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As I get healthier and can practice and play more, I have been able to home in on how my physical limitations get in the way of the swing shape I would like to produce. I have a hard time gaining depth late in the backswing and in transition, and when I change direction I constantly drive too much from my right heel to my left toes, leaving my entire left leg in the way of my attempt to rotate and clear my hips. One of the takeaway options I detail in my recent basement video is the “right forearm” takeaway, which involves the right wrist adding extension as the arms and shoulders trigger the swing, taking the hands and left arm away from the body as opposed to deepening the left arm across the chest. I visited my good friend Bernie Najar at Caves Valley to get on his Swing Catalyst, and the force plate data showed that my ideas about my swing issues were correct and that the direction I was heading with the takeaway change was the right one. Bernie took it a step further and suggested that I exaggerate the outward movement of the left arm to the point where it looked like Steve Stricker, with the important idea of keeping my foot pressure on the balls of my feet all the way to P3 instead of trying to load back into my right heel as soon as the swing starts. At that point I feel like I can then deepen from P3 to P4, which then allows the right hip to shift left and rotate from its deepest point. The rounded off backswing shape can then reverse with less need to flatten the shaft back onto the plane, and since I naturally flatten anyway I can then feel like I spend most of the downswing supinating the left forearm and steepening the shaft, keeping it from getting stuck underneath my arms and allowing me to open up my body better into impact and into the follow through. I look forward to working on this (it already feels different in a good sense) and I will report on how I do with it.
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