Leadbetter, Thorpe, alignment, me, SOS

[jamesh]

I was watching David Leadbetter analyze the swing of Jim Thorpe. He concluded that Thorpe had to be an incredibly powerful athlete to pull it off. – Which was gracious, but unhelpful to those of us struggling with the same problem. Thorp’s feet pointed away from the target, and his upper body was closed – now Jim Thorp knows, as well as many others, including me, that they are not properly aligned to the target – so telling us how to align ourselves better isn’t so practical – we know what we are “supposed” to do, and we can’t pull it off. I had someone critiquing my swing during the last round – he said he was a golf “instructor” – and when he put me in the “proper alignment” I really couldn’t swing at the ball – I had no power and felt off balance. However, if I adjusted my rear foot further behind my lead foot, by pulling it back, I felt my position get stronger and the further I was misaligned with the target. I thought for one, that the ball was far further forward then he said it was – with my driver he actually thought it was too far back – my perception – the ball was across from the big toe of my lead foot.

I am a lefty, who is heavily left eye dominate which tends to distort things to begin with. So, I started thinking about this a little more and perhaps the reason some of us struggle with alignment issues is that the misalignment brings into a play a swing flaw that we need to execute, in order to hit the ball. So, for a lefty who aligns himself twenty degrees to the left of the target, with the leading foot more forward than the rear foot – what would that swing fault be – an out to in swing pattern…..unfortunately my ball flight tends to be straight and I hit what I am aligned too – and it isn’t the intended target!




Thanks,


James

[bdbl]

Re: Leadbetter, Thorpe, alignment, me, SOS

No idea of the solutions to theses problems Jamesh; I struggle with alignment too, though the mirror of you I think. Lets hope someone can help us

Until very recently I thought that my well struck error (if you know what I mean - the drive that flies like a rocket but carries 200++ yds into the, for me, right hand trees) was a push but every time I tried a "cure your push" tip I lost any semblence of decent ball striking.

It has just been suggested that when I thought I was set up parallel to the target line that my shoulders were in fact pointing right of target - OK thats my intepretation, what my mate said was "that went just where you were aiming".

Last practice session I tried setting up what I thought was a little open with quite promising results - we'll see what happens next time and on the course.

[bill reed]

Re: Leadbetter, Thorpe, alignment, me, SOS

hi
when i go over to to football parks to practice i set up one club to see where my feet are aligned too, and i start up with that line, i also set the club I'm using to hit the ball with, and put it across my chest to see where my shoulders are aiming and make a point of where the butt of the club aims, i play a few shots like that without changing anything to see where the ball goes and what sort of fade it has, then i start to adjust my feet line up or my shoulders to change the ball flight.
often i feel i am more open in my stance than i really am and it feels like i'm open 40% but am only open about 30% and i don't get the amount of fade i want.
setting up with two clubs, one for your feet alinement's and one ahead of the ball to get the flight path does help.
cheers
bill

[oldwease]

Re: Leadbetter, Thorpe, alignment, me, SOS

Jamesh, ultimately, there's no one swing that works. This applies to grip, stance and so on - look at the Mindy Blake thread to see a 'non-traditional' swing type. Also Moe Norman. In truth, I've usually been worse off when trying to incorporate something into my swing simply because it's meant to be 'classic'.

Recently, I played with a guy I've never played with before. On the first tee, he was totally aligned to the right - way closed, feet, hips and shoulders. I reckon he could have been close to 45 degrees closed - really amazing. He had a very strong grip (right hand way under the club). Since there was a group of people standing off to the right, I actually wondered if I should say something as he seemed to be aiming right at them (they were only about 60 yards away and could have been pulverised with a driver). In the event, he swung to the inside but managed to square the club to target at impact. (Bizarrely, he didn't hit big draws, but that's another matter.) The ball headed off down the fairway. This he did time and time again.

My point is that here's a guy who's developed a method that works well for him. Way from 'classic' and a pretty ugly swing but, I guess, the ball isn't looking at that. In a less dramatic way, I've played with guys who deliberately place the back foot behind the front. It's great if you're not that flexible in the hips and clears loads of space on the downswing. If you hit well doing it, work with it.

