Golf is like learning a musical instrument or art. The progress is so slow and our attempts look so crude and uncoordinated. But when you look back on the 5, 10, 20, or 30 years of progression to learning that musical instrument, learning how to create incredible art, or learning how to swing a golf club, you can clearly see the progression. When you're in the moment the progress is so slow we can't even see it - often only trained instructors can see the tiny improvements. You may never reach an elite level with your instrument, art, or golf, but the only ones who DO succeed will be those who never gave up.
@@ErndogGolf Well, truth be told I did major in journalism. However, there's an interesting book about this subject called "The Art of Fear" by David Bayles. It talks about how many people let their fear prevent them from ever achieving their goals. Their fear of being clumsy, their fear of being laughed at, their fear of feeling they're not good enough, etc. It's focused on artistic pursuits but it's a short book and worth a read for anyone attempting to learn a difficult skill.
The ability to self diagnose correctly on your own leads to ownership of your golf swing. My goal is that all of my clients can reverse engineer their golf shots on the course and have the ability to fix it on the fly without me.
Can’t think of a better way to continue grinding when not being able to go out much! I just got The Stack btw! I’ll definitely have some content around that!
After making some progress this year, my past few rounds have been an utter disaster of slice after slice with every club. But this latest video pointing back to your lesson in February is so helpful. It’s so clear to be now that in turning my shoulders ahead of/ in tandem with my hands is the major cause of my nightmares. So thanks so much for the help Ernie. I love your channel and the journey you’re going on and find it really helpful with my golfing journey too.
Yes more than a few instructors advocate opening the shoulders earlier and I believe this pattern is geared for the younger golfer. Keeping the shoulders back is easier to sequence and requires less side bend through impact.
Whats crazy is this video works directly with the one from the week before. When aiming to push your hands downward and faster (throwing the club toward the bottom of the net) in turn directly affects the hands reaching the ball before the back shoulder. Interesting thought. I could be completely wrong but it was something I observed and felt like correlates.
Love the content. Just a thought here, but what about a match between you and Jerome Rufin. Journey to Scratch vs Scratch to Scratch. Might be a fun match to watch. 18 holes split between channels. Then again maybe I m way off here.
I tried sooooo many technics hitting my driver, and nothing helped until now. I tend to strat the swing with my right shoulder. This caused a pull or a banana ball lol. I took this swing thought to the course today, and I increased my distance 25 yards, and also hitting them in the fairway. Yes, I had a few bad drives, but I stuck to it. I even lowered my score by 5 shots. Thank you for Shariig this magnificent swing thought.
I love this video and hope you continue to fill us in on the struggles you encounter on your swing journey. I also found when adding speed after fixing path is it will slowly creep back out-to-in until one day it's unplayable then gotta go back to the same feel you demonstrated here. Them shoulders just love to spin open from the top lol. I actually noticed in your last video your plane coming down was a bit over the top but was surprised your path was still ok then. But looks like it caught up to you
Man, I’ve noticed the same thing! That session was after a speed session with the stack too! I was able to get up to 100 mph with an in to out path in one of those swings, so I’m happy I could generate the speed without the chest!
I feel like my swing and the thoughts required to fix it are very similar to yours so it’s always good seeing another upload from you! The single best swing thought I’ve been taught is to keep my back to target as long as possible which gives me that feeling of dropping my arms and not letting my upper body get too active. Also on golf being a series of peaks and troughs, I couldn’t agree more. This year I dropped 10 shots off my handicap and played the best golf of my life, a large part of that was down to really improving my swing path and hitting draws instead of fades which suit my home course better. Out of nowhere the past few weeks I’ve been hitting the dreaded hosel rockets with my irons and the only way to make sure I don’t hit the hosel is to swing drastically to the left which has me hitting fades again… it’s a never ending struggle
Congrats on your huge improvement this year man!!! Man the shanks are so miserable to suffer through. I took a lesson back on Week 29 where the focus was the shanks. That might help! When I had them, I was on a golf trip and I ended up doing the same as you. Just reverting back to my old habits of coming over the top as that felt like the only way to fix them.
