staying level

yesterday I had a lesson and felt I finally "got" a picture of my major swing flaw and the key/swing thought to help me minimize my flaw. I had discovered this key quite a few times in my journey but never stuck to it and incorporated the key into my swing motion in a way that it became part of my swing.

my normal swing has my head turning under and moving slightly down on my backswing.....what I never understood quite was how this off the ball move pushed my hips into a position where my right hip was too high and my right knee and hip were "dipped down" and lower as I competed my backswing. mike said my backswing was pretty classic stack&tilt. on my front swing I had to reverse this and if I wasn't able to time it I'd hit behind the ball or the oposite of flipping the club at and thru the ball....but no matter which I did I'd always have to "wait" to allow the club to catch up and square the blade thru impact. this waiting isn't a good thing as I lost speed and the ability to compress the ball....and it made it very hard to rotate my body around enough on my front swing.

the swing thought / key is simple = turn my head slightly towards the target at address. this gives me the feeling of being more over the ball at address/less behind it. as I turn back more slowly to wind the shoulders behind the ball I keep my head in this position and do not allow it to go down or turn under.....mike said this totally changed the way my hips turned making them more level so I could "go" on my front swing!....what I could feel was being more on top of the ball thru impact....feeling like the ball would not hook because I wasn't flipping thru impact as the result of my body stopping. I could also sense the club swinging left. I had the good feeling of the heel of the blade being slightly ahead of the toe at the strike. my missed shots were caused by a lack of rhythm and timing because this is new to me. and when I used my old front swing move of rushing up ahead with my lower body.

this also is relevant of 30 yard shots and I could feel so many times yesterday rushing ahead with my lower body and lowering the trajectory of the pitch......the head position and then swinging thru staying within my foundation/footwork is what I believe is the best thought to practice my swing with

so as I head to the mnts for lots of golf.....the 3 keys to explore and practice are;

1. continue to practice my pre-shot routine to make it more natural and automatic

2. use the head position described above

3. finish on balance and within my base/foundation by having good footwork and a stable lower body