Shawn, I sent in a video several weeks ago for you to review. In your critique you mentioned no hip turn and my knee points straight out. I’ve tried very hard to make my knee go inward on the back swing. To do this I have to force my knee inward. It won’t go in naturally. Can you give me help on this so I can get hip rotation? Thanks

Great drill, gives me a much better turn and levitation at the top. I’m combining it with your new favorite drill. After confirming the task at the top I drop the club down as in the favorite drill then back up and through to the target. My shots are more solid with much better compression. What is the best approach to ingrain the new feel. 2 or 3 reps of the drill and then a normal shot and just keep repeating?

Hey Shawn, I’ve been going back to the grass cutting task as my go to task but I don’t really feel that position of collecting and releasing like in this video. How can I get that feel while still using the grass cutting as my task?

It’s interesting, in that ‘pre-deploy’ or ‘acid test’ position, it feels like I would have to smother the ball or smash it into the ground in order to ‘hit’ the ball….which, I think is EXACTLY what is wrong with my brain. It is so easy for me to get focused on hitting the ball and everything bad that comes with that thought. Now, I’ll say, this is most pronounced with the driver. I feel like with my other clubs, I have gotten myself to a spot where I am focused on throwing and sending the ball to the target and am hitting the ball better than I ever have.

So, what other videos can I look at to really drive this home for me with a driver vs. say even a fairway wood? I routinely hit my 4 wood 250 carry, can fade or draw it on command thinking about sending the ball to the target. However, driver…I just feel like my brain is wired incorrectly. Do I just keep at it with this drill?

Hi Shawn,
I just had a reverse shoulder replacement 2 1/2 months ago and the surgeon said I could play golf now. Today I played and Henson drill my shots that looked consistent and beautiful.
I don’t get any distance like I use too shoot but I am happy I am out on the course.

This drill is awesome.

thanks
long time student George.

ps I hurt my shoulder by falling spread eagle on a raised side walk. Ugh

I get a little mixed up with feelings of what I’m sending to the target. Am I sending my hands, the shaft or the clubhead to the target in my acid test?

Also, what would be great to combine with this drill, is the extremes. Like you have always taught us, the human brain learns faster when given extremes. So acid test with extreme closed face and the swing. Then same with extreme open face and swing. And then find the happy medium. Same with the trajectories. High, low, middle.

Hi, Shawn. I’ve watched a few of the release videos. For me, I first noticed the “club releasing me” with a 3 wood at the range — it came as a bit of surprise at the time — I suppose that clubhead just heavy enough to get the wrists to flip over without me thinking about it.

I don’t think I am consciously aware of that kind of release with irons or (funnily enough) driver — maybe the driver head a little too heavy and therefore slower to come around like the 3 wood head. (I use a Swing Caddie, so I get the idea of releasing beyond the ball. And clearly the release applies to all full swings with all clubs.)

My question: how conscious should one be of the wrist release in a regular swing? (In practice, we might want to focus on a given feature, but usually not in a “for real” swing.) Right now, I find that if I want to draw my 3 wood, it really helps to be aware of / have part of my focus be on the wrist release. And yesterday, with driver, (power?) fade setup, putting on a conscious wrist release to that stroke turned the result into a draw shape (tho all to left). But being so conscious of this one part of a swing seems to be flirting with manipulation, which of course is not part of WIG approach. Thanks.

1- Got it…throw the whole club. And the release? out to the target also then? Do you release more down into the ground for irons and more up into the air for driver?
2- yes, Goldie locks is so amazing. It’s helped me get an awareness of my clubface like no other method. and it’s terrific for putting pace. it’s so accurate. I look like a genius on the greens when I remember to goldilocks the pace.

I think you said that Sav is hitting a seven iron? Shawn hitting a nine iron? What was Mu hitting??

How should a mid handicapper like myself play this hole? The right side of the hole and short right are safe. My preferred shot would be to aim right side of the green with a draw. If I could only fade it would be aim center. Just wondering if you would consider discussing course management dependent on handicap level on your future videos.

Love the pre-deployment.

Hello Mr. Shawn, I love all the videos that you have put out and I’m a member of this website. Is there a way to show the ball flight? I think if I can mimic the swings and follow the swing/ball flight, I can understand more if this makes sense.

I will try this drill. I like the teaching generally, but I note of late that it is getting more and more complicated, especially for a senior golfer of moderate athletic ability. Dicta to get out of the way and swing the club with the legs to the target, ignoring the ball, are now encumbered (in my view) with more and more variations. Perhaps fine for young and skillful athletes, but the emphasis has not worked for me. Now I have to worry about the grip and path and various ball positions. For me, this new stuff evokes manipulations that frankly ruin the swing. I do better forgetting about variations on the grip and ball path and ball position and just do the basic swing – good set up and grip, get out of the way, let it fall, use your legs, throw the club towards the target, not the ball. Most of the time I hit a fade with this. Does it matter? I practice a bit before playing and note the fade and then play with this pattern, or the pattern that emerges. Is this heresy??

Hi, Shawn. I put this question here to ask about relationship to grip as it affects (or not?) swing path. (When I saw this first video on grip about a month ago, I found the change gave me an extra full club length throughout the bag. Fantastic!)

Driver at the range yesterday. Particularly with driver, I find an ingrained swing pattern, even with different amounts of closed club face, that ends many times in a slice, and regardless of set up, with conscious intention, for fade / neutral / draw. (Which is frustrating, and one gets lonely for the left side of a fairway!) I get that WIG is definitely not about body position.

But had this experience: After a while, I found that by slightly rotating my lead forearm (left side) so that the point of elbow was pointing more towards ground (from unconsciously / naturally for me, more toward target — perhaps artifact from baseball bat swing setup?), shots straightened out immediately, with consistency. (I’m sure I’ve read articles about this — inner joints of elbows facing to sky, that sort of thing. Perhaps in Hogan’s 5 Lessons, and that arms bound together image.)

And then I noticed that the “elbow pointing more down” condition could be accomplished either by keeping my strong-ish grip (3 knuckles) and only rotating the forearm or by shifting to a weaker grip (which affects the whole arm). In the Snap Release Polish – Wow video, at one point you suggest that Sav weaken her grip slightly in face of a too strong draw. Which I mention in case there’s a relation. I have tried a more neutral grip at times, but, as with most of your students, find that doesn’t work too well. Swinging more elbow-down feels strange, but maybe that’s just because different than what I’m used to.

I’ll continue to experiment, but wondered if you had any guidance about what might / might not be happening.

I come at the golf swing (in early 60s) from movement patterns of baseball and tennis from childhood / teen years (in tennis: solid backhand, but wild forehand). Kinetic chain, no problem. And sometimes I lock into consistent straight fades with driver (before yesterday, without thought about elbows). But then it’s gone the next day, and takes many shot attempts to find again. Thank you.

Shawn, if I’m at a point where I’m over hooking everything, do I first look at how much I am closing my club face?

Been experimenting with that as well as my takeaway to see what I can do but I’m having a hard time keeping my shots on the planet. I feel if I don’t close it enough it moves way too far right