takeaway too inside?

hi all
pretty pleased with my swing at present barring one small problem

unbelieveable but true my slice with the driver has gone but replaced by the occaisional hook/hard draw.
i think i may be coming back too much inside on the takeaway
so the question is how far should the club head travel back in a straight line before i start to turn the shoulders?

Many good swings that I see follow a very similar takeaway pattern with the driver. They do not start to turn their shoulders or hindge the wrists until the hands pass the right leg (righty golfer).

The forearms start to rotate slightly. When your hands are past your right leg, the shaft of the club should be parallel to the ground. If you set up with a slightly cupped left wrist, the left wrist should be pretty flat at this point as well.

Slats,

Keep the club head forward of the hands on the takeaway.

My 10 cents?

I used to fight a slice until I went and had lessons. During the lesson my PRO was able to show me that I had an inside takeaway which got the club too far behind me at the top and when I started my down swing it would come over the top.

If felt counter intuitive, but he had me take the club straight back keeping it low to the ground as far as I could. To me at the time, it felt like I was taking the club back to the outside but the video showed that I was actually coming pretty straight back. The end result for my swing was an effortless draw!!! Since then, part of driver shot routine is to check my club at 9:00 o'clock to make sure the shaft is pointing straight down the target line. I also check to see if sets at the top somewhere between my right shoulder and head again pointing down the target line.

This drill has helped me so much that I feel wierd if I don't do it. Perhaps you could give it a try the next time that you practice.

I always felt that if the club came back to the inside that it would slot into to an inside out swing plane, but as explained above it had the opposite effect for my swing.

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SumoSid
"Moments of Greatness followed by Moments of horror."

Bro i have gone through the exact same thing as you and my pro said that I was swaying my hips too far back on the takeaway. I'm going to assume that you hit an occasional hook OB maybe one out of every 3-5 holes like i did. The reason it isnt all the time is because sometimes you are able to catch up when you sway too far back but when you dont catch up your hands over compensate which gives you a flatter swing and a closed club face giving you that hook.

I may be wrong but it's what happened with me so just trying to help,
good luck,
gator

__________________
Gator's Bag:
Driver: Nike Sasquatch Tour 9.5* Stiff flex
Wood: Nike Sasquatch 3 Wood
Hybrid: Adams Idea Pro 3 I-Wood 20*
Irons: Nike CCI Forged 4-PW
Wedges: 52* Nike SV Tour, 56* Titleist Vokey Spin Milled, 60* Callaway X Forged
Putter: Nike Unitized Neo 34"

i do this every now and again.. for me it's when i try and hit the ball too hard whilst having a good round.

i can feel that i'm coming over the top.. try slowing down your swing and bring it back under control

Slats, agree with Sid here...

Club head should stay on target line for as long as is possible.

Have seen a little drill where you hit balls with only a half swing, half way back to half way through, concentrating on taking the club head back along the target line. Tried it a few weeks back and it worked a treat.

As Nicole said, the feel is one of the clubhead "leading" the hands back, almost as if you are pushing the clubhead back along the target line.

Have now built in to my pre shot routine picking out two spots one ahead and one behicnd the ball on the target line and the idea is, clubface square to the line to the point ahead of the ball and the clubhead goes back straight over the point behind the ball, face still square to the line.

Or something like that.

You know how we 6'4" 240lb gorilla's who double as 17 markers are.

We know more than our abilities show...

Cheers


Edit: PS - Just remembered, that drill was aslo supposed to assist in learning about creating lag too...

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Look at the Target, Look at the Ball, Swing... Dr Bob Rotella...

Try this Slats - if you do this right you CANNOT take it away inside, worked for me a treat.

The Golf Backswing Part 3: The Thumb Press

That's interesting, I have been working on this takeaway recently after reading Joe Dante's "New Golf swing". Discover The New Golf Swing And Master Any Putting Green

I have been experimenting with this coupled with Greg's right hand drill and have been hitting the most straight and accurate shots ever.

Spot on Sid. Low and Slow and a little weight shift to the right, in a nice wide arc. If you take it back wide and steep you then make the room for the club to drop to the inside. If you take it back to the inside the club has no room to shallow out and thus (unless you are a perfect one planer) you have to come OTT

Been doing the same thing. They seem to go hand and hand. When I press the bottom of the palm of my right hand down on my left thumb, it flattens my left wrist. For me, it feels like a great position to be in. I stress it with my driver when trying to hit a draw. It keeps the club face looking at the ball longer, keeps me from fanning it open.

Once the shaft hits parallel to the ground, I make sure my right elbow is still pointing at my right hip, complete my turn to the top, start my move down by "kicking" my left knee towards the target (starts the weight shift), continue to rotate my hips through the shot while my right shoulder works down (right down to the shaft parallel to the ground position again, or the "L") and just continue to rotate through impact. Sounds simple

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What's in my bag....
Cleveland VP 2 Blade Putter
Ping Tour Wedges, 54 & 60
TaylorMade rac LT2, 4i thru PW
Tour Edge Exotics Iron-Wood 21* 3i - Aldila NV 90 Stiff Shaft
Ping G5 18* 5 Wood - ProLaunch Blue 75 Stiff Shaft
Ping G5 15* 3 Wood - Aldila NV 75 Stiff Shaft
Cleveland HiBore XL 9.5* - Fujikura Fit-On Red Stiff Shaft

thanks a lot guys n gals for your replies!

been to the range tonight not quite got the thumb press down yet will have to work a bit more on that.

concentrated on keeping the clubface looking at the ball as long as possible and that worked a treat hitting a nice arcing draw with 3 wood and driver

happy days

Oi, Pedro! I thought you said you were spending too much time practising the woods and not enough on others? :P

Go on, then... Out in the back garden now with your wedge and a torch. Off you go..!

hi bulldog
i practised alternately with driver,3 wood,5,7,9 iron and pw
thumb press worked with short irons but im sticking with present swing as it seems okay now.
hope its that good in the comp on saturday

Cool.

Best of luck on Saturday. Internal club comp or against another team? I trust you'll keep us informed, and can't wait to hear of your ripping success.

Out of interest, which course?