New sequencing, hitting blocks

General Discussion
#1

I’m working with a swing coach who turned me onto Mach 3 products that he uses with his competitive HS/college golfers. I’ve seen dramatic increases in club speed, in part due to much improved sequencing in the downswing, but even slowing down, the club face is verrrry open regardless of how hard I try to close it. Last lesson we spent the entire time troubleshooting, and made little progress. I left with some drills, but also left pretty discouraged.

I have found if I revert to my prior swing, it is actually a little longer, but I’m maxing out around 96 MPH with a lot of arms doing the work.

I’m wondering how else I may need to work at this. Any suggestions?

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#2

I’m a little confused—as someone too, in the midst of getting uncomfortable while fixing my swing. Are you at a point where you’re a finished product, and your face is still way open at impact? Or are you in the midst of the work, and noticing that your face is way open?

The first is a problem. The second, I attribute to that feeling of being very uncomfortable while learning something new, and I trust that it’ll get better as I progress. Currently, my clubhead toe is sticking way up in the air at address, and none of this stuff feels natural. My swing speed has no ‘whoosh’ right now. But, I’m confident it’ll get better.

What does your monitor say you’re doing?

EDIT: what does he say, when you point this out?

#3

I’ve had this issue resulting in blocks for about a month and 1.5 lessons. I practice 4-5 times a week generally.

I’m not sure what you mean by finished product, but I’m not that. I’m in a somewhat static place of improved body mechanics apart from the arms, which is affecting how the face is presented at impact. Path is improved, face is OC.

What the coach says is let’s try X, hmmm let’s try Y, hmmm let’s try Z. Ok here are some drills to work on.

#4

I don’t want to judge your coach but if he cannot diagnose why something is happening he will be guessing at fixes. This would worry me. My coach normally tries to get me to diagnose the issue but he does tend to know the issues already.

I have been struggling with an open face (very open) and this is largely down to my grip, its now 80% fixed, just the odd occurrence when I don’t focus. I only practice twice a week (one long game session and one short game session).

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#5

Some of us will fit into a new pair of shoes rather quickly. Some of us will take much longer to feel comfortable.
A golf swing under construction with most of us, will not be reliable until you give it some time. It took me a whole season to feel comfortable when I changed over from the interlocking grip to the overlapping grip.
What you need to “confirm” is whether the new change offers fluid transition in the golf swing. If you have that, then the swing speed issue could have been just not able to use the new tools 100%.
When there is no kink in the swing, then it’ll be physical ability which needs beefing up.
The higher swing speed with the “old way” could be resulted from the feel between the ears that translated into action.

#6

Sasho talked about this on Jons podcast… there was a very confusing water skiing analogy…

My basic takeaway is swing with your lead hand only and try to swing so the club “closes itself”… it’s almost a drop in the backswing.

The technical move is to get the center of gravity of your club beneath your swing plane.

I can send you a video on it if you’d like.

#7

@Craigers I listened to the same podcast but didn’t quite grasp the concept. If you have a video that would be fantastic.

#8

I have been on a journey since last February to increase Swing Speed and Ball Speed. What I have found those 2 things are very important…but Angle of Attack and Launch Angle are even more important. You have to get your clubface in the correct positions and that is built through repetitions and mechanics. I increased my Driver SS from 85 to 92 in 4 months, I was then able to increase that from 92 to 95mph. It’s incremental. I can hit a 260yd drive with a center hit and a LA of 15* with a SS of 94mph. I am still trying to increase that SS a bit more utilizing Kyle Berkshire’s work out. I’m hoping to get to 97-98 this year as long as I don’t hurt myself. I lose speed by swaying…any sway and it’s lost energy. If you are right handed, that Right Leg must be like a post, the backswing and downswing spine angle cannot be lost. For me the I am looking for feeling in my swing, I feel my shoulders are starting the downswing, I feel my right elbow/arm are pulling on a chain from the top of the backswing towards the right hip as part of the downswing. Those are my “feelings”…It’s not what’s happening all at once, because my left leg is actually straightening and pulling everything through. I’m 14 months in and overall I’m pleased with my results, it’s still a journey because over the years I kept making adjustments and they were poor habits. Breaking those are very hard, sticking with the program and not making adjustments that aren’t in my practice is key. And don’t think I was not hitting it sideways either. Now sideways is a lot less, ss is consistent, distance is consistent, direction is consistent. Keep plugging away and stick with your program

#9

I read all of this testing, gadgets, etc and I am reminded of the line in the Last Samurai, “Too many minds”. I have know idea how you can try and fix a swing when you have all the checkpoints, trying this and trying that ALL IN ABOUT 1.5 seconds!! My recommendation would be to cut down the list of ‘fixes’ and work on the No.1 problem first. That appears to be squaring up the club face at contact. That should be an easy fix. Just be sure to swing naturally and swing hard. Also just remember your body and your body’s experiences are most likely different from whomever is instructing you. By ‘experiences’ I mean sports played and injuries, don’t forget age plays a part. Some things an instructor will tell you to do, you might not be able to do with that knee or shoulder or back. My suggestion would be film yourself and see what you are doing and make simple corrections at the range. When it works, review that swing and see what you did and duplicate it.
Or
continue down the path looking for that Holy Grail…BUT TRY TO ENJOY THE JOURNEY my friend.

#10

Close, in your thought process. It took me 4 months to, in general, stop the wrong things and start the right things. Hence, when I said hitting it sideways. Yes recording was key, you truly can’t fix what you can’t see. But I broke my swing down into 16 parts. Each piece was practiced in 5s For me there were 5 pieces in setup and backswing, 5 pieces in transition and downswing, Impact, 5 pieces in follow-thru/ finish and each piece was practiced and engrained 1 foot at a time. So, slow motion, what am I seeing, what am I feeling. If you execute the 4 total pieces setup/backswing, transition/downswing, impact, follow-thru/finish. The club head usually gets to where it’s supposed to be in that second. I hit probably 1500 balls a week to get from 85 to 93. Then totally stopping the on course adjustments, those adjustments were the quick fixes that might work for a minute but not over a long haul. If you look at the impact positions of any low hdcp/pro pretty much all the same. So, some things might be what your body is capable of doing, but that last 6ft to impact and 4 ft of follow thru is almost exact for anyone hitting a solid str8 golf shot.