Paul I have a fairly slow swing. I watched this tip and went back to one I saved in my dashboard on”Separation”. I believe that tip was back on July 15th or 16th. That tip was on moving the hips first and the arms will follow. Why did you not talk about the downswing triggers in that tip? I have been following you long enough to know I need to execute one of the downswing triggers to get the hips moving in the circular movement while delaying the arms coming through to develop separation. Having learned this game as an adult, I fall into the category of golfers who have learned, incorrectly to hit with my hands and arms.
Should I work on the separation without thinking about the downswing trigger, and just concentrate on the hip rotation. My downswing trigger has been pushing off the back leg. Maybe I need to change to moving the belt buckle. A little clarification please.
I didn’t talk about it because the tip was about slowing down. If I got into all that it would have been 20mins long.
If you are doing the swing in balance then work on separation. If you are not doing the main positions in balance then work on positions first slowly doing them perfectly then move on to separation.
You can work on separation any way you want. You can do it with triggers or the hips but the hips are a trigger. If you are using the instep then first with the instep making it turn your hips. The whole point is that your body rotation must be ahead of you arms coming down. So fire the lower feeling it is already though by the time your club reaches impact. This takes repetitions and coordination. Do it every night until you have it mastered.
Paul off topic but in your swing tips even if just a few words can you relate it to the Iron Byron. A video of the Iron Byron clip again just for a few second to make your point also would be greatly appreciated.
Paul ,I master the positions you teach ,after having rehearsed them very extensively in front of my window panes,hundreds of times .When I play on the course ,it is if I was still rehearsing ,no stress ,no hurry ,no tension no bad feelings .The problem I have is swinging faster:my hips don’t move that fast enough .
I got some improvement with the SUPERSPEED STICKS of MIKE NAPOLEON ,nothing dramatic though .The SPEEED WHOOSH was of no help,it relies too much on the arms and hands .Same with the ORANGE WHIP TRAINER .All I try to do now is to swing as perfectly as possible ,if that may be ,thereby no errors or very few ,good scores follow (Very good short game helps ).When I play with youngsters ,they whack the ball away ,often in the woods or the traps set out for them .The humiliation I experience in giving away 50 yards or so from the tee is then forgotten .I tell them “It’s the one the first in the hole who wins “Am I right to feel that way?
Well, you are 80 years old and you haven’t fired the lower body hard for years. When I explain how hard I am driving the lower body to students the are always in shock at how hard and fast I am moving. A lightbulb then goes off in their head finally realizing they have not been driving their lower anywhere near as hard as I am. I would think the same applies to you too. I am putting immense power in my legs and hips it just doesn’t look like I am doing it that hard because I have done it for 30 yards. If you want more then drive the lower as hard as you possibly can. Sacrifice consistency for a while. Get the distance then dial it back in. Too many people want both right away. You need to get one then the other. Distance first then consistency.
I would’ve been that student if it was last year! He sounded like a lot like me then. This is a good reminder to slow down to practice while I’m working on my key points.
Hey Paul:
I really do like this lesson. I think I knew long ago that in a golf swing, no part of the body should “pull you off balance”. After following your lesson plan for the swing over these last 8 months, I try to do this with the exception of getting those hips moving first, basically moving them fast as I can prior to downswing. I was on a tee playing a scramble last week and I was trying deliberately to “slow down” and I popped off an apparently beautiful ball flight (I could hear my partner say as I balanced at the finish with my driver touching my neck, what a pure shot!) that sailed 260 yds, but I never saw the flight or finish of the ball! I was so disappointed I didn’t see any part of it. Driving to it, we found it perfectly positioned, middle of fairway, 20-30 yards past any of my partners. I got to thinking of the shot afterwards and seem to remember that this happens often. I realize this is a results oriented game, but I wish I had better ability to follow the ball after impact. Any lessons gladly reviewed. I am happier with my swing than any time in previous playing and I know that good things are coming.
Best
Bruce
Glad you liked it. I keep teaching person after person who is just wailing away never doing anything right. Unfortunately, most everyone wants to hit their best shots instead of building a great swing waiting for the good shots to come later. Building a great swing takes time and effort.
If I can swing easy and hit it a long way then anyone can do it. They just need the technique to do so. You saw you can do it too. This is great. Just remember the tip I just did about greed. You need to fight this feeling and be content with how far you can hit it. Stick to precise movement so you can repeat it consistently. As you do you gain confidence. Confidence breeds distance.
You are well on track. Just keep this effortless feeling.
