Craig Phase 2 Session 5
Sorry, you need to be a member to access this video.
You Are Just Seconds Away - Become a member here!
Already a member? Log in now
Session 5 - In today's practice session I will show you a simple warm up drill I use when my swing feels too stiff at the range. It is a must to get the legs working in the swing and to not get over mechanical/tense with your work. I also show a small recap of my prior practice session to see the differences my simple warm up made to my swing.
hello everyone and welcome back to another phase two session today we're going to focus on a set of down the line and face on i'm shooting down the line first today because i think i'm going to have a little bit of a sun issue we'll find out but welcome to my journey another session i'm still grinding away i still have things to work on and today before we get started i want to show you something that i used today to get my session going when i started hitting a few shots i noticed some excessive tightness and some days that's just going to happen you show up the driving arrangement working all morning or been sleep well and you're just a little bit tight you just can't get into the flow of things and so what you end up doing is you start trying to place the club because everything feels overly mechanical is you get over the shot and everything feels really tight and you start thinking about positionings oh i've got to get the club here and i move it down into here and you know you start guiding it around with your hands when at the end of the day what you're trying to do is move through these positions you're trying to load and rotate and have all these synchronized positions so that the club can freely swing so after i hit a couple shots i noticed i just wasn't getting into the flow of things as simple as it sounds one of the things i start doing to unglue myself is i start to pick up my feet now i don't plow through a bunch of golf balls this way you can if you really need to but what you'll see right here if i set up face on what i'll start to do and i'm going to choke up what i'll start to do is i'll start to kind of just pick up my feet a little bit now i'm not going anything excessive like picking up my whole foot this way because i'm just kind of doing a nine to three motion but what i'll start doing is i'll just start allowing my left foot to pick up and my right foot to pick up just to feel back my legs again to feel the swing in my feet again i just need to get moving yes am i moving a little bit too much or do i have excessive lateral motion i do but i'm too stuck i'm too glued and when i start to make some swings or i just allow my weight to start to move towards my trail heel and then back to my lead foot and back towards my lead heel this is a really good way for me to start to loosen up to start to feel the legs again to start to kind of get back in a jive now i can't dance and one of the good things about golf is you don't have to be able to dance to swing correctly but you do need to feel some rhythm you do need to feel the pressure in your feet you do need to feel how the weight moves how the hips kind of move in the swing and when i get here and i just start allowing my weight just to go in towards the right heel my left foot to pick up like this just a little bit this that gets me moving it gets me flowing it starts to get my legs to waken up a little bit it's it's like giving my legs you know that cold shower that little bit of a jolt that they need to say okay we're gonna get out here and we're gonna work a little bit today now i'll show you with a golf ball right here i don't need anything excessive but i may spend a shot or two where i'm just allowing my foot to pick up and to pick up yeah i'm moving too much but what i can already start to feel is how i'm using the weight shift and the rotation and the momentum kind of together to create my motion it's starting to take my brain out of all these positions with the club so you can try it at home if you want you set up right here a little bit towards the heel back towards this one and you can see they're just lifting up a little bit nothing excessive but this motion will start to allow you to use your legs a little bit more so you're just not so club in position oriented you start moving through the swing so try that at home make a couple swings where you just allow the feet to pick up a little bit just moving back towards the heel in your right foot moving back towards the heel in your left foot and you'll see that it starts to help you dance a little bit which we need a little bit of dancing in the golf swing so now with that little drill out of the way let's get started with a set of 10 from down the line and if you watched the previous session today i'm really going to focus on kind of softening things up as i noted in my transition it's not that i was casting or doing anything egregious but i didn't like the stiffness in my hands now i want this to have a little bit of flow to it i'm shifting i'm rotating and as i start to shift back towards my lead side that my hands just have a little bit of softness to it so that when i get down here and the pressure of my last three lead fingers that that club turns over a little bit more on the effortless side i don't want to force things too much i really think it came about because i was doing on that two-way miss and i really had to get out of being a little bit under plane i think i just started forcing things with my hands too much so today i'm going to really focus on keeping some of that softness in my hands and softness in my wrist so that club can freely rotate through there we go take that one to start out with nice little straight shot compressed really gonna think about the same thing i was doing my feet earlier just kind of keep a nice little flow and rhythm to my session today i don't feel i have a ton of mechanics on my checklist that i need to correct right now i just need to get moving through these positions i need to keep kind of dumbing down the sounded a little bit heavy i got a little bit just a little bit draggy with that face through there and i could feel my hands wanting to right at the end add a little bit of rotation to it i think i might have gone to the other end of the spectrum on that shot i think i think i went a little not bad though we'll get it straightened want some weight some rotation shifting posting all right there we go nice boring driving be a perfect west texas shot take that one all right rinse and repeat nice and balanced set up nice and light with the feet we'll take away rehearsal just to feel just a little bit of just kind of moving that weight feeling a little bit of rotation touch heavy i felt a little bit of right hand on that felt a little bit of right hand push on that one took that leading edge kind of steepened my angle just a little bit into that strike so you can