I took a broom and cut it to the length of a driver put several wraps of tape on the end of the handle and applied grip tap. I did the perpetual motion drill and the only way I could swing faster on the down swing was to push off the ground with my left leg (right hand golfer) and it felt like a natural move nothing forced. This was a wow moment for me.
How wonderfully resourceful you are! Love it!! Great minds think alike!😀😎
Hope many of you struggling with this read this post; I will be making my broom soon! Shawn
Shawn, I’m struggling with hitting my 3 wood and hybrid both off the deck and off the tee. I will toe hook, top or thin it or hit it solidly, but it will be an unplayable block. I’m attributing all this to ball position, but I am keeping the club head in the center of my stance, ball just forward of that. On the range, if I hook it or top it, I move the ball slightly back. However, once I move the ball back I block it. I’m using my intermediate target and swinging over it with both fade and draw set up. I’m at a loss for what to do, and would really appreciate your help.
Time to send in some video!
Down the line and face on please; with both!
Remember that contact and direction is a centering problem!! See “contact and direction shawn clement” on youtube and see the “bolted and centred” video on premium!
Shawn
Aha! The ‘glutes and quads’ part at the end with the driver is money in the bank! From another video you always asked if the trail foot should be down or up at impact (down) but i could never figure out how until this video – if you bypass the ‘glutes and quads’ part of the chain and just rotate your hips open from the top – there is no way to keep your trail foot down at impact…. ah!!!
Hey Shawn. Nice video. I am a right handed golfer and only right handed. I do not fling a Frisbee with my left hand. Should I feel that my left is controlling the swing towards the target or pushing from my right? Thanks Peter
Hi Peter! You would be throwing the frisbee with your right hand like a forehand in tennis; of hammering a nail into a door frame with the right hand or skipping a stone on water. When you place both hands on the club, you are now getting ready to throw the club with both sides in the direction you want to start the ball.
Fred Couples just said on Feherty that when he played his best, he always hit into a complete picture of the shot. It was like your words in his voice. Couples was never mechanical at all. Another confirmation of your system in prime time. And it not only applies to beginners but also at the elite level.
Speaking of kinetic chain, I was swinging the speed stick and noticed something. If I swing it using a backward slash motion I can make it click at a much higher level than my regular swing. This was true no matter how much force I put into my normal swing. The backward slash seems to foster a slightly different orientation of my body on the backswing. That is not a coincidence is it?
That was a good show wasn’t it? I have recorded that and will be watching the rest of it hopefully this week; a couple of others had mentioned it and it is music to my ears for sure!
As for the Speed stick, many of my students who were used to swinging AT THE BALL get a better snap release into the backswing because they are not programmed to HIT AT anything; so everything is left alone and the release happens beautifully! This is why the PMD (perpetual motion drill) is sooo good because it shows you how one side releases properly and then all you need to do is mirror this towards the target!
True that on the PMD and sorry for the confusion. I was actually picturing a ‘backward slash of the sword’ through the hitting zone on the down swing. Meaning that the left elbow points to the target and leads the ACU through the ball area. This also forces the right arm to default to the ‘football delivery position’. That post impact thought created much more club head speed and a ‘click’ that occurred past the ball. Seemingly desirable results. I found all this out accidentally.
The next step is to translate this to a swing with an actual club. My analytical side is finding it hard to believe (trust) that the club face will square on time. I hope I am not headed to shank city trying to get more speed. Thoughts? Stick with it?
This sounds very good; and what you will find is that it is very difficult if not impossible to shank from there as the extension will occur past the point of impact instead of AT the point of impact. Don’t you feel a nicer clearing of the body to make room for the loaded ACU?
What will be left to do is apply a nice full prediction process to this action you are discovering and about to polish; when the brain says hey, if I feel this in that direction, the ball will do what I want it to do in the air! And then the good stuff happens…😎😀
Shawn–the classic step drill indeed has helped me tremendously. During the downswing, I feel my left lat leading my gravity-falling left arm. And, I feel the clubhead (the sword) on my right side. My question- I still need help in keeping the right arm bent so the sword can get through cut. Can you give me a swing thought for turning my right hip or body help the right arm stay bent? I do struggle with early extension.
Just saw this post; sorry for the delay!
Have you ever thrown the club before? See the “club speed” video on premium and “throwing the club shawn clement” video on youtube; film yourself both face on and down the line and see if you are early extending!
A good video to watch as an opener, see “head position and lag shawn clement” and practice throwing with the trail hand first for safety!
Hey Shawn, absolutely ecstatic to have stumbled across you and your channel! I’ve learned (and unlearned) so much is just a few days. Quick question (of what I’m sure will be the first of many ;)), during my perpetual motion drills, my path tends to “figure 8” as it goes back in forth. What is causing this and what do I need to focus on to keep it on target? Keep up the great work, my friend!!
Right on Lee! Welcome my friend!
This happens often and it is simply a product of the centre of your arm swing moving around; when you do PMD feet together, you will see a much more streamlined action; remember the task of what PMD is: you are cutting grass in each direction in the direction of a specific target or intermediate point, so make sure you have a spot in front of where you are swinging from that would represent an intermediate point and let tht be your north star!
