Too many things to work on, dont know where to start

General Discussion
#1

need some helpful advice to get me going in the right direction,

I started reworking my entire swing top to bottom a few months ago. I realized there was no way I could improve when something as essential as my grip and posture was what a polite person would call “god awful”. Im making progress, and albeit slow, its working…

The question is now that my mistakes can be tracked and i can consistently see what they are, which are the 911s to begin working on first Taking into account how much I enjoy jon and adam’s podcast, Im aware face control is huge, but until i start taking lessons again I was hoping for some help on where to start.

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#2

Interesting question… face control is a pretty involved process… and you seem to be building a swing from the ground up.

You mention grip and posture. Great places to start. Are you happy with where they are now? How has it changed your swing? What issues are you having?

It’s a fun thought experiment… if you were to build a swing form the ground up do you start on the impact side and work backwards? Start at the beginning and work through?

We need more information about where you are in your total swing, or you need to spend time with a good swing coach.

If you can get to a good impact position consistently , then nothing else really matters… but the best way to get into a good impact position is to have a good setup and takeaway.

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#3

Short answer? It doesn’t really matter, but just don’t try to do everything at once. If grip and posture are preventing you from making a natural, productive swing then focus just on those. Every practice session and every round ask yourself if you set your grip and posture correctly before making the swing. Score yourself on it and then try to improve that score. Once that is set as a habit, you can move on to something else.

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#4

Face control is indeed huge, but it is largely a result or everything that comes before it. I think you mentioned the right answer near the end of your post, you need to be back in touch with a good instructor. Working on the pre-swing stuff like grip and set-up is a good first step, its something you can check for yourself in a mirror or on video (use your phone). Evaluating your swing and determining the required changes is something best left to a good instructor, self-diagnosis is likely to lead you down the wrong path.

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#5

In that vein, this thread here, on the Harvey Penick-slow motion swing drill, might be beneficial. I agree with Dave though, in that you might want to wait on a lot of the rebuild until you can get back with your instructor. Practicing a good, instinctive grip and address position (with alignment aids and video), would be a good start. At least in getting rid of your “godawful” elements of both.

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#7

@davep043 is giving good advice here

Feedback, feedback, feedback

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#8

Frank, Starting in February 2021 I did a total PAIN-STAKING re-work of my swing. It started with a recording. I am still working on it, mostly to gain speed. I’m 63 years old. What tools are you using to gain feed-back? In my youth, I used to teach, so I had a bit of a clue in getting rid of bad habits (and bad habits they were) to embracing the modern golf swing…which for me looks a little ugly, but I am back to using the big muscles and ground force and a new understanding of AoA and LA to increase ball & clubhead speed & Distance. I did adjust my grip to a stronger position from weak. I was hitting hundreds of balls every week for 5 months str8…I recorded and re-recorded my swing over and over…BUT I broke my mechanics down into incremental sections and slowly re-built it adding each building block like 6inches to a foot at a time until I could bring it to the course… The LAST thing you need to worry about is FACE CONTROL…#1 you can’t control it…it’s 100ths of a second…Period…End of it. Work the mechanics bit by bit. Use a monitor if you can at least 1 hour a week to check your progress. If your grip is solid, if your mechanics are proper, if you execute everything to 90-95% perfection, the clubface will return to where you started! I went from 82mph SS /115 BS / 200yd Distance to 95mph SS /142 BS / 260 yd Distance. My last 2 rounds after I put all I built onto the course was a 69 and a 73 before the season ended and now I’m working on cycling sprints, diet change, specific weight lifting, and speed training…I am using Kyle Bershire’s methodology. He’s been extremely helpful. Here’s what I can tell you…at 63 I achieved what I wanted to do… I wanted to hit the ball 250. Here’s what I know…I got alot more in the tank…alot… even at my age! I know I’m going to get to 275 distance…EZ… I wish you good fortune on your quest… if you work on it…and I mean work on it… you will be successful! Brother Dave is 100% correct, unless you have an understanding of what you are doing…an instructor is your best help. I’m a rarer bird because of my being an instructor, albeit 35 years ago!

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#9

Remember, no two swing the golf clubs the same way.
We’re all built differently with different natural tempo, forcing another one’s style would be too hard to change.
As long as the fundamentals are in such way to allow you to swing the golf club freely; you’re already halfway there.
Even some of the best instructors will not try to have all their students swing the golf club the same way.
Give you a good example. Harvey Penick was asked onetime , why wouldn’t he allow both two of his famous students watch him giving lessons to one of them. He answered, Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw have very different golf swing and needed to work on different things at times. To let one watch the other getting the lesson might not be beneficial and could be detrimental.
Penick also regard the golf grip is not necessarily has to be 100% text book. As long as one of the hands is on the grip correctly.
His ways of teaching is traditional and not using any of the modern techniques of bisecting golfer’s swing in hundreds of frame of images.
Sometimes, his lesson would be only a few sentences after watching the student hit balls for 20 minutes.
It must have worked because so many came out of his camp had become great golfers.
So, try not to just focus on what your golf swing “looks like”, and pay a little more attention to the results of the golf shots. Figure out how to make the golf shots you think that you could do. Not really that difficult if the fundamentals are correct in a way which allow the golf swing to happen.

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#10

@Frankwhite … as an aspiring high handicapper who is constantly working to get “better” (whatever that means to you in golf) I would also very strongly recommend finding a good pro to guide you!

They do not have to be a top tier “name” instructor but rather someone with whom you can communicate well.

Also not someone who teaches a particular “method” but will work with you on making your golf swing better … ie. more functional, more repeatable. And importantly commit yourself to following the instructor’s guidance. Note that even the tour pros have swing coaches!

When you practice, it should always be with some aid or tool that provides you feedback - relative to the specific thing you are working on!

For example, if you want to work on club path/face angle you have to be hitting in front of an accurate launch monitor that provides that data.

And please - if you do find an instructor and commit to following their teaching then do NOT spend hours in front of your computer searching for and looking at YouTube videos.

#11

thanks for all the input everyone, i think to everyones point, Im gonna wait till i find a good swing instructor who does this professionally to work on the specifics and going to concentrate on the fundamentals until then.

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#12

Thanks for the advice, working on grip posture and