Impact Question
 

First off I would just like to say hi to everyone, I have a been a frequent reader of TGM related blogs during my struggle to attain a solid golf stroke and at this point I had a few questions regarding impact.

The first being will an under plane swing always result in moving the low point of the swing backwards?

I hate to bring up a swing video but for the sake of discussion I will present it here

http://www.youtube.com/user/nolimit5.../0/y3fP2QV-VFo

My question is would the movement of the low point(in this case) be related to a drop of the correct plane or due to incorrect hand path(more round about then toward the ball)?

Could the plane shift cause this flip, or do you see other things that might trigger it?
Thank you for all the beautiful information you have put up on this site and I look forward to making some(hopefully) valuable contributions.

just pointing out a few things
 

A path that is too inside out will result in a change of low point. I also notice that with the amount of lateral movement in your downstroke it has created too much axis tilt. With this amount of tilt, you can no longer keep your head as centered as it needs to be. This action will also have an effect on low point.

I apologize if I appear to be full of questions at the moment but are you talking about the shift towards the target in the downswing that is made?

If so how can this be combated, and would this be a possible cause for flipping at the ball or are the two things separate entities?

Hi nolimit,

A pretty good motion you've got going there. It is difficult to se how well you strike the ball on the you tube format though. For what it's worth it doesn't look like a "proper" flip to me.

The thing that I noticed is that you are leaning away from your target line in the back swing. It looks like you're turning yourself out of the swing plane going back. If you just let go from the there you're set to spin your shoulders towards left field. I believe you need a little doze of Stack'n Tilt medisin.

There's an upfront picture of Tiger 1/3 down in this article: http://www.aroundhawaii.com/lifestyl...eral-bend.html

Look how Tiger balances his turn with leaning into the shot. Then have a look at your position at the top and compare with your own position. It is very different. In TGM language you need more hula-hula - more hip slide in the back swing. And perhaps a more stationary head. If you look at Tiger above, you will also see that he is keeping his turn on plane by swaying his lower spine at the top. He is leaning into the shot with his upper body. Tiger is stacked and ready to fire on plane. You don't look similarly well positioned to fire your guns.

Using an image where you turn around your left foot in the back swing and around the right foot in the down swing my help, IMO.

Considering where you are at the top, you finish your swing very well. I bet that saves you a lot of trouble.

Ah Ha!
 

The old "rubber legs" thing. I too wish I could get rid of that habbit. If U find a drill to prevent the problem let me know.

The Bear

Do you manage to reach a solid impact position with "rubber legs"? If so how do you compensate for this issue?

I practice 2 things;
Roll the back foot first before lifting the heel
Then "catch the dogs tail" - a Ben Doyle drill

The Bear

First of all there are some BEAUTIFUL pieces in your swing. Love the way you move your arms and the power package alignments . . . The problem you have is with your head or the center of your shoulder turn being WAAAAAAY too far back. I wouldn't necessarily say you have an "under" problem so much as a need to get CENTERED AND MORE FORWARD (Right for you) problem. From some view your swing actually looks "on plane" but your center has NO FIXED RELATIONSHIP to the ball. That's the point of being centered.

Check your set up. You have in my opinion too much shoulder tilt at address. Do this with out a club . . . get into your golf posture and have your left hand on your right thigh. Then tilt your shoulder so that your right hand moves more down your thigh to level out your shoulders. From there take your grip.

If you'll notice in your motion your head loads left from there in the backstroke and then moves further right and down (due to your knee action). My prescription would be . . . FEEL LIKE YOUR ARE GOING LOOK UNDERNEATH THE FRONT PART OF THE BALL ON THE BACKSTROKE (NOT THE BACK BUT THE FRONT) . . . That should get you more centered. From their you can slide your hips but notice your left knee and right knee action . . . WAY TOO DIPPY. Have a look on youtube at some "caber toss" video. You need to feel like you are tossing a giant log up in the air and down your stance line. That image should help you clean up that knee action and hip action . . .

Actually you could do some log tossing (uhhhhhh huhhh :eyes: :happy3: :happy3: ) on the backstroke too while feeling like you are looking underneath the front part of the ball. You are "making pie" on the backstroke rather than having a centered motion. You are doing that dippy knee thing to get to the ball due to all the disruption of your pivot in the backstroke. If you had proper knee action you'd hit a foot behind it.

You move your arms beautifully . . . . just clean up the pivot and you're golden. But you need to get the backstroke piece correct . . . that will ALLOW YOU to clean up the knee action. The knees function should be to keep your head or pivot centered.

NOTE . . . . Had to edit this due to you standing on the wrong side of the ball :) . . . so please forgive if I screwed up in some places.

I second 12 piece's asessment.

That knee action is what allows you to get to the ball due to the uncentered motion in your backstroke . . .

Aha, funny that is mentioned I had worked on "centering" my pivot a bit and then took a lessons from Golftec who proceeded to work with me on shifting my weight back more(on the backswing).

Thank you for all the useful information thus far, not to single anyone out but i really enjoyed 12 piece's look at the front of the backswing image.

Not that motions need to be classified, but if I were looking to pursue a specific pattern, does my arm motion seem to fit into more of a swinger's or hitters pattern?

Don't mess with that arm swing . . . it's nice . . . but to classify is kind of hard. The elbow positions are in relation to the hips in their classification. However the elbow positions are truly based on the loading. With you it's kinda tough to say. Your elbow is "punchy" but your hips don't really work right because due the faulty head movement.

And again the pivot motion that results is going to impact your release motion as well. So I'm not sure I'd get to concerned about what procedure you employ at this point. You just need to clean up that pivot. You clearly have the talent to hit or swing . . . but that pivot is going to hold you back. You are too good to have a pivot that is that whacky.

Your arms move nice in relation to your body. Your wedges line up nice. You just need to begin with fixing the backstroke pivot. That should help you clean up the knee action. If the cats at GTec or whatever they call themselves are telling you to move off the ball more . . . you need to shoot them the finger AND RUN AWAY FAST!!! Unless you want to hit the ball low and don't give a crap where it goes . . . You got plenty of talent . . . GO FIX THAT PIVOT and send us some better pictures.

A drill for you that would be very helpful is the dowel through the belt loops.

that will help you quiet the lower body a bit to feel what 'centered' is.

It will feel to you like it is 'all arms' for a bit. You have to quiet the hips to let the hands get down into impact with the dowel in place - to clear the right hip -

Another would be to hit a lot of balls with your feet together, and slowly widen the stance back.

as far as feels for the pivot - feel like that right hip goes straight back, like your 'loading the right cheek' a bit - a more rotational feel than you probably have now

I agree with bucket - you've got a lot going for you!