I have put together the following full golf swing breakdown notes for myself to use in practice. It includes everything from distances, to warmup plan, to practice items, to methodology for grip, stance, backswing, transition, downswing, completion, and more. This is based on my research and watching hundreds of videos and reading lots of articles as well as my playing experience. I will continue to update this as I get better.
9/3/2019 Golf swing process
- Putting distances today
- 1 head unit – 2.5 paces
- 2 – 6
- 3 – 11
- 4- 16
- Warm up plan:
- Eat bowl of nuts, banana, drink a tea
- 30 minutes light circuit training
- 20 minutes putting with balls I will use on course and tutor
- 10 minutes chipping method
- 5 minutes bunker
- 10 minutes walk the dog and contact accuracy
- 15 minutes Move through bag up to driver, just hit one good shot with each club before moving up. Ignore bad shots and don’t adjust swing. Take my time between shots, treat each one like I am on the course. Visualize first couple of holes. Make sure body is warm and limber.
- Practice items today:
- Power does not matter, focus on a swing I can repeat 36-40 times accurately.
- Hit safest shot each time
- Squat down deep in my thighs for driver woods and irons. I should stay locked in and feel strong in my thighs.
- Plant left foot to start transition and downswing
- chips and bunker shots and pots all need to be swung only with the shoulders no arms or hands
- Finish high with hands continuing swing down the line to stop hook
- Putts over 3 yd are unlikely to make, just get us close as you possibly can.
- Only do half swings today
- Keep head still instead of coming forward. Keep head back.
- Keep lower body locked, left knee especially from overextending
- Keep club forward of hands in backswing
- Club at 9 o clock pointed straight back (don’t bring it inside)
- Start downswing by firing hips in speedy turn
- Distances:
- Full Swing
- Driver –
- 3 Wood –
- 2 Hybrid –
- 4 iron –
- 5 iron –
- 6 iron –
- 7 iron –
- 8 iron –
- 9 iron –
- P iron –
- 50 wedge –
- 56 wedge –
- 60 wedge –
- Chipping to green carry + run out with wrist cock club to level with ground, minor shoulder turn
- 60 wedge – 20 carry, 10 runout?
- Full Swing
- Joel’s critical personal notes:
- Hang arms straight down, don’t reach for it.
- Be sure to swing inside out, not over the top
- Don’t let my left knee start or move much, stay still. Feel like lower body stays still with knees flexed and nothing changing in backswing.
- Very important to keep my head from going forward on the back swing. Do this by rotating my right shoulder back rather than using it as a pivot point. Keep my left knee much less active, don’t let it come forward to a sleep angle. This probably hurts my achilles too.
- Do moderate shoulder turn. Then turn hips with a lot of power. Keep eyes on the ball throughout
- Dan had a good point that my finish with irons and wedges is too powerful. Go for more control with a smaller finish.
- Also very critical to prevent the hook is to make sure to complete the swing out and down the line towards the target. Right shoulder absolutely must continue to go through the ball and not stop short and pull a hook around.
- I should fully feel like my left shoulder comes behind the ball. Then I should feel my right shoulder fully rotate through the ball.
- Try to stop slice by keeping left arm close to chest and left shoulder down and rotate left arm through impact
- Set up line on grass… Make sure full swing divot starts on or after ball, not before
- Golf swing Progressions:
- Practice
- Video myself from front and back every time I practice golf
- https://youtu.be/ID71I0_JcyY do these drills on lag every single time I warm up. Turn shoulder step then turn back. Funny grip on golf club. six finger drill with back two fingers of each hand off the club
- Full Swing
- For driving, keep hands and arms low and just turn shoulders in a rotation. Small rotation with both eyes on ball and head still. Fire with hips to start.
- Feel like you leave your arms up behind you and start your legs arms do nothing
- Fully extend your arms
- Slow down your back swing and only move your shoulders not your arms
- Instead of thinking about a bunch of back swing separate activities, simply remember the top of the back swing position for my club is not pointed across the line, my wrist is bowed, and my arms haven’t lifted and just a shoulder turn. From there, only think about firing with my hips and leaving everything else relaxed and up behind me. Very important to think about finishing with all my weight on the left foot and my hips pointed at the target.
- Left arm shoulder hand start backswing. Shoulders pull hips around if any movement there.
- Try hands in clubhead out by having proper stance with arms hanging, then keep angle at start of swing in takeaway
- Grip
- Show two knuckles of left hand
- Very light grip, just enough to keep it from falling out
- Try holding the clubs straight out and see if the face opens or closes. If it does something then you’re doing it wrong. Put club straight in air and let drop through fingers. Then try again and just barely hold it.
- Left hand makes V pointed to right shoulder, Right hand V to chin or to right shoulder as well
- Setup
- Golf is played from the insides of the feet. Grip ground with insides of feet.
- Use basketball defense setup.
