Practice Swings Do Not Translate to Good Shots

Tue, 05/17/2016 - 14:34 -- Brady

A special follow-up to our recent video, "Don't Forget About The T-Finish", Bruce from New Zealand writes in to ask about why his excellent practice swings do not translate to good shots once a ball is in front of him. Bruce states that he is finishing to the left rather than to a T-finish. This statement is a dead giveaway as to what the problem is. The "Big A", alignment!

Bruce has a problem of alignment, because of incorrect alignment his brain and body is trying to correct the ball path to hit the ball down the fairway.

Blog Tags: 
Alignment
Practice Swings
Practice Swing

Comments

charlie@hmnorthcutt.com's picture

Submitted by charlie@hmnorth... on

I've been a student of yours going on 5 years. I don't know why, but I only periodically get that 'snap' when a proper right forearm rolling over left forearm at impact. On the driving range not long ago, I was hitting every shot with that 'snap' and hitting it either straight or with just a little draw. I can go back the next day and not feel that again with a whole bucket of balls. How could I possibly be doing some so different from one day to the next?

Dave Everitt's picture

Submitted by Dave Everitt on

Hi Charlie,
Other than alignment varying from day to day another cause could be a slight change in grip. Deliberate hand action with a rolling of the wrists is a very hard thing for most of us to do consistently.

If your bad swings are pulls and snap hooks I've found a small grip adjustment recently that has done a lot to improve my consistency. The following link gives a detailed write up on grip pressure points. Thinking about pressure point #1 described in the article has straightened up my ball flight and enabled me to work the ball left or right without pulling the ball. Thinking about keeping that very slight pressure point connection throughout the swing helps the two hands work more as a single unit without the right hand overpowering the left. A very good image is to picture a thumb tack where the hands connect to form the pressure point. The happy result of all this is that I can swing more aggressively without fearing missing it way left or right.

http://www.golflink.com/tipsvideos/video.aspx?v=90634