The Downswing Sequence

By | on September 5, 2013 | 26 Comments |


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Paul Wilson is the creator of Swing Machine Golf and founder of Ignition Golf. Paul's golf swing technique is based on the Iron Byron swing machine. YouTube Channels: Paul Wilson Golf and Ignition Golf Tips. Please Join me on Google+

26 Responses to “The Downswing Sequence”

  1. September 5, 2013

    RobertMicheletti

    Great video thanks Paul, now I know what to work on this week. Thanks

  2. September 6, 2013

    RonCalabrese

    Hi Paul. This is a particularly helpful video. I have always had a fast tempo and trouble sequencing my downswing. When it’s synchronized, good things happen and when out of sequence, a disaster can result. It seems things happen so quickly at the top of the back swing my brain frequently makes the wrong decision. Would it be helpful to practice a Nancy Lopez type of back swing where she almost stopped at the top before initiating the down swing? This way I’d have time to think a moment, before starting the sequence of rotating the hips, FIRST. Most of my misses are straight 15 to 20 degree pulls to the left, particularly with the short irons, landing in a left side bunker. I presume my arms are moving before my hips start to rotate.

    Best Regards, Ron

    • September 6, 2013

      Paul Wilson

      Ron,

      You need to know what you are going to do coming down even as you are going back. Once you feel you are coiled up tight you then go the other way. Stopping at the top is a good drill. When you do it you need to tee the ball up. You lose momentum when you stop. I did a tip on it here:

      Drill: Stop at the Top: https://ignitiongolf.com/drill-stop-top/

      If you are still pulling you are still not tilted behind the ball enough in the downswing. I would be working on that right now until you have it.

      Watch:

      Body Tilt – Left Right: https://ignitiongolf.com/cure-pulling

      Plus work on the tips I just posted for the last 2 weeks.

  3. September 6, 2013

    mikeplummer

    Hi Paul,
    This is a great tip. But I have to tell what the 3/4 swing tip has shown me. I have been hitting with my arms for so long, that even when I thought I wasn’t , I was. The 3/4 drill has taught me to extend my right arm(something I wasn’t doing) and getting my full arc. What a difference in the shot. I think this is a huge break-through. I am hitting some fat shots and having a little trouble getting off the right foot while my head stays behind the ball, but I think it will work itself out as I touch the knees.
    Still in progress, thanks Mike

    • September 6, 2013

      Paul Wilson

      Mike,

      Glad you had a breakthrough. This is always a great time in the learning process. Just keep doing what you are doing. One step at a time.

  4. September 6, 2013

    JOHNROTONDO

    Paul,
    I have been following your advice for about 9 months now and practicing several times a week. I have always been athletic and have good hand-eye coordination. I love your methods and I know they work, but unfortunately I have not achieved “consistency”. Inconsistency in my downswing has been my #1 problem – rushing, not tilting, etc… Even though Powerless arms and hip turn seem so simple and I have done it many times successfully, I just couldn’t do it consistently. However, I think I had a breakthrough in the last couple days because my consistency finally shot up to >80 or 90% (on the range and the course). The final key was to loosen my grip to the point where it feels like the club is going to drop out of my hands. For some reason, this has completely brought my whole downswing into the right rhythm, tempo, and plane (until I get too excited and try to help it again). I know you have talked about grip pressure, but I don’t think I have heard you emphasize its impact and linkage to Powerless arms. Is it just me or do you believe that this can be a breakthrough that you have seen before?

