As I’m working on the practice/swing actual swing issue I keep learning and experiencing keys to the swing.  As I wrote, it was a shock to see for the first time the difference between my practice swings and my actual swings.  I am more convinced than ever getting these to match (getting my actual swing to look like my practice swing) will be a game changer.

A few key swing thoughts are making a big difference.

1. Quiet upper body

If you look at a typical over the top move, what you will see is that a lot of things start to get funky in the upper body as the swing unwinds.  Extra movements creep in.

I’ve also noticed that on my best shots, the upper body feels very quiet.  It feels like there are no extra or wasted movements.  It simply flows from the top down.

Becoming conscious of this feeling has helped me to hit more consistent shots.  It has also had the effect of lessening the over the top move.

2. Finish around

Over the top moves get the swing very steep.  When you look at an OTT swing on video what you’ll see is that the club finishes very vertically.  When you come in so steep it is nearly impossibke to finish with the club moving around you.  Imagine Tiger Woods hitting a big draw.  See how his club finishes around his body.  When you come in steep you can’t do that.

The thought of finishing around also has another benefit.  When I watched my rehearsals of finishing around I noticed that my hands automatically dropped rather then moving out like in a typical OTT swing.  This is a big key to coming from the inside and on plane.

What’s next?

Although today’s practice session was productive and I began to see a match between my practice and actual swings there is a ways to go.  I realized that I’ve ingrained this OTT move over years of golf.  It is going to take a fair amount of practice to ingrain these new movements while hitting a ball.  I love the fact that I can have a technically correct swing in my practice swings because it means my body knows how to do it.  I think it is just a matter of training it to do what it knows, while hitting a ball.

In order to ease this transition I am going to try something.  I have a white foam golf ball that is very soft, so soft that it can be hit indoors.  The important thing is that it looks like a golf ball, it’s the size of a golf ball, and my body should respond to it like it’s a golf ball.  But because it is a practice tool, I think I can combine my practice swing, with the signals to my that I’m hitting a golf ball.  It should bridge the transition and make this process easier.



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