Tom, I need help! I am so frustrated. I thought I was making progress until I videoed my swing and HOLY CRAP! I have been making "crispy" contact, but I noticed that most of my shots were going to the left. I thought that if I started the downswing with the hip bump, I noticed it was straightening out. ( I practice in my basement hitting off of a mat into a net.) When I went to the driving range, I found almost all of my shots were heading left, again. So, I came home and started filming myself and found that my left arm is breaking down at impact! When I analyzed my swings in slow-motion, as I make contact, I am bending or pulling back my left arm. So, no wonder my ball flight is to the left!
I have tried everything to stop this and simply cannot break the habit. I viewed many YT videos on how to keep the left arm straight in the backswing, like making sure your right thumb pad is on top of the left hand thumb, straightening the right arm more to push the left arm straight, on and on. As I view myself doing all of this, I do see the left arm straighter in the backswing, but when I cut loose in the downswing and make contact, the left arm is coming back and not staying straight on to the follow-through. This must be an old in-grained habit I have developed over the years (30+). I have tried the straight arm drill, 90% weight forward, abbreviated swing, I bought the Impact tool and I just cannot break the habit.
Any suggestions, drills, going back to the lessons in and working on, I would appreciate. I understand the need for the straight left arm as it is the radius of the swing which is critical. I am now working on bringing hands in more. I even drilled on doing more extension after impact, hoping that this would keep my arms more straight after impact. Another source on Stack and Tilt recommended a drill called "hit hard and stop" drill.
One final question. On the load and explode drill, can you better explain the motion of the right forearm as it "extends"? Does the wrist stay "locked" or does it extend as well?
@Ronald Kinder - First of all, let's rule out a simple but quite common cause of the pulls by confirming that the ball position is not too far forward. This is best accomplished with two alignment sticks - one on your foot line - which should be parallel to the target line - and the other perpendicular to it representing ball position relative to your stance.
Secondly, I just want to confirm that you have progressed through the course as I have designed it. The chapters, lessons, and drills that comprise the Golf Swing Simplified course curriculum are not randomly ordered; they are meant to be taken sequentially from the beginning. Regardless of a member's skill level, this swing necessitates a complete reboot for someone transitioning from a shift & lift swing (which is typically the case), and therefore it is imperative that one take sufficient time to ensure that the fundamental components of the first couple of chapters are mastered. From the ground up there is nothing superfluous in the Stack & Tilt swing - in other words, everything with a purpose, and a purpose for everything. I cannot overemphasize this enough, as frustrations predominantly occur when members jump ahead in the curriculum without properly dedicating themselves to the foundational base upon which our consistently repeatable, powerful, low maintenance swing must be built.
Now, assuming your ball position is good and your foundational base is sound..... You say that you have "tried" the 90% Weight Forward/Arms Straight Drill, but have you actually mastered it?? You would know this by the consistently crispy impact and repeatable push-draw ball flight it will produce when properly executed. This drill is worth spending a considerable amount of time on because it is going to ingrain the needed components that you are currently experiencing deficiencies in. In fact, a number of members have been taking the 90% Drill to the course and playing with it until they truly own it. Rudimentary as it may seem (even though it's not, because I can tell you that even I default back to it if something goes awry), this is my best drill recommendation for you. It is also very similar in terms of desired outcome to Rob Cheney's "Hit Hard & Stop" lesson that you referenced. Also, I am attaching an excerpt from the Stack & Tilt book (which, by the way, I highly recommend as an excellent supplemental reference guide to this course) showing a drill that speaks directly to your issues.
With regard to your question about the trail forearm and wrist, please refer to yesterday's member episode on the Flying Wedge. That relationship remains intact from setup through impact which. Your Impact Snap should help you to reinforce this feel, and this channel video may help as well.
Finally, have we done a V1 Swing Video Analysis yet? This is 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 can learn more about this by scrolling halfway down this page.
Let's get you out of the abyss and on the path towards crispy ballstriking bliss!
Tom