Downline video analysis question,

I've had a hard time getting the club to fall back onto plane during the transition. I start with my hips, and have tried numerous other tricks so I took a look at a video of some of my swings downline and split the screen in V1 and compared them to some pros.

I found 2 things that I think can help out but I'm no pro.

1. The pro golfers had less area to drop to get onto plane. In their videos all their right elbow tips were just touching the top of the shaft plane line. Mine on the other hand is well above it. I'm guessing my problem is that I'm lifting too much in the swing. Does this sound right?

2. This doesn't have much to do with the above but another potential problem. My heel of my right foot (right handed) comes off the ground almost at the start of my downswing, the pros right heels come off right at impact or very near to it.

any suggestions greatly appreciated!

Its not an easy thing to fix... I started in 2001 rebuilding my swing using teachers and video. I was a good player but I had a slightly over the top move coming down and this led to a lot of shots that were blown way out to the right and a few pull-hooks.

What I did was to concentrate on keeping the clubhead outside of my hands during the take away and bring the hands back up to the top with what I felt like was a way to the outside move. I felt like I was taking the club back way outside the line but in reality, I was on plane.

Starting the downswing- the hardest part was letting the club FALL into position. This was really difficult because to me the downswing happens too fast to control anything. But, with lots of practice, I have learned not to hurry during the initial move down. When I was able to do this, my swing was on plane through impact. I spent hours swinging at half speed to get this concept down. Then I gradually speeded up to full speed.

I seldom blow them way out to the right anymore, and keep the ball in play a lot more.

The single thing that I think most people get in trouble with is getting the club too far to the inside on the backswing- then you have no other option other than to lift the club to the top. Then that makes it real easy to come over the top on the way down and be out over the ideal plane.

What this does is LOOP the swing in the wrong direction. Most good players today are straight back and straight through. In older players, you still see the takeaway to the outside and the drop to the inside. Watch Fred Couples- he lifts the club to the top then re-routes and drops to the inside.

One thing is for sure- most of the good players come at the ball from the inside. There are exceptions- Bobby Jones, Hale Irwin and Craig Stadler come to mind- they all have a slight move and drop slightly to the outside but they played with the swing that they learned early on in life. The most important thing is that their swing repeats time and time again.

Good luck with it!

I've played around with the idea of feeling what your describing. To feel the club outside the hands on the backswing then "loop" it to the inside.

I guess I've always had my doubts whether or not this was a correct action to "feel" the club looping to the inside. Everyhwhere you read to inlcude these forums describes the feeling of starting with your hips and the loop happens as a RESULT not a cause.

When you feel the club travels outside your hands on the takeaway do manually feel it looping back to the inside or do you start with the lower body?

thanks,

vectorinvestor - its tough to say without seeing your swing but from your description you are probably too upright at the top of your swing - possibly because you are lifting your arms and not turning your shoulders. I would go and see a pro and see what he says but from your description i would be thinking along the lines of flattening your swing at the top. From here you should be able to drop easier onto the correct plane. As tomallinder said, its not an easy one to fix. If you cant get to see a pro then go buy one of my favourite golf books - nick faldo's swing for life. He flattened his swing and calmed his leg action down and this book would really help you (or anyone).

By the way your heel coming up early in down swing is a result of your lifting/upright plane and not a THE cause of downswing problems. Fix the backswing and the heel will get fixed naturally.

these are only my opinions and a pro who can see your swing should be able to help.

hope this helps

nick