- Feet Shoulder width apart
- Both feet have slightly open toes, left a bit more
- Knees slightly flexed
- Right knee kicked in slightly
- Straight back and spin, chin up
- Aim & alignment
- Knees, hips, shoulders on target line
Adjust for fade / draw / wind
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- Pick a spot a few inches or feet ahead of your ball and aim there. Set clubhead down and point it at that spot, then look at target and back and forth.
- Visualize the shot, picture the ball going in the hole.
- Pick a spot a foot or two head of the ball and think about swinging through that to make sure you finish your swing going towards the hole.
- Aim for the safest part of the green
- Only use one swing thought at most.
- Ball position:
- Hit ball on downswing
- The secret:
- Very important to maintain my head position and spine angle and rotate around that
- Stay in the barrel
- Waggle
- Don’t swing from dead stop, use waggle to feel weight of clubhead
- Takeaway
- Start backswing with left shoulder and arm, right arm does nothing.
- Take wide backswing and don’t move or change wrist position
- Try to have hands in and clubhead out
- Backswing
- Shoulders start first, pulling hips
- Left knee collapses towards ball, hips turn right
- Right knee stays bent and flexed
- Go slower in backswing, 1 2 count
- When left arm is parallel to ground, butt of club points at parallel point behind ball, same with follow through. Test with half swing
- Left heel lifts slightly
- Feel a good tight pull / coiling from left shoulder down through the hip
- Transition downswing
- Before backswing finishes, step down with left foot and start hip turn, replant left heel
- Keep left shoulder down, almost feels like it comes down
- Release club with right hand
- Keep grip very loose
- Throw clubhead at ball
- Stay on plane, hit from the inside
- Impact
- Hit the ball precisely in the center of the club face
- Hit ball first then ground
- Look at the back of the ball
- Hips and elbows close at impact
- Hit ball on the down with irons
- Brush the ground, not much divot.
- Keep head down looking at ball and back behind it
- When my swing gets off, the first thing I need to check is that I am going through a 7 in behind the ball and a point 7 in ahead of the ball dead straight online. Use a somewhat open face.
- Follow through
- Belt buckle pointed at hole
- Should be able to lift right foot at finish
- Right shoulder must continue through ball and not stop short
- Most powerful swoosh comes 2 feet beyond ball
- Rhythm
- Oily swing
- Light grip pressure and long waggle
- Stay in control and balance – feel like irons are 80%, driver 90%
- Swing should be a free and athletic motion
- Stay in balance
- Eidelweiss rhythm word
- If you can’t feel club, try swinging it upside down and feel handle. Then switch and you will feel clubhead weight better. Use very light grip for this, and go slow.
- Slowing down usually can help.
- Goal is to feel clubhead.
- Only swing club ias hard as you can keep it in rhythm and balance
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- Bunkers / sand shots:
- Key to sand shots is full finish and shoulder turn even with small shots
- Get low by squatting a bit, Wide stance, sternum over ball
- Stay as steady and level as possible through swing
- Hold the club loosely and let the clubhead do the work
- Sand shot is delicate, hold the club loosely and hit the sand behind it. Use about double your normal swing strength.
- Fully finish with belt buckle and shoulders pointed to hole
- Finish with hands high, accelerate hands through finish up top.
- Keep club face open throughout swing and followthrough (waiter with platter)
- Focus on depth of divot and contact
- Soft vs hard bunkers
- Soft – use the highest amount of bounce club you have, keep it moving through sand
- Hard – use less bounce
- Chipping:
- Break wrists immediately going back… don’t cup or opposite, go direction of thumb
- For accurate chipping, take club back the same direction you want follow through to go and regardless of face ball goes to target.
- Chipping Should feel like I’m tossing a ball underhanded with my right hand.
- I should never look up from the ball even after impact. I should hinge back and hold on through.
- Chipping, when hinging move left shoulder slightly back along with hands to provide body move through ball to increase consistency
- Be sure to keep clubhead outside hands
- Always putt if possible
- Make contact with ball first then ground
- Brush ground, not much divot
- Narrow stance with left foot open
- Hinge & hold – break wrists immediately going back. Follow through with balls keeping hands going forward, don’t break wrists or stop hands on follow through
- Putting:
- NEVER leave it short.
- Nicklaus – Putting. Forearms opposing. Bent way over with back almost parallel. Arms and shoulders on line at Target. Eyes over line of target. Swing putter. As square as possible to putting line with shoulders and arms.
- Speed is more important than aim. Pick speed first.
- Mickleson – pull back 25% and go through 75%
Hook
-move right foot back and rotate hands faster through impact
-close the face… Be sure to regrip
Slice
-open stance
-open clubface and regrip to natural grip (or alternatively, only see one knuckle of left hand)
-hold tight with last three fingers of left hand
-slices are shorter than hooks
Low/ punch shot
-move ball back in stance
-Close club face
-right shoulder high, left shoulder low
-eyes look back at ball
High shot
– catch ball at bottom arc
-play ball further forward
-brace right knee in
-think about wide backswing and high follow through. Finish high.