Been there myself too many times. It's a good sign though, your adding speed. Now need a touch of patience in the down swing so your arms can keep up with your body. Maybe getting in a hurry to smash it? If interested read Tiger Woods How I Play Golf. Small segment on keeping his arms in front of his body. It probably feels different for everyone so find what works for you. Here's what helps me get back on track. May not work for you or even make sense, everyone is different. - Relax the backswing and start of the down swing (Fred Couple image). This removes tension from my swing. Usually comes from trying to hit the ball hard. Interesting thing is I hit the ball further by being relaxed. Crazy. This is only medicine, long term use for me results in loosing it right constantly. Just to get back in sequence. - Practice with a pause at the top (usually use this when irons are a mess) . This fixes starting my down swing or weight shift before finishing the back swing finishes. - Focus on staying behind the ball. For me I get aggressive with my weight shift and leave my hands behind. Again patience when trying to kill it. Really enjoy your videos. Helping me with my game too. Good luck!
I have enjoyed watching your videos. Last July I had knee replacement surgery in my right knee, and now for the first time in quite awhile i am able to transfer my weight to my left side. So kind of learning the golf swing all over.
Thanks for sharing that! That same thing has happened to me as well. It was messing up my transition. Almost like my body didn’t know how to initiate the downswing because I was taking the club back too fast
yes, i've stumbled across kinda the very same thing. over the last several years i worked so much on a body pivot rotational swing that i lost distance but did gain a predictable draw shape. i recently sort of turned off that action a bit and focused more on swinging my arms with very loose floppy wrists and it has really helped. i'm 74 yrs old and been golfing for 40+ tears and stuck at a 13 hcp. for sbout 30 years but always trying to improve. thnx for the info.
Losing the swing is so relatable. It’s refreshing to hear it happened to someone at your level, and it’s great seeing how you addressed it. Great video!
to simplify this... At the top of the backswing, I just think of keeping my back facing the target longer as I swing to the target. I am 67ys old and outdrive most men I play with. If I can do it...anyone can.
Thanks for allowing us to journey through the process with you and appreciate this video. I have tried so many swings with zero results. That is until I found these videos. I have never hit My driver more that 200 and I am now carrying I 230 although erratic at times😂. I do have a question though. Do you release all your clubs the same as the driver or just up to a certain one?
You obviously spent a lot of time, energy and I am guessing expense to achieve where you are. If you can say, what approximately did this effort take in terms of time and cost? I realize everyone has a different approach but this is the closest I have seen to achievable and measurable success in golf and no small achievement, thanks
Perfect I’m doing the same thing, after 8 lessons and I had so many flaws he fix then, now is just up to me, but I know what has gone wrong, so take lessons don’t try to self diagnose by looking at tips on here, you will be going down the rabbit hole and no way back. My big problem is my right elbow it fly out, yesterday it show up on the 18th hole the worse shot ever
A really good video Ernie. I found this so useful. The thought of the hands and arms winning the race, and the shoulder coming last, is my only swing thought on the course now. Keeping my back to the target and swinging freely with loose (very important) arms, immediately and consistently improved my ball striking. That was a eureka moment for me too. I think you discovered gold when you found Zach as a coach lol. Thank you so much for this.
Man, what’s are the odds?! Two guys needing the same swing thought at the same time. Thanks for your support Shaun! I agree, blessed to have found Zach!
Use a wider arch stop pinning that right arm against the rib cage ! Take the backswing path a little wider watch the arm& hand position Naturally fall into position to hit rotation will automatically take over . I know bc I spent year & year trying to find that slot..
Thanks for making these videos my guy, and Zack is the Man!! he's simplified method of teaching really hits home, just to be clear here shoulders open for shorter clubs and closed for longer clubs and drivers?
Thanks for the support brother! So Zach likes to teach a draw throughout the bag, so he likes for the shoulders to be more closed for all of the clubs. It's just a little more exaggerated with the longer clubs because they'll swing more around your body
I'm wondering if Zach's swing thought of keeping your back turned to the target early in the downswing and having your trail shoulder lose the race to the ball, and also to get some hip separation in the early downswing, are the keys to increasing the (deWiz metric) distance of max hand speed to impact (which should be 30 cm or even 40 cm). Do you think so? Have you been successful at increasing this distance?
All my junior golfers are fast. Have a freshman in high-school who just PR’d with 119.7 mph with his driver. Some of their driver swings are posted on my Instagram.
@@zachberhow.instruction- Hi Zach! My question above is about how to increase clubhead speed at impact by increasing the distance from where max hand speed occurs and impact, which paradoxically means slowing the hands down to release the club faster. With driver, 20+ handicappers are typically 30cm or less, scratch golfers closer to 43cm, according to the folks at deWiz.
