Swing Zone Sports

Swing Zone Sports

How you finish often reveals what's happening during your swing In fact, I often key on a player's finish in my golf lessons to determine exactly how to help he or she can improve their game. You can do the same for yourself--if you know what to look for.

Below I describe four of the more common finishes I see when giving golf lessons, possible causes of the finish, and ideas on how to eliminate, the swing faults that cause them.

High Finish

The high finish position is among the most common. Hands held high and a flying left elbow (for right handers) characterize the position, associated with pushes, thins shots, and shots struck toward the clubface's heel. High finishers tend to swing on an in to out path that's extreme, with the club traveling to the right of the target, minimizing control.

If you read my golf tips, you'll find that the in-to-out swing is my preferred approach; however, in this case, it's extreme. When the inside-out move becomes severe, you push the shot. When club comes too far inside with a closed clubface, you pull the shot. Also, swinging too far inside delivers the club below the swing plane, preventing the club from striking the ball on a descending path. The key is not to exaggerate the move too much.

Low Finish

The low finish stems from an overly out-to-in swing path, caused by a downswing motion initiated by the arms instead of the body. Players developing this finish come over the top of the plane, as I've explained in my golf tips, causing the clubhead to cut across the ball through the impact zone. The position is associated with pull slices, pull hooks, and shots off the toe. Since the club is moving steeply and across the ball, none of the shots are well struck. Nor do they fly toward the intended target.

If you freeze this finish, you'll notice that the player's hands and arms seemed to be all jammed up. That's because the arms have moved earlier than the body, impeding the arm's movement and limiting their extension. To fix this problem, you obviously need to work on the body/arm synchronization, so your arms don't out race your body on the downswing.

Lunge Finish

I don't know how popular this finish is statistically, but I often see it in my golf lessons. With this type of finish, the player's head is in front of his or her left leg, or the golfer feels himself or herself falling forward. It stems from a poor rotation of the lower body through the hitting zone, causing the upper body to get ahead of the ball. The end result: the player fails to stay behind the ball during the swing.

To correct this fault, you need to work on your hip rotation. Try leading the down swing with your hips instead of your body. Try placing a chair to your front side, with the back of the chair just touching your hips. Take a few practice swings being careful to stay in contact with the chair's back as you turn through impact. Also, try finishing with your head over your left leg.

Reverse C Finish

The Reverse C Finish, in many golf instruction courses, was thought of as the perfect finish-- that is, up until a few years ago. Now, it's not as highly regarded. With the reverse C, the golfer slides his legs and body laterally to the left (for right-handers) and too fast through impact. The weight, however, remains on the back foot. A reverse pivot--which occurs when you fail to transfer your weight from the front foot to the back foot--also produces a Reverse C finish configuration.

To correct this fault, you need more hip rotation and less slide. To cure the reverse pivot, you need more weight transfer. If your problem is the reverse pivot, try making your ordinary swing while lifting your front foot of the ground on your back swing, then replant it on the downswing. This helps transfer the weight from the front foot to the back foot, as it should. If you want to build more hip rotation in the swing, try taking practice swings with a shaft placed on right side of your hips. Your hips should rotate so that they never touch the shafts. If they touch, you slid.

The reverse C finish is one of the more prominent finishes. But like the lunge, low, or high finishes, it can indicate hidden swing faults that need correcting. The sooner you start working on correcting the swing faults discussed here, the sooner you'll start lowering your golf handicap.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book Â“How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.Â” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.

Looking to buy a new driver which is right for me?

I'm looking to buy a new Driver and need a little help finding which is best for me.I'm not a tour pro by any means and don't really know much about the technology.

Im rather short at 5'8" but have quick hands.My current Driver seems very flexible and i slice just about every time.I tried slowing the swing down but still the same.

I think that my hands might be to quick for a flexible shaft which is making the club head come through the zone late tending to slice the ball.I can drive it about 225 -250 but slicing and it goes so high with a 9 degree club head and so i hear a lot about these weights that will help slicing the ball.

So any suggestion on what club and degree to get? Looking to spend around 120 150 and seen some at Dicks Sporting Goods on sale.

don;t really care about brand names but in your situation try looking for a stiff to x stiff shaft to cut the flex a bit and try to find something in the range of 430 to 540 cc just in case your shot accuracy is a little off. try experimenting with an 8' driver to drop the loft a bit, if that doesn't seem to help try modding sour stance and swing a tad also if you find your slicing a bit try closing the club face slightly, that seemed to help me when i was slicing my 4 iron

hope all that helps