Hi Tom - I have now been a member of your school for over 6 months and it has been life changing, thanks so much. The one flaw I haven't been able to fix properly though is topping the ball and thin shots. When I video tape myself on days where I have this problem (and these have plagued me massively in recent times), my diagnosis is that I am not getting my shoulders down enough and tilting as much as I should on the backswing. I wanted to check if that diagnosis is correct or if I should work on something else as a fix for this? I rarely chunk the ball but when I get the "tops" it pretty much kills a range session or a round if I'm out on the course. Please help!
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Hi Tom,
Hope you're well and staying safe. I just uploaded new videos to show you the progress I have been making since our last V1 lesson. Apologies for the mask in the video - Singapore has just heightened its safety measures here - golf is still allowed but with a mask! I followed all of your drills on takeaway, 90% weight forward and also the downswing drill and definitely feel an improvement. Just a few thoughts from when for you to have as background when analysing the video:
1. I don't know if my top of backswing position is where it needs to be. I have struggled with the wrist hinge and tried to focus on it through the videos in the school but not sure I get it right. Also, am I turning enough?
2. The videos have me hitting with an 8 iron. I have been trying to groove the drills with PW through to 8 iron but I just can't get consistency above the 8. I also find my ball flight isn't as high as it should be and when I get to 7i and above it feels as though they don't fly high enough so just wanted to check if there is something I'm doing wrong / not doing.
3. My misses now are hooks and when I have an off day, it's more topping than anything else for me. I don't chunk it but topping is problematic.
Sorry if I am overthinking this but I just wanted you to have the background when you analyse the videos.
@kunal.katre - Based on one clue you gave me I am going to make an educated guess, although without actually seeing your swing it really is just that - a guess.
Thin and topped shots typically are a result of the low point moving backwards at some point prior to impact, with impact occurring as the club has already begun its ascent towards the finish. The fact that you notice your shoulders leveling out tells me that you are losing your relationship - or orientation - to the ball and the ground. When this happens it is oftentimes accompanied by either some shift of weight into the trail side or not enough weight moving forward as the club approaches the ball. (Remember - a more level shoulder turn is a feature of the "shift and lift" swing, which is incongruent with what we are doing here.)
First of all, let's make sure that you are not reaching beyond your body's natural stopping point in the backswing as this will oftentimes cause the shoulders to level, the lead knee to turn inward, and the weight to shift into the trail side. There is a limit to how much we can tilt, turn, and extend; anything beyond that will result in some measure of breakdown. There have been a couple of recent posts in the forum regarding this.
Next, check your weight distribution. You start with your weight forward (55/45 generally, but up to 60/40 for the longer clubs), gradually add more forward weight to the top (70/30), 80/20 halfway down, 90/10 impact, and 95/5 finish.
Finally, while Chapter 2 is a great place to revisit to review and ingrain the various motions, I'll first point you to these lessons in Chapter 3: Lesson 3.3a & b - Master the Shoulder Down Movement, followed by Lesson 3.4a & b - Hit Shots Feeling Weight Forward. Let's see if these help.
A couple of more general recommendations:
1) If you haven't already done so, I suggest purchasing a copy of the Stack & Tilt book by Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer. It will serve you well as a textbook reference guide for the swing and will be highly supportive of what you learn in the online school. It also contains much detail with regard to fixing common faults, and includes numerous descriptions throughout the book by PGA Tour pros pertaining to the various "feels" they experienced as they themselves were learning the swing.
2) Please give some thought to the V1 Swing Video Analysis - an effective and inexpensive service that I highly recommend to everyone in the school. I liken it to bringing your swing into the shop for a tune-up or minor repair. Scheduling one on a quarterly basis for preventive maintenance will do wonders for keeping things humming along nicely, and it's also a great tool for pinpointing and resolving any issues that arise. The process involves downloading the free V1 app and then submitting two videos to me through the app - one down-the-line (captured from your stance line, not the target line) and the other face-on. You may arrange for this here: https://app.v1sports.com/Saguto-Golf
Please keep me posted on your progress!
Tom