PLEASE! How/Why does this ridiculous swing work!!

[GPStyles]

Rob, if you've watched those clips, then next time you get a chance, hit a lot of angled hinge shots.

This will give you an idea of how to keep that left wrist flat at impact.

[YodasLuke]

MR FORT!!!

Great to hear from you, I feel honored, honest!!!

Can you explain what you mean by "If you don't know how to use your Right Arm, it's impossible." It would be great if you could.

Do people really "comment on the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of Hitting." I don't get it, some of the greats are hitters aren't they? I have no idea if I'm right but isn't Trevino one?

Any chance you might look at my swing vids and offer input? I ain't pretty I realise...

I don't know how many times I was told to "take my right side out of it." It was as if my right arm was supposed to be a ribbon flapping in the breeze behind as much "body turn" as I could create. I was never told that I could use my right arm. I was told to "turn and hold on." Lag was preventing the clubhead from passing instead of creating pressure through the pressure points in the hands.

But, times have changed. Hitting was an awakening for me.

Are you talking about videos that you've posted or sending videos for a lesson?

[robmurf]

I don't know how many times I was told to "take my right side out of it." It was as if my right arm was supposed to be a ribbon flapping in the breeze behind as much "body turn" as I could create. I was never told that I could use my right arm. I was told to "turn and hold on." Lag was preventing the clubhead from passing instead of creating pressure through the pressure points in the hands.

But, times have changed. Hitting was an awakening for me.

Are you talking about videos that you've posted or sending videos for a lesson?

Hi YodasLuke

Thanks again for response; yes I was referring to the video links I put in my first post in this thread or as below.

...
front as a righty...

DTL as my normal lefty

second DTL shot is after a lesson, aiming better but even though this angle doesn't show it i'm still the Mayor of Flip city!

The face-on is not great quality, not on youtube anyway. The DTL ones are better, but you really can't appreciate the true flippyness of my swing from that angle I guess, the lousy address position, weird plane and other horrors are there to see though! I'd say this one

is an accurate representation my golf swing on a good day... In other words, I seem not to be swinging too hard here, my rhythm seems ok, I don't seem to be swaying off the ball too much going back, and the ball is going pretty much where I expect it to (if NOT in line with my feet i realise!) but, as usual, not very far.

I CAN actually stand square or open, and seem to hit it not much worse, but for some reason this super closed stance is the way I've evolved, it feels a little better, and it's the way I get the least bad result.

If you want to see a better quality video of my front view swing (and not converted to right handed!) you can download it here
http://www.project900.com/vids/111.avi
it's a biggish file at 40mb, but the better quality lets you see the hands and clubhead better. I don't know much about video file types but if i convert this to a .mov or something and upload it, I lose resolution.

It is my own attempted analysis of this front end shot of myself and looking at your 'reverse pivot' video that prompted me to start this whole thread!

What I mean by that is this, I can see a lot wrong in my swing, (e.g. starting with a big sway off the ball at take away) but for me the the big thing, that seems to stand out was, although I seem to make an 'ok' weight shift back towards the target, as I swing down, my forward hip slides laterally but does not turn/move back AT ALL, until well AFTER the ball has been struck. The knock on effect is, i'm completely in my own way coming back to the ball, and what to me, doesn't seem like too bad an initial start down, becomes a horrible throw of the club, a lifting action of my trail hip and foot, and in my attempt to stay 'down' on the shot, a real contortion through the ball really lacking in power, and often striking just before the ball etc. etc.

Sorry if this reply is a bit long; BUT even if my self analysis is dead wrong, and my belief that my pivot is a huge mess, and the likely cause of my flip, when i see your 'reverse pivot' video i think JEEZ, clearly if you CAN do that, then a good pivot must have nothing to do with hitting the ball beautifully! It all must be down to those 'Edumucated Mittens' as Okie put it in the first reply to this post.

So therein lies my confusion and my frustration. Just so you know I have hit hundreds and hundreds, probably thousands, of balls in this last year or so. I have watched your vids and Yoda's many many times and i've spent many hours trying to get a FLW but not to much avail...