kind of hear on this mat now as i as i would say a little scuffy so what we're going to do is we're going to make some practice swings we're going to let go of that trail hand and automatically as soon as i start letting go with that trail hand i can even see the strike on the mat right here how the bottoming out point has moved up or moved forward so much it almost looks like it's bottoming out around my lead big toe that's just telling me that probably was doing a little bit more with that right hand than i want keeping that lead hand lead arm in hand and release going that's what i want just because it's about to be halloween there we go that's what i'm looking for you could feel through the strike just a lot cleaner with that rotation of the face gotta let it work for you you know you don't want to work too hard through this this club's designed to rotate if you get out of its way and let it it'll do it a little freedom today that was really good that was really good that was definitely the best one of the i really feel how my head stayed down my chest was really quiet a lot of good in that strike that's kind of it brings up a point a comment from one of our members that i saw in the community that you can kind of get in your own way even even on these little guys you can kind of get in your own way where you're thinking just too much you've got this laundry list that you're going through can only take care of so much in such a little swing and you have to kind of move through these positions so even though there might be some things that i don't like about my takeaway and other little nuances my goal right now is just to start to get some fluidity and get that free release showed up a little tight today will kind of come to me i think that's a touch heavy i've got just a little bit of turf on that one that one's a tough one for me i don't know if that was a little bit of the mat or that was me i guess tygo's the runner in this situation there we go a couple more let goes really helps get me back in sync that was pretty good right there felt just getting a little bit off that trail foot got that hip behind me lead hand enough pressure to stay in control of that release i think we're okay make sure that ball position looked like it was sneaking just a tiny bit back oh that was really good that was really good right there nice and simple through impact so my focus right now i'm just trying to feel my way through these positions just just kind of moving a little bit using that weight and rotation taking away a little bit from the mechanic side moving it a little bit more into the feel side today just trying to get a little rhythm and flow to it which is really tough for me because if anything i definitely overthink this whole thing that was good all right take that one okay so let's do a face on because i really want to see what happens with my wrist you know me just focusing on that tension today there may not i may look at the camera and it may barely be changed because the feel and real aspect but i want to see just a little bit more flow in the motion i'm hoping that's what that's what i'm looking for i feel it on this side i feel using my legs a little bit more feeling just a little bit of the weight of the club swing back and through and that's what i'm hoping for today i just want to see it has a little bit more kind of ebb and flow to it just that little fluid motion so let's flip over to face on let's see what it looks like all right so let's do some face ons right here and try to keep things a little softer we'll be moving through positions today this is this is a non-mechanical session today we're going to make our practice swing feel a little weight some rotation i want just a little bit more softness i don't need anything crazy you don't need a ton of lag or anything i want to be a little freer today that went too shabby nice little draw on there i'll take that i just want to get that same freedom that i have i'm just here just letting it freely move through there so i'm going to have that pressure and those last three lead fingers i'm relaxed not dead relaxed big difference that was really good right there boy if i could just convince myself that if i did less i would get more let's see what's that hip doing today hopefully still staying a little bit stacked i don't want to be blowing through anything today i just want to kind of free up some things free up some movements though oh that was really good that was really good right there almost had a little recoil on that one i like that one i like that one that one felt really short felt like i just had a little weight some rotation really nice and compact i'm trying to get to that bonus section of the challenge series i i'm not i'm not getting uh i'm not graduating today i know that getting closer not graduating today but before i graduate on this series i'll definitely throw in a couple of those bonus challenges on video for y'all oh that's a touch heavy just a touch heavy i felt like my legs had to catch up just a little bit there i think that one got just a little armsy handsy ah better than that come on that grip do a couple let goes get rid of that ball for a second so i can hit the ground there we go moving through position day there we go see if we can rinse and repeat that one that's what i like good legs get that compression in there and for those of y'all that don't live in the south kind of had our our fall south always get that kind of trick in the fall where it gets really cold and you're like hey great falls here no i'm just tricking you a little bit the heat's coming back see i like that one the reason i like that one is not only the compression and the ball flight had just a little bit of a one yard fade on it i i like that little fall to the right i know chuck and i argue back and forth over the baby draw or the little cut i i like that little fall to the right everybody fears hitting it to the right you gotta face your fears sometimes but back to my fall thing yeah so we had a little bit of a cold snap through here the leaves started turning i was enjoying it a little bit and that heat came back i can feel it today on my back that was so close just caught the mat just the tiniest bit too soon darn it so i really like that move too i'll try to finish strong on this one get my line we're gonna do a couple let goes really free this up a little bit i've done enough lead arm only's i don't have to think about this just gotta let it be oh yeah that was good that was good all right that was a good that was a good one to end that set on all right with that said and hit i'm gonna go take a look at it i'm gonna do a recap i'm gonna see how my swing compares to my last version i'm gonna see if my hands are starting to soften up a little bit look a little bit freer today was just trying to get some fluidity back in this i hope you know my earlier drill talking