The big thing about the golf swing is to be in the right place when the club comes down.
Every movement in taking the club back and then back down, the shoulder turn, etc., all cause compensatory movements in the body.
If you pay attention to this, you can feel it. Find a level spot and just move the club from the address position to half way back. Notice weight shifts and foot pressure and maybe hip turn/shift too. Some of this is small, but it's there.
When you fully wind up or are in the act of winding things are happening too.
The body needs to maintain balance and that is what is going on. Sure you can lean for a bit, but you can't hold that position.
Ok, so when we start down, compensations must also occur. The speed that you do this stuff is important. I've found that fast, powerful movements seem to be "corrected" for by the body better than slower ones.
Which leads me to Monte Scheinblum. You can find him on youtube and recommend that you do.
He has problems with some of the traditional golf swing teaching. For example, the other the top move, casting are the ones I'm playing with now.
The traditional theory is that casting (this is opening the angle of the club to the left arm) is a large power loss and one should strive to avoid that and in fact there are proponents of trying hang on to the angle or shorten it to increase power.
Monte's view is if you try to cast, you can't do it. Put your arms parallel to the ground in the take away path as if you were taking it back for a full swing. Now try to cast from this position. You can't do it, if you swing with any speed. Sure, in slow motion you can, but normal speed or as fast as you can, you will not. And at high speed, your hands will work just fine for striking the ball.
Why this works is that the action of the hands to cast, causes the arms to come down and get to the hitting position. Damn handy all of that. And you can swing as hard as you can and it all works out nicely.
Let's talk about hitting from the top. This is defined as starting the upper body before the lower. Causes monster slices and hooks and nothing good. But if you take the club back and are in a reasonable place and you start down from there by swinging hard, the lower body will react and save you from falling.
The legs and hips will shift a head a bit and the left knee will do good things and all is well. Try it!
Again, I've found it is easier to do if you swing hard.
Monte wants the shoulders and arms and club to remain connected. He doesn't want the shoulders to get in front of the arms or the arms to lead the shoulders or the body to lead the upper body. By doing some of the above, you are maintaining the connections. So the swings are not long, but they are connected.
Monte says to take advantage of the body's ability to react and use it. That's why this stuff works.
He has videos and more explanations on these items and drills to try.
I find this works quite well. I'm very comfortable with the casting of the hands drill and I've taken that to the course. Now, my irons are the strength of my game and this made them better. Hit a low pitching wedge from under a tree? Move the ball back and swing and cast and off it goes nicely to 4 feet from the pin.
My driver has been an issue for years and I've not quite got this fully resolved, but it seems to be working well. More time on the course will tell.
In any case do take a look at Monte's videos...
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