Update:  I made these audio only recordings as I was working on my method for more reliability.  This was essentially taking audio notes as my method progressed.  This post is from 2009.  It also mentions a little natural hinge at the top of the swing… I found later that no hinge is the most reliable.  Any hinging feels powerful, but makes your back hand get involved to create a “hit” WE DON’T WANT… we want to rotate through impact accelerating all the way to the finish for the most reliable consistent swing*. 

After hitting 300 shots a day for over a Month (to get the hands out of the entire swing)… WOW, listen how SOLID – 3 wood off the floor no tee, no mat into a net.
Listen Now » Using Large Muscles ONLY… NO HANDS

Push the Takeaway with the Front Shoulder and keep pushing with it until its under your chin (do not let arms and hands take over and lift or help!)
Listen Now » When the Left Shoulder Stops…START DOWNSWING with the hips unwinding left

Setup with the hands like a “Bubble” even, equal pressure on the Last 3 fingers left hand… middle 2 fingers right hand… and the Life Line of the right hand (on top of Left Thumb). Maintain EQUAL GRIP PRESSURE AT THESE 3 POINTS DURING THE ENTIRE SWING. Keep your hands (Bubble) “Passive” during the whole swing.
Listen Now » MOST SOLID CONSISTENT HITTING EVER

** Oh, … This was in my living room and after a couple of months, I put a hole through the middle of the net from hitting the same spot over and over…  The Titleist  Pro V1 is still in the wall of that house. I spackled over the hole….haha

MOVE LESS … GET GOOD! – DUPLESSISGOLF.COM

The above paragraph has a lot of good stuff. Once learned, you will hit the ball very far with all clubs. There is no magic trick other than practice and repetition… Ross

*One great way to “resist”, is to keep the back knee braced inward, as your shoulders wind up on the backswing. Try to keep 60% of your weight on the front foot on the backswing. You’ll be able to return back to the ball much easier.

Hi Todd
Generally the big culprit for no height on fairway woods or hybrids is incorrect ball position at setup. This is usually too far back in the stance. If the ball is played in the middle or its position is too far back in the stance :

1) …it is there because you want to use your hands to hit at the ball and that is the best position to maybe make contact.

or

2)… you will not be able to rotate and then MUST use your hands to save the shot or you’ll shank or block right (right handed golfer).

or

3)… you started with the ball in the correct position but you did not keep your weight forward (60% or more front foot) on the backswing and you moved off of the ball, essentially changing the ball position. If you do slide to the back foot on the backswing, there is a need to have to slide back and if you’re sliding, you can not be rotating …so you must use your hands to try to save the shot.

What to do:
So, what you should do is…setup with the ball position, front hip socket or even front toe… learn to rotate and not flip at the ball. At impact the shaft must be in line with the front arm and you must be rotating… if you do, the ball will easily come up, have height and go far and straight… Ross

FYI… The best way to know for sure which one or combination of the above is/are your problem(s), I need to see a couple of swing videos of you. That way we are not guessing and I can also look for other elements that will help your swing. I call this a Golf Swing Analysis.

My objective here is to enlighten the golfer about concerns of a solid and repeatable putting experience. I call it an experience because, it starts way back deciding your approach shot, where the ball actually ended up… around the green, or on the green, what you saw and felt as you were walking up to the green, when you walked across the green, views from behind the ball, views from the side and above the hole (if there is enough time without holding up play).

Once you’re on the green, imagine your ball rolling up or down hill, taking any breaks and going into the hole. This is much more useful than just picking out some line, without first visualizing the ball rolling and the speed it would be traveling, that will let the ball actually move in the direction of the breaks… then slowing and going into the hole, or not slowing, and just going into the hole. Wow, that is a lot you could imagine.

All this gathering of info, helps you decide at what speed and where you’d like to stroke the ball, to give you the best chance of making the putt (given only one chance to putt it).