-keep head behind ball.
Ball below feet
-stand closer to ball
-bend over at waist to get more vertical swing
-close face or aim left to counter slice
Ball above feet
-To play with a ball above your feet, swing plane must adjust. soul of the club bus confirmed to side of the hill. You need a more erect body angle. Keep head as still as possible. There will be a natural hook up, so aim to the right. Weight slightly on the toes.
-Keep hands low
-keep clubhead outside hands
Downhill lie
-To play a downhill lie, take a shorter golf club to add loft. Try to make body angle fit the hillside, move tips back towards right foot and be perpendicular to the hill. Open the club face slightly to add loft. Take more club. Open stance slightly to allow a fade.
-similar to low shot
-get body leaned downhill
-weight inside of left foot, kick left knee in
-left shoulder low, right shoulder high
-widen stance
Uphill lie
-To play an uphill lie, try to do what you can to simulate a level lie. If he has a seven iron shot, he will use a 5 iron and choke down on it to be like a 7 iron. He will move hips forward so he can still get the hit movement. He will put body perpendicular to the slip.
-align body with slope
-left shoulder lower, right higher so shoulders parallel with slope
-right knee brace in
-downswing move right knee to ball
Add distance
-open left toe slightly to clear left side faster
-maintain very light grip pressure
-complete shoulder turn back without being off center or off balance
-use widest arc possible
-hit ball as hard as you can
4/10/2019 Golf Process / Thoughts to Work On in order of priority
- Full Swing
- Eyes on the ball and on spot even after contact
- Keep head still and spine angle
- Slower and shorter backswing, club does not go past maybe 60 degrees. Feel like you have a towel under your armpits. Hold club with pinky and ring fingers.
- Irons – hit the ball first then ground.
- Stance is a partial squat, straight spine and neck, play ball from same position VIDEO , reverse K stance VIDEO , balanced and back to avoid shank VIDEO, relax the face, relaxed grip and arms. Ball towards toe, club face open Video. Knees flexed throughout. Keep left heel down. Hold club with pinky and ring fingers.
- Downswing power starts with the hips and abs
- Full shoulder rotation in backswing (not pulling left arm across the chest). Dip left shoulder. Do not let the left arm lift higher than the right shoulder. Keep elbows somewhat together and extended out. Feel loose and relaxed.
- Get a late whoosh sound VIDEO
- Feel like you have a bucket on your chest, only go what feels like halfway back VIDEO
- Keep right elbow more in during backswing to make sure the club doesn’t go across the line and stays on plane. VIDEO
- Very loose hands and arms on grip.
- Swing on the swing plane. Video For a lob wedge, it’s more up and down, but a 4 iron is more around my body… Driver lots around my body. Keep it at the same angle as the lie angle of the club
- Top of backswing needs belt buckle pointed 45 degrees right, shoulders past 90 to 120 or so, arms straight out from chest (bucket feeling). Keep back to target at top of backswing, and bump hips left / backwards then spin / throw shoulders through. Start of downswing rotate hips all the way back to 30 degrees forward while shoulders lag behind to maintain angle from top of swing
- Start of downswing should feel like hands are pulling down while the club pulls back just a little
- Downswing should feel like I am sitting down just a tiny bit, then push with right foot and throw abs and stomp down with theleft. Dip left shoulder, squat down and club tracks level with turf, near the bottom the legs straig hten. Chest points down at the start of the downswing then rotates to point left and up.
- Hit 9 o clock spot with toe up and not closed VIDEO
- Focus on hitting over a spot a foot in front of the ball… swing is a full process and does not end at impact.
- Divots should be perfectly level and light and flat and start after ball
- Chip
- Hinge & hold – break wrists immediately going back. Follow through with the ball keeping hands going. Don’t break wrists or stop hands on follow through. Keep leading edge and angle the same through impact. Accelerate hands throughout.
- Brush the ground but not much of a divot.
- Putt
- Stance: Ball at left rear heel, eyes an inch or two back and behind. Left hand slightly stronger.
- 25-75 rule… pull back 25% then go forward 75% to keep face angle from changing
- Speed first, then direction
- Never leave a putt short
- Try not to put anything further than 3 feet past hole.
- Bunkers:
- Make sure to finish through with hands high. Finish with a big turn and full swing, use body rotation.
- Hands accelerate through the finish up top.
- Keep club face open throughout swing.
- Keep body as balanced and level and steady as possible.
- Focus on contact and depth of divot
- Work with teh slope, not against it.
- Don’t try to help the ball up, hit down on it.
- Stance:
- Sternum over ball
- Squat down a bit
- Dig feet in
- Club face open past 45 degrees.