Driving cars fast is SOOOOO much easier!

Many thanks

Rob

[BerntR]

I'll try to respond with my layman approach. It worked really well in another thread. Several very good analysis were produced by people who know better thereafter.

I'll right this in a lefty version.

According to the first video your club catch up with your hand and gets past them right betwen your feet. That's the flip.

guote OB Left:

You said it, flip city. You're bending your left wrist through impact. So dont do that and you're fixed.

By allowing the clubhead to overtake your hands later in your swing and via a flat and rolling left wrist instead of bending one will see you return to form. Quickly.

You are letting the club outrace your hands and possibly letting the hands outrace your pivot as well. The body, hands and club are not properly synchronized. A perception of striking at the ball instead of striking through it may be a mental error here. Drag the club through the ball with your right side or drive through the ball with your left side. But don't flip it at the ball.

The low point of your swing seems to be at the ball if not before. Low point should be outside your right foot, which is way past your ball position. Lowpoint meaning the last point where you still move the club down and out. You fail to generate the club head speed you are capable of and you run out of steam long before you get to the ball. You've clearly fired you power accumulators too early.

Just to get a feel for something that is more right you could try to throw the club towards the target. With a golf stroke. Then just release the club so that it flies down the fairway. Test how long you can throw it and how straight. It is highly likely that you will get a different perception of the correct timing by doing this. Another thing that could produce a more proper feel would be to prepare your stroke for a fuller finish and follow thru. Your finish seems to be shorter than the backstroke. It should rather be the other way around. A short backstroke and a long follow thru. Or symmetry.

But going from feel to real - The flying wedges:

Your left hand should be level, bent and frozen from the very beginning and till the ball is gone. Your left elbow is allowed to bend and unbend. Your right hand shall be flat and level at address. It shall not be allowed to bend and arch at all before the club has reached low point, but remain flat at all times. But it is allowed to cock and uncock.

This means that the left forearm and the club will be one rigid unit without any moving parts. And the angle between left and right forearm will be constant so the two forearms will be quite rigid to. Does it feel flimsy and flexible? No. Does it feel heavy and solid? Yes. Will it feel natural to perform a stroke with the wedges intact? Probably no because the rest of your stroke isn't ready for it yet. You will have to adjust the body and arms components to get to the right position at the top of the backstroke and avoid the flipping at impact. A flip-alike thing will however happen past low point but then it's ok.

The flying wedges will impose certain reqairements and restrictions on your stroke. And they will be highly productive. They will dictate your body to align the pressure ponts 1, 2 & 3 more in accordance with an uncompensated stroke. You will have to adjust the timing and the rhythm, and possible the pivot itself and the arms movement to get it all together. The wedges shall remain undisturbed until the ball is gone. My guess is that you will have to drive your pivot a few degrees further through and have more open shoulders before impact. And that you will be forced to wait out a little with the arms in the down stroke compared to what you are used to.

The flying wedges are a good point of reference for getting things right. They will remove certain degrees of freedom that can only ruin your stroke. So you can use them to enforce a better stroke pattern overall. And when you get it right you can strike the ball as hard as you wish.

Start with the little strokes. Then proceed with easy pitches. And when you start getting things together you can increase the length of the back stroke.

In the first video you posted you are doing a full stroke waggle, by starting at the ball. You could do the same with the flying wedges implemented and the frozen left wrist. But instead of starting at the ball you should bring it forward and start outside your right foot - at low point. You will need to do this above the ground and bring the club back above the ball of course. But it will give you a good indication of how your pivot and arms need to work through impact.

The flying wedges doesn't fix all stroke problems. For instance it is still possible to mix hitting and swinging in a very counter productive way. But the flying wedges are corner stones in a golfing machine and a safe path to lasting progress. That's why there is a lot of info about them at this forum.

[robmurf]

WOW! Bernt man, I'm not sure I understand what the heck you just wrote but i really appreciate you taking the time to do it!

A LOT of what you have written rings true though, so I'm going to re-read it a few times and work it out!

Thanks for the input, very much appreciated.

Rob