Your first downswing thought??

[Renton405]

What is everyones first downswing thought(when their practicing on the range)??

Mine is to plant the left heel into the ground and let gravity let my hands, arms and club fall back down toward the ball while keeping my upper left arm glued to my pectoral muscle(chest) . I make no concious effect to swing my arms and hands.. I have been having great luck with this thought..

What are some of your thoughts??

[shootin4par]

Re: Your first downswing thought??

push my right booty cheek on a 45* angle to the target line, that shifts my weight, Center of gravity, to the left and gets the pivot going at the same time.

[Sumosid]

Re: Your first downswing thought??

smash it!!!????

Being truthful with myself, my first downswing thought is BALANCE. I have a tendency to get up on my toes like a boxer and lose my balance--which typically causes me to slice it. Much like you said, I try to settle back on my heels, and think of throwing the club down the line end over end.

I have worked very hard on my swing plane and I always have a practise 3 point check now during my practise swing. 6 o'clock-- check grip, aim and left wrist straight, 9 0'clock check--down the line, not to the inside look at club face make sure that it is perpendicular to the ground, 11 o'clock left hand alignment again--straight with forearm slot for club in between left shoulder and head (I like an upright swing that stays closer to my right shoulder than my head, getting laid off at the top sucks...

Sounds like a lot, but I have a lot of success with it. I keep hearing Hogan's book in the back of my mind---"practise the right stuff."

You see so many people practising on the range not following the basics--not even attempting to... Waist of time really... I also like to go to a pro about 3 times a year to make sure that I am doing what I think I am doing... playing partners (great mates,,,but) only a pro will look at my game...

[GolfJunkieSr]

Re: Your first downswing thought??

Making sure I am at the top of my swing in the correct position. I guess technically that is not a down swing thought, but as long I am correct at the top, very little can go wrong on the way down through impact. For me the down swing is just to quick to think about anything else.

After impact I like to see my trailing fore arm move in front of my vision of my target, on the way to a high finish. This tells me I have made a good swing through impact, and have extended my trailing arm down my target line. GJS

[killer]

Re: Your first downswing thought??

My Swing thought is Tempo Tempo Tempo, beleive me when anyone plays good golf its usually down to great tempo that really is whats make for around 80% of consistency, it works well for me. but unfortunatley some days you just couldnt buy tempo.

[tony_teetime]

Re: Your first downswing thought??

Actually , you should have no thought at all on the downswing except a vision of the ball to flying to target. Another word .. this thing should be on autopilot.

However, I would advocate to open or bump the hip "slightly" toward the target to start the downswing. By making this early move to clear or open the hip , it will create room for the arms to come through.

NOTE: When I say clear the hip to start : this does not mean SPIN IT OUT or full hip rotation prematurely. It's only a slight open turn of the hip as the first sequence in the downswing.

[jambalaya]

Re: Your first downswing thought??

My first and last thought is to bump and turn the hips. I try let gravity and momentum do the rest. I shoot for a solid base and a relaxed upper body to make that happen.

[jbrunk]

Re: Your first downswing thought??

Let the wind up.............unwind.

[dannyra]

Re: Your first downswing thought??

Where the #@$% is this ball going.

[SuperGolferMan]

Re: Your first downswing thought??

My first downswing thought...geez...there isn't much time to have multiple thoughts! haha, just playing around....All I think about is keeping the position of my head the same as it was at the top of the swing. If I rotate my head out...it seems that my upper body opens up to the target and I pull or slice! Hope that helps, it is a signature position in Tiger woods swing, and I alwasy try to copy that.

[Renton405]

Re: Your first downswing thought??

what do you mean by "rotate your head out"?

[amcevoy]

Re: Your first downswing thought??

My thought is hips... actually i unwind knees first, then hips shoulders etc, but my feeling of unwinding the hips first gets it all moving for me.

[edshaw]

Re: Your first downswing thought??

"Golf is the yoga of the superbody,"
a quote by Shamus McManus that endures
as one of the memborable lines in
Michael Murphy's "Golf in the Kingdom"

In Yoga, the practitioner trains to
achieve the posture, and then attempts
to achieve mental and physical
relaxation while holding the pose.
In golf, the player works consciously
to achieve positions and movements,
and then, during practice and play,
to execute those achievements naturally.

One of Bobby Jones's members demonstrated
to him a flawless practice swing, then
turned to Bobby and asked, "There now,
what was wrong with that swing?"
"Nothing," answered Jones, "Why don't
you use it sometime?"

The Jones anecdote illustrates the
challenge for golfers to swing
naturally and mindlessly during
competition, not an easy thing to
do.

[shootin4par]

Re: Your first downswing thought??

ed, you mention yoga and golf in the same sentence
funny thing is, once I started taking yoga I learned more about golf. how the body does and does not want to move while swinging the club.

[edshaw]

Re: Your first downswing thought??

Oh, I think the two can definitely
be connected. If there really is
what could be called a secret to
the mental game, it might be
to "let it happen" unconsciously.
Chuck Hogan did a lot of research
and teaching on the subject in his
"Subconscious Golf" a few years
ago. Chuck produced some remarkable
lectures.