6 iron and driver

Hi Joe,

Thanks for checking out the program. You have a pretty solid move and I think you have a pretty good assessment of your swing, but I can see why you might get caught with some early extension and release concerns. I wouldn't say that your release is a flip, but there's a pretty strong stall and arm roll through the ball. Usually a flip struggles to get shaft lean. It looks to me like your early extension is more late downswing and lines up with timing your release. It looks like in transition you get your hands a little too much out to the target line and retain the wrist hinge late into the downswing. I think the early extension is probably a mechanism for adding extra shallowness to the two steeper components.

To solve this, I think there are two logical spots to address. The transition, and the release. For the release, I'd look at what happens if you don't early extend. If you don't early extend, how do you control low point? Right now, the late early extension and tilt back halfway down is a big contributor to the low point issue.

For transition, we'd want to try and get your upper body more forward and your arms deeper and wider. The challenge is that moving your upper body forward can cause some heel contact, which you already seem predisposed to. I'm guessing in a lesson, I would start with the release puzzle first. What does your 9 to 3 look like?

For your posture question, noI don't think you're too slouched at set up.

Happy Golfing,
Tyler

Tyler,

Thanks for your thoughtful analysis. It has given me a lot to think about over the past week, and I’ve hit 500+ balls since your post. I’m hitting a ton of 9 to 3s and 10 to 4s. I’m trying to: (1) keep hands deep in transition, dropping them down not out to target line; (2) shallowing club with arms only; (3) release/ulnar deviation starting at P6; and (4) covering irons – lining up left shoulder with hip/left foot at impact line with irons only. My hope is to buy enough shallow with the first 3 to also be able to add a steepening crunch in transition and stop the early extending.

Sadly, that’s not working. To answer your insightful questions: When I force myself not to early extend, I hit it fat, sometimes very fat, sometimes painfully – even when my left shoulder is stacked over left ankle at impact. But before concluding I’m EE’ing to avoid that pain, consider that I have no fear (I don’t think) of hitting it fat with the driver, where my EE is the worst. Your other question: how do I control low point? Great question; I haven’t thought about it consciously in the past. Now, in addition to removing backward axis tilt with irons, I have tried moving low point forward with arms, turning right shoulder underneath into impact. That sometimes allows me to hit it clean, brush grass in front of the ball, but I still early extend when I know I’m doing that properly.

Attached is a 9:3 DTL and FO. Release doesn't look terrible, but, I’m still early extending on these slow controlled swings. And, that’s even though the club is below plane at delivery and wrists are releasing, so there shouldn’t be a need to add more shallow with the EE.

Your perspective and expertise are very much appreciated. What you saw on the low point issue I’ve never even thought of.

Thank you,
Joe

Hi Joe,

Thanks for the description of what you experience with EE. And yes, if it's totally low point drive, it usually doesn't show up as much with the driver.

Looking at these short and slow-motion swings, I can see what you're noticing with your early extension. Take a look at the quick video.

Turtle shell stab video. https://www.golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/turtle-shell-stab/

Happy golfing,
Tyler

Tyler,

Thanks for the video. Investigated turtle shell quite a bit, and I somehow ended up at Impact Window. That got me to feel a real stretch between outside left hip and left arm pit at impact. That somehow clears my left hip much better. That, combined with keeping my right heel down, seems to help the EE a lot. Does the attached get closer to what you were analyzing in the turtle shell DJ analysis video you sent?

The impact window concept also seems
To have had a positive impact on extension post impact. I think my left arm was collapsing in follow through because my body stall.

Mind taking a look at the attached and let me know what you see? Any improvement with EE? Are the turtle shell positions showing up better? How can I improve the body stall? Any thoughts on those issues and anything else you see is greatly appreciated.

Thank you as always,
Joe

Hi Joseph,

Yes, looks like you're making progress on both the early extension and the tilt back. Good job. The turtle shell is not the easiest to figure out on your own, but looks like that, combined with the impact window is helping you clean up the bottom of the swing. Jack Nicklaus once described the release as getting your left hand as far away from you as possible. Sounds like you are getting a similar feel.

The lingering body stall is more related to the wipe and getting the trail arm working in front and the trail shoulder blade continuing it's motion through impact. If it were me, I might put a pin in that and groove the anti-early extension move a little bit more. But it's always your call on what to focus on.

Happy Golfing, Keep it up!
Tyler

Tyler

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.
No video to post, but two questions as I work through the issues you’ve identified above.

1. In your Oct 5 post you wrote about my hands needing to be wider and deeper in transition. To address, I’m doing nothing other than trying to get the handle as far away from the target line as possible at the top. Is that right? What are the checkpoints from DTL? Any further detail on how to do this? Couldn’t find a video.

2. In your last post you said the body stall is more related to the wipe. To solve, I’m trying to get my right elbow in front of my right hip (between hip and target line) rather than having the right elbow crash into right hip at P6. I’m flexible, so I can externally rotate my right shoulder a lot, so when I get the right elbow in front, the right forearm lags behind it maybe 15 degrees. Cool feeling, very laggy. Is any of that correct? and will it fix the body stall? Then what about the right shoulder? The more I turn it through, the more quickly the impact window closes. Any thoughts about what I should be thinking about with respect to my right elbow and my right shoulder to get rid of the body stall?

Huge gratitude and appreciation for you.
Thank you.
Joe

Hi Joe,

I had a good Thanksgiving, thanks. I hope you did too. It seems like downtime opens up the door for thinking about the golf swing :)

1. For wider and deeper checkpoints, see the arrows I added to the screenshots from Oct 5th. They are roughly defined checkpoints, but are observable for monitoring changes. The main mechanism is using the shoulder blades differently. I'm working on a video to help answer the shoulder blade to core question. It's a common challenge. but I don't know when I'll get it recorded, I have some travel, so it's more likely to be after Christmas. But for now, the answer is in the scapula motion, I have a handful of videos on it, and mention it in a few videos coming out soon.

2. Part of the wipe is the shoulder blade action during the release. So good news is that the shoulder blade is consistently causing an issue, and the fix to both will blend together anatomically, the bad news is that most people who have this issue have poor ability to feel and adjust their shoulder blade and core movement easily. So the elbow gets in front, but the shoulder blade also works down and around the rib cage. External rotation helps, but it's not the whole motion, the scapula depression is key. It connects the shoulder to the abs. So in one way, the shoulder blades are the key to the body stall.

As far as the laggy feeling, I never trust just a feeling, I'd want to see how it looks as well. more lag behind can be a good feel, or a disconnected feel depending on the individual making the swing.

Happy golfing,
Tyler