The issue I have is when I see you “swing slowly” (either in this video or others) it often APPEARS as if you’re only making a half-hearted body turn, THEN the club comes down and then you complete it. When I try to relax and copy you, I always end up hitting fat; i.e. my trail knee turns halfway towards my lead leg, I drop the club and it smashes into the dirt behind the ball.
I understand you emphasize positions but really, for me, swinging slowly is MORE difficult as I always have trouble bringing my weight forward. My turn stalls and then I use my arms to complete the swing.
When does the club start to drop? Is it knee halfway, then drop, then complete the position? Is it legs touch first, THEN club drops? Can you point me to some videos that explain this kind of thing? I’m trying to work myself out of turning halfway with my body and then completing the swing with my arms.
Thanks.
BTW: I just came back from the course (9-hole cow pasture) trying to implement some of your ideas. Unfortunately, aside from a few comments from my playing partners along the lines of “he has a really nice swing”, things went mostly awful; e.g. topping the ball, pushing, no distance. However, I’m 66 years old and took the game up when I was 60 and have been rotating online teachers all the intervening time with no success, so I’ve decided I have nothing to lose sticking with one approach. Since my main problem is hitting at the ball and manipulating my wrists, it made sense to come back to you. I will keep practicing.
I want people to swing down because everyone keeps doing everything at 100% all of the time. If some has had a lifetime of whacking at the ball as hard as they can how do you ever get them to take the arms out if they continue swinging at top speed. To make a change you need to feel something different. If you keep feeling the same thing you are doing the same thing.
You are not good at swinging slow. You need to get good at it. So tee up a 7 iron and master this first. Just tell yourself to coil going back and uncoil to hit the ball while relaxing your arms. You need to either learn how to use the body or how to use the arms. This is all there is too it. In your case you are not fully coiling when doing it slow. Slow doesn’t mean a half swing. It means you are doing the full movement slowly.
So coil back fully slowly. Watch how your shoulders come around and if done right you will feel some tightness of the coil (torque). Once you feel this tightness you are then thinking uncoil. Visualize a spring and how this would work in life. It would coil … get tight … then uncoil and it would do this 100% of the time. So you tee up a 7 iron and keep doing it at half speed until you have enough control to actually do it. No sense sitting there whacking at it as hard as you can. You will never get if you keep doing this.
Make sure when you uncoil you are perfectly touching the legs and splitting the ears with the shaft touching your head. If you get this alone you would be almost there. Practicing on this ball after ball for a few buckets would get you at least doing the the majority of the swing the same each time. Sure, they are not the longest shots but I have proven time and time again this effortless feeling will get you at least 80% of your best shot.
Fat shots – too much on your back foot at impact. Feel the back heel coming of the ground as you hit the ball. In other words, touch the legs faster.
Club dropping – the club is flattening as soon as you turn your body and you do not hit the ball with your arms. Your body is an axis. The club is mass. If you turn and axis mass will move to 90 degrees to the axis 100% of the time. You are thinking about dropping it which you do not have to do. You need to be thinking of turning your arms off. This is another thing I constantly prove to people when working with them.
Topping – swinging way too hard. Slow down and loosen up the arms.
Pushing – body is working wrists are too tight not allowing the club to release.
No distance – this is you swinging too easy when you are playing. If you are working on your swing this is fine but when you play you need to be doing what I said above with the full coil (shoulders) uncoil (legs and hips) at about 50%.
It also sounds like you are working on way too many things when you play so you are getting confused. Like I said, keep it simple. You are building pieces of the swing. You will not be hitting great until you have the pieces. Too many people think that because they do one thing they will be hitting it amazingly well. This does happen but usually you need to numerous pieces mastered to get to that point.
So you keep it simple and actually master something. Forget the arms and what they are doing from the top into the starting down position other than keep them relaxed for right now. Your thought is perfect grip and setup. You coil back your shoulders until you feel tightly coiled. Once coiled you make the move to the touch the legs position. Once they touch you then touch your head with the club exactly parallel to your ears. You get good at only this. Once you can do this you work on the hinge. Downswing triggers and doing it faster.
Not sure you if you saw these but here are the lessons I teach in order:
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11 Responses to “Slow It Down”
January 5, 2017
PETERMCMULLENPaul I have a fairly slow swing. I watched this tip and went back to one I saved in my dashboard on”Separation”. I believe that tip was back on July 15th or 16th. That tip was on moving the hips first and the arms will follow. Why did you not talk about the downswing triggers in that tip? I have been following you long enough to know I need to execute one of the downswing triggers to get the hips moving in the circular movement while delaying the arms coming through to develop separation. Having learned this game as an adult, I fall into the category of golfers who have learned, incorrectly to hit with my hands and arms.
