Swing Plane

New Posting: Y Shape Detailed Explanation

Somewhat satisfied with my new swing posting. As I'm still in Minnesota it had to be done inside and what a better place than my living room!

Nine foot ceilings make for a sweet environment to practice the full swing, and foam rubber golf balls make no marks on the wall. This is very helpful for an old guy as I am able to stretch out and keep the feel all winter. And the carpet runs at about 10 so my putting is so good!

Anyway, here's my effort to showcase The Y Shape swing:

And Now, Deeper into the Putting Grip

I talked about my putting grip change a couple posts ago on why the putter in the lifeline of the left hand is a good idea. This, of course, was from my personal point of view, that is, my personalcrosshand point of view.

I don't think the grip I advocated would work for most people that putt conventionally tho. The left can't be very dominant in the stroke if held this way as the last three fingers cannot hold strongly enough to maintain constant firmness through the forward stroke.

(I read somewhere that Arnold Palmer did use the lifeline left hand grip but his case was different from what we do today. He actually anchored his left hand to his left thigh then dominated the stroke with the right hand only. And, according to Jack Burke Jr, so did others, including Bobby Jones.)

The reason I'm bringing this up is because I came across a Milas Filmater article where he talks about a putting grip being a palm grip and that "A good grip will significantly enhance your chances to achieve these goals (direction, distance). He doesn't say why. Here is why.

For proper direction, proper distance control and consistency of contact, the wrists should remain constant during the stroke. This means any bending, or side to side breakdown, should be eliminated. Shoulders (the 'engine' of the move), arms and hands working together. Gripping the club in the palms helps with this wrist firmness.

You will return the putter from its set-up position to impact position more consistently by applying this exercise and gaining its unique feel. Notice in the above exercise the club is held upside down. Do not grip the shaft, merely press the hands together. Retain this feel when you putt normally.

This will, as an added benefit, ensure that the shaft always extends into the body center, good for a pure swinging action of the putterhead.

The Y Shape Blossoms

The learning ... 'flower'? A 'blossom'? Whatever you call it, this is the picture I have when I attempt to educate the student on the golf swing. As you can see, it begins with the Y Shape idea, coupled with the 3 'musts' of the swing. Hopefully, a learning experience will 'flower' from this seed.

The Y Shape is the main idea which should be explained immediately into the first golf lesson. This is also the idea the student will be coming back to as problems may (and probably will) arise in this struggle to understand and implement the golf swing.

Once we understand each other – that is, the Y Shape relates the club to the body, do not swing down the target line, etc. – then we can begin the learning process. The Y Shape does not have to be performed perfectly at this point, just envisioned fairly.

The Position by Position Swing is now the basis for feeling the correct moves. Regardless of what I'm working on with the student, be it Swing, Plane or Square, the Position by Position Swing is practiced as the Y Shape is very holistic, meaning that by going through the moves, even with a narrow thought – say Square, the student is simultaneously practicing other important moves. I always want to work on the WORST area of a student's swing.

Advancing further in each area: again, working on the WORST part of the student's swing, I add grip, turn, balance, set-up etc, whatever 'tool' is needed to improve the aspect of the swing that is needed. 

I consider Swing, Plane and Square to be the fundamentals of the swing. Grip, posture, alignment, ball position, turn, balance etc. to be merely 'tools' to accomplish our goal. These tools will be pulled out of the toolbox as needed. 

Going further, more detail. If the student crashes at any point we go back to the beginning, mainly the Position by Position Swing.

This may be where I start with better players. Better players may be more difficult to work with as they may have some weird ideas or may be confused in parts of the swing. Through the ball is the area of the swing that gives better players fits. OK, we chip and pitch then. For the instructor problems are easier to spot; for the student changes are easier to implement, feel.

Obviously we all need to practice the short game, this is a given. 

Exercises can be thrown in anywhere along the way. 

Swing Plane

Draw a line from my neck to the ball – this is my Swing Plane. To swing 'in plane', the hands should parallel the swing plane line for the entire move. Results are a straighter shot as the path through the ball is correctly inside to inside.

I do not use a line across the shaft to indicate swing plane as it tells me nothing. Try this swing plane line on your fave player...

Starting into the Ball

Realized how important visualization is in attempting to create/change a move. I've been coming over the ball (flat shoulders) lately, hitting it on the heel etc. I also wanted to improve my extension through the ball and get more compression on the ball.

I returned to a visual I had a number of years ago and it's wonderful:

The act of the clubhead lagging behind the hands allows power to be built up from the core outwards to the clubhead. The arms stay in plane longer into the downswing, preventing wayward shots.  Solid contact is virtually assured if you lag the clubhead.

The left arm/shaft structure at the top includes a 90º angle which must be held as far into the downswing as possible. To accomplish this, picture the entire left arm/shaft structure revolving around your neck and maintain this structure to impact. That is, it feels as though the structure is held to impact (and beyond?).

You’ll gain more distance if you don’t try to accelerate the clubhead into the ball. Clubhead acceleration comes after impact. Lagging the clubhead is not a block; the clubhead must eventually drop down to the ball and the clubface must eventually rotate. 

This is not visual for the beginner, but the better – medium to low hdcp – player who wants more control, more distance, more compression. This visual really works.

MidSummer 2012

With a very hot July it's tough to work on anything. Except my head is flopping around so much – where did that come from? And my spine angle! I'd like to have an assistant to hold my head but they're unreliable and don't show up. How to hold my position through the ball?

I looked at a few swings of the greats re: holding the spine angle, how long etc and I realized how cool Billy Casper's swing really is. 

Frustration in Westlake Village

Hey, haven't posted in a loooong while. That's OK tho, because I'm not a real writer, just mimicking one.

I've moved to Malibu to hang out with my son Phil while trying to find a job here in SoCal. Seems like the last place to look for a job but I can't find anything ANYWHERE!

While looking for a job here, I sat in the parking lot of a driving range before going in to the golf shop and watched this pro trying to no avail to help a teenager with his swing. The kid wasn't allowing the clubface to rotate with the body thru the ball and was also flipping, noticeably, from the top. The 'pro' never addressed either issue, but was working on leg action, which the kid was good at anyway. Jeeez, frustrating to watch that. Doesn't anyone know basics such as clubface rotation, lead with the hips and pull the handle? [The Y Shape]

And this guy has a job.

Dial in those wedges

A short game practice range with 40, 60, 80 and 100 yd. elevated and bunkered targets, beautiful range balls, good turf to hit off, a nice day. "Aah, I can really work with my wedges today!"
For most of us, getting just the nice day to coincide with our free time for golf is all we can hope for. Most driving ranges don't have anything under 100 yds. to hit at. So how to practice the under 100 yd shot? By knowing 1/2 swing distances with your clubs.
If you know how far 1/2 swings with these clubs go, it's then easy to increase or decrease the swing to accommodate to the situation.
Say you have a 60 yd shot and you can't feel the correct distance. Pull out your 56º, make some 1/2 swings, feel the 50 yds that result from the half swing you've been practicing, then increase the swing length slightly and there you have it.
All these less-than-full swings require a way of reliably guessing the distance. By using any club's 1/2 swing distance, then adjusting to your practice swing, you'll be dialing in the correct distance in no time!

How To #1: Feel the height of a teed ball

Note my ring finger, the only one touching the ground. I use this finger as my guide to feeling height as I push the tee into the ground.

Might seem trivial but a method to measure height gives consistency to the teed ball hence, more consistently solid tee shots.