Shawn, what a great video! I’ve always had problems with the weight shift. In using my kettle bell, I realized how this drill almost forces me to drop the weight down and to stay under my shoulders, which keeps my right shoulder in place instead of over the top. I notice that to ignite the kinetic chain, you appear to stay centered over the ball. Is this correct? Lastly, I am tall with long legs but very thin feet, which makes it harder to land on my left heel when the weight shifts. Any recommendation?
Hey Gene! You and your feet are not defective! 😝😝
you simply have not locked in on the feel yet; please see an all important series called the “kinetic chain facilitation series” and the “stick your finish despite the ball series”
Glad I found this video, I was getting caught up in hip rotation, trying to intentionally move hips first in the transition, resulting in very hit and miss shots. This video is great, humorous and brings me back to the natural process of letting the body work as intended. Thank you Shawn.
My take on this Shawn, after all the years and videos and lessons with you, is that my attempts at max effort and control are indeed swing disrupters. To counter this I have to manage my thoughts. Am i convinced that this club is cutting through the dandelion stem with a nice intact kinetic chain with a snap release “out there” , instinctively creating a head tilt and out of the way swing, or is the ball the target to be struck in a calculated semi rigid attack?
My aha moments come when this process is freed up , and not being perfect, the result will be what it will be. Mostly quite acceptable and fitting the task i have set.
Shawn, In all your videos your head position makes it look like your eyes are focused well behind the ball, but you say you’re looking at the ball. Can you help me better understand the head position and the eye direction?
Thanks!
Usually if i am stopping my backswing, my brain tends to try to know where are my arms positionned in my backswing. And then the swing results in loosing focus and poor contacts.
When I think of the tasks like cutting grass or hammer a nail, my brain will automatically try to know where my arms are positionned in the backswing and usually the result is no good. Whereas, when I don’t think of my backswing I increase my chance at least by 2 to have a better contacts. Point is I don’t really know how to keep my brain/mind busy during the backswing so that I don’t have to think of the position of my body parts. I’ve tried to mentally draw a static blade (the blade of the grass whip) just before the ball for exemple.
So Can you tell exactly what are you thinking during the swing, especially during the backswing?
You often hear me verbalise out loud what I am doing in the videos; that is exactly what I am doing and you notice how the chain of thought always comes back to TASK OUT THERE? So, it the task is throw the club with a solid dose of momentum with the prediction that the blades of grass in front of the ball will get swept over the intermediate point, I am already feeling this momentum leading me into the throw in that direction and I let my backswing REACT TO THIS. Let your brain take care of the backswing in response to this focus.
The time to focus on having enough backswing is in the practice swings where there you can make sure you get enough backswing to get a big dose of momentum to get a big whoosh through to the target with ease. The brain will then eventually get 2+2 and give you what you need in the shot itself when you focus on paragraph 1.
I can understand now that having good contacts is more brain exercices rather than technique. Based on your videos and answers, I think that the brain should focus on a combination of a feeling and image. I did this exercise lastly: doing chip shots with an intermediate point and try to see the sledge hammer hitting the intermediate point. Then I realize my backswing was starting in reference of that intermediate point, and also that my backswing needed less energy to be done. I had some quite good contacts (not the crisp contact that I am looking for yet but I think I have some progress). Some of the shots where taking divots before the ball, I don’t know really why. I am trying different position of the intermediate point. Is it right to hit the intermediate point (maybe the intermediate point is to far to be hitten)?
I remembered also some peace of advice on one video that Savy told to Mo: “you need to feel that you’re already in motion”. So I think It may faciltate my backswing and the dose of momentum.
Having my eyes near the ball and think about someting that is after the ball is quite difficult. So I also try to have my eyes like10cm before the ball.
Just 2 cm in front of the ball is fine; 10 is too much! Ball position is the issue with so many golfers when it comes to chipping; make sure you see the “chipping” video. It is very complete!
When i try sledge hammer task for chipping my wedge is laying on the tip at adress and the toe is in the air. Is this normal? In fact i am suppose to carry a very heavy object so my swing plane is very much vertical so is my arm club unit very vertical oriented.
Seb
Hello Shawn,
I have been very inconsistent in efforts to hit a consistent fade, with often times getting:
1-double cross and ball goes left (right handed golfer) with a slight draw…
2- or a straight ball to the left of target even after using a slightly “weaker” strong grip …
3- or an uncompressed weak over fade/weak slice with a too weak grip.
I have a good intermediate point and my swing path is slightly to the left of it after watching the blur. If I am understanding this video correctly I should actually be predicting myself or feeling a slightly later full release….later than a draw.? I have not been doing that….
I have no problem drawing the ball, it is my fade that causes problems on left to right required shots…
The fade release is later as the ball position is farther forward and the alignment is left of target; so you will naturally release later and that is all it takes; stay with it! A great task for the fade is to let momentum saw the stem of the dandelion from heel to toe.
The other day; I have managed to feel the lag for chipping and contacts were good. Unfortunately I am unable to maintain that consistency and my poor contacts are welcome back again. My point is I really let my arms in front of me falling and feel the weight from my shoulders and I try to make the swing without controlling my arms but still it doesn’t work. I don’t know what to explore cause I have made thousands of tests :D. I know I have to feel a dynamic motion at adress. I don’t know wich position I have to take to feel that the low point is in front of the ball. I often feel at adress like my prediction will lead the club at the ball instead of front of the ball and also I have difficulties to feel the target in my back.
