I’m struggling to clear my hips
Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach Andrew Jones helps reader Sean Wheatley tighten things back up in his swing
Andrew’s assessment
Sean’s posture had become a little rounded, with the shoulders naturally wanting to close in more. At the top of the backswing there was a visible softening of the left arm (too much flex) and that was causing him to cast the club a little from the top, getting him slightly outside the line. He was quite narrow at impact, too, with no real width or extension through the ball. That meant he was getting a little stuck on his right side, so wasn’t able to clear his hips properly and square the clubface effectively.
Andrew’s remedy
I tightened up his posture, so chest out, chin up and backside out a little, to encourage him to carry himself in his tallest frame and engage the core to create more space.
Sean was talking about pulling the club down from the top, which I don’t think creates the right idea for the transition. You want to try and change direction smoothly, so we worked on the idea of pressure and almost squeezing the left foot as he starts down, which in turn allows the club to fall behind ever so slightly. We also worked with an alignment stick on the target line to encourage the feeling that his arms and body are out in front of him post-impact, rather than whipping round to the left.
Sean’s feedback
I had felt that I was on the way back to hitting really solid shots and have had many rounds of near misses this season, including one where I was only two-over gross after 14. But there has always been a spanner lurking in the works and I knew something wasn’t quite right in my transition. What Andrew has told me makes perfect sense, and although the posture changes felt a little strange at first, I could feel things being much more under control as I started back down. I’m optimistic that I’ll now be able to finish one of those good rounds off!
“I need some more reliability and dependability – a bad swing is never too far away”