Here are some tips* to help you decide:

When you setup to putt, your arms MUST hang directly under your shoulders… then use your FEET to move your hanging arms over to just behind the ball an inch or two. This is CRITICAL. I see many golfers and many Pros, take a practice stroke, then reach their arms out over to the ball (very bad move), then move their feet. This totally disconnected the arms from hanging under the shoulders and many putts are missed just because of this mistake. If you change, and use your feet to move yourself over to the ball letting your arms hang under your shoulders, you will IMPROVE!

~ Is the putt uphill of downhill?

If it is downhill, you want to look at a spot short of the hole (not the hole) that you will putt to. This will allow for the effects downhill gravity will have, so your ball does not end up too far past the hole. In other words, you will stroke the ball to a closer target than the hole. When it is done, it will end up at the hole and hopefully a little bit by. You also want to allow for more break on a downhill putt, because the ball will be rolling slowly, gravity will affect it a lot and mostly at the end of the putt. Also, putting to a spot short of the hole, allows you to still take firm stroke to get it rolling end over end (holds the lines better). Many golfers try to baby or they stop at the ball once it move… these putts miss short and low (not good)

Now, if your putt is uphill (the best to have), you want to look at a spot past the hole. Maybe a couple of feet, or more if it is a very steep slope. You also want to allow for less break, since the ball will be move very fast uphill, gravity will not affect it very much. You can also use a more aggressive stroke since the ball will stop quickly just past the hole due to the slope it is climbing.

In general, on your approach shot, you want to leave your ball directly under the hole to have the best chance of making it. Another generality is, on a 5-6′ level putt, you want to putt to a spot about a foot and half past the cup, to give you a speed that will go into the cup. The mistake is to look at the hole. This putt comes up short, and the ball will drift left or right as it is coming to a stop. One other thought is to keep your body (except your shoulders) ABSOLUTELY STILL all the way through the putt. Many golfers move their shoulders open (before they hit the ball) to look at where the putt went, and they end up pulling the putt. Another tip, you want to make contact with the ball after the bottom of the stroke (on the up-stroke), to create end over end rolling. If you hit at the bottom of the arc, that pushes the ball and it slides or hops and comes up short. This is usually because of flipping the putt with the back hand. DO NOT RELEASE THE PUTTER HEAD THROUGH IMPACT. You must lead the handle through impact, before the club head, to have a solid putt! Use only your shoulders to move your arms and putter through. Watch my putting series here

• Some of these tips are from Dave Peltz’s – Putt Like the Pros… thanks Dave.

Do I need to bump the hips to the left before I turn them, or do I just turn them after I have completed my backswing? 

Regards
Eddie

Hi Eddie 

If you were able to maintain at least 60% of your weight forward, you will be able to just turn with no problem… if you allowed some or a majority of your weight to move to the back foot, or you didn’t setup with more weight on the front foot to begin with, you can not just turn.  You will have to bump the hips to the left (as you and many others say an do) ..and what it means is, you will not be very consistent with your ball striking.  

If you don’t move the point where a pendulum is anchored, the ball at the end swinging, will return exactly over the spot at the bottom of the arc… but if you move, where it is anchored, even a little, then try to return it to the original position while the ball is swinging… there is almost no way to ever return it over the original starting point.  SO… if you allow yourself to sway off the ball even a little (it feels powerful, but is not reliable), you’ll pay the price with miss hits.   

What will help! If you feel like your back leg, slightly bent knee, is absolutely rigged and holds the urge for you to slide, you’ll end up with a powerful shoulder turn against a firm lower leg and not sway off the ball.  If you setup with your back hip inside your back foot and hold that angle… you’ll feel a braced back foot. You’ll feel pressure on the instep of that foot and all the inside back leg muscles activated and holding. You’ll feel the back knee holding to the inside of the back leg. ALL these help to hold you… and to allow for a very powerful shoulder turn on the backswing. This will keep your weight more forward and remove the need for “the bump” (a bad thing for consistency).

Ross

You should have 60% or more weight on your front foot! You should have the shaft in line with the front arm. Your entire body should feel like it is helping move the club head, while pushing up against the door jamb. Your elbows should be close together and pointing back towards your hips. You should feel like your body unwinding, is almost dragging the club head around. The grip end of the shaft should be leading the the club head slightly. Your front wrist should be flat or even bowed out towards the target. Your back wrist bent in helping support. The club face should be square to your target!

