Super info! When setting up into the braced tilt and we no longer want to pre-turn I am having trouble as I brace and tilt I still seem to still get closed as in the pre-turn. Do I need to brace more left a bit? I have a little bit of trouble rotating through the swing.

Hi Shawn,

I am new member. I have been playing for over 20 years (12 HCL) and have gone through several swing changes. For the past several years, I have been working through Clay Ballard’s method where he teaches forearm rotation in the backswing, the right palm pointing to the sky, a bowed wrist at the top, a tucked elbow coming down. This will produced a very laid off club just before the downswing. Clay’s method seams to work as long as there is rotation to square the face. However, I was never able to master all the movements. And I very inconsistent with direction and power. Hence, I am here.

I seems your swing is very steep and not shallow at all. Is this by design? I have seen various pro swings (via V1 Golf) were it appears (on the down swing) that the shaft is parallel with the forearm. According to Clay, this is the ideal position. I am not seeing that in your swing. Please explain.

Hi Shawn, I’ve been struggling with my grip for years. My coach says it’s fine but the club always wiggled in my hand. I’d also wear a hole in my golf glove in a couple rounds. Also I always had lead thumb pain if I release the club aggressively.

I checked out the video and realized I play with my lead thumb off to the side of the grip instead of on top. I was able to fix that and get the club more in my fingers; however, I’ve noticed that I feel a LOT of tension in my thumb pad joint (palm side of the snuff box). And after a few of those perpetual swings I start to feel pain/fatigue in that part of my hand. I play with jumbo grips and thought that might be the problem but I even feel it with standard grips. I’ve also experimented with a short vs long lead hand thumb. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.

Shawn,
As I watched Shav hit the ball left with the face open for the fade and then the amount of face she had overly closed for the draw I could see the contrast. Then when she hit her normal shot I couldn’t tell how much she had her face closed for her normal shot which I assume is a draw. In the next video can you have her show how much she has it closed in relationship to the face being neutral.
Thanks,
I think I am finally getting it.
Mike

Great video.

Hi Shawn–this is not about the grip, but a question on the video about how to use the site. I couldn’t find a place to comment there. Your work is…excellent–I don’t have enough time to write enough flowery comments right now–but imagine I did, and will later. Here is the question–when you say “find a proper task” I interpret that as meaning find whatever task does the best job for you as an individual in getting you to think about and “feel” the golf swing in the correct way that produces the best results for you. Is that accurate. BTW–just bought a grass whip, I can use one, and looked like a good practice aid!

I can’t tell you how important practicing with “extremes” is. Shawn, you started me on this path years ago, and it’s the single most important thing that hastens my improvement. It enhances awareness of the clubface, of the grip, setup and alignment, and swing mechanics. Every aspect of learning the golf swing can be improved upon and in a shorter period of time using “extremes” (aka “goldilocks”).

Training the brain to “predict” is one of the most underrated topics in golf in my opinion. Through this process I can now slice, push, pull, hook, top, skull, fat, thin, and, yes, even shank, a ball at will. Of course, though this process I can now make the necessary adjustments to hit the correct trajectory as well. And that’s where that flight plan is soooo important. Giving your brain the flight plan helps it to make a prediction much faster and more accurately. The brain compares the flight plan to the reality of the setup and predicts an outcome. Without the flight plan, the prediction works but not nearly as sharply and nor as immediate. But, as this lesson shows, you also have to have those other “feels” in your database to compare against. Those missed feels are so important to the process of predicting.

Thanks again, Shawn, Sav and Mu for another terrific lesson. Keep peeling that onion and talking about the things that others don’t. Cheers!

I agree with Mark. Goldilocks is a key element in refining the golf swing. Recently the driver has been hitting design draws but sometimes too far left. Ball too far forward. Ball position coming back a tad corrects and nice momentum compression with low effort. With the irons ball too far back produces fat shots- reaching back and ‘ hanging back’ or skulls. Thanks for these sessions.

Instinctively, I’ve known that torquing the body to get power(distance) didn’t make sense. But I kept trying, thinking something was wrong with me.

After watching a number of your videos where you threw the golf ball right with the left hand and left with the right—getting the body out of the way so the arms could swing freely—the light went on. What a difference it makes “tossing” the club on the backswing then on the down/forward swing and naturally turning to keep he arms from hitting the rib cage n both directions. The path HAS to be straight, and the clubhead whips through the hitting area, like it’s soft butter, with so little effort and so much speed and power. THANK YOU!!!!!!

Please come to Arizona to give a clinic during your course snowbound days this winter. Your body will thank you.

Brilliant insight behind your Wisdom in Golf approach. Wonderful content. It has made the game much, much more fun, and my handicap is dropping. Often when I do miss a shot, I’ve lost my intermediate point. I don’t play the most lush courses, but often there are no weeds, blemishes, etc. within 2-3 feet in front of the ball. I try to maintain focus on a spot or indistinguishable blade of grass, but apparently my orientation shifts. It is an even larger issue for long putts when I use the intermediate point to line up but then lose it when looking at the flag/hole to confirm distance. Any tips for finding / keeping an intermediate point when no landmarks are present? Keep up the great work. Thanks.

Hi Shawn, I have started putting about 60 to 65% weight on the front (left) leg at the address. Then during the backswing, I get to 50-50 weight distribution, and then at impact, my weight is again mainly on the front leg. Is that acceptable? I feel impact is better, but there is some fade, which is likely due to a different reason.

Hi Shawn,
I caught that with Mu’s first utlra closed face swing. He essentially re-gripped the club. I’ve seen that video somewhere….. 😉 A habit that I had to break also, negating my closed face. Fantastic video. I’ve embraced the “closed face” lifestyle.
Scott

suggestion

good content thanks. i have been following the videos in sequence and you refer to target, intermediate point, play a fade, or draw. my issue is, at this pint you dont cover these topics and there maybe a missing piece of the puzzle of instruction.

you need something to tie them together.

Thank you

Hi Shawn,I follow your model of hunter with a high powered riffle during my stance with weight shifting on the back foot during back swing and then coming forward again at impact. Should I just follow the hunter model here too with the driver?

I have been doing your grip with the club more in the fingers lead hand and heal pad above the grip. Lately my pinky finger deals like it’s taking too much strain and deals sore or almost strained. Any thoughts, is the club too much in the fingers and the club should be more in contact with the heal pad. Can’t keep doing what I am doing. Glove size XL cadet for reference.
Thanks Shaun