Golf Smart Academy Forum — What to work on?

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What to work on? ¶

By: Tom I on Jan. 13, 2025, 7:12 p.m.

hi there,
after reading The Stock Tour Swing i'm really enjoying having a better understanding of the golf swing and seeing improvements with driving (namely thanks to the jackson 5 and motorcycle moves).

i'm still having a lot of trouble with low point, a lot of thin shots (some fat) especially with wedges and then the longer irons. when i do the 'famous line drill' i notice a lot of attempts hitting the ground behind the line.
my misses are typically shots that start right and keep fading, especially with longer clubs and including driver. in general, i find it difficult/rare to hit ball first and then take a nice long divot, and even many non-fat/thin shots feel a little weak or sweepy and leave a very short divot if any.

as a side note, something that's always bothered me about my DTL swing is the trail arm position. i notice the trail shoulder has a more 'shrugged' look and the position/angle of the upper arm is quite different than what i generally see in the downswing for good players (hopefully the image i've uploaded can clarify what i mean). no matter what different moves i make i cant seem to change this look. this may be an unimportant thing to focus on, but maybe you could demystify this for me.

thanks! :)

Last edited by: Tom I on Jan. 18, 2025, 12:36 a.m., edited 8 times in total.

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Re: What to work on? ¶

By: Tyler F on Feb. 4, 2025, 7:17 p.m.

Hi Tom,

Sorry for the delay, really busy start to my year, but slowly getting caught up again.

I'll start with the low point line, I think the arms are pulling in too much through impact. If we look at your impact position from the face on, it's not too bad, but we'll see that the lead arm narrows very quickly. In that second picture, the body is a little flexed and the arms are disconnecting/pulling. This makes it hard to get the low point consistently out in front. I'd start there with lead foot low point and lead arm only to investigate what's going on with the arms through impact.

This also aligns with your DTL complaint. To me, it looks like the hands get a little too far out to early, and then they are more likely to pull in and down through the ball. With the delivery position, you want your lead arm a little more compressing the right arm, which helps prevent the look of the shrug.

https://www.golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/lead-foot-low-point/
https://www.golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/impact-bag-outside-lead-foot/
https://www.golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/hands-forward-and-out/

Happy Golfing,
Tyler

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Re: What to work on? ¶

By: Tom I on March 9, 2025, 5:35 a.m.

Hi again Tyler,

Firstly thanks for your response, much appreciated
I tried to address your 'left arm pulling' advice with single arm swings and the 'swing through the left arm' drills. Since doing these, i've had good sessions but seen some regression recently. I've posted videos from a couple of sessions where my swing felt great and contact was pure (videos where i'm not wearing a hat), and where everything felt off (videos where i'm wearing a hat). I'm not 100% sure what i was doing 'right' in these better sessions but i'm struggling to recapture it. I think my left arm looks to be folding too early in the follow-through, very hard habit to break.

On the bad days, the majority of shots are chunked or thinned and starting way right, even 9-3 swings. I've tried a lot of foundational drills (lead foot low point) to solve these contact issues to no avail, and am struggling to make good contact with the shorter swings in these drills. I'm not too sure where to go from here so maybe you can help out

Thanks Tyler :)

Last edited by: Tom I on March 12, 2025, 9:13 p.m., edited 14 times in total.

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Re: What to work on? ¶

By: Tyler F on March 16, 2025, 9:14 a.m.

Hi Tom,

It looks like something has changed in your pivot. From the face on view, it looks like your upper body goes down longer and more forward. From the DTL view, it looks like your shoulders are turning more level through the ball. Both of these look like a sign of using more abs and not enough bracing or extension during the release. This is complimented by the folding of the arm since your body is closer to the ball the folding of the arm helps control low point.

Also, I think that's why the lead arm drills are working better for you. The lead arm tends to connect the back muscles to the release better than the trail arm.

Tyler