New Swing Videos From Copper Canyon

We managed to squeeze some all-day golf out of Copper Canyon today. Here is some early 8AM range footage prior to the start of the first round.

Hitting a ball that is higher or lower than your feet

Last week I realized a few things on the subject of hitting a ball where it is either higher than or lower than your feet. The basics of this shot are that the ball will go the direction of the slope, meaning that the ball, for a right hander will go to the right if it is below your feet and to the left if it is above your feet.

What I had been doing is to point the club face and stance in the direction that would help me counteract the natural tendency of the ball flight mentioned above. My problem here is that for a ball that is below my feet, and this works exactly opposite for a ball above my feet, I would know that I needed to point to the left of the target, so I would aim the club face a few yards left of the target as well as my feet. I would typically still land the ball right of the target. Each time this would happen, I would line my stance up even more left than where I had previously estimated, but I would leave the club face where it was. What I was creating was a cut (feet open, club open less than the feet means that I will cut the ball). I was also not aided by the fact that sitting the club face a little open on these lies makes the leading edge come more evenly to the ground.

What I needed to be doing was keep my stance square to my clubface. Amazingly after trying my new theory a few times, it works great. I had several of these lies on my last round and my results were right on the pin. It's amazing how much knowing the mechanics of the golf swing can help! This all might seem rather obvious, but it was just somewhat of a habit that I created over a long period of time and finally got around to correcting.

Steeper Shoulder Turn = Move Closer To Ball

Now that I am turning my shoulders on a better angle against my spine (perpendicular), a new problem started to rear its ugly head. I felt like I really had to "reach" for the ball. This was resulting in general inconsistency as well as pushes/hooks. The last (2) nights I have been able to track down the root of the problem: Distance from the ball.

In the picture below you can clearly see I am too far away from the ball (red line). The green line shows where my hands should be, indicating that I need to move a little closer to the ball.

One Plane Swing & Shoulders

I found another inconsistency in my swing, and it involves my shoulder turn. I am turning my shoulders on too flat of a plane (ala two plane swing), especially on shorter irons. In the picture below I am fairly close to being on plane. This is my 4-hybrid, one of the clubs I've been hitting well lately. Well that mystery is now solved. I am hitting it well because I am on a reasonable plane with that club! I'd still like to be a few degrees steeper, but as Jim Hardy said in his book, you don't have to be perfect, just close.

The Lie Board Doesn't Lie - Wrists, Wrists, Wrists

Took my irons into Vans today and had Johnny a.k.a "the club whisperer" check my lie angles. Hit a few dozen shots and didn't get a single scuff anywhere near the sweet spot or the toe on the sole. This new one-plane swing has really changed the way my club sits on the ground, as I am further from the ball, my hands are lower, etc. Needless to say I had the problem illustrated on the left (Johnny had to flatten my lie by 2.5 degrees to get my club to sit properly). My club was slightly closed at impact on a perfectly square shot. And if I ever hit a shot a little heavy, guess what, instant clubface slamming shut (hosel grabbing)! Can you imagine the problems I have been having in the rough?

New Swing Videos Posted!

Played a round at Estrella Mountain Ranch this afternoon, figured it was a good chance to get some updated video to put on the YouTube Channel.

The Huge Break Is Now On YouTube!

Finally got around to adding our YouTube Channel! Here you go, the first ever videos posted of our swings!