Followthrough

One Question please........


How many of you guys actually spend time working on your followthrough............

I think of all the tips and lessons people take this is the one part of the swing most neglected.


p.s Yes I do work on mine.....


Thanks

Ian.

Funny you should mention it! I'm working on mine at the moment. My current follow through is born from my old handsy swing. Left hand cups and right hand takes over. The clubhead ends up going more left around me rather than chasing the ball more down the target line.

From down the line the club shaft comes out very low (pops out somewhere round my middle ribs) rather than up near my shoulder. I'm working on more of a "straight" release where I feel like the back of my left hand turns toward the ground rather than cupping back towards me. I get it right about 1 out of 10 at the moment! Me ol' mate Percy Vearence is gonna need to come out again!

I can manage to play with it, just don't expect me to hit a draw right now! It's all fades. Still, works for Vijay!

I don't work too much on my position - but I do ensure that I make a full followthrough and HOLD it until the ball has landed.

My local pro tells me that it has 2 advantages:

1) It ensures that my balance is OK.

2) It maximizes the benefit of intuitive learning. The body - I'm told - can only connect muscle memory to the results for a few seconds after the conclusion of the motion. So if you want to connect certain movements with the results, it is important to let your mind experience these results without adding movement that is not related to that result.

A classic is picking up your tee. Why are we teaching our body that a bad swing means that the tee is somewhere different from a good swing. Is that not irrelevant? What we need to know is what a good and bad swing does to the ball flight, so stay "in" the swing, and let the body learn.

__________________
//Mox
2008 bag:
Mizuno MX-500 460cc 10.5* Fujikura Tour Platform 26.3 stiff. (about to be replaced by MP-600 10,5* UST Proforce V2 stiff)
Mizuno F-50 3w 15* Fujikura Tour Platform 26.3 stiff.
Wilson Deep Red 5w 18* Graphalloy Fatshaft stiff
Cleveland HALO 3i hybrid 22* graphite regular
Mizuno MP-60e forged 5i-PW True Temper Dynamic gold R300 steel
Mizuno MP Black OX raw haze 50/6 GW, 54/9 SW, 58/10 LW
Heavy Putter B3-M
Titleist NXT Extreme

No such thing as muscle memory. Memory resides in ones head.

I like to pick up my tee before the ball has landed. Means I've hit yet another great shot and gives my opponent the unsettling knowledge that I don't even need to watch it land!

Quite - but the information that is to be remembered is the feedback from the neural network controlling your motion.

THAT is "muscle memory".

This neural feedback is absorbed in your mind during a few vital seconds after the motion is completed. If you disturb that learning process by adding another motion pattern before your mind is finished learning the first motion, you will have less data to add to memory, and some of it will be misleading.

An interesting concept Mox, and probably the very reason why learning a repeatable, powerful, accurate golf swing is so time-consuming. So many movements performed one after another in quick succession.

The whole idea behind "posing" in your finish supports that too. If one motion directly follows another motion the brain, and hence the muscles, will already be anticipating the next move before it even occurs. My old man always used to say "Don't start something else until you've finished what you're doing"................turns out he was right!

Maybe I should leave my tees on the ground for the next 4-ball in future!

Nice one Mox.

Yes, muscles do have memory. Also strongly agree with Neil18's dad. Obviously a very wise man.

Enough said....

I work on finishing with my hands high over my left shoulder, this assures me that I have kept good arm extension in the follow through phase. I then like to rebound the club back in front of me to finish, this gets me into a comfortable balanced position where I can also check if the clubface has remained square.

Dave Pelz suggests that we should always watch the ball flight to completion, good or bad, as it allows our brain to absorb what has happened and learn by it. Seems a good strategy to me.

I have just started concentrating more on my follow through with my driver which has greatly improved my shots. But i am having problems following through with my irons. thats the next step. I think it is easier with the heavier club head of the driver.

bluetoff
do a google search for michelle dube's pump drill!
practise that and you will find you have improved your tempo and followthrough.

it worked wonders for me

I constantly practising to replicate the downswing and followthrough to match the upswing plane. Followthrough is indeed important for my routine. Strangely to say, the only way humans can have a 100% swing consistency is if our shoulders are attached around our navel.

?????

I have to say, one thing about about the RHD is that in keeping my right wrist flexed and 'stiff' throughout the swing, it affects my follow through, ie; It's hard to finish with it over my left shoulder with my wrist flexed, unless I'm doing something wrong (and I usually am)

Michelle Dube's pump drill can be found at

Michelle Dube golf swing drills

It's little quirky to view the video, but well worth the effort

"Strangely to say, the only way humans can have a 100% swing consistency is if our shoulders are attached around our navel."

Sorry I have no Idea what that means either