You know, I’m not sure. The distance has been holding pretty steady at around 15inches for me! I’m gonna try to experimenting with a few things next time I go to practice
Love the content. Had to skip this one as I've never had an OTT slice and don't want to mess up my own swing with a different thought. :) But I do remember Zach always saying the golf swing is never gone...it's just hiding sometimes. Glad you found it!
Hi Erndog. Very good to watch your journey. One question... Why is your right foot behind your left foot at setup? Do you think it is better for draw and/or body turning?
Hey there! Thank you for the support! Not sure if it’s the camera angle or just bad setup, but that is unintentional! If you drop your right foot a bit, it will help you with getting your path more in-to-out, but I wasn’t trying to do that here!
@@ErndogGolf I see.. I thought it was intentional for draw, because my coach said to me to let the right foot behind to avoid slice and more turning...
Really good video, we all go through this exact thing but to be able to change one little swing thought, can make the world a better place again! That’s golf folks 👍
Answered my prayers Erndawg! Shanked almost 150 balls lastnight after so much effort and progression over the last few months, it sucked. Going to work on this feel you went back to today and try to re-simplify my swing thoughts to get back on track. After lastnights session i did some therapy on Reddit by reading about other players experiences with losing their swing, one interesting comment was about managing over-correction when working on your swing, what feels like the appropriate "correction" could begin to be an actual over correction over days/weeks etc. For me this was a feeling of bowing the wrists and more width in the backswing as i was cupping and taking my hands too far behind. Anyway appreciate all your hard work, you are my favourite golf ed content on yt right now, love everything you and Zach are doing!
Michael, brother, thank you for the support and the kind words. Sorry to hear about the shanks- it’s such an awful feeling. I have a lesson with Zach (week 29) where we go over the shanks. I think it’ll be of some help!!
Shanks are usually a bit too much forearm rotation. In other words, instead of the club face matching the angle of the spine during the backswing, or maybe pointing to the noon position, the club head is opening up and then you're not closing it back during impact. What I call the motorcycle throttle by pushing your left hand down towards the ground. So the heel of the club is in front of the toe during the swing, and thus, the shank. On the backswing watch for: 1. club head position during the swing, especially on chips/pitches as this is an area the shank really takes over. 2. the club head at impact being square. Had the shakes twice now. The only other thing that can cause them, generally, is too much weight forwards and on the toes. Now that moves the club further ahead and the heel striking the ball. Good luck and may the shanks not show again.
These lessons have really helped me, thank you for sharing! Do you or Zack have a remedy, or a video for hitting behind the ball? Sometimes my low point bottoms out an inch behind w mid irons…Also a set up video? Good job with these!!!
@1:18 Id argue its a downward trajectory....scores and Hcp getting lower 😁 And as we all know, we get into grove when hitting multiple driver after driver after driver.... Would be nice to switch up after a few swings, hit an iron a wedge then back to driver....see if you can maintain the groove.... Keep grinding
Your coach is awesome and he is a great match for your golf journey ! Hope you find your natural swing but all looks good to me 👍🏻 We all have those eureka moments on the range so take it to the course and enjoy it to the max ! I’m working on tempo as well as my handicap 😂 eg my Drives are good , but mid irons not so much… accuracy and distance consistency , short games improving, keep moving forward! 😊👍🏻👍🏻☀️🇦🇺 gday from Australia, subbed.
Right shoulder slides back on the backswing, like right hand pulling a bowstring. Scapula slides in towards spine and right arm externally rotates SOME, but not all. On downswing, right pectoral engages, right shoulder slides forward and right arm externally rotates some more IN RESPONSE, which is what gives pros the "tuck the right elbow" look. This is a major source of effortless power and is what enables the body to make a good turn with a square to closed face and not come over the top and hit massive pulls. You need all three: good right shoulder articulation, good rotation, square to slightly closed face at the top. edit: I should mention, on the downswing, hip high to impact happens in around .07 seconds, or literally an impossibly short duration to actually try and manipulate the club for the human brain. All of the manipulation happens between address and hip-high downswing, with 70% of it happening at setup. Think about that.
A lot of coaches talk about feeling like you keep your back to the target as long as possible. I'm in this same epiphany stage. I have to feel like I stay closed to the target and swing through with my arms. You need to generate hand speed and catch the hands up to the torso or they get left behind as you've experienced.