Should I work on the separation without thinking about the downswing trigger, and just concentrate on the hip rotation. My downswing trigger has been pushing off the back leg. Maybe I need to change to moving the belt buckle. A little clarification please.
January 6, 2017
Paul WilsonPeter,
I didn’t talk about it because the tip was about slowing down. If I got into all that it would have been 20mins long.
If you are doing the swing in balance then work on separation. If you are not doing the main positions in balance then work on positions first slowly doing them perfectly then move on to separation.
You can work on separation any way you want. You can do it with triggers or the hips but the hips are a trigger. If you are using the instep then first with the instep making it turn your hips. The whole point is that your body rotation must be ahead of you arms coming down. So fire the lower feeling it is already though by the time your club reaches impact. This takes repetitions and coordination. Do it every night until you have it mastered.
January 6, 2017
MichaelBlockPaul off topic but in your swing tips even if just a few words can you relate it to the Iron Byron. A video of the Iron Byron clip again just for a few second to make your point also would be greatly appreciated.
January 6, 2017
Paul WilsonMicheal,
I have a few videos from my Swing Machine Golf series posted here:
https://ignitiongolf.com/iron-byron/
I may do so tips with IB in the future but I like to keep that material separate from IG.
January 6, 2017
RaymondCHASTELPaul ,I master the positions you teach ,after having rehearsed them very extensively in front of my window panes,hundreds of times .When I play on the course ,it is if I was still rehearsing ,no stress ,no hurry ,no tension no bad feelings .The problem I have is swinging faster:my hips don’t move that fast enough .
I got some improvement with the SUPERSPEED STICKS of MIKE NAPOLEON ,nothing dramatic though .The SPEEED WHOOSH was of no help,it relies too much on the arms and hands .Same with the ORANGE WHIP TRAINER .All I try to do now is to swing as perfectly as possible ,if that may be ,thereby no errors or very few ,good scores follow (Very good short game helps ).When I play with youngsters ,they whack the ball away ,often in the woods or the traps set out for them .The humiliation I experience in giving away 50 yards or so from the tee is then forgotten .I tell them “It’s the one the first in the hole who wins “Am I right to feel that way?
January 6, 2017
Paul WilsonRaymond,
Well, you are 80 years old and you haven’t fired the lower body hard for years. When I explain how hard I am driving the lower body to students the are always in shock at how hard and fast I am moving. A lightbulb then goes off in their head finally realizing they have not been driving their lower anywhere near as hard as I am. I would think the same applies to you too. I am putting immense power in my legs and hips it just doesn’t look like I am doing it that hard because I have done it for 30 yards. If you want more then drive the lower as hard as you possibly can. Sacrifice consistency for a while. Get the distance then dial it back in. Too many people want both right away. You need to get one then the other. Distance first then consistency.
January 10, 2017
JohnBensonI would’ve been that student if it was last year! He sounded like a lot like me then. This is a good reminder to slow down to practice while I’m working on my key points.
January 28, 2017
BruceBergHey Paul:
I really do like this lesson. I think I knew long ago that in a golf swing, no part of the body should “pull you off balance”. After following your lesson plan for the swing over these last 8 months, I try to do this with the exception of getting those hips moving first, basically moving them fast as I can prior to downswing. I was on a tee playing a scramble last week and I was trying deliberately to “slow down” and I popped off an apparently beautiful ball flight (I could hear my partner say as I balanced at the finish with my driver touching my neck, what a pure shot!) that sailed 260 yds, but I never saw the flight or finish of the ball! I was so disappointed I didn’t see any part of it. Driving to it, we found it perfectly positioned, middle of fairway, 20-30 yards past any of my partners. I got to thinking of the shot afterwards and seem to remember that this happens often. I realize this is a results oriented game, but I wish I had better ability to follow the ball after impact. Any lessons gladly reviewed. I am happier with my swing than any time in previous playing and I know that good things are coming.
Best
Bruce
January 29, 2017
Paul WilsonBruce,
Glad you liked it. I keep teaching person after person who is just wailing away never doing anything right. Unfortunately, most everyone wants to hit their best shots instead of building a great swing waiting for the good shots to come later. Building a great swing takes time and effort.
If I can swing easy and hit it a long way then anyone can do it. They just need the technique to do so. You saw you can do it too. This is great. Just remember the tip I just did about greed. You need to fight this feeling and be content with how far you can hit it. Stick to precise movement so you can repeat it consistently. As you do you gain confidence. Confidence breeds distance.
