How to Fix Your Overswing

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

I don't thinl you have to fix your overswing if you are hitting it well. In fact. lots of people said Jack Nicklaus had the overswing. But Nicklaus never changed his swing and won 18 major championships. Phil Mickelson also is accused of having an overswing. But he doesn't think so.

 

I think it's not an overswing:

- If you are shifting your weight fully on the bcak foot on the backswing.

- If you are not losing balance on the follow through

- If you are not sliding your hips to the right during the backswing.

 

Average golfers tend to overswing in an effort to compensate for lack of distance. When your do this, you tend to bend your left elbow too much at the top of your golf swing and have the reverse pivot. As a result, you end up losing even more distance.

 

Stop Sliding Your Hips to the Right

If you are sliding your right hip to the right on the backswing, you want to fix that for more distance. When you talk to the players who slide their hips, they are only trying to shift their weight to their back foot on the backswing.

 

But they are failing to do so. To shift your weight correctly, instead of trying to shift your weight onto your right foot, try to shift your weight to your right knee. When you slide your hips, your right knee also slides to the right. But if you try to transfer your weight to your right knee, you can prevent it from sliding to the right. Focus on turning your hips and shoulders during the backswing. This will help you to shift your weight correctly.

 

Stop at the Top Drill

Here is the drill that Butch Harmon recommends for correcting your overswing.

1. Swing to the top and pause for 3 seconds.

2. Start your downswing and hit the shot.

 

To pause at the top, you need to have balance. So if you can do this drill, you don't have an overswing.

 

You Grip can Cause the Overswing

Weak grip often causes the overswing. When you have the weak grip, your clubface will open at impact and cause a slice. So you are going to have to do something to prevent the face from opening. You can either come over the top or try to move the ball forward in an order to create enough time to close the face.

 

But these won't help you roth distance at all. If you tell me to weaken my grip, I can easily lose 50 yards on my drives. That's how important the grip is. Most players who overswing do so in an effort to increase distance. But all they might have to do is to change their grip.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/how-to-fix-overswing.htm

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How to Get more Distance without the Overswing

The length of the swing does not determine if it's an overswing or not. Phil Mickelson has a big backswing, but it's not an overswing. As long as you can keep your balance, you don't have to worry about fixing your overswing.

 

However, most average players overswing in an effort to compensate for lack of distance but end up losing even more distance.

 

Left Arm at the Top

What you want to avoid when trying to get more distance off the tee is too much bend in your left arm at the top of the swing. If you bend your left arm too much at the top, you may feel like your swing gets bigger. However, this will cause your arm and the club to get stuck behind you on the downswing.

 

You will tend to block the shot as a result. But I'm not saying you should keep your left arm straight during the backswing. In fact, most tour pros have some bend in their left arm on the backswing. So it's ok to have some bend in your left arm. But you don't want to have too muvh bend in your left arm at the top.

 

How can you take a bigger swing?

To make a bigger backswing, focus on turning your shoulders or body more instead of trying to swing your arms. The length of the swing is determined by the amount of turn you have with your shoulders of your body.

 

To turn your shoulders more, you need to turn your hips as well. Some teachers might tell you to restrict your turn of hips. But hips and shoulders are connected. You can't turn your shoulders without turning your hips.

 

Stand up and try to turn your shoulders without moving your hips. You really can't turn much. But if you allow your hips to turn, you will be able to make much bigger turn with your shoulders. To turn your shoulders more than normal, focus on turning your hips. You need to turn not slide.

 

Also, flaring out your right toe a bit more than normal will let you turn more on the backswing. Another way to turn more is to pull back your back foot a bit at address. Make sure you don't close your shoulders with it. This will let you make a bigger turn even if you don't have a supple body.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/how-to-get-more-distance.htm

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How to Hit it from the Rough

Most players hate to hit it out from the rough because they can't hit it solid and will lose lots of distance. When the ball is down in the rough, you will certainly lose some distance. But if you are losing lots of distance, you may be doing something wrong.

 

The common cause for losing so much distance from the rough is often the angle of approach into the ball. From the short grass, you want to sweep the ball or hit it with a slight descending blow. But if you do this from the rough, you will lose lots of distance because a lot of grass will come between the clubface and the ball.

 

To get more distance from the rough, you need to reduce the amount of grass that comes between the ball and the clubface. So you need to change the angle of approach into the ball. You don't want to sweep the ball from the rough. You want ti hit it with a descending blow. If the ball is in deep rough, you might want to use more upright swing to get the ball out.

