The swing plane

Question
Hi Rick,

How are you doing?
I have a little confusion about the downswing motion as I was doing my distance fine-tuning the other day. On the hi-speed digital video recorder, I realize that sometimes, my downswing tend to get flatter giving me problems when rerouting to the ball. My swing plane is thrown offline and I will tend to do a slice or just hit straight right.

My coach has asked me to do some drills but I am still not sure what kind of swing thought that I should have on the downswing. Stangely enough, this only happens to the longer club-3-4 iron, 3-wood, and the driver.

I realize that I tend to push really hard to get farther distances when I am holding those clubs and sometime the whole shoulder, hips, and arms get disconnected-perhaps?
I am trying real hard to get my 3-wood to 240-250 yards carry (now, it is 220-230 yards), and my driver to 280 yards carry (at the moment, 260-270).

Do you have any advice for my downswing? What should I tell my body to do in order to generate the extra power?
My coach won't answer these questions, he basically ask me to stick with whatever I have got, calling it my limit...But with a stocky build and at 6-foot tall, I know I can do better than this.

Thanks for your time again.
wishing you a Happy New Year!

Cordially yours,
MY Chooi  

Answer
M.Y.

I will defer to your coach here a bit....please listen to him and stick with your plan.  As you get better, things will begin to click.  You will see after a bit that the ball striking improves all of the time, and when contact/impact is better, the ball will carry longer.  Be patient.

As to what is going on with the longer clubs, it sounds like your lower body could be moving laterally a little too much.  If the hips slide towards the target, and the shoulders/arms lag a bit, they will drop too far behind your body and get flat.  As the clubs get longer, they tend to swing a little flatter anyway, due to the length.

Build up the strength of your core...abdominals, hips, legs.  The more stable you can be in the core area, the less you will find yourself sliding towards the target.  Remember, less effort creates more momentum......less stress and tension!

Keep up your good work.  I hope this helps!

Rick