Overswing - any ideas as to the root cause?!

Hi

I have always had a full swing but in recent months I have noticed my swing has got far too long after looking at a video in my lesson.

I have tried to shorten it through feel but it isn;t helping and I want to look at the underlying problem and fix that.....I just can't see it.

I am pretty consistent, hitting mid/low eighties as I manage to get the club back on plane, have a lot of lag (prob as the club has a lot of catching up to do from the o/swing!) and I managed to get the clubhead back to square.

I can't help feeling my game would improve more if I could shorten my swing which would give me even more consistency and distance as a lot of power is gone by the time I reach the ball!

I have worked on the following to date:

Setup, posture, grip, alignment
Left arm - keeping it straight but not stiff with some natural bend
Right arm folding into my right side to 90 degrees
Shoulder turn (not dipping on the way back)
Consistent spine angle
Weight transfer to right side
Staying down on my right knee

I have tried everything I can think of apart from someone giving me an electric shock each time I overswing! So any ideas/help would be greatly appreicated,

Cheers

JCBDB

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JCBDB

Overswinging can come from disconnection of the arms from the chest. Work a bit on keeping the arms inside the shoulder's width. As you turn back with only the shoulders, let the arms stay in connection to this movement. Then let the arms raise up...up is ok, because you still are connected "vertically". It's when the arms go outside the shoulders that disconnection happens.

Greg - thanks for thie quick response.

I will give this a go, I was always taught to pull my left arm across my chest so I guess my arms and hands are working independently.

Cheers

JCBDB

hi
watch your tempo too i find if i get to fast i tend to over swing and i now count to myself as i swing and that seems to stop me doing it, before i would sometimes see the driver head flash in my left eye when i was trying to hit the ball real long and on video i was overswinging and my left heal lifted a little, but what sorted it was swinging at 90% and not 100% and keeping the same tempo on each shot.
bill

You can bring them across, but keep it "inside" the shoulders. So the move to the top will keep the hands at most, inline with the right shoulder...nothing more.

Thankyou both for your input.

I think my tempo has always been good, maybe a little lazy at times. However, I think I subconciously reach for the extra distance and overswing!

Greg - just to clarify

Are you saying that the arms can come across my chest but not above the line of my shoulder plane? I pretty much do this - so if you looked at my swing from behind you would see my left arm intercepting my right shoulder at the point the club is horizontal to the ground.

I think this is the point where it breaks down - my left arm breaks too much - I can;t stop my hands from carrying on and lose control of the club....just an observation from trying it out just now. Could I be swinging too much with my hands/arms still?

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JCBDB

No, the "Inline" referrs to the width of the shoulders, not the hight. So you can bring your arms as high as you want...just not outside the shoulder's width.

What happens if you have the arms outside the shoulders is they break-down and wrap-around the body. You now have to "un-wrap" them. This may seem powerful to you, but it is not. Keeping the arms within the shoulders will allow the arms to stay connected and any body (hip/torso/shoulder) rotation will take the arms with them in a very controllable mannor. All you have to do now, is let the arms drop back down.

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I'm a golfaholic, no question about that. Counseling wouldn't help me. They'd have to put me in prison, and then I'd talk the warden into building a hole or two and teach him how to play. ~Lee Trevino

You have a knack. What a great explanation!

Hi Jcbdp,

here is some advice I gave to someone who had a similar problem. maybe it will help?

Over swinging in the back swing is normally caused by early rotation of the right side, this results in poor positioning of the club and loss of power.

Here is a drill to help you get the correct feel by allowing your right leg to form a boundary that you can load and coil into but not beyond:

Take a normal address position with a mid iron. Draw your left foot back until your big toe is in line with the heel of your right foot. Have a slightly narrower stance than normal and the ball an inch inside your left heel.

As you make your back swing try to maintain the same amount of flex in your right knee that you had at address.

Repeat this exercise and get the feel of the right leg creating torque and anchoring the upper right torso. Try to recreate the same feeling in your normal golf swing.

As well as this ensure your feet (especially the left) are turned out to around 30 degrees in your normal address position, this will also create torque and resistance in the back swing.

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Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!

Thanks - I will give this all a go.

Greg - you have hit the nail on the head. My arms do wrap around my body and I have just looked at a few our pros swings against mine and there is an obvious difference!

Thanks again.

JCBDB

Just an idea but things such as a slice, overswing etc are pretty common and I see the same questions again and again.

I guess the likes of Greg are very patient repeating similar advice for the same issues! Would the site benefit from a common faults and fixes section where such posts can be "filed" for easy reference when members have a problem?

Thanks again for all the input - the grip at the top is not quite right but I think this is a loss of control due to the speed and excessive movement in my arms and hands.

I will focus on staying connected at first, get this embedded in my swing then see where I am.

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JCBDB

I had the same problem a while back. The problem for me was that my right leg wasn't anchoring my backswing. What happened was that my right leg was moving backwards(away from the ball) slightly, because my right leg wasn't flexed enough. The result was an overrotation of the hips and no power created in the backswing.No coiling action.

Check your head at the backswing position as well. Should be behind the ball. Don't tilt over to the left side at the top of the backswing.

Hope this helps a bit.

I see Gregs comments about keeping the arms inside the shoulders.
Back and forth I notice attempts to clarify what this actually means.
I am sorry but I still cant visualise what Greg means by "inside the shoulders".
Can anybody (Greg) make it clear for the "hard of thinking" like me.

"...the "Inline" referrs to the width of the shoulders, not the hight. So you can bring your arms as high as you want...just not outside the shoulder's width..."
What do you need help in? This?

Hi, still a bit "thick"
can you make any clearer ???
I must be totally mis-understanding this "inside" term