The Addictive Way Of Striking The Golf Ball That Gives Crazy Compression

Thank you for this clip, It shown me what I did wrong. I hope that my i7 will be 150-160 yards again. Thank you.

Chris, is there a way to minimize shaft droop? I keep hitting my 7 iron off the toe and I think droop is causing it. Is there a fool-proof way to prevent that from happening or do I need stiffer shafts for my irons? Or maybe a lie angle adjustment? Mine are at -2, should I have them bent to 0 or +1? Or go the other way to -4?

Super clear basics for compression! I have yet to master #3 :-) But it's true, the other 2 already provide that addictive feel.

Does that hands position apply to driver swing just the same??

Very good thoughts when playing and practicing. I have also been able to feel my elbow position change according to the length of club I am swinging during my practice swing and it helps me find the swing plane with each club. If you find the proper, right elbow position the swing will feel smooth. A great piece of advice. Best video I have seen in a long time.

Taking up golf in my 30s working as a process control manager I looked at the golf swing as a mechanical system based on leverage and physics. What are the variables controlling outcome? Which of them effect outcome the most? Which of them can be made constants?

In that context compressing a golf ball is about generating striking force in the club head and since it’s mass is constant the variable to accomplish that is increasing velocity. Here’s were knowing a bit of physics in helpful. Kinetic Energy in the club head which produces the striking force is exponential, which is to say if the velocity is doubled the kinetic energy quadruples. Raise the velocity 10x and there is a 100x increase. So swinging the club head fast is part of solution for generation compression.

But the thing most don’t understand is that the degree of compression alone does on predict ball speed as it leaves the face. That is a function of the rate of rebound off the face and again the physics is counter intuitive. Conventional wisdom in the golf swing is to keep the club head acceleration through impact. That is a good strategy for maximum compression but not for creating the highest rate of rebound off the face.

By way analogy if you are a passenger in a car driving 100kph and just as you try to lean forward in your seat the driver hits the gas the acceleration of the car will pin you back into the seat. That’s compression but your velocity relative to the car is actually slowed down by the degree the increase in kinetic energy of the car mass has pushed you back into the seat.

But not imagine if you would happen to the passenger driving 100kph slammed in the brakes or hit a brick wall… the mass of the car stops abruptly and the unrestrained passenger flies off the seat and through the windscreen, why seat belts are now mandatory in cars. But they were not in 1948 when Ben Hogan hit a Greyhound Bus head-on one foggy night and discovered that cause and effect of Newtonian physics affecting mass and motion.

This cause and effect of stopping one mass to accelerate another much faster occurs at several points in a golf swing. The first is the takeaway extension where the club head mass whips up around the hands in reacting to being prevented from moving backwards. The more forcefully a golfer sweeps the club head back in a wide arc and then stops it, the faster it will whip up around the hands with club head increasing in kinetic energy and ability to do work, like lift the mass of the arms against the force of gravity and pull shoulders around stuck hips stretching leg and torso like a torsion bar until that absorbs all the club head energy and the club head mass stops at the top. Golfers with slower swing speeds do not do this first important step — loading the torsion bar that fires hips and shoulders in the downswing — very well because they try to lift the club and cock the wrists to get it to the top instead of extending it and letting it react.

In the downswing the initial acceleration of body, arm and club head mass together comes from firing the hips. Hogan’s technique to maximize that was squaring the back foot and putting an extra metal spike in the back shoe so it would not twist which generates maximum torque in the back leg and buttock. Try adjusting the angle of your back foot, even turning in a bit and you’’ll understand how this affects how fast the hips ACCELERATE all the masses at the start of the swing. Because of his technique Hogan could fire his hips at the start of a 1/4 swing chip shot nearly as much as a full swing and as a result wind up with more club head velocity at impact than someone with no torque created in their legs or less. This is why pro golfers hated giving up the metal spikes which allowed them to generate maximum torque in the legs.