If you practice this feeling over and over again, you can “recall” it in your mind just before you swing, and remind your body how you want it to be at impact. Your visualization just prior to swinging, can help recreate the muscle memory you’ve been practicing. This position we’re practicing is “dynamic” meaning, it just occurs (during impact) as we take our complete swing. Nothing happens at impact other than the ball just happens to be in the way. We are accelerating all the way to the finish. In other words, there is no “hit at” or “stopping” just unwind your swing and trying to be in the position you’ve simulated with the drill.

A good way to practice this is to imagine an acceleration speed you want to use from the top of the backswing to the finish. This is not a quick start thing, rather, the swing gathers speed to the finish. This also does not mean you have to speed up a lot. It can be slow and subtle. The reason I say to always accelerate** to the finish is because, with my own experiences and teaching golfers over 30 years, if the swing decelerates, bad results almost always happen. Now, there are some touch shots, trick shots, that you can use where you slow down into or just past the ball, but those are rare. Accelerating to a complete finish almost always produces the best results and remember … “no hit at the ball”. The ball just gets in the way as you’re rotating through to a nice, balanced finish!

* Predetermined means: you imagined or recalled a body rotation speed or a pace, you practiced or used in the past to get the results you want … like a 50 yd distance.

** Accelerate: to smoothly speed up to the finish. This does not have to be much … from, not much at all, to an aggressive “really go after it”. They are both viable and used.

Given #1:
I’ve mentioned many times, that a solid golf shot at impact, will have the shaft inline with the front arm, leading the club head, and (with my method), the body is unwinding, “dragging” this shape around to the left (right hander). I call this “trapping impact”.

Given #2:
Now, imagine the “weakest” part(s) of the body (related to the golf swing). Hum… Thighs, Hips, Shoulders, Arms, Wrists, Fingers etc.. Well, in my opinion it is the wrists! Especially when they are cupped or bent inward. That seems to be a position that is NOT very strong or can be held very long against leverage.

Given #3:
Okay…lets add the word “leverage” into the mix. They realized long ago, the longer something is, the easier it is to use it to move something else… take a long pole for instance. It works well until it breaks at some point.

So how does this all relate to the golf swing and impact?

Well, my thinking is, that if you are at impact with a bent inward front wrist, the different forces occurring at 80-100 mph, are enough to make it difficult or impossible to maintain that wrist angle, and it wants to flatten out or even bow out (because the club head is lagging behind a little) this due to the “leverage” factor.

The ball getting in the way must play some role in holding the club head back some too. These things make me think the wrists will struggle through impact, unless they are in a very solid shape that fits what is going on. Ben Hogan was aware of this and suggested to supinate the front wrist just before impact.

This bow out shape is the strongest position for the wrists to be in at impact, because of the angle of the shaft and being drug around to the left via the body’s rotation (my method).

Feel for yourself… setup like you’re going to take a shot and let the club head touch the ground slightly. Then, use your body to drag the club head around to the left and find the strongest position for your front wrist or wrists to be in while your dragging. So… if you’re not in this strongest shape at impact, you’re probably in a weaker (not as repeatable) position. This is one reason some shots feel more solid than others.

Hint: The real culprit is usually the back hand throwing the club head at impact that puts you into that weak position.

Was the middle of winter and it looked like it might snow, but that didn’t keep us off the course. We had just teed it up on #1 when a few flakes started to fall. We didn’t care and teed off. We always walked so we started down the par 5.

As we walked it started to snow harder. We got to our shots and said, let’s just finish the hole then walk back in. So we hit our second shots. I hit a really good shot to the back of the green where I had about 20′ for eagle. Of course by now, it was really coming down as we trucked to the green to finish.

By the time we got there, the green was totally white (except the hole). Can’t stop now, I said… I’ve got an eagle putt. Well I’m sure you can guess by now what happened. I wasn’t sure how hard to hit the putt, or how the ball would react across the snow. Well, I putted and the funny thing was how the golf ball collected snow along the way, and got bigger and bigger then dropped into the hole. It had turned into a golfball-snowball.