  5. September 6, 2013

    thomasflaherty

    Paul

    I agree with John’s thoughts above on grip pressure. Soft hands/arms in the set up with the feeling of giving up control in the backswing/downswing coupled with your recent tips on body tilt have resulted in the feeling of powerless arms arms for me. I agree that grip pressure is huge in learning ur methods. I finally understand what u mean by “effortless”

  6. September 6, 2013

    jasonstanley

    I played today and what. Difference. The ball was just flying of the club face with no effort. Ive been following your advice for the last 6 weeks and have been incorporating it in my practice ( I’ve bought a net for the garden), even my bad shots ended up ok and if anything the dreaded slice has disappeared , only occasional hooks( not turning th hips but at least I know what I’m doing wrong, one of the other great things about your method, you teach people to recognise bad shots) on one occasion a four ball let us thru on a par 3, they watched me hit an effortless pitching iron 130 yards within 5 inches of the hole, and I seem to be now getting that fizzing sound when the ball is struck and also taking large divots, always thinking ive hit it fat at first but then see the results of a beautiful ball flight, and that’s the other thing I’m seeing, really nice ball flights! Sorry to go on but really buzzing after today! I’m still struggling with the hip turn with out swaying but ill know the penny will drop.

  7. September 8, 2013

    PaulSacchetti

    Hi Paul,

    I have been having great success with the swing. I had 4 low 80’s rounds in a row. Unfortunately it has faded away. I feel like I’m swinging the same but obviously not. The low body driven swing now has no power and is pushing the ball to the right with a weak fade. The only way I can get it to work with the longer clubs is to wind up tight and than drive hard with my lower body. It will not work with more finesse shots like approach shots. In other words I cannot get the lower body to power the swing unless I go at it hard. Any suggestions?

    Paul

    • September 8, 2013

      Paul Wilson

      Paul,

      Everyone loses their swing. You need the information to get it back. Typically when people lose it, it is because they had a few good rounds now they think they’ve “got it” so they swing way harder. The arms come into the swing and it falls apart.

      Your shots fading is telling you that your wrists are too tight. There is no way this should even be happening at this stage. Instantly you should have recognized this and started to manually roll your wrists over to get them loosened up and straighten it out. If you still did no fix it you should have been purposely hooking it to get rid of this slice spin. Once you get rid of it you can go harder with the lower body rotation. Why go harder now there’s no point. You are going to blow it even further right.

      Got to the range and start hooking it by rolling it way earlier than you currently are. Watch:

      How to Cure the Spin: https://ignitiongolf.com/fix-spin-problems/

      Once you get it hooking you forget the roll over and you start to power your swing with the legs an hips. If you want to drive them harder go for it but only doing this if you are hooking NEVER if you are hitting it with slice spin.

      So it’s back to the range. Work on the wrists and get it hooking. Once you can do this, focus on the body rotation to power your swing. Now, you will get it back.

      • September 9, 2013

        PaulSacchetti

        Thanks Paul,

        I went back to the range today and worked on getting the arms out and I started to get it back. As soon as I loosened up the arms and wrists I straightened the shots out. With the powerless arms do you literally forget about your arms during the swing? I was just throwing them back with my shoulders and driving with my lower body. It is an odd that the club can even make it back to the ball without a conscious effort. Even more amazing is that I actually strike the ball so solidly and drive it strait.

        I understand your comment about on course adjustments. I reverted back to what works somewhat to get thru the round. These changes are better ingrained at the range at least for now.

        Paul
        .
        .

        • September 10, 2013

          Paul Wilson

          Paul,

          As I said, you were hitting so you lost it. This happens to everyone who gets on a roll because they get excited and want to hit harder. As soon as you lost it you should have immediately slowed down and loosened up the arms.

          You should be thinking of not hitting or helping the shot in any way with the arms.

          Watch:

          Lose Your Swing: https://ignitiongolf.com/lose-your-golf-swing

  8. Avatar photo

    September 9, 2013

    KennthBova

    Paul, in my downswing, at times, the club hits the ground first and then the ball and the ball does not go very far. This happens alot. Does that mean that I am not shifting my weight properly?

  9. September 10, 2013

    barrybower

    Hi Paul When touching knees by pushing off right toe, is it more gentle push or an aggressive move. is it better to start with more agressive move and then decrease drive if ball going to right.

