WOW! Aren't you full of questions??!! First of all, welcome to the journey. Remember, it's not a destination. Some of these are very general and I'll answer them as such. I hope it helps.
"The grip- should it be in the PALM of my left hand?"
Yes.
"And how about the right- should it be in the fingers of the right?"
The pad of the first joint of the first finger (#3 pressure point) should be on the aft side of the shaft, and the left thumb should fit in the cup of the right hand. If holding a wooden dowel with only the right hand, it would fit in the cup.
"Also- tight or loose?"
Your hands are clamps. You don't want loose clamps.
"And should I be pressing pp1 and trying to keep my right wrist bent throughout the entire swing?"
For a hitter starting at impact address, yes. It starts bent and stays bent (frozen).
"Stance: err toward the narrower side of things or the wider side of things?"
Both: Driver=wide, SW=narrow
"Ball Position: err toward forward or backward?"
SW=middle, Driver=forward
"Err toward standing closer to it or farther from it?"
It depends on who you are. I've seen exaggerations of both. Get the alignments of the hands and arms right and I'll bet you'll be the right distance away. DO NOT "let the arms hang comfortably."
"Shaft: "in line with the right forearm at address"- what does that mean? I know this may sound really stupid, but does "in line" mean literally as if the shaft and my right forearm form one straight, unbroken stick? If so, then, for me at least, this necessitates my dropping the right elbow down a couple of inches in order to achieve this, which feels really unnatural and convoluted."
Maybe unnatural compared to your 'normal'. It would be a perfectly straight line until you add wrist bend, but it's still on the same plane.
"Takeaway: STRAIGHT back (meaning clubface looking at the ball as long as possible) or what? When I do this, it seems as though I have to almost re-route the club back behind me and to the inside (after getting to the top) in order to hit from the inside and down-and out. I know this is an awful explanation so let me put it another way- straight back feels like a steep plane, which isn't a problem in and of itself, but then I'm hitting out to right field, so my kind-of straighter/steeper plane must now change to a new, more back-and-inside-and-behind-me one, in order that I may come from there into the inside, bottom left quadrant of the ball. What am I missing? Again, sorry for the horribly phrased question(s)- I'm doing my best."
The cubface opens and closes. Don't keep it square.
"Another thing- what does Right Forearm Pickup mean, exactly? Lift the club "up" immediately or pull it straight back with the right forearm AND THEN move up? Or some combination?"
The body pivot (horizontal rotation) along with the bending of the right elbow (vertical lifting) creates an angled plane. It's not around then up, and it's not up then around, it's up and around simultaneously.
"Maintaining the FLW/BRW: all the way past the ball? My God- how?"
Pressure
"Target: Since I'm coming from the inside out, shouldn't my "target line" be an inch or so outside of the top right hand corner of the ball? I mean, my clubface obviously points toward my real target (the flag, or whatever), but shouldn't I be concentrating on "right field," including looking out there before I swing? After all, isn't that where I'm trying to go, directionally, with the club? Aren't I trying to hit down and out on a more or less 45* angle to the actual, desired, intended line of flight?"
See the geometry of the circle that Yoda drew for 12piece. It's in 12piece's room. You need to see the three dimensional geometry of the circle.
"Hips: Bumping toward right field to begin the downswing, or no?"
It depends on your delivery line.
"And if yes- is there anyway I can forget about them and concentrate solely on my upper body (hands, forearm, whatever)- because every time I add some lower body downswing trigger, I mess something else up/forget something I'm supposed to do. Can I "forget" about my lower body or do I need to consciously do something?"
9-1; "Emphatically, Hands are not educated until they control the Pivot."
"Also, how much should my hips turn on the backswing?"
Enough to get the right shoulder on plane.
"Practicing in my living room: what should I be doing initially?"
Get an impact bag and some dowels. Get the address alignments and learn impact fix.
Hacker,
Read what Ted has written, and incubate! So much of what we learn needs to soak in. I have spent this winter going thru old posts and copying and pasting what I thought were appropriate were for a hitter. Last week I finally got my first range session in in 2 months, and I was smoking the ball. Even hit 5 3 woods off the deck on a stright line, and I can never do that! Anyway, assimilate, learn, and be patient. It'll come. And, if you want to play a round this spring, let me know!
Thanks to both of you guys.
BlackJack- you've helped me on GEA, greatly.
Ted- brother, I'm the guy (twan55 on GEA) who had to go to Berlin this summer for work and therefore missed the Long Island sessions and was distraught about it. I'm coming to see you, come hell or highwater, this summer (if possible, in June).