Seb; make it simple: place a door frame in front of you and practice letting the arm-club unit fall into the ball against the frame and the ball should pop up (use a LW or SW) nothing else.
Hey Shawn,
Thanks for your last message 🙂
I’ve been trying door frame task and had a really good suprise during the session. i was able to do lots of different kind of shots including lob shots and had good fun 🙂 Contacts are very decent.
I think I now understand where comes from the lag in the wisdom golf swing: coming and starting from the lead foot that is removing the body to let the arm club unit go. I feel like the club face is giving a slap to the ball during the door frame task.
I tried door frame also for long iron shots, it didn’t work as well as for chipping. I think this is because I have to find a way to get the feeling of heaviness in the downswing that leads the club automatically to the ball(do you have a specific exercise for this?). However this task is very helping my golf at this time.
Thanks 🙂
Seb
There are so many times I cannot express my gratitude to you (now you guys) for reinforcing the idea that we can play effortless, relaxed golf and continue to send the ball down the paddock way better than most of my friends!
How many Tubers have told me I need to put the ball forward in my stance, keep still, focus on the ball until they see WIG in motion and realise our swing is a dynamic movement not a series of bus stops getting in the way!
Yep I am biased – even when somebody says “Hey, I have a new swing thought” – for maybe 20 years now Shawn me too – Outa the way …
When I do the club throwing drills, my form looks great AND I can throw the club at my target. But when I watch the club throw in slow motion, I can see that the club face is wide open through where the impact area would be.
Do you have any advice as to that AND also how to incorporate this into an actual swing b/c for me I cannot get the same feel/look/form when I am actually hitting a ball.
Haha, there we go! See the first video in the “consistency series” and then see “important grip update” video. Then use “ goldie locks series”and close the face to 90 degrees if you need to to get the ball to curve to the left and FEEL THAT. Then adjust the grip and club face until you see the ball flight you want. If the ball still does not turn left; IT IS THE RELEASE and the latest “release update” and “snap release polish” videos are in order!
Hey Shawn, watching this based on the swing analysis you did for me. You said I was losing my tilt at the top of the backswing. I’ve been try to get more behind the ball and keep tilted into the top of the backswing but its seems now I am hitting really weak fades and shanks with this type of setup. Maybe I’m getting too behind the ball or over tilting? Any thoughts?
Newby here….why don’t we want the intermediary point to be “straight” every time? Why left edge, right edge? I can imagine dog leg left and right where we need the ball to fly left or right (fade/draw), but I’m always trying for “straight to the pin”. Please direct me to the training that’s going to teach me this right edge/left edge. Much to learn here, and I thank you in advance for your reply.
Hello Gary! A straight ball happens less than 1% of the time; it is either a fade or a draw so it’s important to choose and practicing both will balance the swing very nicely; see “fade fine tuning” and “draw fine tuning” and have a couple of fun sessions on the range delivering and experimenting with both. Next you want to apply a nice task to that; either cut grass in the direction you want to start the ball; throw into a nice release in that direction; squeeze the ball through a door frame in that direction etc; so see all the “task” videos to choose the one that resonates better for you and then get back to us and tell us which direction you struggle with after some practice,
I have a deeply ingrained habit of flipping the trail hand to square the club, so when I try this grip ball goes left left left (playing righthanded). Do you recommend sticking with a strong grip or doing what comes “naturally”?
do you know where your release is? Have you tried throwing the club with the 2 tees in the way and then put the ball on the first tee and then throw the club again with the 2 tees in the way? See “target confirmation series” and “stick your finish despite the ball series”
My release: I do get some amount of shaft lean (i.e. the shaft and lead arm line up shortly after striking the ball). But the trail wrist is NEVER flexed at impact except for very slow swings and half shots, and my trail arm is just about straightened at impact or shortly after. Sort of looks like Vijay Singh’s impact position.
I will try your suggestion. Like I said, my “brain” squares the club with trail wrist flexion and has forever. This is such an ingrained pattern for me and leads to (I think) a lot of inconsistent ball striking (fat/thin) b/c the margin for error is so small.
I have spent years trying to change this pattern and nothing has really worked. If I could get the same form I see throwing the club when I am actually hitting a ball, I would be ecstatic.
See it with “collect the ball from here and release it over there” and not as AN IMPACT. The golf ball contact with the club is an ELASTIC COLLISION, the ball flattens slightly and stays on the face for a while before leaping off it.
intellectually aware of this and have tried every. single. cue. task. aid. method. but my body has its own self organizing in place that is stubborn to change.
Hi Shawn – this comment is a bit misplaced but I watched the last YT vid of the Sav/Nancy Lopez move and was wondering how to reconcile with your advice to keep the toe up at address. Trying to get in the correct position before yielding to gravity….
Hi Peter! This is not for everyone; this is what works for some with VERY STRONG GRIPS like Savy. You could see I was able to replicate it easily to prove it works but it does not mean everyone should go there as many need the posture to cut grass and stay down with the shot. Now if you do go that route, please don’t worry about the toe of the club coming through the grass deeper than the heel; many of my low handicap students have a lie angle that is toe down through impact and it does and it does not impede their abilities to ball strike. All too often I see students gripping the club very badly because they are TRYING TO GET THE CLUB FLAT ON THE GROUND FIRST AND THEN GRIPPING THE CLUB WHICH IS THE DISASTER IN THE MAKING FOR THEIR GRIP. See more clearly now?😀
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