If you never learn to do the lower body separation, you will never play good consistent golf, the lower must go first, is not sit down is not re-center first, it is one move, and you has to put the time on it, or just spend your time here on this RU-vid which I call the rabbit 🐇 hole, 🕳️ looking for a tip that works for that day.
Hi Ernie,it's interesting to hear you advise dropping the arms first before the torso and shoulders. I've never tried this before. It's something l will probably try next time l,m down at the practice ground at my club. I,ve always had a tendency to lean too much over with my right shoulder. It's a killer for coming over the top. I'm always having to concentrate on keeping my right shoulder back at address, and dropping the same shoulder downwards from the top to try and keep those drives straight. Sometimes it works,mostly, but sometimes it doesn't. I,ve never thought about "racing" my arms down first ahead of everything else. I'll give it a try.
It is basically where your head (= top of spine) is, this controls your right shoulder. You basically lunge forward to target which opens the shoulders.
@@ErndogGolf Keeping head still can easily be misinterpreted in a way that it may limit the rotation of the top of spine. That is not what you want. The point is that the relative position does not move to target, some rotation of the head is no problem if that supports the rotation of the spine. Some golfers look like the head is pulled a bit back from target through impact which will strongly keep the right shoulder in check.
Hello! From a fellow learner and stats guy, I’m certain you’re losing a bunch of yards with your driver due to the amount of spin you’re putting on the ball. You should be aiming for somewhere around 2200 spin with high launch for us 100mph~ swingers. Like you, I was swinging your speed, same spin, launch and ball speed hitting about 250+ yards. Changed shaft and adjusted loft on my driver and I’m now 260-270 with exact same swing. Free yards my dude! Check it out, maybe go for a fitting somewhere to get a fitter to help reduce your spin.
Thanks so much brother! This is something I’ve noticed too. I’m working on some speed stuff now but in a few months I think I’m going to get fit for a new driver. That’s amazing though, if I could get an extra 10 yards just from less spin! Appreciate the support!!
This is actually so insightful. Some times I have no problem hitting draws or balls from the inside. Then I can play the next day and be hit weak slap slices / fades then have to try and fix my swing instead of just playing. I’ve some stretches of golf where I actually feel like I’ve figured it out, then boom back to square one🤦♂️it’s so frustrating. Like it doesn’t matter how much time you put in you swing will never be concrete. I also realized that playing consistent golf doesn’t mean you are always swinging well but good players have feels or things they do off of the info they get from previous struck ball to solve swing. When you look at it like that it’s a lot less frustrating
That’s super true! I feel like really good players may also struggle on the course but always find a way to grind it out and score well. When I struggle with my swing on the course my attention goes to my swing rather than making par
I love watching your progress, your teacher is one of the best I have ever seen . I think that you should also watch Shawn Clement, he is also fantastic ! Thanks for your videos , it’s been a pleasure watching your progress 😊
Over-run. For me, when I allow my hands to go too far past the center, the chest, in the backswing towards the top -which is called over-run. When that happens, bad things happen. Usually it is not a slice, but a block as the hands are now behind too far. A block can look like a straight push, or if the club face is too open, a slice. So many will then try to close the hips faster thinking that will square the shot. Nope. That allows for snap hooks and pulls. If the chest wins the race, then yes, a push is usually the result. If the arms win the race, then yes, a pull. But if the hands are trailing too far back then either a snap hook with early extension, or a heavy push block with what may appear to be a wicked slice. Go to a 3/4 backswing and see if that problem remains. If not, then one is going too far back in the backswing, usually past parallel, and then overcompensating to get the club square and they are feeling all out of whack and balls are going all over the place. Over-run. Happens when the handicap lowers and the mind still wants more power and more distance. Actually hitting weak right pushes and cut shots. Big cut shots. The hands must stay within the center of the chest. Or at the top of the backswing, the arms must start dropping before the hips turn. Most are trying to start the hip turn prior to the hands getting all the way to the top of the backswing. That may feel like what is happening, but probably over-run and now turning too soon with the hips leaving the arms way behind is the culprit. You feeling like the right shoulder is getting there last is getting the hands back in front of the chest. My guess.
Thanks for sharing Ernie. The ups and downs are real, for sure! So many moving parts in the swing… glad you figured it out and really glad to see the thought process in your recovery. 👍🏻👍🏻🏌🏻♂️
