contact thin or on toe

Question
You answered Dick 6/8/06, which I have the similar problem, but I have had the problem of hitting on the toe of the irons for years,(when I was thinner and younger)...your advise seems to make perfect sense, apparantly I have been short arming for years, but now it is worse.  I got confused when you discibed the one drill...to make a baseball swing at chest high. You mentioned "if your swing is too much up and down that doesn't match your body type" that confused me as to what you were talking about.  I believe that this is a very common problem with Seniors with a big waist line...need to understand more.

Answer
Hi Gene:

No problem.  You are correct.  Seniors with big waist lines have trouble turning.  If they cannot turn, the tendency is to pick it up with your arms.  What goes up, must come down.  The problem with down is it is not out enough in front of you.  So if the downswing moving into the impact area is coming towards you, you will catch the ball off the toe, hit weak shots that have a weak fade of a slice.  If you happen to square the face up through impact, you pull the ball.  Seniors seem to pull the ball with their shorter clubs and slice it with their longer ones.  Distance is not good and all marks are on the toe.  I have had great success with Seniors (or anyone) with a big stomach, having them shorten their backswing and learn to get a better release through the ball.  By shortening their backswing, it keeps the club on a better path.  They don't have so much space to cover anymore.  Then I teach them how to use their hands correctly to turn it over, that is, release the clubface into the back of the ball and promote a right to left (draw) action on the ball.  This increases distance and gets the ball to the center of the face.  You do not need to make a big backswing to hit it somewhere.  You need to hit it solid!  So to start Gene, only make a three quarter backswing.  When your left arm is parallel to the ground in the backswing, you are done.  At that point, check to make sure the butt of your club is pointing at the target line.  That would tell me your club is close to the swing plane. Once the club is in a good position to swing it back to the ball, use your hands correctly (and here is where I assume you have a good grip), and turn the right hand over the left hand as the club swings through the impact area.  Picture hitting half shots and closing the clubface so that the toe of the club passes the heel.  Picture the clubface closing so that at waist high in the follow through, the clubface would point at the ground.  Feel how you use your hands to control the clubface.  NOTE:  IF YOUR GRIP IS WEAK OR INCORRECT, YOU CANNOT DO WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.  HAVE A PGA PROFESSIONAL CHECK YOUR GRIP TO MAKE SURE IT IS STRONG ENOUGH TO SUPPORT THIS.  Pretty soon, you'll be hitting it solid and you'll notice a big difference.  

Eddie Kilthau
PGA Member