Swing Plane

The Grip, with Exercises

Keep swinging the club all winter. Work on your grip and your swing the EZ way. Get in touch with the clubhead. Moving the clubhead with the hands sets up the entire swing, just add body action and you've got it. Be ready for 2013!!

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. 

Putting Grip Awareness

As winter has made its arrival in Minnesota, and my move to a warmer climate has been postponed, I've been practicing and experimenting with the putter on the living room rug, 30 - 45 minutes a day, is all, to keep the touch.

I've been putting crosshanded for 30+ years and I'm comfortable with the left hand low style. There have been good and bad putting days, of course, but overall I'm satisfied and would never use right hand low again. The yips that preceded the left hand low change over im-mediately disappeared and are 99% gone to this day. Other than reversing the hands vertically on the shaft, grip positions are exactly like my standard right hand low grip style of years earlier. 

The left hand grip position on the set of 2 pictures on the left is a replica of my right hand low days. The shaft is tucked under the heel pad ensuring the last three fingers kept a firm left side ahead of the right coming into the ball. For me my right hand was becoming too active and the left hand weaker. Other pros kept telling me to "...firm it up, grip harder with the last three fingers". But this was awkward. 

So I changed to left hand low but kept the old left hand grip.

30+ years ago.

I recently remembered advice I had heard or read somewhere years ago that the shaft should embed in the lifeline thereby aligning the shaft more inline with the forearm (right). A couple putts was all I needed to feel Square and Path like never before. Balls are struck more solidly and the sound of solid contact is great! And it seems very repeatable, simple; the club is literally locked in. And I don't get the feeling that I have to watch the club so much during the stroke. 

This is a huge change.

My putter: RayCook M1-X

Phil

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.

First Post

I just feel like recording golf stuff – teaching ideas, teaching experiences, ideas gleaned from good players – anything that maybe others, like you, would enjoy. Random. Random...

How about you and your golf game? If you've been to http://theyshape.com let me know what you think of my site.

Playing today, talking about great swings: How about Gene Littler's move? Classic! There's only one vid on youtube, not great angles but at least it's something: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXCHxUPEaUI