work but Furyk-like? Doh!

[shootin4par]

Re: Laying it off at the top

your real isssue is you lost spine angle in the back swing. draw a line on your shoulders and see how FAR that line points outside the ball. If you were a "two plane swinger" would not be such an issue but I can tell by where your hands are at that you are not. a line on your shoulders should point somewhere within five feet of the ball, or closer. ALso, see how your shoulder hits your chin? that is because you keep your head down, eye on the ball, but spine angle is lost. Take a club across your chest/shoulders, and cross your arms. Turn your shoulders only and get the left shoulder under your chin or SLIGHTLY brushing it. THen learn how to do that while hitting a ball. BTW, you change that and take another picture, you will not look laid off!!!

[nickwbryant]

Re: Laying it off at the top

TMASON - you are definitely a bit laid off - looking at your shoulders they dont really have further to turn. If you do not reach parallel at the top of the swing then the club should point to the left (if right handed) but only slightly. IMO even if you took your swing to parallel you would be laid off. Difficult to tell if its a problem without seeing your full swing motion and hearing you describe your ball flight. As greg said you hands are in a good spot.

nick

[Simon Woo]

Re: Laying it off at the top

Interesting points raised by everyone. So in a case like this, what's the verdict? Is swing still ok, or not? Would working on one simple correction fix everything up or would that introduce even more things that need to be changed, eg. would changing the grip strength mean the whole swing needs to be reworked for a different swing path etc?

I see that the hands are way above the ahead, perhaps a bit too high for my personal liking. I wonder if something as simple as lowering the hands/arms will naturally square the clubhead more?

[Tmason]

Re: Laying it off at the top

Squaring the club at impact is not the issue. I am also not interested in lowering my hands and arms at the top. The more width I can create the better. The fine line there is not taking it back past parallel (for me anyway).

My goal is to be able to consistently deliver the club on a path that lowers my dispersion and maximizes distance. Laying it off at the top makes that more difficult.

[Simon Woo]

Re: Laying it off at the top

Tmason, please don't take it the wrong way. I'm in no way trying to correct your swing. Rather I'm just thinking out loud in the hopes that the more experienced golfers here can chip in and shed some light, and hopefully we can all learn a thing or two from them

I have some thoughts, but I'll start a new thread.

Cheers.

[shootin4par]

Re: Laying it off at the top

Squaring the club at impact is not the issue. I am also not interested in lowering my hands and arms at the top. The more width I can create the better. The fine line there is not taking it back past parallel (for me anyway).

My goal is to be able to consistently deliver the club on a path that lowers my dispersion and maximizes distance. Laying it off at the top makes that more difficult.

stop loosing your spine angle and you wont have to worry about taking it past parrallel. loosing spine angle allows everything to rotate too freely, from the ground up, and does not LOAD you in the backswing. Since you will not load properly, it is SO easy to overturn, and you will have a hard time unloading.