My hitters motion please critique
 

So I literally worked on hitting for the first time in months for about 2 hours today.

I watched Brian Gay's video on here and some of Ted Fort's swings as well as my coach Rob aka Hunter's Hitting Stickman.

I started copying Brian Gay's setup routine, it worked wonders. It almost instantly had me figuring out my take away problems (I got the club head inside my hands way quickly).

This is what I have come up with.

Please critique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpZDa5fu5ow

Nice. I love your garage set up. Slo mo camera too. Just need a launch monitor.

You do what I do, or did, with my left wrist. You get it a little arched at Top. Maybe an old left over from trying to have it literally flat? Research "geometrically flat" to see what it should like at Top. Or for a simple drill , grip the club with just your left hand as you normally would and cock it straight up in front of you without any "horizontal wrist motion", "vertical motion" only. Depending on your grip type you should see some cupping to the left wrist, this is the new flat, geometrically flat.

In short you have a little tiny Nancy Lopez like left wrist roll and off plane left wrist cocking due to some Horizontal Wrist Motion on the left side. A very slight break down in the Left ARm Flying Wedge. But it'll tend to take you under the plane going back and then given an equal and opposite deal in the downswing.... under then over the plane coming through. At its worst I looked like Zoro at Top. Its very slight for you but still something you should take a look at. Your plane is good, but this would make it really good.

For me the solution was finally realized when I froze my right wrist bend. A great thing for Hitters. It was the increased bending in the Right Hand , a false feel wrist action that really got me arched at Top. Try to smash the ball with a frozen Right Hand Bend and on Plane Right Forearm Flying Wedge. The degree of right hand bend should remain intact throughout if you startup from Fix or be quickly assembled in Startup if you Startup from Adjusted Address. For some reason I tried to bend the Right Hand to the maximum , a false feel.

Even when Hitting the #2 Angle is important. You may be loading and thrusting the Right Elbow but the #2 Angle still plays a part Id say and it needs to be cocked and uncocked on plane. A pure Vertical Left Hand Motion. The Arch if taken all the way to impact will get the face open, so if you see your shots pushing out to the right take a look at your Left Wrist at Top. This was something that I could get away with when Swinging but when I started Hitting and tended towards Angled Hinging the Arch , small though it was gave me push fades for the first time in about 20 years.

Since your Hitting now you should also maybe take a look at Single Wrist Action vs Standard Wrist Action.

You are dead on with the wrist analysis.

My hands always remained on plane, even on my worst days, but the wrists would send the club way inside.

Its my on going struggle but it is a lot better with this setup and motion that's for sure.

Appreciate the tips.

Grant,

Issues with your pivot.

standing up
running out of right arm
flattening your right wrist
weak hip action and truncated down-stroke hip turn
Right Shoulder is not moving nearly enough Down-plane

Most of this can be corrected by changing your start-down procedure. Rather than planting your left heel, start by turning your hips to the left. Try not to push off with your right leg.

Standing up and running out of right arm I get ya. I always am right on the line of running out of right arm at impact (or over that line).

The flattening of the right wrist I assume you mean during takeaway?

Can you expand on this a bit?

Also by turning the hips left do you mean sliding or actually rotating?

I was under the impression that I wanted a bit more hip slide to take up the slack in my right arm, but not hip turn...:confused1

As a drill/image - check your impact fix, that will help you stay steady with the head position, and focus only on keeping the right wrist bent back, driving the right palm down to a spot in front of the ball.

Keeping the right wrist bent back will 'cause' the right shoulder to have to go down plane more, as it should, to give you more right arm.

Start with just punch shots to both arms straight (checking the right wrist bend) then move to a full finish swivel.

Post some more clips when you can, all the way to the finish. Hold your finish, check your balance.

if you want 3" of right arm bend at impact then you need to get your right shoulder to travel 3 more inches down-plane. You need at least 3 more inches maybe 4.

I wish that were true. But you're flattening your right wrist at impact. It's obvious.

If you shift the weight to the right during the backstroke, then the hips will slide to the left as your weight moves left during the hip turn to the left during the downstroke. no need for more slide than that.

Your current hip slide/turn procedure is problematic because as you plant your left heel, your left leg simply straightens. Your left leg should straighten (at the very end of the swing) as a result of Hip Turn. Straightening the left leg first, as you do, prevents hip turn and only forces the right hip outward instead of down the line. Then, your right shoulder stops moving down-plane and moves out over the plane while simultaneously raising your left shoulder above plane.

The knees respond to the hips. Write that on a wall or something. Don't move your knees unless they are moved by the Hips during the course of the swing. The Knees respond to the Hips. Lets not allow the Tail to wag the dog. Hips-Dog, Knees-Tail.

Hip-slide and Turn Procedure: While keeping your right knee flexed at the top of your swing (right anchor), simply turn your hips (belt buckle) to face the target. Your hips will slide and turn, your left heel gets planted, your left knee won't prematurely straighten, it creates immediate hip action and your right shoulder will get a few more inches of down plane travel.

Do not push off with the Right Leg. Simply use it as a fulcrum.

See? along with everything else, the Pivot is all geometry, no effort.

Hula-Hoop chicks move their hips and their knees move in response.

wow, great post.

I'm starting to see what you mean.

I drew some lines using V1 and found that my right shoulder is actually higher at impact than at address which can't be good.

I still don't see how turning the hips is the key to get me there though.

I want to make 100% sure than you mean turn from the start rather than slide?

Also isn't the whole idea behind being a 3 barrel hitting to get rid of the pivot? :confused1

1. You don't have "Hip Action". You need Hip Action. This new procedure will give it to you.
2. You start your downswing by lowering your left heel. This is straightening your left leg, maybe preventing a weight shift, but definitely it's causing your right shoulder to stop moving down-plane and causing your right hip and shoulder to move out (toward the Plane-line) and over the top.

As you begin practicing this procedure, you'll soon learn infinitesimal control of the Hip Turn and direction of the turn. You'll soon notice and learn how to control the Hip Turn to comply with the requirements of the #3 Pressure Point. You'll soon wonder how you ever played golf without it.

Look at the Pictures below.

Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer are using "Standard Hip Turn".





Yes. Standard Hip Turn is the normal Procedure for Hitting and Swinging. See Chapter 12. If you want to use a Sliding Hip Turn, it requires a "SLIDE" in "BOTH" directions.

The standard Hip turn does move the hips from right to left while the Hips rotate. Simultaneous.


No. Where did you get that idea?

I did some different swings focusing first on sliding then on turning the hips with similar results.

Both seemed to get my right shoulder a lot further down plane though.

Is there a timing issue I should consider here? Is the turning independent before the thrust or should both happen gradually at the same time?

I don't know but 10-15-B just cleared it up for me.

I think its because a hitting motion is so right arm centric for me I tend to just zero everything else out and let the right arm do it all.

10-15-B just made a hell of a lot of sense though.

Let the shoulders power the hips backwards and let the hips power the shoulders forward.

So basically my RFT and shoulder turn will tug the hips and then the hips tug the right shoulder down to start the forward swing.

Makes sense.:golf: