Popular Post chisag Posted April 30, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted April 30, 2021 Date Your Swing Key, But Never Marry It ... A turning point in my development was hearing Andrew MaGee say in an interview before winning on Sunday that the Pro's are just like us amateurs when it comes to swing keys. They are always looking for something that improves their game. I am not talking about fundamentals that never change, I am talking about "finding something" that works so well you think it is the long lost key to playing your best golf. Andrew said his swing keys usually last a round or two but once he found a swingy that almost lasted a full two weeks! That was a real eye opener for me. ... We have all been there. You see a swing tip from an instructor or watch a player on TV and a light bulb goes off in your head. Or you read something and decide to give it a try and hit the ball better than you have in a long time. This is pretty normal and you should relish those moments and ride the key until it bucks you. As an example, let's say you have been struggling with your transition and you try "pulling the grip down from the top of the backswing through impact". Maybe you have been flipping through impact, maybe your timing has been off or maybe you have just been trying to hit it too hard yanking the grip from the top and you find pulling the grip cures all that ails you and you are swinging better than you have in a long time. Or even better, it is a real break through for you and you are hitting the ball better than you ever have. Pulling the grip through impact is the key that will take you to the next level! ... The next day or a round or two later, pulling the grip is not working and the harder you try to make it work the worse your swing gets. What are you doing wrong now and why isn't the key working like it did when you discovered it?!? Every day swinging a club is different depending on how much sleep you got, what you ate, what time of day it is or even what happened at home or work that added some stress to our life and everything has an effect on your swing. Your swing is a combination of speed, strength, timing, accuracy and having all those pieces work together so is really really difficult. But most importantly a swing key is usually a correction of a flaw. When you first started pulling the grip through impact, it was new to that day and it worked because your timing was in sync. But the next day you can pull longer than the day it worked so well and you are not releasing the club through impact, which is crazy because not releasing through impact was the feeling you had pulling the grip and it worked so well. And here is where it gets really crazy because after struggling for several rounds with pulling the grip you heard another tip that said "try and make the club head pass your hands through impact" and BINGO! you are hitting the ball solidly again. ... It seems like much of golf instruction is contradictory and maybe they are messing up your swing on purpose to sell you more clubs and take more lessons. But in the example I used in pulling the grip through impact, when you started it maybe you were addressing something that was out of whack. You pulled the grip and when it got to waist level you released the grip but it felt like you were holding it through impact. The next round you know pulling the grip and not releasing through impact worked well, so well that your brain knows to NOT RELEASE THROUGH IMPACT and begins exaggerating that move. So much so that the cure is to try and make your clubbed pass your hands at impact and because you are still pulling the grip from the top of your backswing, you have a delayed release (nice lag) so releasing through impact has your shaft in perfect alignment with the ball and your lead arm and you are hitting it great again. But sooner or later, and usually sooner, you begin to over-do making the club head pass your hands and start casting and BINGO! you are struggling again. ... When I found out the Pros go through this too, I understood a key is just a correction and it certainly can be very valuable but it is always temporary. So when you find a swing key that works keep using it until it doesn't work. The longer you play the more your arsenal of swing keys will grow and you might fall back on them anytime you need them. We have all remembered a swing key in the middle of a round that seems to fix things instantly and we think "how could I have forgotten this and why haven't I been doing it?" When you are swinging well you don't need a swing key, again different than a fundamental like making sure your weight stays inside your back foot kinda key. Looking at your target and hitting the ball right at it is easy with no swing thoughts because you are swinging well. If you really struggling, a swing key can be a life raft when you are drowning but just keep in mind it isn't the answer yo a perfect swing and be ready to abandon it when it doesn't work anymore. Peaksy68, fixyurdivot, Tom the Golf Nut and 11 others 14 Quote Driver: Qi10 10.5* ... Ventus Red Velocore 5R Fairway: Aerojet 3/5 ... Kai'li Blue 60R Hybrids: 430 Hybrid 22*... Steelfiber 780Hy DHy #4 ... Diamana LTD 65r Irons: '23 T200 5-Pw ... Steelfiber i95r Wedges: Vokey 50*/54*/58* ... Steelfiber i95r Putter: Sport-60 33" Ball: Maxfli Maxfli Tour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejgaudette Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 This is a great reminder to be willing to change those keys. Right now what is working is a key from a Mark Crossfield video about transferring your weight more to your front toes. This really helped my contact recently with the irons. I am sure this will stop working and then like you said might need to feel like I hang back if I over do it. Even in my short golfing career I have used countless keys and I am sure the list will only grow. cksurfdude, chisag and sirchunksalot 3 Quote Epic Max LS 9° Ventus Blue 6X (2021 Official Review) | Epic Speed 18° Evenflow Riptide 70g 6.0 816 H1 21° Diamana S+ Blue 70 S | SMS 4-5/SMS Pro 6-PW Steelfiber i95 S (2023 Official Review) Glide 4.0 50°.12°S/54°.14°W/58°.6°T PING Z-Z115 Wedge Flex | SOFT 11S Super Stroke Mid-Slim 2.0 Hoofer Bag | Pro V1 | Right Handed | Tracked by V3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raj LP Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 You're spot on with this. Any time I have found a swing fix, I have sent it to myself in a long running email thread with myself. It's now pages and pages long. The one thought that always seems to help is for me to take fuller body turns in the backswing and swing easy but not lazy. Lazy swing results in me leaving the face open. cksurfdude, Kenny B and chisag 3 Quote - Raj HDCP 12 Driver - Taylormade M5 9 - HZRDUS Smoke S Irons - Ping i200 AWT 2 stiff shafts Wedges - Titleist Vokeys 50, 55, 60 Putter - Odyssey Fang 2 Ball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny B Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 My feeling on this is that swing keys are different for pros and high level ams than they are for mid- to high handicaps. If a player knows they have a solid, repeatable swing, they are able to incorporate a new swing key, maybe to their advantage... or maybe not; they can move on. However, a player that struggles to find a good, repeatable swing has swing flaws. Introducing something new that seems like a good tip at the time is probably a bandaid that likely causes more problems to fix down the road. We all want to find that "something," but sticking with a plan from a qualified coach usually leads to better results in the long run. Vegan_Golfer_PNW, sirchunksalot and cksurfdude 3 Quote “We don’t stop playing the game because we get old; we get old because we stop playing the game.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fixyurdivot Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 Sam's advice is exactly why I keep one of these in the bag . It's really crazy when you think about the plethora of golf tips available. One that I am pretty much married too however is saying the word "swing tempo" and/or "slow down" before every shot - as being too fast is a gremlin that never goes away. Kenny B, bens197, cksurfdude and 2 others 5 Quote G410 Plus, 9 Degree Driver G400 SFT, 16 Degree 3w G400 SFT, 19 Degree 5w ZX5 Irons 4-AW Glide 2.0 56 Degree SW (removed from double secret probation ) ER5v Putter (Evnroll ER5v Official Review) AI-One Milled Seven T CH (Currently Under Product Test) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chisag Posted May 1, 2021 Author Share Posted May 1, 2021 11 hours ago, Kenny B said: My feeling on this is that swing keys are different for pros and high level ams than they are for mid- to high handicaps. If a player knows they have a solid, repeatable swing, they are able to incorporate a new swing key, maybe to their advantage... or maybe not; they can move on. However, a player that struggles to find a good, repeatable swing has swing flaws. Introducing something new that seems like a good tip at the time is probably a bandaid that likely causes more problems to fix down the road. We all want to find that "something," but sticking with a plan from a qualified coach usually leads to better results in the long run. ... Kenny I am talking about bandaids which can be very helpful temporarily and I was a little shocked to hear Magee say the same thing. Magee said he was pulling the ball a little left and found a swing key that helped him get his normal ball flight back and helped him win that week. He also abandoned it the next day on the range because it wasn't working. Every day is different. Something as simple as aiming further right can help find the fairway. There is a reason you are missing left but you can't usually fix that in the middle of a round and the swing key of just aiming more to the right works for that round. The next day it may not work so of course a solid swing and having a plan from a coach to engrain the fundamentals is always the goal, but sometimes when things are just not working on any given day, a temporary swing key can really help. sirchunksalot, cksurfdude, Kenny B and 1 other 4 Quote Driver: Qi10 10.5* ... Ventus Red Velocore 5R Fairway: Aerojet 3/5 ... Kai'li Blue 60R Hybrids: 430 Hybrid 22*... Steelfiber 780Hy DHy #4 ... Diamana LTD 65r Irons: '23 T200 5-Pw ... Steelfiber i95r Wedges: Vokey 50*/54*/58* ... Steelfiber i95r Putter: Sport-60 33" Ball: Maxfli Maxfli Tour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Tutelman Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 Date but don't marry. Chisag, I like your metaphor, and would like to extend it. I have a harem of swing keys, keys I have married because they do work for me -- even if only some of the time. I understand impact and what I want the clubhead and even the shaft to be doing at impact. To a lesser extent, but still a useful extent, I understand my own swing and its flaws, and enough physics to understand what should be happening in the swing. Most days, the keys I bring to the course don't work well. But after a few holes, I understand what is wrong with my swing that day, and look in the harem for the most attractive swing key to fix it. Usually it works, but sometimes it takes me too long to find the right key. This past Friday was a case in point. The first five holes I was 5 over par. The remaining thirteen I was 2 over par. I found the keys that worked for the day. Some day I'll get to the course early enough to sort that out on the range. cksurfdude and chisag 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cksurfdude Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 As a mid-/high handicapper I will admit to using swing keys, buuuut... ONLY ones directly from the instructor that I've been seeing regularly since the end of last Summer, and then only a very specific one or two that we've focused on in our most recent lesson(s). Two good examples (*that work for me, from my lessons .. NOT recommending these to anyone else!) are - (1) what he terms "Sway to Target", which is just as it sounds = move target-ward on the downswing, into and through impact; and (2) extend the wrists "down" into and at impact, as I have a (bad) tendency to cup them (as I "hit at" the ball vs swinging through it; adds loft and also tends to open the face). A good friend of mine is one of those guys spending time at night on Facebook and YouTube searching for "The Answer" .. and it's sad to see him still frustrated out on the course .. despite having started a series of lessons himself..!! Kenny B and sirchunksalot 2 Quote WITB of an "aspiring" play-ah ... Driver...Callaway Paradym (Aldila Ascent PL Blue 40/A) 5W...Callaway Great Big Bertha (MCA Kai'Li Red 50/R) 7W...Tour Edge Exotics EXS (Tensei CK Blue 50/R) 4H...Callaway Epic Super Hybrid (Recoil ZT9 F3) 5H...Callaway Big Bertha ('19) (Recoil 460 ESX F3) 6i-GW...Sub 70 699 V2 (Recoil 660 F3) 54°, 60°...Cleveland CBX2, CBX 60 (Rotex graphite) Putter...EvnRoll ER5 or MLA Tour XDream (P2 Reflex grip on both) ...all in a Datrek bag on an MGI Zip Navigator electric cart. Ball often, not always, MaxFli Tour. Forum Member tester for the Paradym X driver (2023) Forum Member tester for the ExPutt Putting Simulator (2020) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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