Still too steep

[sandmac]

Hi guys. I am trying desperatley to stop swing down so steep. I recognize that this is the cause of much heavy hitting and slicing. The plane into impact should have the shaft below the (right shoulder/right handed) shoulder my plane is always at or just above the shoulder. I think my backswing is OK. But when I trigger the downswing the shaft never "lowers" beneath my shoulder.

Any help would be REALLY appreciated.

[Martin Levac]

Re: Still too steep

A steep downswing does not mean a slice. Nor does it mean a heavy hit, whatever that means. Your problem is not a steep swing. You problem is because you swing in your room. Then play outside. You think in your room and outside is the same. It's not the same.

I looked at your swing, the swing in your room. Stop practicing that. When you practice swinging a club in your room like that, you practice swinging the club high. You swing high because you must not touch the floor. When you go to play and strike a ball, you swing steep because everything you practice makes you swing high. Except when you strike a ball, you swing low. But because you practice everything else high, the only thing low is contact with the ball. You swing out to in. You slice the ball.

This is what you must practice in your room.

When you swing the club, don't follow through. Instead, pretend there is a ball, swing slow, stop when you reach where the "pretend" ball is. You must touch the floor. Pretend you strike the ball downward. When you reach the point where the imaginary ball is, slide the club on the floor slowly until you follow through. When you slide the club slowly, you will slide it until it passes your left foot. When the club passed your left foot, you can follow through.

When you practice in slow motion, you can look at the clubface. You can see if it is aligned. This is good to know for later, when you start striking real balls.

When you go to the practice range to practice striking balls, you already have a good idea of what you're supposed to do. Now it's a real ball, you don't have to pretend. Now you can touch the floor, it's grass. You can swing full speed. You don't need to swing in slow motion. You can strike the ball full speed. You don't need to slide the club on the grass. When you strike the ball on the grass, the club will strike the ball downward. It will touch the grass. It will dig in. It will make a divot (hole in the grass).

When you make a divot in the grass, it's like when you pretend to strike the ball in your room and slide the club on the floor.

[jdavidp]

Re: Still too steep

Great Post Martin.
That makes so much sense to me.
It also explains why my millions of practice swings in the garage
have probably done more harm than good.
When i do a practice swing on the course, i never touch the grass.
How does it make you swing out to in?

[Martin Levac]

Re: Still too steep

In your room, you must not touch the floor. Outside, you must strike the ball. In your room, you must point the club far because if you point it the same as outside, you will touch the floor. In your room, you swing flat. Outside on the grass, you swing steeper than in your room. I don't mean that you swing very steep, just steeper than in your room.

There is another difference. In your room, you must not touch the floor so you do one move that you don't do outside on the grass. You lift the club slightly to prevent touching the floor just around impact. When comes time to strike the ball, this move has the effect of a double pendulum to amplify the out-to-in swing caused by the change from flat to steep.

Combine the two differences and we get a swing that begins outside because the club is pointed far, a swing that becomes steeper to strike the ball, a move to lift the club just around impact. The result is a slice. Or a fat shot.

When you strike a ball, you must be prepared to touch the grass. You must be prepared to make a divot after you strike the ball. You must begin the swing not like in your room but steeper right away. When you get to strike the ball, the swing is already steeper. But now we don't say it's steeper, we say it's on the correct plane. Then we must not lift the club, instead we must be prepared to touch the grass and make a divot.

That's why I said to practice in slow motion touching the floor, stopping where the imaginary ball is, sliding the club on the floor past your left foot, checking the clubface alignment, etc. When you swing like that in slow motion, you begin the swing steeper to go straight for the imaginary ball on the floor. Also, you don't lift the club around impact because you must touch the floor and slide it on the floor past your left foot.