Moving low point forward

[sharkey35]

Hi Mike,

It's time for my annual "I'm struggling" post. Have had a lot of better drives after the lesson where you had me throwing the head of the driver at the ball. I think I'm getting the club head thru it much better. More height on the drives, but working on clubface control.

Anyhow, I think my low point on irons and hybrids might be creeping backward. I am not getting a clean hit on the ball - kinda muffled. Distance control is awful.

I will be booking a lesson, but any thoughts on moving the low point forward a bit that I can work on before coming out?

Thanks,

Bob from CT

[Michael Jacobs]

Originally Posted by sharkey35

Hi Mike,

It's time for my annual "I'm struggling" post. Have had a lot of better drives after the lesson where you had me throwing the head of the driver at the ball. I think I'm getting the club head thru it much better. More height on the drives, but working on clubface control.

Anyhow, I think my low point on irons and hybrids might be creeping backward. I am not getting a clean hit on the ball - kinda muffled. Distance control is awful.

I will be booking a lesson, but any thoughts on moving the low point forward a bit that I can work on before coming out?

Thanks,

Bob from CT

Bob,

Question for you, when you are swing these clubs are you noticing what your swing direction is? Any divot signs? Ball flight when you do not strike the ground first?

[sharkey35]

Divots are shallow and pretty much straight. Ball flight is fairly straight but short due to lack of compression. When I hit it clean, slight draw to a pull draw. Thanks.

Bob

[benjaaz]

I just purchased a book by Bobby Clampet titled The Impact Zone from Amazon.com. It looked interesting and in his book he talks about an aiming point four inches in front of the ball. He believes that once people fixate on the ball they unconciously release the club early. By aiming four inches in front of the ball Bobby believes people get more of a descending blow and crisper shots. He uses some references to Ben Doyle and The Golfing Machine of Homer Kelly in the book. He even noticed, like Michael did, that some pros, especially Tiger, actually hit down with the driver some. Bobby also parallels Bmanz's concept of the pivot releasing the club into the ball and like Bmanz starts with learning the chipping stroke to incorporate the aiming point method.

Jim

[Michael Jacobs]

Originally Posted by sharkey35

Divots are shallow and pretty much straight. Ball flight is fairly straight but short due to lack of compression. When I hit it clean, slight draw to a pull draw. Thanks.

Bob

Bob,

Make sure the club is not coming in too far below with the club head very low to the ground. Approach the ball with some more elevation on the club head relative the ground. Always a good idea to scale back and do some small shots at the range to get a sense of low point, swing direction, & vertical status of the head relative to the ground

[sharkey35]

Thanks Mike. Just got back from the course and may have found something on the back nine. The pivot! Sometimes I think about so much other stuff, I forget that it all starts with the pivot. I was thinking about our lesson earlier this year and how you liked the backswing I was making. Well, I wasn't making it anymore. Real handsy/armsy due to the change we made to the driver swing. Started stepping on that back foot and bringing the club down with the right shoulder. Much better contact. In any event, have to hit some balls tomorrow to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

[Michael Jacobs]

Originally Posted by sharkey35

Thanks Mike. Just got back from the course and may have found something on the back nine. The pivot! Sometimes I think about so much other stuff, I forget that it all starts with the pivot. I was thinking about our lesson earlier this year and how you liked the backswing I was making. Well, I wasn't making it anymore. Real handsy/armsy due to the change we made to the driver swing. Started stepping on that back foot and bringing the club down with the right shoulder. Much better contact. In any event, have to hit some balls tomorrow to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

Sharkey,

If the pivot stalls, the club head will definitely sag and dip below creating a 'heavy' shot. There is a distinct difference between braking the pivot for a good kinematic sequence and stalling the pivot for an interrupted sequence. Keep up the improvement!!!