JMiller

I figured that I would let someone else chime in first because I'm not technically a teaching professional this is not really my section / topic to be in. GENERAL THOUGHTS Please don't take this the wrong way I just want to give a little general advice on tips/ instruction. When I work with Bruce Rearick, regardless of what I know about my swing I still shut up and listen to what he has to say and I like to pick his brain about my swing and general concepts. As a player you have to trust an instructor if you are going to ask for advice and work with a person on your game. It is completely counterproductive to tell an instructor how much you know about something, just take it as a learning experience and a different perspective. A second pair of eyes is always a good thing, when I work with Bruce Rearick on anything in my own game, I listen and ask productive questions to understand more about what I am told. If you are not sold on an instructor's knowledge ask the simple question of "why should I make that change?" If they don't have some kind of good logical answer for you then do not take that advice and find a different person to work with. The reason that I am saying this is that I feel like I attempted to help you last year and well it really sounds like nothing has changed in your swing since the last video you posted. QUESTION RESPONSE Think about how a pull has to happen: ~ face square to the path ~ path is outside to inside to the target line The last time we talked you have a two-plane (vertical) and a lot of one-plane (rotational) downswing. You either get stuck (push or draw/hook = flipping into impact), or cast over the top to get the club out in front of you coming outside to inside the line (slices, pulls, something that starts left) You have two options because it sounds like the same swing I looked at last year: 1) change your backswing to a one-plane rotational swing 2) change your downswing to be more lateral slide and less rotational to match the vertical backswing Nothing is easy to change obviously but for me when I was making swing changes over the last year or less myself the backswing positions are easier to hit then the downswing sequence changes. This is likely because the backswing takes roughly 3times longer to make then the downswing does. The downswing just happens a lot faster. Good luck with the swing.

Well think of it this way. Well think about it, if your hips don't rotate this leaves the shoulders closed, your arms can get out in front of the body rotation causing the club to come inside to outside, where the face is positioned to the path is where the ball will end up. Closed to the path = draw / hook, square = push, open to the path = push cut/ push slice. You can hit a ball putting you butt/ back pointing at the target placing the ball to your lead side (left side on RH golfers) then make a pure arms swing and hit the ball straight to a draw or hook. If you make good contact there is not really a way that is going right unless you have rotated your body out of the start position. This position is actually a release drill a instructor in college taught me. This video pretty much explains the drill well and what happens in a draw and slice. If the body leads the club into impact it is going to create a outside to inside path. If the club leads the body it will create a inside to outside path. You just have to control the face to the path to hit shots, if you over cook one then just learn to time the combination of the two to tone down the curve.

You are likely to get a lot of different answers here for everyone that might respond. Everyone seems to have a different FEEL on how to shape shots. I can offer only what I have experienced in the one-plane swing and Hybrid plane swing now to shape shots and what I know / feel about my swing. Draw Swing more with the arms then the body. The arms have to lead into impact to get inside to DTL or inside to outside. Hybrid-plane >> My weight sift stays back a split second longer the hip rotation feels very passive, the arms swing freally in front of the body. One-plane ~ rotational hips are still there but my arms felt like they did more work them my body. Fade Swing more with the hips / upper body, less with the arms. The hips / shoulders lead into impact with the arms passive. Hybrid-plane >> My weight shifts forward a little sooner, my hips rotate a little sooner pulling my shoulders open and outside to inside, I hold off the release of the head a little as well. One-plane >> I just ripped as hard as I could with my hips and upper body holding off the release a little. So really for me in two different models "arms lead into impact in a draw, hips / body lead into impact in a fade".

No problem, as MBP named me "swing guru" which I find hilarious. I have other people that taught me to thank for my swing knowledge.

If you dig threw all Bruce's articles, you will find him talk about "verbalize your swing". If you can write down the sequence of motion that you make to hit good shots then you will have a good idea of what is going wrong or right in your swing. Knowing how to correct it is a different beast all together

"Good shots are a matter of knowing the process to make the shot. Without a process the swing is random. You can't judge random." ~ Bruce Rearick (Burnt Edges Consulting) ~ Lession 144 Golf is a repetitive game, If you don't have the same process before every putt / swing then how can you know you did everything in the same way? Here is a good article from Bruce about a consistent swing >> http://www.bargolfinstruction.blogspot.com/2011/07/finding-consistent-golf-swing.html

