Still blocking !!!!!!

[snake]

Hi,
Recent attempts to remodel my swing are not giving consistant results yet.
Am I still on the right track...I need reassurance.
On downswing I lack rotation; getting "trapped" and "flicky" at the bottom, my swing is very arms dominated.
Recently I have been working on rotation by clearing my right hip on the downswing giving a more open state at impact.
I played a match at the weekend but I was still getting a high, choppy, cutting flight starting about 25-30 degrees right of my aim point.
I am sure I was not clearing my LHS so I was still flicking at the ball.
Does this sound a feasable explanation....should I keep working at the range ?

[jambalaya]

Re: Still blocking !!!!!!

If your swings are dominated by arm movement then that has to change. I think it is a very hard thing for some of us to learn. I know it was for me. Our hands/arms get trapped behind us so easily when we use the arms too much on the backswing. If we use the arms to get the club back they must move at a faster pace with resepect to the shoulder and hip turn to catch up. At set up our arms and hands are basically centered on our torso and we have to get them back there when we rotate forward to the contact point. Leave the arms/hands back of us, and you just about gaurantee open club face.

When we are young we have better feel, muscle control, movement etc. so we are able to better overcome those armsy swings. We can move the arms faster and time them to get back into position with our athletic ability which enables us to time our movements and make adjustments in the downswing. That ability diminishes over time which makes having a golf swing that is more technically correct essential.

So yes, get thee back to the range and do not use the arms at all to get the club back to the half way positition. I find it best to practice in slow motion at home. Turn until the club is straight behind you only using your torso (hip/shoulder turn) to ge the club back. Freeze your arms hands in place. You must get a feel for it and doing it is slow motion at home is a good way to learn.

[oldwease]

Re: Still blocking !!!!!!

Sounds to me as if you must also be getting ahead of the ball at impact; as a result, you're not giving yourself a chance to release properly.

Don't forget that the swing is all about co-ordination, the hands, arms and shoulders working together. The movement of the body, hips etc should be in response to this.

Try to establish the connection between the arms and shoulders. When you feel these are working together, your swing will become more co-ordinated.

[arch11]

Re: Still blocking !!!!!!

Hi Snake
I had a similar problems a few months ago. To fix it i went to the practice fairway and only hit half shots (have you ever heard of a drill called toe to toe). By this i mean on the backswing i took the club back till it was parallel to the ground with the toe of the club pointing to the sky. At the start this will feel very mechanical as you take a long pause before starting the downswing. On the downswing think of nothing else but rotating your hips forget about your upper half. You will find that for the first half an hour you will probably guts it along the ground on most occassions. When you think it is too hard and about to give up take 5 and start again. The idea of this exercise it to make yourself hit it with your hips and the arms will follow. I did this for two hours one night after work and am back to consistently breaking eighty every week. REMEMBER the idea of this is to start your downswing with the hips not hit it 200 metres so forget about distance and use a 8 or 9 iron

[BrianW]

Re: Still blocking !!!!!!

Hi,
Recent attempts to remodel my swing are not giving consistant results yet.
Am I still on the right track...I need reassurance.
On downswing I lack rotation; getting "trapped" and "flicky" at the bottom, my swing is very arms dominated.
Recently I have been working on rotation by clearing my right hip on the downswing giving a more open state at impact.
I played a match at the weekend but I was still getting a high, choppy, cutting flight starting about 25-30 degrees right of my aim point.
I am sure I was not clearing my LHS so I was still flicking at the ball.
Does this sound a feasable explanation....should I keep working at the range ?

Hi Snake,

Yes you are on the right track. Your blocking is probably due to your upper body catching up or overtaking your hips at impact, causing a blocking, flippy type shot that sends the ball off right. Try to get your hips pointing 30/40 degrees left of target as your shoulders square at impact.

[kbp]

Re: Still blocking !!!!!!

Sounds to me as if you must also be getting ahead of the ball at impact; as a result, you're not giving yourself a chance to release properly.

I think this comment I quoted above might be the one to consider first.

The "goal" is not to have the hips open at impact at the expense of everything else. The goal is to have the hips open at impact as much as your flexibility will allow while keeping your upper body and head "behind the ball" and while having your shoulders basically parallel with the target line at impact and while maintaining your spine angle. If in opening your hips you are also allowing your shoulders to open up before impact (and maybe moving ahead of the ball, also), then of course your hands are going to get stuck behind and your going to have to "flip" or more likely have a blocked release resulting in a push or a push-slice.

As a drill, address the ball and then move directly into an "ideal" impact position. To do this, your hips should open up and some weight should move forward, but your head and shoulders should not move or rotate very much. Work between these two positions for a while. Then hit some balls, starting from you impact position, moving back through address position, through the entire backswing, and back down through the ball and follow through....full speed.

Just something to try.

[skysaintj]

Re: Still blocking !!!!!!

Hi Everyone !!

Really wish you all a awesome 2007 with more eagles and birdies !
I am new to this forum and this is my first post...

I'm a 9 handicap and believe i can be so much better if i can eliminate my
inconsistency with my driver - i block some way right because of an in to out swing path and my hands and arms stay way behind ...i have asked a friend to look at what i'm doing and he said it looks like i cover drive(cricket) the ball-in other words my hips sway forward and do he said he thinks they are not rotating early enough ...could this be the case and how would i fix it because every 3rd drive or so goes straight right and is very disabling what drills and advice can you supply ?

Thanks

[shootin4par]

Re: Still blocking !!!!!!

if you are lunging past the ball, yes that needs to be fixed, thing about it is that it could be a problem in your backswing that leads to this problem in your downswing. one way to fix it, might be a little of a band aid, is to rotate your left forearm, elbow, from the top of the backswing in order to square up the clubface

[skysaintj]

Re: Still blocking !!!!!!

Thanks !!!!

i will try the rotating drill - as i think i have been trying to hard to snap the wrists outside ...this does not work , rotating my left arm rather sounds like a logical solution ..can i still release late ? because i have released earlier (way to early with wrists)and that resulted in either push right or low snap hooks