 

Here are the simple rules to follow from the rough.

1. Don't use anything more than a 5 iron

2. Swing with a descending blow

3. The deeper the rough, the more loft you need to use

4. Grip little tighter than normal

 

From the rough, the grass will catch the clubhead and turn it close or open, so you might want to grip it little tighter than normal.

 

Hitting from Deep Rough

When you have to hit it out of tall grass, you need to use more lofted club to get it out from there. But if you need more distance, what do you do? If the rough is really deep, Ernie Els said he won't use anything more than a 7-iron. To hit your 7-iron from tall grass, you might want to set up to hit a fade.

 

Aim left of the target and align your body parallel with the aim line. Now open your clubface so that it points to the target. When you try to hit a fade, the swing plane will become more upright making it easier to get the ball out from the rough.

 

A Flyer Lie

And if you have faster swing speed, you might want to watch out of a flyer. A flyer is the shot that flies too far because it has less spin on the ball. A flyer occurs when you catch the grass between the clubface and the ball. It's more common for players with faster swing speed.

 

To avoid a flyer, you need to minimize the intervention of the grass between the ball and the clubface. To do that, you might want to move the ball little to the right than normal to promote more upright swing.

 

Hitting a fade is another good option to avoid a flyer.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/how-to-hit-it-from-rough.htm

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6 Tips for Fairway Bunker Shots

Most average players hate hitting fairway bunker shots. They either hit it far or top it. It seems hard to get good distance from fairway bunker. But if you understand the basics, it doesn't have to be this hard. The key is in your set up.

Here is how you should set up for the shot.

1. Use 1 or two more club

From fairway bunker, you can't make bigger turn so expect the ball to travel less distance. Use at least 1 more club. But you don't want to use long irons. If you have to use anything more than 4 iron, use irons with more loft and lay up.

2. Dig your feet into the sand

Dig your feet slightly into the sand to ensure balance.

3. Grip down a little

Grip down to compensate for digging your feet into the sand.

4. Position your ball a bit to the right

By positioning your ball a bit more right than normal will help hitting it clean off the sand.

5. Chin up

With a rounded back, it will be more difficult to turn. So make sure your back is nice and straight. Bent from the hips not from the waist. When you have rounded back, your chin tends to drop. So pay attention to chin.

6. Enough loft to clear the lip

When you are hitting fairway bunker shots, you need to make sure that the shot will clear the lip of the bunker. To choose which club to use, lay your club on the ground and step on your clubface. The angle of the shaft is roughly equal to the angle of the shot that will come out of the sand. Annika Sorenstam recommends this tip in her book, Golf Annika's Way.

 

Of course, you can't do this in a fairway bunker. So step the bunker and try it.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/tips-fairway-bunker-shot.htm

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Fairway Bunker Shots with a Ball down in the Sand

When the ball is sitting down in a fairway bunker, how do you hit the shot? If the ball is buried, you need to hit it like a regular sand shot and just get the ball out of the sand. But if you think you can still get some distance from this lie, you might want to try hitting a punch shot.

 

 To this shot, take one or two more clubs and grip down on the grip. Place your ball one or two ball length right of the usual position. Hit the ball with descending blow and limit your follow through. Trying to lift the ball is the worst thing you can do from this lie. So make sure to hit the sand after hitting the ball.

 

The ball should come off low and running. So if the lip of the bunker is high, you don't want to try this shot.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/tips-fairway-bunker-shot2.htm

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How to Get more Distance from the Fairway Bunker

Lots of teachers might tell you to hit with a descending blow from a fairway bunker. When I was in college, I was doing the same thing. But I wasn't getting enough distance that I wanted. I often had to take more distance. That's why you need to take 1 or 2 more clubs. But if you feel like you are  losing more distance than that, you might be doing something wrong.

 

I was surprised to hear what Jack Nicklaus said about hitting faiwary bunker. I finally understood what he wanted to say. 

 

Sweep the Ball off the Sand

If you hit it with a descending blow or steep angle approach into the ball, the ball will hit the sand before it takes off. When this happens, the sand will absorb some of the power you put into the sand. So you lose distance. Tiger Woods said the key to getting more distance from a fairway bunker is to try to limit the contact with the sand as little as possible. So if you need to get more distance, don't try to hit down on the ball. You should sweep the ball off the sand instead. But if you have a bad lie in sand, forget about sweeping it.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/tips-fairway-bunker-shot3.htm

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