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!
Shawn, I noticed that on your long shots you head backs away from the ball line about 4-5″ on the backswing and then stays on that plane throughout the rest of the swing. You have been doing this a long time. I assume that it is just your body saying “This is what we have to do to deliver that object to a target.” It seems unique to you, yet you get amazing distance with little effort. I gave it a try and found that the ball just melted on the club face (when I didn’t top it). What is going on? Is it simply the further you are out on a radius the faster you go? Forget about it and just deliver to a target?
Hey Jon!
You mean the up and down part? My head may turn a little extra in the backswing too but yes; I am locked into my task and my system is doing what it needs to do to keep me in the task. You should see Francesco Molinari rehearsing his practice swings now; backswing up, letting the heel come up, HUGE SQUAT DOWN, throw to target. Then hits a couple shots to his target.
We are so wired for success here, so you can go ahead and perform this in the practice swing, get the feel of that kinetic chain (see the kinetic chain series right here in premium) and when you get to the ball, you think ok, I am going to use that throw to that direction and when I do, it feels like the low point of my swing is in place to collect the ball solidly, the grip and face feels like it will collect and release on target with the curvature I need and the ball position is also perfect for the shot and I am low enough to stay through 2 balls or 2 tees on the way.
The backswing simply reacts to this command; don’t think about what body part you are going to place back there; you can go slowly enough to confirm that the backswing will allow you to whip effortlessly in the direction you want to send the ball though; once confirmed, it’s oh yeah, that snap that way!
Do we want to feel the thump on the turf for hybrids as well, or would that depend on their head design? Some hybrids seem more wood like and others more iron like.
Yes, exactly! Some are good for thumping and some have a bottom that is too curved and dig a bit too much (not a fan of those)
However, staying along the ground towards the target is what you want to do!
Shawn
Hi Shawn, can you clarify something for me? What should be my focus when i set up to the ball? Should it be the feel of the release of a certain task that i pick to the intermediate point? How can i focus on mile markers in the backswing and still be focused on the feel of the release through the intermediate point?
Either one is fine as long as you are able to switch to the release through and all the way to finish after confirming mile marker of top of backswing;
If thinking of the backswing has you defaulting to the ball, then no deal.
Hey Gordon! Don’t get caught up with how many degrees; you must organise the set up to match the picture you are sending the ball into; go into the set up only after you have picked the flight;
Shawn
Hi Kevin! Both! They are all interconnected;
Just keep coming back to how you are going to deliver the action in the direction you want to start the ball; the brain will always use the best option when you have clear references.
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