GHIN: 3.2 Fairway: 16.5* Tour Edge Exotics CB3 Hybrid: 19.0* Tour Edge Exotics CB2 I play a 4wood because I'm ballz-ier then the rest of the posters

Well that depends on if you want the swing weight permanently put into the head or temporary put onto the head. I have a Scotty Cameron Newport 2 that weighed in at 332g, my builder put in 8g of tip weight bringing it up to 340g roughly, then I added 5 rubber tungsten weights to the cavity (3 across the back where Titleist is stamped and 2 on the bottom one on each side of the line in the bottom cavity) to add another 10g of weight to the head. In the end I added 18g of weight to the head to bring it up to 350g, anymore then that it would take more then tip weights and rubber tungsten weights as I'm almost out of room on the head to put weight. I would probably recommend letting a professional figure out how to get the swing weight you are after espesually with the amount of weight you roughly need to add.

Here is a link to the Rifle Q&A where they give the weight and loft of the Aussie putter >> http://www.rifeputters.com/faq/ Weight ~ 335g Loft 1.5* Yes swing weight will change extending or cutting down the shaft. ~ Subtracting 1/2” in length decreases 3 swingweight points. ~ 2 grams is approximately 1 swingweight point in the head end of the club. ~ 5 grams is approximately 1 swingweight point in the grip end of the club. So reducing it by 2" to keep the same swing weight you would have this roughly: ~ 12 points less then originally. ~ assuming no component changes then you need to add 24 grams of weight to the head to keep the same swing weight. To really be able to do this properly you need to pull the shaft clean the hosel from epoxy and have the component weights of each piece of the club. If the head starts at 335g then adding 25g would put it up to 360g. If I recall correctly Scotty Cameron Newport 2 follow the following scheme: ~330g @ 35", ~ 340g @ 34", ~350g @ 33" so it would be ~360g @ 32"

I think what hurts majority of mid to high handicaps is two main things 1) They have not a clue what swing style they are naturally 2) They take every bit of advice they can get and it almost always makes them worse. Here is something to read understand and then figure out what swing style you are and only take the advice that fits that style: http://www.bargolfinstruction.blogspot.com/2012/01/guide-to-understanding-your-golf-swing.html Are you a one-plane, Hybrid, Two-plane type of swinger? All three have drastically different down swing sequences that need performed properly to hit the ball consistently.

I know this is a really late response but... I'm not a "pro" but I have a little insight into this... Assumption that you have to proper lie angles and shaft lengths in every club then the following would stay the same ~ Posture (I don't see many really good golfers set up with more hip bend in wedges then they would on a Driver, it's the same) ~ Source of motion (I don't see tour players change their one-plane swing on a driver to a two-plane swing on a wedge it's consistent) ~ Tempo (I'm a 21:7 roughly now that I change my swing I was a 24:8 when over-swinging. Tour players tempo come out ot be about 3:1 ratios there have been a couple at 2.5:! or 2.75:1 but it's repeatable) ~ Grip position (Majority of people find it easier to keep the same grip and twist the club face open or closed before gripping it for specialty shots, sort of like a bunker shot twist face open THEN grip the club naturally) Some things that change slightly: ~ Stance width (stock is 2" outside the hip sockets, some might stand a touch wider but not by a lot for longer clubs, or shorter irons a little closer) ~ Ball position (Assuming stock is the LEAD EYE or LEAD CHEST PEAK, you might move the ball one ball length forward or one ball length backwards depending on the shot, anything further forward then one ball you probably need a tee and that's where tee height comes into play.) Something that does change: ~ the distance you stand away from the ball based on the shaft length. ~ where the club makes contact with the ball in the swing arc (angle of attack) ~ A lot of tour players extend the arms out more on the driver then they do their irons >> If you look at address, hip bend, knee flex is the same but from the shoulders to the handle the irons are straight down on the "Y-Axis" or close to it, on the Driver you get a little angle / extension about 2 to 4" roughly. I'll use two videos of Mr. Woods as examples you could probably do this with any good player: Tiger Woods Driver >> youtube.com/watch?v=GyRPcn0E-bc Tiger Woods Iron >> youtube.com/watch?v=Gfkqwy6oi9s ~ Different at address by arm extension only on the Driver. ~ Different at 1/2 way because iron has more wrist cock already. Body is in same positions practically. ~ Different at the top because iron is not at the length of arm swing at the top but body positions are almost identical. ~ Impact positions are slightly different from ball position and angle of attack but hips and shoulders are rotated almost identically. In short you don't need two different swings for different clubs, so the plane explanation is really wrong all the way around that the plane on a wedge is more upright then a driver.

