compression

[PGAplayer#1]

Does anyone know any drills on how to compress the ball?Or if its worth learning.

[shootin4par]

Re: compression

get a GREAT set up, learn how to pivot on the backswing and if that does not fix it then ask again. Have I ever seen anyone who has a great set up hit the ball bad?

[PGAplayer#1]

Re: compression

what do u mean by pivot?

[lgskywalker37]

Re: compression

i would definatly say it is worth learning.... you will het further more acurracy with better contact if you can learn how.

as far a learning how, i would have to see where your swing is at (how good it is) but loading the shaft makes it much easier. compression is done with the arms/ hands only. nothing to do with turning the core or hips or weight shift or legs.

all about throwing the club with the arms and releasing with a late hit an lag and unloading the club into the ball

to learn the arms easier, take the rest of the swing out of your mind.... do what is called a false shoulder turn and don't turn your back to the target, just left the arms up as high as you can w/o turning your back (you shoulder will still go back and appear to be turning a bit). then when at the top os BS resist the want of your club head to keep gong back and try to throw you club head directly at the ball from the top (do this by pushing your right thumb pad into the left thumb towards the left wrist) you will notice that automatically uncocks the club at the right time and with good power. that is why the swing is all about your right hand/arm. you will then feel the club head through the whole DS and feel the shaft loading and unlaoding at impact. the false shoulder turn also makes it easier to clear your left shoulder open so that you can hit the ball freely.

then once you learn how that feels you can add a shoulder turn to it and a wieght shift to maximize your resiting the club head going back

[shootin4par]

Re: compression

Skywalker, please dont take this the wrong way, but he will be confused if this is not cleaned up. I like you and have liked having discussions with everyone on here

i would definatly say it is worth learning.... you will het further more acurracy with better contact if you can learn how.

as far a learning how, i would have to see where your swing is at (how good it is) but loading the shaft makes it much easier. compression is done with the arms/ hands only. nothing to do with turning the core or hips or weight shift or legs. if this is the case then why do a lot of people on here get good results with gregs right hand drill? In his drill his objective is to take the arms and hands out of the swing and you basically hit the ball with the pivot, or as some tgmers say you wallop it with the pivot.

all about throwing the club with the arms and releasing with a late hit an lag and unloading the club into the ball You are talking about a hitting motion and not a swinging motion, most people are swingers more then hitters

to learn the arms easier, take the rest of the swing out of your mind.... do what is called a false shoulder turn and don't turn your back to the target, just left the arms up as high as you can w/o turning your back (you shoulder will still go back and appear to be turning a bit). then when at the top os BS resist the want of your club head to keep gong back and try to throw you club head directly at the ball from the top (do this by pushing your right thumb pad (actually the crease between the thumb pad and heal pad of the right hand) into the left thumb towards the left wrist) you will notice that automatically uncocks the club at the right time and with good power. that is why the swing is all about your right hand/arm. you will then feel the club head through the whole DS and feel the shaft loading and unlaoding at impact. the false shoulder turn also makes it easier to clear your left shoulder open so that you can hit the ball freely.

then once you learn how that feels you can add a shoulder turn to it and a wieght shift to maximize your resiting the club head going backactually in hitting the body follows the arms so the shoulder turn generally happesns because the right forearm takeawy pulled it. and if you fire the hips in the downswing and use hitting you should pull a lot of shots lleft. swinging is hands follow body, hitting is body follows hands

You have described hitting but that is not very natural for most people. Most people can swing a baseball bat, you should swing a golf club very similar and it feels very natural. I can gaurentee that no baseball pro excpet for maybe a pitcher, used the hitting technique with a bat, swinging is much more natural

[lgskywalker37]

Re: compression

S4P, i agree that may be misleading, thanks for clearing that up....

i just have trounle trying to explain what i do.

main thing is you have to feel the club head throughout the DS.

if you are just swinging the club without trying to throw the club head at the ball then you might as well have a steel shaft with no bend in it. we want to use the shaft to hit the ball extra far.

i think people should start with a senior shaft and work on bending the shaft and feeling the head and then work their way up to a stiff. you have to learn to use your body so that your arms aid in the swing and end up loading the shaft so that it can compress and release through the ball.

you can swing with just arms or just body and hit it decent, but to hit good you need to collectivly use both. if you can't bend a shaft throughout the whole swing then you are swinging with the body, then arms..... it like pulling a bow back, you want to let it go, you don't want to push it foward.

everyone is different, but for me to learn how to use them both, i had to learn my arms first, then i could put my body into it (before i learned i just used my body and very little used my arms because i didn't know how to and i was told many times the body wing the arms)..... i like the RHD too, and i did it int he DS even when i had a false shoulder turn.... the RHD speaks of holding the right wrist cup at impact, and if you are pulling the arms down correctly with enough force than even though you are trying to uncup you can't and still hold the cup.

