Drills for shortening one's swing

[Tyk]

I have a VERY big swing. My club generally goes WAY past parallel. Its always been a problem, and through all my lessons its the first thing anyone tells me. I've never been able to shorten it up. I'll go through periods where I'll get it a bit shorter, and I see good results from it, but with a couple weeks I'm back to my old big swing.

 

The main problem I seem to have is that I can't seem to train myself to feel the new stopping point for a shorter swing. If I focus on it and really think about it, I can make myself shorten my swing, but as soon as I take my mind off that the swing goes back to BIG again.

 

I play better when I shorten it up. I gain distance and accuracy and I while I don't know that I have it in me to ever have a nice, tight, compact swing, I'd be happy with just taking the club back to parallel or a little before parallel.

 

Has anyone else successfully shortened thier swing? What did you do?

[jamo]

The only think that helped me was feeling like I was making literally 1/8th of a swing. Nothing else worked.

[GolfBagCheck.com]

There are a few training aids out there that help for that. You might want to start with the Swing Extender. I use it every so often when my swing gets too loose.

[cheymike]

I took a lesson early last year and had the same comment from the pro. He told me I needed to think "3/4 swing". It worked. Took me some time to pound it into my head, but every time I saw a big ol' banana ball flight, I was reminded. LOL!

[jamo]

There are a few training aids out there that help for that. You might want to start with the Swing Extender. I use it every so often when my swing gets too loose.

 

I've heard good things about that. I think it's especially a good idea for the following reason: In the swing, tons of hip turn and tons or shoulder turn can put you in a good position even if you are past parallel. But when the right elbow bends to less than 90* (ie. there is less than 90* between the right forearm and bicep) you are just adding a pointless, power-sapping move than requires timing and compensation to get right. From what I understand the swing extender basically prevents the right elbow from over-flexing.

[Tyk]

I played tonight really concentrating on shortening the swing (after 2 days of intense practice hitting 200 balls each day) and played really well on the front despite struggling a bit with the driver (shot 2 over with one triple due to me refusing to take my medicine when I know better!).

 

When I try to shorten up I tend to pull hook a bit. For some reason shortening the swing really makes me tend to come over the top, I'm guessing its because the shorter swing makes my hands feel like they're behind and so I rush them to catch up. My irons however really do better with a shorter swing. Alas, the primary reason I need to change is that my driver is wildly unpredictable with the big swing, so at least a pull hook with a shorter swing is predictable!

[JBones]

When I try to shorten up I tend to pull hook a bit. For some reason shortening the swing really makes me tend to come over the top, I'm guessing its because the shorter swing makes my hands feel like they're behind and so I rush them to catch up.

I do the exact same thing. I would say my swing was Daly-esque, maybe just a little less. I've went to a "3/4" swing and I'm still past parallel. When I do stop at or just short of parallel, I hit the ball great. I've been fighting this every since I've been playing.

[caddyjoe77]

have you ever tried shortening your left thumb? What i mean is, instead of laying it on the grip completely, just put the thumbpad on the grip and effectively making it shorter.

 

I used to have a swing past parallel and when i did this it worked for me.

[JBones]

have you ever tried shortening your left thumb? What i mean is, instead of laying it on the grip completely, just put the thumbpad on the grip and effectively making it shorter.

 

I used to have a swing past parallel and when i did this it worked for me.

I'm going to try this right now, will report back in a bit.

 

*UPDATE*

Uh, somebody explain to me why this works. I just went out and video taped 10 swings with my thumb in its normal position. Based on a full swing being exactly parallel, my swing was about a full and a half. I taped another 10 swings, using the thumb "trick" mentioned above and my swing (again based on parallel being a full swing) was about 7/8ths. This was just hitting balls into a net, so I'm anxious to get to the range to see if there is any changes in flight or distance. Nice tip, Caddyjoe

[caddyjoe77]

I'm going to try this right now, will report back in a bit.

 

*UPDATE*

Uh, somebody explain to me why this works. I just went out and video taped 10 swings with my thumb in its normal position. Based on a full swing being exactly parallel, my swing was about a full and a half. I taped another 10 swings, using the thumb "trick" mentioned above and my swing (again based on parallel being a full swing) was about 7/8ths. This was just hitting balls into a net, so I'm anxious to get to the range to see if there is any changes in flight or distance. Nice tip, Caddyjoe

 

Glad it worked for you! I picked it up in a Hogan book somewhere along the way. I think it works because it does not allow your wrists to get....umm...heck i cant think of the word i am looking for here. Overextended perhaps?

[Shambles]

More likely it activates the hand muscles subtly and prevents you from loosening the last two fingers thereby preventing the excess back swing that is actually a loose club hanging off a loose grip. If the short thumb stops working for you try strapping the last two fingers of your left hand to the grip. Not tightly, just enough so that they can't get loose of the grip without your knowing it.

 

 

Shambles

[JBones]

I think it works because it does not allow your wrists to get....umm...heck i cant think of the word i am looking for here. Overextended perhaps?

Thats the feeling I had when I first swung with my thumb in that position, that my wrist was not overcocking/overextending. When my swing was way past parallel, my left elbow bent, because my wrist was cocking so much.

[Tyk]

I've never tried this but I have noticed on my own that when my swing is big my right thumb has to slide over to the left.

 

Can't wait to try this tomorrow!

[JBones]

I've never tried this but I have noticed on my own that when my swing is big my right thumb has to slide over to the left.

 

Can't wait to try this tomorrow!

I bet you and I could have a hell of a match on the golf course. Everything you post about your swing/game is as if I typed it myself. When I have my big swing, by the time I'm back to impact, I have a baseball type grip with my right hand and thats NOT how I started.

[Tyk]

I just switched to an overlap grip about 3 months ago and it has helped me alot, so even when my right thumb slides, it can't slide as far as it would have! The problem isn't the thumb, the thumb is a symptom of the problem, when my swing is good, the thumb won't slide, its a good check though.

 

I've recently started really losing control of the driver, from time to time, hitting a huge out of control push slice when I lose it that most of the time ends up OB.

 

Yesterday I hit the ball well and today was ok, I didn't lose anything out to the right. It was brutally windy today though so I was hitting alot of low wind cheaters that always draw. Supposed to be windy tomorrow too.

[ninjacobra]

put a club on ur right shoulder at address, with ur elbows bent.

 

then make ur shoulder turn with ur left shoulder inside ur left knee. now extend ur arms i thk tts a pretty good way to tell if ur overdoing ur back swing