about a little bit with the feet and you need any more help on that and go check out the weight shift sweep drills it'll just kind of get you moving a little bit but sometimes just picking up that the feet a little bit help just kind of loosen those legs get you kind of moving get you out of the process of thinking about the club too much hope all the work at home is going well if you have any questions post them out in the community post them up on the forum post them under these videos happy to help you continue the same process that i'm going through and i'll see you at the range next time hello everyone on today's recap what i want to do is i'm going to compare my face on from session four and session five now there aren't any major changes in the swing but i want to talk to you a little bit about how i feel that the swing is better just by monitoring my tension as you know in the beginning of the video of my session today i worked on softening up i worked on some weight shift sweep drills just to start to focus on moving through positions kind of letting the swing come to me because i felt that i was a little bit overly controlled in my session four that i that i was pushing on the club just a little bit i had a little bit of steerage in there which probably came from me working a little bit on the two-way miss to fix some of my under plane issue but now that i've kind of worked out a little bit of that under plane issue i needed to go back and work on moving again and in developing the swing by putting the feel back into it and letting it kind of come to me and you'll see the swing on the left hand side of the screen and as i start to work back and it's it may be tough to see but in transition right here i really don't have a big increase in lag and to me i feel like i'm just pushing on the club just the littlest bit and the transition right here now for phase two we don't need a ton of lag that's not the goal in this i'm not trying to hit this very far so i don't need all this leverage from my wrist but i do want to make this shot relatively low effort to get something out of it and i felt that in my transition right here i was just pushing on it just a hair and even though i hit some good positions on the way down i felt like i was working too hard now with starting out my session with the weight shift sweep drills and really keeping a keen focus on my tension the right hand side of the screen what i want you to notice is in my transition here i have just a slight little down cock now this down cock or this little bit of increase in angle was more of just a byproduct i was moving better i was shifting and rotating and shifting back and posting up better uh in the downswing but i didn't try to go back to my takeaway position and then hold on to my lag for dear life in fact it was quite the opposite i really wasn't even thinking about lag all that much i was thinking about staying soft using my legs feeling a little bit of that change of direction and so what ended up happening as i started to work down into impact i started having a little bit more lag i started to feel a little bit more in sync and what you'll kind of notice a little bit of maybe hard with the pants is that my legs or more specifically my lead legs started to post up better because when the arms and hands start to take over your legs are going to have the tendency to turn off they're going to try to provide more stability and so by me softening up and moving through the positions not only did i get a little bit more increase in lag i really don't need any more lag than i have right there but i got a little bit of increase in lag but my legs also worked better because i was really thinking about using them but i wasn't in such a rush to get back to the golf ball wasn't tensing up my arms and hands and getting overly controlling of that face which allowed me to have a cleaner impact position and a very productive session it wasn't by going through a big laundry list of mechanics that i felt i needed to change it wasn't going through all right i i feel like i'm pushing on the club a little bit so i'm gonna make my takeaway then as soon as i shift i'm gonna tense up my grip and i'm gonna hold on to this angle until i feel like i need to get rid of it no it was more just allowing myself to start swinging a little bit and i think that's where players get a little bit of misconception when it comes to the lag issue is that they feel like they they've got to now be even more controlling of the club i did the exact opposite i try to control the club less and allow the change of direction allow the better flow of weight from my trail side to my lead side to increase my angle and keep me better in sync so as you're working on your phase two one thing that i want you to think about is your tension where is your tension where should it be is it too much in one place do you get too tense in your arms and hands which is not allowing you to work the downswing with your legs because you can get very good at steering or placing the club in positions i still hit all you know my checkpoints on the left hand side but i knew something wasn't quite right especially when i came down i looked at a really slowed up version i could see just a little push on it and my legs were waiting just a little bit too long to kind of finish their movement and if we go down here to impact let me get this wound back if we go down here to impact you're really not going to see that big a difference visually left leg's a little bit cleaner maybe a little bit more stacked you can see a little bit more hinge in my trail wrist but you're not going to see that big a difference but feeling wise ball striking wise it was a much more productive session for me so as you're working on phase two don't get caught up on lag don't get caught up on some of these things that don't really matter right now but if you start to see little nuances i'm giving up on a little bit of angle or my legs aren't quite working just don't feel quite right i want you to start to think about your tension levels i want you to monitor what it feels like what's really firing at that time i didn't really change any mechanics from my session four to session five other than trying to move through the swing and make sure that i don't get overly tight and i feel the swing and on my end it made all the difference in the world between my previous session and my current session
David
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Greg
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Kim
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Eoin
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
M. (Certified RST Instructor)
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Matt
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
James
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Chuck
Craig (Certified RST Instructor)