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You might know Travis as “Lifter”, the most prodigious poster on the wdglc.com forum. Travis sent his swing to me about a year ago and the changes he has made since are significant. I compared his swing at that point with Matt Kuchar, so you can imagine that his takeaway and overall backswing were inside to flat, a condition that obviously no longer exists. My focus in this lesson is on two important items: the first has to do with his backswing pivot movement and the second his grip. As you watch Travis’ swing you will note that in an effort to deepen the hips in the backswing (a very good idea, by the way) Travis allows his head to move back away from the ball. An indication that what is happening is not exactly what we want is the movement of the entire shaft well under the shaft plane in the takeaway. If Travis were to concentrate on keeping his head out over the ball and pushing back from the waist he would immediately steepen his shoulder turn and create more space for his arms in the forward swing. I also suggest that he try to feel his hands move a bit straighter back from the ball (less toward his right leg) in an effort to keep the shaft progression more generally upward and less around.
Travis’ grip is another matter altogether, and I am doing some educated guessing here based on the relative angles of his left wrist versus the clubface as the club gets to the top. Anytime I see a cupped left wrist, (which should promote a more open clubface), and at the same time a closed clubface, I know that the grip is exceptionally strong. I have taken note that Travis keeps his hands well back at address, and it would appear that the clubface is a fair amount closed (bottom edge aligned left of target) when it is behind the ball. Taking all this into account it becomes likely that Travis’ grip is much stronger than it appears to him and that when he moves his hands forward at address, squares the face, and weakens his grip it will be a significant change and he may well feel like he is going to shank every shot. He will, however, get over this feeling, and when he gets to the point that he knows he can release the club and swing left his shot dispersion should improve dramatically. He will be checking this constantly with his video camera, as the only way to see these angles as they happen during the swing is to film and then watch in slow motion.
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