Initial Backswing Movement & Low Point

Sometimes I run into stretches where I start hitting thin shots or more pronounced iron shot draw hooks, and I start seeing a progression to less and less divots with shorter irons. I checked all kinds of swing positions trying to figure out why. Then while working in front of a mirror, I discovered it had a LOT to do with my initial takeaway.

What I found is my takeaway can become "wider" such that the club head is lower in relation to my belt line at the 9 o'clock position vs. what Tom shows in his backswing takeaway videos. You might have heard the term "low and slow" for the takeaway, but that movement actually promotes a shift of my weight onto and/or over my trail foot. From that position, unless I transfer a lot of weight back to my lead side, my swing moves to my right side, and thus the low point moves to the right. The result is thin shots, hooks, lack of divots, and loss of distance due to a more lofted impact club head position. The weight drift to the trail foot is very subtle to the point I chased other non-issues because my brain still sees the "shift and lift" swing as being OK.

So the fix for me is to get the lead shoulder rotating down (or the trail shoulder rotating up) in a very pronounced rotation. When done correctly my swing feels very vertical, but it's not when looking in a mirror, and I'm back to being stacked over the ball, and then I feel my weight on the inside of my trail foot which is inside heel area vs. over the trail foot. The lower takeaway allows my lead shoulder to move more parallel to the ground for the first foot or two of the takeaway which moves weight onto my trail foot, thus I end up being stacked to the right of the ball, not over (easy to see in a mirror). Plus, the other issue with a lower/wider takeaway is my shoulders do not get a chance to rotate 90*. They have to stop at about a 45* turn. Thus they have a massive head start on the downswing in relation to the club head.

If I feel tilted to the left at the top, which is correct, I feel tilted only because over the course of several low swings I quickly got used to not being stacked over the ball, if that makes sense. The low backswing (less-rotational) is also a lazier swing because the correct rotational swing requires a little more focus. Not much, just slightly more.