[lgskywalker37]

Re: compression

If you hinge the back wrist back and maintain it in the downswing you have lag, but the compression is not as great.

G-1, i'm sorry, but i am not sure what you are getting at here? if compression is not great with lag, then how do you get it great?

a thought having the red strip pointing towards the ground gives you compression and that is only done by maintaining back wrist cup

[shootin4par]

Re: compression

skywalker, I agree with you that trying to explain on here can be like pulling teeth. Very frustrating because while in conversation I could use 300 words a minute and show you examples, on the computer you loose body language visual demonstrations, and back and forth discussion. Well we try our best, keep it civil, and discuss it. One thing I really like about this forum, most people on it are very civil.

[jamesh]

Re: compression

If you hinge the back wrist back and maintain it in the downswing you have lag, but the compression is not as great.

Slide a egg across the table with the hand or attack it from the top and crush it.

Now in a picture that I am about to show from Chuck Evans and how we compress the right wrist looks tight as bending the wrist back and holding, but the real tightness comes at impact.

1. http://golf.about.com/od/golftips/l/blclubheadlag1.htm

Cmays, great post! I think I read that article before and forgot about it. This time it makes much more sense. This could also be posted under the thread "what aren't they telling us" to explain, in part, the distance gap between the amateurs and the pros.

James

[BrianW]

Re: compression

Hi PGAPlayer#1 (Joseph),

You asked about compressing the ball. This is how I see it with a little help from my Guru Nick Bradley:

The actual point of "hit" during the downswing happens just after impact. This is for two good reasons:

The first is that the position just in front of the ball is where the clubhead should be travelling at maximum speed. Remember that the downswing is a gradual increase of momentum that climaxes just after the ball has been struck. This way, you can guarantee the clubhead is accelerating through impact.

Secondly: It is important to understand that you do not hit at the ball, but through it. A great golf swing simply captures the ball In it's path.

Here is a good drill to learn this:
Take a 7 iron and tee the ball up. Place your left hand behind your back and hover the clubhead just in front of the ball. Swing back smoothly to the top of your backswing with your right arm only while allowing it to close and hinge back.

In the downswing, your focus is to release the two angles that you have created in the elbow and wrist joints. You should feel your right arm gradually "Open Up" as it accelerates into the ball and beyond.

[takinitdeep]

Re: compression

A simple drill I learned many years ago:
Address the ball with a 7 iron nice and relaxed and make sure your hands are ahead of the clubhead/ball position.
Take a slow easy backswing and on your downswing focus on pointing the grip end of the club down the target line so your hands are always ahead.
Accentuate keeping your head down a little longer(ala, corey pavin) and learn to feel the lag position as you strike the ball.
This is the position you want with every club.

[takinitdeep]

Re: compression

cmays:
your posts indicate alot of knowledge but you seem a little rigid on what is right or wrong as you seem to critique everyone's posts.
Frankly, I don't agree with your critique of Greg's post or mine.

[lgskywalker37]

Re: compression

cmays:
your posts indicate alot of knowledge but you seem a little rigid on what is right or wrong as you seem to critique everyone's posts.
Frankly, I don't agree with your critique of Greg's post or mine.

i don't wanna fight his battle fo him......... but he was adding to your correct drill not critiqueing it. you must have been describing and upright or 2-planer and he was elaborating on how a rounded or 1-planer should do your drill so as not to confuse and have rounded swingers using your drill and screwing up their swing. i have never seen anything that he said to be wrong, though i have been confused before by them lol. but i think he just has a lot of knowledge wants to try to clarify posts and make sure incomplete info isn't given as there are two kinds of swing round/upright and some people give advice and don't say what kind of swing it is for so he elaborates on it. with gregs drill too, he didn't critique it nor correct it (as it needs no correcting) but there are aparelty 3 ways to accomplish the same things and elaborted more on how/why gregs works and spoke of 2 other ways to achieve the greg is trying to achieve with his drill

[takinitdeep]

Re: compression

I just do not agree

[BrianW]

Re: compression

A simple drill I learned many years ago:
Address the ball with a 7 iron nice and relaxed and make sure your hands are ahead of the clubhead/ball position.
Take a slow easy backswing and on your downswing focus on pointing the grip end of the club down the target line so your hands are always ahead.
Accentuate keeping your head down a little longer(ala, corey pavin) and learn to feel the lag position as you strike the ball.
This is the position you want with every club.

This is something I really focus on in practice. I keep the shaft pointing along the extended ball to target line as it traces behind me in the take away, at the midway point the butt end will point at the ball, then trace back along the line to the top. In the down swing the but traces back along to the point of release where the shaft end comes back along the line again.

There are a few nice graphic examples on this Golfdigest site from Nick Bradley's book.
http://www.golfdigest.com/photos/pho...dex=7&g_id=131

This laser device sold by Butch Harmon does exactly that. The video probably explains the action clearer.

http://www.practicerange.com/detail.aspx?ID=649