Larry Roland asks a question about problems with the follow through to the finish. Larry says, 'I have the same problems that others have mentioned with my follow through. It is not so bad on my woods but I am concentrating on the three-quarter turn and then up the tree that I do not follow through correctly with my irons. I would appreciate any exercises or swing thoughts that would help me follow through correctly. By the way, I was a 12 or so handicap for 25 years and during the last year my handicap has risen to 15 and poised to go higher. The Peak Performance Golf Swing has enabled me to enjoy playing again and I am playing to a 12 level again and I can see the potential to lower it even more. Thanks for bringing back my enjoyment in playing again.'
Ok, Larry, since the woods are being hit better and you are having problems with the irons, I think it is probably a situation that with the irons you still might have a little bit of too much 'hit down and stay down' with the ball because they are irons and you are supposed to be taking divots. Whereas with the woods you are thinking more about the swinging through and swinging up to a T-Finish, which brings me to the second point.
Start thinking more about swinging up to the T-Finish. Remember we hit the ball in the forward upswing. So I know you need to probably keep thinking about the three quarter turn and up the tree, but at some point you have to say to yourself, 'You know I think it is pretty good, I think I could trust it,' and you have to start thinking about the forward swing because that is the one you hit the ball with. I think so many of us get hung up on the backswing that we forget about the forward swing and again, to be repetitive, you don't hit the ball with your backswing, you hit it with your forward swing. So, start thinking about swinging up to the T-Finish in the forward swing.
Concentrate on your practice swings on swinging up and feeling that forward upswing to the T-Finish. Once you get a finish that you like and you are getting to that T-Finish, then what you do is lock that feeling in and when you set up to the ball you swing the feel. So practice swing to get the feel and then swing the feel when you hit the ball. Consequently I think you are going to see that your follow through will start improving up to the T-Finish and with that swinging up to the T-Finish you are definitely going to improve the solidness of contact and you will start hitting the ball more solid and more straight and longer.
I think those two things will help. As far as any swing thoughts or exercises, as you know, I have said it over and over, I love skipping rocks. Skipping rocks is great and you always skip where once you have come down and you getting ready to release the rock, you want to feel that just as you are releasing it and your right hand and your right arm reaches your right leg that everything in your right side from the foot through the legs up to the hips and shoulders and hands, everything is chasing up to the finish. So you are really focusing on following through up to the finish. When you make it back to swing holding the club, as I said earlier, you are swinging up, you feel the swing and then swing the feel. That should really help.
O.K. Larry, I think you are on your way now with doing this to getting greater follow throughs and hitting the ball up, more solid and straight, and getting that handicap down.
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