Ex Baseball Player haveing troubles with swing.

[freewill240]

When i get to the final stages of my backstroke, I am having problems keeping myself from going into an almost baseball swing. I am full blown rookie who knows nothing. I have been able to watch some instructional videos but cant seem to break myself of the habbit. It only seems to occur when I extend past my normal arms reach of the swing. Any tips would be great. Thanks.

[wildwilly911]

Re: Ex Baseball Player haveing troubles with swing.

keep your left arm as straight as you can comfortably (right hand-er) full shoulder turn take only 3/4 swings until your comfortable with that then you can increase your swing. keep your feet close together and swing thru the ball to a nice balanced finish.

[freewill240]

Re: Ex Baseball Player haveing troubles with swing.

I shall give this a try. Thanks for the advise. Heading for the range tonite.

[LowPost42]

Re: Ex Baseball Player haveing troubles with swing.

I played a round with a guy who uses a classic baseball swing, but with a golf club in his hand.

He shot 78 on a 142 slope course.

My best advice at this point, based on your admission that your swing is troublesome only when you try to go 'too far' - past your arms' normal reach - is to stop there, then. Stop where your arms want to stop. If you're hitting the ball straight, and relatively consistently, work with that.

[puttinone]

Re: Ex Baseball Player haveing troubles with swing.

Just take that swing thru the golf ball and let ur rip.

[Rackster]

Re: Ex Baseball Player haveing troubles with swing.

When i get to the final stages of my backstroke, I am having problems keeping myself from going into an almost baseball swing. I am full blown rookie who knows nothing. I have been able to watch some instructional videos but cant seem to break myself of the habbit. It only seems to occur when I extend past my normal arms reach of the swing. Any tips would be great. Thanks.

On the backswing (if you are right handed) feel as though your right thumb is pointing to your right ear, in your parallel postion at the top.

[freewill240]

Re: Ex Baseball Player haveing troubles with swing.

Thanks for all of the great advise. I Went to the range last nite and hit a couple hundred balls with my feet a little closer together than normal and without extending my swing past a slight shoulder rotation. Seemed to help me hit alot straighter than I have been. As I continued to get the feel for stroking from there i was able to bring my hips and shoulder turn back into motion, but still sliced alot of balls. However a noticeable improvement was there. Seems like what it is other than just developing the stroke into a full melodic swing, is that I am not keeping my eye on the ball when i come back around. This causes most of my hits to not be as solid or on target as they should be.

Once again thanks for all of the advice.

[freewill240]

Re: Ex Baseball Player haveing troubles with swing.

Oh, to be a little bit more descriptive, Im getting to about shoulder height with my club on the back swing. And there shouldnt be much more power on the way back down than on the way back up right? And i should have an extra firm, but not squeezing to death grip on the club as well?

[jambalaya]

Re: Ex Baseball Player haveing troubles with swing.

I suggest you first start with the grip. As a baseball player you may be gripping the club more in the palm than the fingers. Try this link: http://golf.about.com/od/golftips/ss/golfgrip_lead.htm

Follow the page links for Lead hand and trailing hand positions. Some excellent illustrations there. When you say get the club about shoulder height on the backswing, do you mean your hands are at shoulder height? Yeah, they need to be at least that high. Yes, avoid being much faster on the downswing than on the back swing. Someone can tell you the ratio but it probably should be no more than 1/3.

[Christo]

Re: Ex Baseball Player haveing troubles with swing.

I'll start at the grip.Make sure the V's formed by your two hands line up.

I used to play cricket, and this also had a negative effect on my golf game.

This is not a easy game and I see you're still a rookie at the game.
If you can post a video of your swing and we can have a closer look at what the problems may be. It takes time to learn the game, so just stay patient.

[freewill240]

Re: Ex Baseball Player haveing troubles with swing.

Ok, when I am gripping the club, it seems to feel like around the spot on your hand at the bottom of you finger, but still in the palm is where i am getting the most grip. Also, from the little fat part behind the thumb, (at the top of my v's). I have been swinging at hundreds of golfballs since i posted this thread and i have been able to extend my swing to almost fully behind my head. Still not highly consistent, but im working on it.
Figured out the problem was in my wrists. Still fighting with it, but its working out.
My biggest worry right now is why i hit almost the same distance, with every iron in my bag. I believe it is because i am not putting full power, or even close to full, in my stroke even though i am getting it almost full swing now. This is mainly because i am trying to control where i hit the ball instead of trying to kill it. I think i am using very close to the same muscle on all shots. When i do try to kill it, it just skips across the ground, or slices really hard.
I will work on getting a video of myself so you guys can see it and maybe tell me what im doing wrong.
THANKS AGAIN. ALL THESE TIPS ARE REALLY HELPING!

[freewill240]

Re: Ex Baseball Player haveing troubles with swing.

I went home on my lunch break, and inspected my grip a little closer. I was palming my club. I followed the instructions on the correct grip and even though it felt odd at first, it improved my accuracy and consistency almost immediately. Just in 1 hour I got used to holding my club like that and it now feels much more natural and free flowing with my wrists. It helped an enormous amount! I was amazed to see the improvement so quickly. Hey, maybe im a natural . Yea right. I see many more hours at the range for me before i hit a course, but with the help from the great folks on this site, it should not be that hard. THANKS AGAIN.

[jambalaya]

Re: Ex Baseball Player haveing troubles with swing.

I went home on my lunch break, and inspected my grip a little closer. I was palming my club. I followed the instructions on the correct grip and even though it felt odd at first, it improved my accuracy and consistency almost immediately. Just in 1 hour I got used to holding my club like that and it now feels much more natural and free flowing with my wrists. It helped an enormous amount! I was amazed to see the improvement so quickly. Hey, maybe im a natural . Yea right. I see many more hours at the range for me before i hit a course, but with the help from the great folks on this site, it should not be that hard. THANKS AGAIN.

Yeah, I felt the same way when I started gripping with the fingers as suggesed. Felt weird and like I didn't have a frim grasp on the club. That is the point though. It helps prevents you from having that death grip on the club and gives you more control. Another thing it brought out is lining up my V's in my hands. I could just never do that properly until I gripped the club correctly. I could never get them parallel. Another thing a proper grip helped was allowing me to release my hands better. I just don't know why the guy I had lessons with, ten lessons, never inspected or worked on my grip. If one is going to rebuild a golf swing, one has to get this right I think.