Over the top swing

doogie!

Not sure if this has been covered previously so apologies but I have an 18 H/C and an over the top swing. There is so much information out there but I find a lot fails to deal with how to actually put in place a process to fix this. I take away on the outside rise the club to the top of the back swing and then as with most over the top swings I implement a chop action to strike the ball as quick as possible. I find the key information is to let the club fall at the top of the backswing but struggle with actually carrying this out. Is it a case of pulling down with the arms, twisting the body first, pulling the left elbow towards the body..... no instructor actually states what the key movement is at the top of the back swing to get the club on an inside plane? Any help appreciated or if this needs to be moved to a separate section please let me know.

slave1

Lessons man, it's the only way, a good pro will adjust your grip, stance and swing path in one to two lessons.
If using trackman then you will get video footage which you can go back to as you get used to your new approach

doogie!

slave1 wrote: »

Lessons man, it's the only way, a good pro will adjust your grip, stance and swing path in one to two lessons.
If using trackman then you will get video footage which you can go back to as you get used to your new approach

Thanks Slave, Any recommendations?

slave1

Where are you based?

doogie!

slave1 wrote: »

Where are you based?

Castleknock.

billy3sheets

I'd second the lessons suggestions.

However, 3 things I do often to help me not to do this and also not get too armsy in my swing:
1. Put a couple of headcovers under your arms and hit a few shots with them in place. Remove and then try to replicate the feeling without them. This helps to ingraine the feeling of using your chest/torso to be in control of the swing rather than the arms.

2. At the top of the swing shift your hips left and feel the club dropping dwn automatically. Repeat this without completing the swing at first. then move to completign the swing and onto ball striking. This helps to to ingraine the feeling of the club dropping down at the start of the swing.

3. I try to imagine I'm taking a free kick in football or soccer, where I have to bend it over or around the wall. To help this put some kind of marker slightly to the right in front of the ball and aim to hit the ball over this spot. You could also put a headcover behind the ball and if you hit it you know your path is not in-to-out. This helps to ingrain the in-to-out swing path. If you're lucky, you'll get a nice draw from it.

These are some tips I've received from Pros over the years.
I'm not a pro and highly recommend lessons and practice.

I also like Danny Maude videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52BCq3JN1qE

pakman

billy3sheets wrote: »

I'd second the lessons suggestions.

However, 3 things I do often to help me not to do this and also not get too armsy in my swing:
1. Put a couple of headcovers under your arms and hit a few shots with them in place. Remove and then try to replicate the feeling without them. This helps to ingraine the feeling of using your chest/torso to be in control of the swing rather than the arms.

2. At the top of the swing shift your hips left and feel the club dropping dwn automatically. Repeat this without completing the swing at first. then move to completign the swing and onto ball striking. This helps to to ingraine the feeling of the club dropping down at the start of the swing.

3. I try to imagine I'm taking a free kick in football or soccer, where I have to bend it over or around the wall. To help this put some kind of marker slightly to the right in front of the ball and aim to hit the ball over this spot. You could also put a headcover behind the ball and if you hit it you know your path is not in-to-out. This helps to ingrain the in-to-out swing path. If you're lucky, you'll get a nice draw from it.

These are some tips I've received from Pros over the years.
I'm not a pro and highly recommend lessons and practice.

I also like Danny Maude videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52BCq3JN1qE

I would agree with these for definite. I also sometimes line the ball up with the rubber range tee just outside the ball and try and clip it with you follow through. If target is at 12 o clock then the tee goes at about 1:30. That path is probably too much but the feel worked to get me over my over the top swing at least with my driver.

I also like to practice a slight pause at the top of backswing to get feeling for the weight of the club dropping behind me.

doogie!

Thanks guys, much appreciated, the pause at the top of the backswing definitely helps.

slave1

You've got a super pro there with Hugh Feeney, he'll sort you out
https://www.hughfeeneygolf.com/

doogie!

slave1 wrote: »

You've got a super pro there with Hugh Feeney, he'll sort you out
https://www.hughfeeneygolf.com/

Is Hugh good?

slave1

Yes, he helped me and my poor grip, poor stance, swaying and over the top swing, I know he has helped others here too but not my place to name them.
He's sound too, very easy going guy

I went to Hugh too when he was teaching in Spawell, found him very good as well. Never realized he ended up in castleknock

Snotty

Lessons definitely the way to go, but If you want to go to the range and practice something, try lining up straight to a target but then try to hit the ball at a target 50 yards to the right, only moving the ball position. This won't solve your problem straight away but it does give a great sense of how alignment and aim are as important as swing plane, you can do the same for a target to the left.

Deeper Blue

I honestly think that at 18 handicap level you get more out of one 30 minute lesson than you do from watching 1000 YouTube videos. Speaking from experience here!

billy3sheets

If (or when!) you do get lessons, make notes because you will forget in time. When you feel your game is going bad, take them out and practise.

Rikand

Hugh is brilliant. I went to him when he was based in Athlone. Fantastic coach with the utmost care and attention to detail made for every single lesson. I cannot recommend him highly enough!

Rikand

billy3sheets wrote: »

If (or when!) you do get lessons, make notes because you will forget in time. When you feel your game is going bad, take them out and practise.

Not sure if he still does it, but Hugh will give you cue cards to take with you as plans for your improvement. 1-3 swing thoughts that you can use in your practice time per lesson. If he has the trackman setup, he may even give you an indepth analysis of your swing in freeze frames. He did that for me and I found it invaluable in trying to understand what my swing was doing and where I wanted it to go. He set me in a side by side with Bernt Wiesberger and compared where I was doing things right and where I should be doing things similar to a tall golfer like Wiesberger.

doogie!

Thanks for the advice guys, I've gone form 19 to 18 this year so things moving in the right direction. I had a few lessons previously off Kevin Foy, and he is excellent too but its all done there and then, he didnt offer much in the way of video analysis of take away material. I recorded a few pointers from him myself which were very helpful.

Seve OB

Peter O'Hagan in Luttrelstown.