crazy legs
 

Help!

I have just come back from viewing my swing at Golftec and it is not pretty. My body is completely outracing my hands and arms resulting in no power and bad impact alignments. I would have to hit it off my right foot to have my hands ahead at impact. I have too much lateral movement in the downswing and cannot rotate my left hip behind me fast enough. My instructor had me work on posting my left leg and really feeling the hip go back during the downswing. Right now I can only get this with slow motion swings or half swings. Is there anything else I could work on? should I be trying to slow my lower body down or should I work on getting my hands and arms to move faster? Any help would be great. I know the correct impact conditions (FLW/hands ahead of ball) but I cannot get there at full speed.

Thanks

Mike

Had to move you into intensive care Mike. You are in good hands now.
By the way, there are some world class swing doctors available at our Medical Center in Georgia that can fix you quicker than Texas can beat Oklahoma. They get around alot too.
In the mean time, save some money that you would otherwise spend at golftec. You'll get some good advise here.

Thanks. I know that the people here can help- although I don't think I will be making it down to Georgia any time soon- too bad! However, my instructor at Golftec is good and he is really trying his best to help me. I just think that there might be a better solution to my problem than trying to help my rotate my hips faster.

Mike

Agree that they have best intentions in mind, and they do help many golfers find the right positions which helps a lot of students.
EdZ can probably give you a couple of drills that will help synchronize your motion. Sustaining lag is the key and if it doesn't translate from your lower body to your upper; to your arms, hands, clubshaft, and clubhead, no amount of hip effort will do the trick. In this case, it may be the right "position" on video, but powerless at impact. I know you have some familiarity with TGM terminology. Let's connect the dots...I'd love to jump in, but I'll let Ed and Yoda take over from here.

"By the way, there are some world class swing doctors available at our Medical Center in Georgia that can fix you quicker than Texas can beat Oklahoma."

Does that mean it would take SIX yrs(1999-2005) to fix him?

One exercise that Yoda had me doing that when I get what I feel is out of sync is to Go to the Top or End, Hold and shift, then complete the down stroke. This done with what I really thought was strange of keeping the weight on my left side during the entire swing does me good.

The length of pause is very short duringthe drill, it is go IMU to get things in sync.

I think if you practiced what brian talks about in the turning shoulder plane swing in slow full swings you might "sync up" better.

What he has you do is basically drop the clubhead from the top of the swing into the ground. It should hit the ground somewhere around your back foot. Do that about ten times, feel the drop into the ground. THEN "catch the drop" with your pivot and just let the throwout of centrifugal force put the clubhead on the ball.

He goes into more detail in his video short

Jim,

I will try Brian's idea. I have done something similar in the past, and it seemed to get my hands in a better impact condition. What video short has this? I have Confessions of a former flipper- is that what you are talking about? Thanks for the help guys. Martee- I will try your idea as well.

Mike

Mike

Which short?

Thanks!

B

My legs do the same but a drill on here from Yoda really helped. It entails placing/attaching a dowel across your thighs. If your legs move to fast or incorrrectly you will hit the dowel with your club. I have never attached a dowel but played this weekend imagining the dowel there and dropping the hands/arms first so I don't hit the dowel really helped. It is a great image/drill. One that I will work on all winter. Have to figure out how to attach it however.

This is an excellent drill and likely the cure for you. Slide the dowel through your two front belt loops.

Hitting shots with your feet together, or as a better variation, with your trail foot crossed in front and feet together, are other drills that should help you quiet down your leg drive. Putting a small object (ball, piece of 2/4 etc) under the outside edge of your lead foot will really help you feel the 'post up' move, but use this with caution or you'll hurt your knee.

Often this goes along with being well under plane, so I would also suggest doing some plane line tracing.

Two Uses For the All-Purpose Bungie Cord
 

bgolfing,

I recommend one of those elastic, thread-covered 'bungie' cords that have a hook at each end. Obviously, I don't know what they're called, but you can buy them at any hardware store. Just put the band behind your legs and hook each end to the dowel on the thighs. You may have to tie a knot or two in the cord to adjust its length.

And now for another application, Extensor Action! Loop the cord around your left shoulder, run it through one of the hooks and snug the loop around your shoulder. Now, with your left arm hanging loosely at your side, stretch out the cord -- now your pseudo-left arm! -- with your right arm. Take the motion to the to the Top and then down and through and into your Finish. Keep that cord stretched at all times.

Voila'!

This is what Extensor Action feels like!

Good luck!

Bungie Cord -- another use!
 

Going slightly off topic here, but what the heck.

You can also use Bungie Cord to visualise the Straight Line Delivery Path of the Hands going downplane on the Downstroke.

Just have one end of the cord under your left toe (or better still, tucked under somewhere where the ball would be) and stretch until your hands are Right Shoulder high which is the Top location. Then just take your Hands down that straight line path all the way down! Your Right Shoulder should also go down that exact same line.

Yoda,

You can also put on a windbreaker or sweatshirt. then remove the left arm from the sleeve. Use the sleeve in the same fashion as the rope to feel extensor action.

ldeit

Everyone,

Thanks for all the help. Even though this thread has mutated into something different, all the advice is solid. The thing that worked well for me was allowing the club to drop from the top and let the pivot catch it-- great compression! I also tried swinging with a shaft on the legs and that helped to see the leg action better. However, you can still slide a bit and not hit the shaft, but it is not fun when you slide too much. Thanks again for the drills.

Mike

'Zilla,

I have a variation to the above that I am curious to see what you and others think of it. I came up with this a couple of years ago, but never really sought out any validation. Using surgical tubing, anchor one end under the left toe or on the plane line as you described. Tie the other end at the bottom of of the grip near the shaft or as close to PP#3 as comfortable. Concentrate on a right forearm pick-up and you will really feel the stretch. Now, for the interesting part...for drag loading, keep the tubing UNDER the right wrist or forearm (feel the loading of the secondary lever); for drive loading assume your grip keeping the tubing BETWEEN the forearms (notice how the entire primary lever assembly loads). Let me know what you think.

EC

It's hard for me to comment without seeing you do it. I'm imagining what it would look like in my mind, having the tubing under the right wrist/forearm seems a bit exaggerated to me. But like I said, I can't be sure until I see you do it. But if it works for you and your students then all is good!

Zone 1 problem! Easily solved. As suggested, either get a long dowel. Or go to Lowes or Home Depot, ask where the drive way / yard reflectors are. Purchase one of the long orange reflector rods.
Take the dowel or rod and run it through the belt loops in your pants. Now take out a 6 iron and swing without touching the dowel with your right elbow or arm. If you spin the hips you will hit the dowel/rod. Use a slow swing first, add speed as you contiue to miss the dowel / rod until you miss it at full speed. To assist further I offer this next tidbit:
Remember if you are a swinger you want to move your hips laterally verses cross laterally which is a spin. To get the sensation of lateral movement you can use a laser pointer or flashlight. Put the laser/light on your left butt check pointing to the ground. The beam should be pointing/shining on the ground. When you make your downswing pivot you should see the beam of light move laterally (towards the target) if it moves towards the ball STOP. Do it again, and again until it moves laterally towards the target! Combine this with the truning torso and not hitting the dowel / rod and you will be on your way!
Good Luck

What's the "post up" move? I think I have crazy legs too! Is it a problem if my right foot comes off the ground too early on the downstroke? Thanks