Online Lesson: Joe Flood-Working on Swing Dynamics and Approach Plane

By Wayne D | Videos

Hi Wayne,

After doing well as a junior golfer in San Diego I got a golf scholarship to USC in the 70’s. I played one year in Australia (1980). In 1981 I then went into insurance and my golf dropped into the once a week turmoil 😊. Around 1988 I started to play better and had a good stretch to about I won 2 club championships at Bel-Air averaging around 73 during this 6 years.

I’m not ready to accept the fact, maybe dreaming a bit, that I cannot play at that good stretch level again. My short game is good, my driving is usually good and I’m fairly long for being 65. Physically, I’m as good as ever except for an occasional tight back after overdoing it a bit on the range.

I took some video on the course at Bel Air yesterday and the longer club swings looked off ….way off. You probably can see the knee sag and dipping motion. On the course, I think the dipping can get even worse. Some swings can look quite great, but most are not good. Appreciate any guidance you can offer. I’m a big fan of yours. I’d like to swing like Ben Hogan …😊🏌️Ha-ha just joking. (Sort of)

Joe

 

In the video I suggest a few things that I believe have a chance to help Joe with his ball striking, especially with the irons. We see some of the younger guys on Tour going to a slower backswing and quieter transition, but I’d like to see Joe experiment with an overall increase in swing tempo accompanied by a “harder catch” in transition, which would put more stress on the handle and encourage the lower body to start it’s “slide/turn” action (45 -degree hip drive) a bit sooner and more aggressively. Joe’s takeaway with the driver right on plane, but curiously with the iron it is well underneath the plane, which Joe could correct easily by putting a shaft in the ground for the clubhead to pass over. Joe has the clubhead stuck well behind the hands at P6, something that works much better with the flat to upward blow delivered by the driver. One of the ways to get the club more out onto the hands at P6 is to clear faster, as the body rotation helps pull the left arm more outward, and we would like to see the left leg disappear in the dtl view much sooner and the hips to be more open well before impact. From face on I encourage Joe to load more internally over the right leg and to move the upper body more to the right (a couple inches of head movement), which might in turn encourage the lower to be more active in transition, especially the right leg, which as you will see is somewhat static when compared side by side with Stuart Appleby. Joe already has amazing left wrist control, and I think that being more dynamically aggressive overall and on plane in the approach will be a tremendous help. Joe’s lack of lateral movement and rotation in transition, followed by a weak use of the glutes in the impact area, I think is what causes Joe’s knee sag and head dip after impact.