Went From Shanks To Toe Hits

[golfndawg]

What the heck causes a toe hit when you stand more upright and a tad closer to the ball? This one really has me confused, I can see standing taller and shanking, but toe shots? I hit some today that barely caught the grooves, it seems if I swing out more the more off the toe they are.........I don't know.......Suggestions?

[Martin Levac]

Re: Went From Shanks To Toe Hits

To make a long story short, you start the club in one direction and then attempt to change this direction in the middle of the swing. The club flips around as you do that. Depending on where the ball is, you strike it on the heel or on the toe. As you've noticed, too far means on the heel. Too close means on the toe.

To correct both problems, bring the club up to the appropriate position at the top to begin the swing in the appropriate plane.

To proceed, stand in front of a mirror. Start slowly at first. Stop to check your position in the mirror. Repeat. Once you are comfortable with the motion, swing at full speed. If at full speed you notice the motion is off, go back to slow motion. Repeat.

[GoNavy]

Re: Went From Shanks To Toe Hits

What the heck causes a toe hit when you stand more upright and a tad closer to the ball? This one really has me confused, I can see standing taller and shanking, but toe shots? I hit some today that barely caught the grooves, it seems if I swing out more the more off the toe they are.........I don't know.......Suggestions?

Heel, toe, or shanks are almost always balance related. By standing taller, you are making it more difficult to maintain that balance. Stand upright and have a friend push you from behind, then from the front, notice how easy you fall forwards/backwards, etc...now get into the short stop position or a good golf stance and have your friend do the same thing, you will see how much harder it is to get you off balance. The forces involved in swinging a club are much the same as your friend pushing on you, to maintain your balance as you swing, you have to start out with solid balanced to begin with...hope that answer your question.

[golfndawg]

Re: Went From Shanks To Toe Hits

Heel, toe, or shanks are almost always balance related. By standing taller, you are making it more difficult to maintain that balance. Stand upright and have a friend push you from behind, then from the front, notice how easy you fall forwards/backwards, etc...now get into the short stop position or a good golf stance and have your friend do the same thing, you will see how much harder it is to get you off balance. The forces involved in swinging a club are much the same as your friend pushing on you, to maintain your balance as you swing, you have to start out with solid balanced to begin with...hope that answer your question.

Thanks Navy,

I'm not sure what to do anymore,lol.......I had a lesson bout 3-4 weeks ago and he had me taller from the waist up( I guess I was bent over to much, I don't see it on video though) anyway, he said with taller from the waist up I would probably need to get closer and by getting taller I could swing more around my body while keeping the club more in front of my chest.....I dunno ,made sense at the time but here lately nothing but toe from lw -5.

[GoNavy]

Re: Went From Shanks To Toe Hits

It is tough to second guess what your instructor is saying, he has the advantage of being there and seeing what you are doing. He may just be trying to get you into a better address position by overdoing one aspect, then letting you naturally get into the correct setup. Hard to say, but generally a balanced address position will stack all your major body parts, your feet, knees and shoulders will be in a vertical line, with your head on one side and your backside on the other to counter balance it.

Here are a couple pictures of Aaron Bradly, if you have V1 software just about any pro will look much the same. But notice at address, the red line, how it bisects the feet, knees and arm pits, this is good balance. It would very hard to push him over.

[golfndawg]

Re: Went From Shanks To Toe Hits

It is tough to second guess what your instructor is saying, he has the advantage of being there and seeing what you are doing. He may just be trying to get you into a better address position by overdoing one aspect, then letting you naturally get into the correct setup. Hard to say, but generally a balanced address position will stack all your major body parts, your feet, knees and shoulders will be in a vertical line, with your head on one side and your backside on the other to counter balance it.

Here are a couple pictures of Aaron Bradly, if you have V1 software just about any pro will look much the same. But notice at address, the red line, how it bisects the feet, knees and arm pits, this is good balance. It would very hard to push him over.

I do have v1 and cswing (basic versions)but at the lesson he actually put my setup next to Lisalotte Neumann and tried to get me in that position( Don't know why her as we are not built the same ) and I didn't ask why, prolly should of but I didn't........I was jacking around with some things last night here at the house and I don't know if this has anything to do with problem, I hope it does but anyway, it seems the more I swing around my body the more I have the flying right elbow, I was messing around with bringing the hands back to waist high(clubhead still outside hands) and just folding the right elbow up, it seemed to easy to do this and got to the "tray" position without even trying, of course turning the shoulders also. More of a 1ps,haven't tried it on the range but it sure feels better............Thoughts?

[GoNavy]

Re: Went From Shanks To Toe Hits

Well lets see, if it works, do it. They made fun of Lee Trevino and his swing, he is in the hall of fame now, where are the guys that made fun of him...lol...Jim Furyk's back swing is little funny, so is Raymond Floyd's, he does the opposite, flips his hands and club way behind him, but they all setup the same in balance, that doesn't change. At impact if you just saw the club, it would be impossible to tell who they were, they all look exactly the same, that is the important bit. I would pay more attention to your balance and impact, you don't hit a ball on the back swing. Getting into the proper back swing position makes it easier, but it is not the end all, be all, to golf. Repeatability and the correct impact position, is the end all, be all.

[golfndawg]

Re: Went From Shanks To Toe Hits

I am going to post a video in the next day or 2 so we can really get to critiquing......lol, I think I am done with the lesson thing for now as they really haven't taught me anything I haven't heard or read or whatever.....They see the same faults on video as I do and that is the reason I go for a lesson to correct this but for some reason I don't believe we are working on the right thing to correct these flaws.

Thanks for the inputs