My question focuses around the start of the downswing - Tom, you have some superb advice on letting the club come to rest at the top of the backswing and then fire off the hips toward the target to initiate the downswing. What I find is that even following this advice I still tend to pull my left shoulder back when I start the downswing which pull me closer to the danger zone coming over the top. I don't quite get there but I do tend to have a noticeable outside-in swing that is enough to start to the left of the target and often times produces a fade/slice, as expected. The worst thing that happens is heel strikes and man, I really need to get away from that, it's killing me.
Now, one thing I have been trying to do is finish the backswing and then focus on pushing my left/leading shoulder towards the target and not focusing so much on the lead hip and it has really made a difference for me. My question is this: is this poor practice that can cause potential problems with my swing? The reason I started putting more focus on my lead shoulder is that whenever I would see video of my swing I would see my hip starting to point at the target but my left shoulder would start pulling back causing that outside-in swing path.
Bottom line is, putting the focus on my lead shoulder when the downswing starts has made a difference for me and I was wondering what your thoughts were on this or if you actually had lesson regarding this technique that I may have missed...?
Sound advice, thanks, Tom!
@daniel.zawadzki - The channel video you referenced is a very good one for putting a stop to over the top, and I love the exchanges between you and @danny!
With regard to the "feel" of pushing your lead shoulder targetward in the downswing, as I oftentimes will say, "let your ball striking be your guide". My primary concern is that if you are actually moving the lead shoulder in such a way then you are moving the swing center and low point with it. This is where we enter the realm of "feel vs. real", in which case I strongly recommend getting out the camera and taking some face-on video to capture what is truly happening.
Tom
I remember it from a few places but this one YouTube clip of his I watched like 20 times to let it sink in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_px7Qmd-o8 I think you want to go to around the 3:15 mark to hear Tom explain it brilliantly. I still struggle with the "pause" or the "wait" at the top of the backswing but I found that what I stated in the original post really helps me prevent going over the top. I've also found that shortening my backswing helps tremendously as well and to be completely honest, I lose ZERO distance shortening my swing since I'm striking it far more pure or "crispy" as our friend Tom would say. :)
It's an eternal work in progress for sure...I'm sure I'll be working on one aspect or my swing or another until I'm too old to play anymore. But that's the beauty of the game, we just have to keep going out there and trying, even if it's painful sometimes. lol
@daniel.zawadzki can you point me to the are where the "advice on letting the club come to rest at the top of the backswing" is? I need to review that I think.
I've stopped the course at 2.8 and have not proceeded further yet. I'm seeing improvement pretty regularly just trying to master that move!