  10. September 18, 2013

    barrybower

    Hi Paul Question on your downswing triggers, the one where you push off with your right toe, this is the one i am using feels good , the sensation i get when i do it is the right knee move around to touch the other knee. the question is ,i can really feel right knee sensation coming around ,if i concentrate on getting that right knee moving,my push off with right toe not as sudden.what i am asking is if this right knee moves to touch the left knee does that mean i have pushed off correctly with right toe. It is easy for me to feel like i am throwing that right knee around to touch left knee, it brings me nicely up on back toe, is this a bad thoght that will lead to problems.

    • September 20, 2013

      Paul Wilson

      Barry,

      Yes, the weight would be getting off of this toe when you touch the legs. Can you do it faster if you feel the toe? Not sure. If this is the way you are using to actually do it then keep doing it until you master it. Maybe in the future you feel the toe and it works better … maybe not. I’d hate for you to keep doing it one way when you are doing it right another way.

  11. March 13, 2014

    GeraldJoyce

    Whey Paul,

    A few weeks ago I posted a reply message regarding my usage of a pad on the range. As I keep all my drills on my I- Pad and somehow lost or forgot which message I posted on.

    So I am resenting my comment as follows:

    With the amount of balls I hit each day about five days a week about 1000 I was using too much of the teeing areas and was asked if I would mind hitting off a pad.

    The club installed two very high quality pads at both ends of the range along with a full length mirror which I use each day. My playing mates have commented that this is not showing me how to take a proper divot.

    Need your thinking on this as I do not take much of a divot with longer irons and woods off the fairways. Is this okay or am I hurting my prpbgress on the course?

    Best regards,

    Jay Jayy

    • March 13, 2014

      Paul Wilson

      Jay Jay,

      You are not going to take much of a divot from 4 iron and up anyway so these clubs are no big deal. I don’t mind hitting off mats but I am a better player and I can feel if I am making good contact or not. If you can feel the club contacting the mat first you will be getting a false read on the contact you are making.

      Fat shots are caused by having too much weight on the back foot through impact. If you are contacting the mat too much then you need to be working on this lower body action and getting off this back foot.

      A lot of pros work on their swings teeing the ball up a little so this may be an option as well.

      If you don’t have an option then you really jut want to be working on your swing positions when you practice and as I have said do tons of practice swings between shots.

      Another tell-tale sign you are hitting the mat to frequently is if you elbows hurt. This would indicate the shock from a fat shot is radiating up your arms. If this is occurring keep working on getting off this back foot but also reduce the amount of balls you are hitting and do more practice swings working on the swing positions.

  12. March 14, 2014

    GeraldJoyce

    Hey Paul,

    Great I think i am fine as the bottom of my clubs show green artificial grass stains after each use which I have to scrape off.

    Yep do lots of no ball swings.

    Best Jay Jay

  13. Having been focused on your technique for some time now, I found something interesting last night on the range. I found that I was turning but ending up slightly short of where I need to be. In other words, the distance from my body to the target needed to be a little less.

    With a slight adjustment, it was easier to get all the weight off my right foot and get up on the toe.

    The result was more compression and dead straight shots.

    I’m thinking I was overdoing the hip rotation and spinning out instead of just doing the trigger and letting the weight shift properly.

    Thoughts?

    • Jay,

      This is why I like a stance that is not to wide. Not sure if this was the adjustment but I’m glad you are getting fully through it. Now, you just have to keep going to this very same place forever. This is the power source in the swing. As you see it allows you to hit it dead straight. I don’t joke about the golf swing. When I say you can hit it dead straight you really can. Just got to turn the arms off and use the body.

      Glad you like the site. Even bigger change coming shortly. Be on the lookout.

      • Thanks. I didn’t mess with my stance (it’s pretty good). I just let the right leg drive slightly more through the ball to get a little more weight shift and up on the right toes better.

        The adjustment wasn’t all that much, but the difference was huge.

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