Shawn
Brilliant Shawn and Matt! This should help enormously as well as helping our Junior section who struggle very much in this area of learning. (Can only be the teachers’ fault!) Looking forward now to just missing the greens! Regards Ian
Loved the videos I find them great and tell everybody even the pros at the golf course hope they are joining up and my game is improving out of sight and as soon as lose that picture in my mind I lose the shot and find a tree ha ha
Cheers and thank you.
So happy I found your website. In one (or more) of your videos, you taught us that the human brain is built for adaptation, not for repetition. Can one conclude from this thas all the rubbish we learned in the past regarding “positions of the body parts” and all the endless and faulty practice repetitions easily can be forgotten? In fact, unlearning isn’t necessary?
Thanks
Hans from the Netherlands
CORRECT!!!! YOU ARE FREE!!!! 😀👍😀👍
We are amazing machines and we are so far from being defective! It is all about the focus and the task you hold in the mind during the shot; and to know that you cannot ever repeat the same way is so great to grasp!!
Enjoy your freedom and rest assured, you can forget about “MAKING SURE” you hit your positions or else…disaster; this is a “FEAR MONGERING TECHNIQUE” to scare you into something…
Only been playing 7-8 months. Your videos have really helped me with my irons. Occasionally I still have some issues staying centered… sliding instead of turning. My driver is another story. I can’t seem to get a decent launch angle. Playing the ball just inside my lead foot and I get 0-4° LA. Move it to just off my big toe and I top it. Think I hit the ball with the sole once or twice. Any ball that gets off the ground has a huge slice to it. I half expect it to come right back around like a boomerang. Tried a crazy closed face… the face would point at the ground if I stood upright with the club out in front of me and I still slice it. Tee height is about 2.5 inches. I tend to favor a nuetral
to strong grip due a bad broken wrist when I was young that now makes anything weaker uncomfortable after a few swings. Release “feels” like its towards the target. Should I use a taller tee? Tried once or twice and the ball didn’t go anywhere… I hit all tee. Fairway woods off tee slice also off the deck though and I can get small draws. As is I don’t even pull the driver out of the bag when playing a round. Throwing a lot out there but any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks
No worries! It took me 3 years into my golf to start BENEFITTING from a driver; I used a 4 wood everywhere and became really good with it; the key is the skipping off the deck and becoming really good with that first; and when you tee up the fairway wood, you tee it very low and still focus on skipping along the ground with the sole of the club!
Then get a 10.5 degree driver and tee it low and play it like a 4 wood off the deck. Always focus on how the wide sole will skip along the ground as you whip it towards the target. Master that and then you can get to higher tees and play with the launch and spin to optimize the driver.
Shawn
Ok, so I shouldn’t worry too much about the driver right now till I get better with the fairways off the deck. What are your thoughts on the draw settings with adjustable fairways for a beginner? My thought process has been to leave them in the neutral position while I develop my swing. Thought adding too much draw bias would mask manipulations I might be adding to the natural club path.
hi Shawn.Each video help us to built and feel the right swing…finally to .throw the club head to the target(in the mind) is the goldilocks of the goldilocks…it’s so easy to forget that and to swing to the ball..thank you Shawn there has been swing before …and with you ….with so great pleasure with .dr jjl
Really cool stuff Shawn. I often forget about the deflection feel when it comes to my woods.
Like the way you stare down the back of the ball with your left eye and then just turn your shoulders around your head. A little pause and then whamo! Slash the sword with the intent of skipping the club off the turf while again keeping your head in the same position and rotating your shoulders back around.
Hi Mark! Thank you for the great comment!
That stare is the brain locked into the task and the feel of the task and in the stare is the resolve to complete the task with ease both mentally and physically.
The glyde around the head is the result of practice with mile markers; remember the “toss vs place” video on youtube? That is when the mile markers came-being able to confirm that the takeaway-top of backswing and sling through were attached to the target.
When I think back on how all this developed, it really is astonishing. What a great journey we are on right now; teaching and playing are so much fun!
Hey Shawn, thanks once again for fantastic tuition.
My draws are becoming a little too exaggerated and I’m struggling to shape the fade. Is that a grip strength thing or a swing plane thing, do you think? I went through a great period just a few weeks ago and these days everything just seems too big to control.
Ok, great question!
First, confirm that your release is through and not at the ball; did you feel the arms get pulled to the target;
Second, does the backswing fit; see “mile markers for direction” or on youtube, see “does your backswing match your target”; if your backswing is too across the line or a little collapsed, you will get loose.
Third-Then check grip.
Shawn
Thanks Shawn, makes sense. I think you’re on the money with number 1. I’m still struggling a little with my right hand being a little over active during impact, it’s just how I used to think about it before; that I had to flip over at impact to time that compression… So glad I found your channel on YouTube that led me here!
Interestingly, something clicked just last night regarding keeping that right elbow closer to the body on the downswing… Feeling a little “cramped”. I felt such a better sensation of whip and my hands calmed down too. I think the pieces are starting to come together. I’ll get there eventually!
You bet! For the elbow, grab a household hammer and get into a door frame; pretend you are hammering a nail just above knee height, horizontally through the door frame; feel the position of the right arm as you do that; then put both hands on the hammer and do the same thing. You now have the feel and look of the downswing through the ball without thinking about the elbow!
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