Online Lesson Antti Kauhanen: Early Loading Leads to Lifting at the Top

Hi Wayne, thanks for the previous lesson, it has really helped me with my game. My misses with the driver are not as bad, but driving is still holding back my scoring. I have not been able to get rid of the lifting at the end of the backswing and it seems to me that the lifting is the key problem in my swing. The feeling I get at the end of the backswing is that my left shoulder is moving too much to my right and it causes me to lose sight of the ball and makes the transition much more difficult. If I manage to keep the left shoulder more to my left, I usually hit it much more solid. However, I really don’t know what the best way would be to try to fix this problem. I am sure you can help me sort this out.
 
You may of course have a different view on what the key issue in my swing is and I am eager to hear how you think I could improve my swing. The golf season is coming to an end here in Finland, so I have plenty of time to work on my swing indoors before the next season. I hope to make good progress during the following months. Thanks in advance!

 
Antti is correct to be focusing on the lifting and sequence problems at the top of his swing, but here I relate it to things much earlier in the swing, namely posture and backswing loading. I see the issue as being overly erect at address with little knee flex, and then loading deep into the right hip before P3. It appears to me that when Antti runs out of hip motion he is left to either swing much shorter or to lift to complete what he feels is a full turn in the backswing. I would like to see him add bend from the waist and some knee flex, then try to stay taller in the early stage of the swing so that he has room to continue to load and create pressure under the right foot from P3 to P4, which would rid him of his lifting problem. It would also help him sequence better, as the lifting tends to make his right-side overturn and lean his upper body toward the target slightly in transition, a movement he would like to feel more from the ground with his hips leading.
 
 

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