[BrianW]

Re: Leadbetter, Thorpe, alignment, me, SOS

Something I have become aware of recently since watching one of those videos from Shawn Clements was how easy it is to misalign the shoulders when playing a driver or longer clubs. As the ball is positioned well forward in the stance people can have a tendency to have their feet aligned correctly but face their upper body towards the ball, this opens the shoulders in relation to the feet and can promote an out to in swing.

[bdbl]

Re: Leadbetter, Thorpe, alignment, me, SOS

The Old Parallel Railroad Tracks have been a Killer of what could have been the making of a Mighty-Fine Golfer.

Some people will never be in a square position. If you laid a club across their shoulders some have a slight turn to the left, others to the right and these are the folks that can not play from a fully square stance.

I have a slight turn to the right, that is my natural stance.

Thanks, I'll carry on with the "open not parallel / square" experiment and look at any other ideas bthat come up in the thread.

[Martin Levac]

Re: Leadbetter, Thorpe, alignment, me, SOS

Jamesh, the ball doesn't lie. See where you send it, work from there. When trying to correct it, try both ways. For example, if you must correct a push, try to push it further. Then try to pull it. As you experiment, change one thing at a time so that you know what does what.

If you must do it, is it really a flaw?

[jamesh]

Re: Leadbetter, Thorpe, alignment, me, SOS

Jamesh, the ball doesn't lie. See where you send it, work from there. When trying to correct it, try both ways. For example, if you must correct a push, try to push it further. Then try to pull it. As you experiment, change one thing at a time so that you know what does what.

If you must do it, is it really a flaw?

Martin thanks for your input, and I appreciate what you're saying. I think experimentation will be the key, and I have got some terrific advice from the site.


James

[jamesh]

Re: Leadbetter, Thorpe, alignment, me, SOS

Something I have become aware of recently since watching one of those videos from Shawn Clements was how easy it is to misalign the shoulders when playing a driver or longer clubs. As the ball is positioned well forward in the stance people can have a tendency to have their feet aligned correctly but face their upper body towards the ball, this opens the shoulders in relation to the feet and can promote an out to in swing.

YouTube - Golf Pro Lesson Driver Tip 2

Brian W. thanks for the video clip! I live in Toronto, and I have golfed at the Richmond Hill country club. I'd seen this video sometime ago but forgot about it. I think you have given me something solid to work on here.

[bdbl]

Re: Leadbetter, Thorpe, alignment, me, SOS

bdbl:

There are ways to work with ones physical handicaps.

Huh, I have a slow swing speed, no short game, lose concentration and to cap it all now apparently I'm mis-shapen with a physical handicap I think I'll give the game up.

Only joking Cmays, some interesting ideas there

[jamesh]

Re: Leadbetter, Thorpe, alignment, me, SOS

Something I have become aware of recently since watching one of those videos from Shawn Clements was how easy it is to misalign the shoulders when playing a driver or longer clubs. As the ball is positioned well forward in the stance people can have a tendency to have their feet aligned correctly but face their upper body towards the ball, this opens the shoulders in relation to the feet and can promote an out to in swing.

YouTube - Golf Pro Lesson Driver Tip 2

Alignment problem solved!

Brian W. all the way from the UK you sent me a link to the Richmond Hill Golf Learning Center, which is not very far from me. So I followed up, looking for other posts from Shawn Clement's. I followed the advice in the link provided below, and my alignment problems during yesterday's round, were history.

I can't thank you enough. The link not only provided the answer to my questions, but also explained why it is problematic to get your alignment position once you have set up at the ball; it is doubly worse for me, since I have a major site deficit in one eye.



Here's the link!

James H.

[BrianW]

Re: Leadbetter, Thorpe, alignment, me, SOS

Alignment problem solved!

Brian W. all the way from the UK you sent me a link to the Richmond Hill Golf Learning Center, which is not very far from me. So I followed up, looking for other posts from Shawn Clement's. I followed the advice in the link provided below, and my alignment problems during yesterday's round, were history.

I can't thank you enough. The link not only provided the answer to my questions, but also explained why it is problematic to get your alignment position once you have set up at the ball; it is doubly worse for me, since I have a major site deficit in one eye.


Here's the link!
YouTube - Golf Pro Lesson Alignment


James H.

James,

The pleasure is all mine. Shawn does have some good tips and drills.

[BrianW]

Re: Leadbetter, Thorpe, alignment, me, SOS

Umm! Yes he did?