I hope you guys realize that just by applying and doing MAYBE one thing correctly, I hit some shots the other day that I personally have never hit in my five years of playing. Honest. I believe in the book. Dukenasty's posts did it for me.
All of you guys are patient as all get out with guys like me, and I appreciate it. I'm trying to decipher the book, but it's hard, and I DO NOT WANT TO INGRAINE THE WRONG THINGS. That scares me more than anything else.
Two last questions, to you or anybody else...
-what would you say is the most common mistake beginning hitters make, i.e., what should I ESPECIALLY try to avoid?
-Is Brian Manzella's "Confessions of a former flipper" CD a good buy?
Once again, thanks.
-what would you say is the most common mistake beginning hitters make, i.e., what should I ESPECIALLY try to avoid?
Trying to Hit too hard and being too rigid or 'wooden'. Remember that tremendous energy can be consumed in trying to offset conflicting alignments, without ever achieving your full speed potential.
Originally Posted by hopefulhacker
-Is Brian Manzella's "Confessions of a former flipper" CD a good buy?
Yes, it's a good buy. It's Swinging based, so make sure you filter out the relevant information.
I have been a convert for a while now and would highly recommend the following to get you on the right track:
1. Look at all the video here....first and download them for future looks too. Yoda has a DVD coming so be on the look out, I expect it will be at the top of my list.
2. I highly recommend videos from Manzella's site especially former flipper and building blocks (which is new). The building blocks is great since it starts with grip and moves on to chips, pitches and full swing info.
3. I also love Bobby Schaeffer videos from OHP, especially the one on illusions and the one that discusses the full swing (Ultimate Power swing....title off but close).
4. And finally, if that is not enough, I like the DVD from Chuck Evans but if you do the above, you have it all anyway.
Hope this help. Good luck.
I too was like you (20 plus years) of slices, and no divot. Fixed both in about a month of hitting chips and pitches, working on impact bag, dowels, flashlights, and tennis racquets (search on this site for how to do drills).
Keys for me were getting a true neutral grip, setting flying wedges, and aiming point with hands.
We are similar in size and build (I do hit it a bit further, lifted weights as a youngster) but now kill the ball off the tee (260-280) and my irons are much, much better with low boring trajectory. Still have some fat shots (too much lateral slide) and do hit off line sometimes (used to lining up for slice) but all in all, much, much, much better after 8 months. I did spend a month or two just hitting chips and pitches with my 7, 8, 9, PW, Lob and Sand Wedges before I moved to a full swing and/or my woods. Lucky for me, I am in Texas so the weather is great almost the entire year.
Good luck. By the way, I don't make money from anyone on any site but am passing on what worked for me. Also, these are all for swingers (which I am) but much is the same (accumulators, etc).
__________________
Kevin
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Thomas Edison knew 1800 ways not to build a light bulb.
I too was like you (20 plus years) of slices, and no divot. Fixed both in about a month of hitting chips and pitches, working on impact bag, dowels, flashlights, and tennis racquets (search on this site for how to do drills).
Keys for me were getting a true neutral grip, setting flying wedges, and aiming point with hands.
I've also just been getting started - spent a few nights up till the wee hours reading the book and the archives, watching videos, etc.
The only not at home practice I've been trying to do the last few days is get in a bunker and hit small chips while trying to hit the ball first and then take a divot. At first it was extremely frustrating because I couldn't make clean contact for many many hours. It's amazing how impossible it felt at first.
I think I've tracked it down to a flaw in my pivot - my hips were rotating by my right hip coming forward causing my right arm to get closer to the ball and leading to a super fat shot. Things have vastly improved when I work on getting my left knee straight and making sure I preserve the angle in my left hip socket - it leads me to pivot by pulling my left hip back. After this - I've been able to finally hit down with some precision and I've been making much better contact. I think the bad pivot was caused by a subconscious desire to hit up on the ball.
I've seen Ben Doyle's bunker lesson without the ball but I think there might also be a lot of advantages to chipping with a ball: You can easily see the divot and if you hit it fat you'll know for sure. I've chipped many times on a carpet or grass and you can fool yourself into thinking you're chipping it well because it's so forgiving. I hope there are no downsides to this practice routine.
I'm coming to see you, come hell or highwater, this summer (if possible, in June).
Why wait until June, hopefulhacker? Come and see us at Old Waverly on April 21-23! You will learn in a truly magical environment from Ted, V.J., Tony and me, four Instructors totally dedicated to helping you improve your Game.
Jumpstart your summer season. Throw all those 'can't' reasons into the bin and reach for the 'can.'
Hybrid Mode