I sorta of don't agree with the people here talking about how you don't really need them if you are not building them to a specification. Almost every iron I have ever seen as a stock swing-weight number attached to it. Normally it is something like D1 or D2, however because of manufacturing process there is no way they will be EXACT, the head weight has built in tolerances. For the most part heads will likely come in on the LIGHT side of things on error more often then heavy side, assuming the stock says D2 you are likely to find heads / swing weights that range from C9 to D2. Really, even if you are looking to keep them at manufactures specs exactly you will likely need the tip weights. The exception MIGHT be if you are getting the heads off a tour van where they are already pre-weighed and designated to a swing-weight at a given length. You can do a calculation of what the swing weight will be based on the clubs components. Here is a document on calculations >> http://advancedballstriking.com/Swing_weights.pdf No you don't absolutely have to have them but in a stock off the self pre-assembled set like you find in a golf store the swing weights 99.9% of the time will be all over the place. If you are doing the assembly yourself from scratch, you might as well get them right the first time instead of having to pull the shafts again later and re-do it. If you are going to buy tip weights go with brass don't use the lead tips. Lead is cheaper and works fine but brass is nicer to work with and probably would last longer. You are likely to trash or sell the clubs before either would go bad though.

Mr. Nicklaus used to back weight his irons from a D2 to a D0, so one of the best players to ever play this game did it with success. It is purely a feel thing for what you like, I personally like heavier heads something in the D2 to D6 range depending on the club.

Sorry OT Interesting that local areas would have a senior age rule of 55, The USGA / PGA Consider "Senior" tournaments to be 50, all of the Mid-AM are 25 and older. USGA Am Championships --> https://champs.usga.org/index.html I think I would complain to the people running it in FL and tell them their rules don't match the USGA standards of 50 rather then 55

Well, I have not played much lately, played once on Sunday at a new course the day before an AGJA event was scheduled to be held for 4 days on the course. The greens were in great condition, the fairways were tight not real wide, a lot of tee shots were blind. I only had 1 PS on a blind Tee Shot That I thought I had hit perfectly, it was a par 5 slight dog leg left I started it up the left edge with a cut, it hit and saw it bounce straight, little did i know a straight bounce was a bad thing as it caught a massive slope left of the fairway and went into a lateral hazard left that I didn't have a clue was their I ended up making double bogey Had a bad case of the hooks right when we first started, sort of go their late and came out cold, not really a hook a duck hook. Grinned the front 9 for a 41, grinned the back 9 for a 40, it really probably should have been a 38 or 39 on the back but a couple sloppy bogey later oh well. At least I had 3 birdies in the round to help offset a few of the mistakes I made from never playing the course before, It was a good track next time I play it I would have to expect that I could crack 80. The thing that sort of screwed me up for awhile was the feel of what my wedges were doing, I felt like I made a 3/4 swing with a 60* it went 105 yards, I felt like I made a 3/4 smooth swing with a 56* it went 115 yards. Normally they would go 10 yards shorter, I don't know I finally made the adjustment after 7 holes. Made Birdie on 8 with a wedge to 5 feet from 91yards. Short game didn't do that bad either, mostly just issue off the tee and missing a green in the wrong spots not having played the course ever and going in blind completely you have to expect that a little.

RR I know you asked James but, I just wanted to toss something out for talk and discussion. Ben Hogan (One-plane), Tiger Woods (Hybrid-plane 2000), Jack Nicklaus (Two-Plane), I would have to say that all of these players were extremely successful in their careers but had drastically different top positions. There really isn't a single "proper top position" the golf swing is very dynamic and fluid. The amount of pelvis rotation and slide combination is determinate on the top position in which the golfer finds them self in which is proper position for them. A one-plane swing needs mostly all hip rotation and no lateral slide towards the target. Two-plane needs mostly all lateral slide towards the target with little hip rotation. Hybrid is some combination of the two depending on the person. As my signature says from a comment I made on MGS before --> Golf is not one fit all. You have to know your swing sequence to match it with advice. The number one thing that hurts a lot of golfers is that they don't know what advice to take and what advice to leave on the table based on their swing.

Wouldn't this be one cause of a shank? Assuming of course the hands get pushed in towards the ball more along with the hips. I would have to think even 1" to 2" would cause a inside miss to shank on a shot from this issue.