The next place you see acceleration is when the hands drop to hip level, shaft swings to horizontal and club head is free to whip around the hands. This is where the golfer needs to keep the car crash analogy in mind and find a way to SLOW DOWN the hands to cause the club head to whip around the hands faster. The technique is simply to keep the back heel on the ground until the club head starts around the hands because keeping the foot down arrests the hip turn when the hips reach 45° open in the downswing. That combined with a lateral shift of BODY MASS AT THE TARGET is referred to in golf instruction as ‘hitting the wall’ and lifting the back heel is what allows the hips to move again and produces the feeling of ‘breaking through the wall’. Golfers with poor swings never experience either feeling because they reflexively lift and turn their back foot too soon and too quickly to avoid falling off balance due to unbalanced over the top club head paths.

Hogan’s final technique to generate club head velocity before impact was his famous ‘waggle action’ which has the POTENTIAL to accelerate the club head mass at a higher rate than both the hip /shoulder turn or it whipping down around the hands. Try moving nothing except wrists and snap the club down like cracking a whip into a ball. It will take off like a rocket! You will also feel your hands and arms lock up. The club head accelerates at the fastest rate in the entire swing then stops dead because the Vardon grip creates such efficient LEVERAGE when hands are pulled all the way down into maxed out ulnar deviation, something 99.9% of golfers today have never felt BEFORE impact because they’ve never tried to snap a club down at the ball like cracking a whip BEFORE impact. Hogan did, so did Moe Norman and trick shot artist Count Yogi.

It isn’t just the added acceleration of the waggle action just before impact that resulting in those three being legendary ball strikers it was how as the ball released off the face the leverage created by their grips through impact — all three different — abruptly slowed the club head just as the compressed ball was ready to release off the face — which dramatically increases the RATE OF RESTITUTION and ball speed and why ball speed is always faster than club head speed, i.e, smash faster.

It is counter-intuitive but at higher club head speeds which compress the golf ball as much as the USGA allows with robot testing on Iron Bryron a deceleration of club head as ball flies off generates more ball speed than a club head that continues to accelerate through impact and release. The edge that elite golfer who can do that have over the USGA and its ball testing protocol that controls max distance at 317 yards +3 variance (320 max) is that Iron Bryon used to test the balls that why does accelerate the club head through impact.

The guys on the long drive tour like Bryson understand this and use the technique but Catch-22 is that the waggle action whips the club face closed and that’s difficult to control resulting in snap hooks if the timing is off and the ball come off the face late — exactly how Hogan was known to miss.

Always heard of getting stuck on the downswing but never tied the problem to not enough room for the right elbow.
Is that what getting stuck means?

My ball striking had gotten progressively worse over time. And I didn't realize how bad it was until one day I punched out with my 3 iron on a par 5 and not only did it go about 220 yards with so little effort but it felt like I hit a cotton ball. That one situation where I had to change so much with my "normal" swing to get the ball down the fairway and back in play actually showed how important proper compression is. It was such an aha moment on the course and really got me excited to fix what I never even thought was broken.

Gold.

Does this drill work with the driver?

Brilliant, Chris. This exactly captures the 2 problems I currently experience with my irons right now. Collapsing wrists because I can't get back to the ball, and other consequences. Thank you. This will really help 👍

Fantastic drill, thank you 👍

Hi Chris, I see in the video you seem to indicate that face bends the ball, which I assume means you hold to the idea that path sends and Face bends. I thought that was proved to be incorrect these days? I thought the concepts are that Face sends and patch bends now? Could you share your thoughts..

very good and it's gonna help, thnx.

Cheers Chris… my oldest golf mate and myself have often discussed CFR… compression free round… we got it round 18holes and nothing felt good !!
This looks great, and will def try it.
Mike.

Would love to see more golf swinging in this video

Great video!