You are well on track. Just keep this effortless feeling.
May 16, 2017
NormanKleinbergPaul:
The issue I have is when I see you “swing slowly” (either in this video or others) it often APPEARS as if you’re only making a half-hearted body turn, THEN the club comes down and then you complete it. When I try to relax and copy you, I always end up hitting fat; i.e. my trail knee turns halfway towards my lead leg, I drop the club and it smashes into the dirt behind the ball.
I understand you emphasize positions but really, for me, swinging slowly is MORE difficult as I always have trouble bringing my weight forward. My turn stalls and then I use my arms to complete the swing.
When does the club start to drop? Is it knee halfway, then drop, then complete the position? Is it legs touch first, THEN club drops? Can you point me to some videos that explain this kind of thing? I’m trying to work myself out of turning halfway with my body and then completing the swing with my arms.
Thanks.
BTW: I just came back from the course (9-hole cow pasture) trying to implement some of your ideas. Unfortunately, aside from a few comments from my playing partners along the lines of “he has a really nice swing”, things went mostly awful; e.g. topping the ball, pushing, no distance. However, I’m 66 years old and took the game up when I was 60 and have been rotating online teachers all the intervening time with no success, so I’ve decided I have nothing to lose sticking with one approach. Since my main problem is hitting at the ball and manipulating my wrists, it made sense to come back to you. I will keep practicing.
May 17, 2017
Paul WilsonNorman,
I want people to swing down because everyone keeps doing everything at 100% all of the time. If some has had a lifetime of whacking at the ball as hard as they can how do you ever get them to take the arms out if they continue swinging at top speed. To make a change you need to feel something different. If you keep feeling the same thing you are doing the same thing.
You are not good at swinging slow. You need to get good at it. So tee up a 7 iron and master this first. Just tell yourself to coil going back and uncoil to hit the ball while relaxing your arms. You need to either learn how to use the body or how to use the arms. This is all there is too it. In your case you are not fully coiling when doing it slow. Slow doesn’t mean a half swing. It means you are doing the full movement slowly.
So coil back fully slowly. Watch how your shoulders come around and if done right you will feel some tightness of the coil (torque). Once you feel this tightness you are then thinking uncoil. Visualize a spring and how this would work in life. It would coil … get tight … then uncoil and it would do this 100% of the time. So you tee up a 7 iron and keep doing it at half speed until you have enough control to actually do it. No sense sitting there whacking at it as hard as you can. You will never get if you keep doing this.
Make sure when you uncoil you are perfectly touching the legs and splitting the ears with the shaft touching your head. If you get this alone you would be almost there. Practicing on this ball after ball for a few buckets would get you at least doing the the majority of the swing the same each time. Sure, they are not the longest shots but I have proven time and time again this effortless feeling will get you at least 80% of your best shot.
Fat shots – too much on your back foot at impact. Feel the back heel coming of the ground as you hit the ball. In other words, touch the legs faster.
Club dropping – the club is flattening as soon as you turn your body and you do not hit the ball with your arms. Your body is an axis. The club is mass. If you turn and axis mass will move to 90 degrees to the axis 100% of the time. You are thinking about dropping it which you do not have to do. You need to be thinking of turning your arms off. This is another thing I constantly prove to people when working with them.
2 Things Flatten the Plane: https://ignitiongolf.com/2-things-flatten-plane/
Topping – swinging way too hard. Slow down and loosen up the arms.
Pushing – body is working wrists are too tight not allowing the club to release.
No distance – this is you swinging too easy when you are playing. If you are working on your swing this is fine but when you play you need to be doing what I said above with the full coil (shoulders) uncoil (legs and hips) at about 50%.
Confidence Breeds Distance: https://ignitiongolf.com/confidence-breeds-distance/
It also sounds like you are working on way too many things when you play so you are getting confused. Like I said, keep it simple. You are building pieces of the swing. You will not be hitting great until you have the pieces. Too many people think that because they do one thing they will be hitting it amazingly well. This does happen but usually you need to numerous pieces mastered to get to that point.
So you keep it simple and actually master something. Forget the arms and what they are doing from the top into the starting down position other than keep them relaxed for right now. Your thought is perfect grip and setup. You coil back your shoulders until you feel tightly coiled. Once coiled you make the move to the touch the legs position. Once they touch you then touch your head with the club exactly parallel to your ears. You get good at only this. Once you can do this you work on the hinge. Downswing triggers and doing it faster.
Not sure you if you saw these but here are the lessons I teach in order:
https://ignitiongolf.com/start-here/