Chris, you never cease to amaze me! This tutorial and the one on bowing the wrist at the top and hold it through the ball have changed my golf swing entirely. I finally “GET IT” after watching thousands of videos on the golf backswing, transition and downswing. U the man! Thanks 🙏 for your lessons! Pete

Great drills that are easily performed/practiced at the driving range. Question would both drills be applicable for using pitching or sand wedges for those 50-80 yd shots? Happy Canada 🇨🇦 Day long weekend ahead to my fellow Canadians!

Sounds brilliant, I'll try it out tomorrow. Does this apply to all clubs up to and including driver?

This is everything that’s wrong with this new coaching swing, we saw a shift a few years ago from the conventional swing which was the takeaway body turning away from target, moving back down to Impact with forward lean then during and after impact turning towards target, this new style of back damaging swing, will zalatoris, Justin Thomas style where the club is so far behind you parallel to the floor, then turn and burn style swing, for me isn’t that functional if your not under 40-ish…. So to see someone call it out and look to address the elephant is great thankyou Chris,
I’m two lessons in now on the mend, with a new coach, from a 14 month dark rabbit hole after going to coach that took me from a nice slightly steep swing tiny power fade, to a flat caught behind me awefull pull draw, so videos like this are a god send thankyou…. I’m all for progressing, but straight away we could see this new move your hole rib cage slightly to left while your arms are trying to come through to hit the ball style swing was going to be trouble for a lot of golfers…. Rant over… 🙏🏽🏌🏻👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Chris- I’ve used the Flamingo drill before.,It works well

Hey chris i find that the delivery drill works great with most of my clubs except my wedges, when i do it with the short clubs i find myself shanking the ball, any advice on this?

I've been caught in a rut for the past few weeks hitting the ball off the toe. I realized that I wasn't getting the correct forearm rotation you were speaking of and now I'm consistently flushing the golf ball. Thanks so much for the tip!

One thing I noticed with the setting the wrist hinge at a perpendicular to the body when moving the club back the spine angle is not matched the club face. If you do the wrist set at a 45° towards the backswing before turning it back, the clubhead will most likely match the spine angle. It would give you a visual to see that the cub face is already slightly toe forward and aldo help your students see the space they need to create. The rest of what you demonstrated is absolutely beautiful. I appreciate the drill tip for better compression. Thanks.

How come all the pros show the Right elbow attached to the ribs on downswing

That's why it feel good to hit my 4 iron with my feet together!!

I knew that my trail elbow getting stuck one of my biggest problems but I didn’t know how to fix it until this video. Thanks Chris!

i like this!!!!

Wow my first impression of this channel was fabulous you can explain it so better than other people lol

Chris, you're the man! for showing this drill. Thank you from all golfers around the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Again chris, keeping to the crucial thread of cause and
effect, you`ve hit the nail on its head ,😇👍

WoW!!! Just when I think I've seen every single lesson that could possibly be given........... There's THIS!!!! That's another one (or two) thoughts to add to the ten thousand or so going through my head as I begin my backswing!! @ChrisRyanGolf could you possibly give a lesson on how to remember every single lesson but somehow stay calm as you address and strike the ball? Please!!!!!!! It's the 5 inches between my ears that are struggling the most! Cheers from New Zealand.

It's the rotation about the fulcrum which is not at the end tip of the grip but rather just proximal to the trailing/supporting hand. This is what leads to the natural hand/club head movement that freaks some people out. This video is supremely refreshing and I can't wait to practice!

Not keeping the trail elbow stuck to my rib cage is the best advice I've got in the past year! I've been taught to do an in-out path with my club and ended up hooking the ball. This video helped me instantaneously improving my shots, getting the ball straighter and longer! Amazing!

Is this hand path something thay could be applied to the driver as well?

How can I adhere to the delivery drill without having a takeaway that goes really outside, thanks!

Very good explaining the grip and hand paths before contact.

Maybe u can exemplify where the hands/wrist should be during the transition between back-swing and down-swing.

Ben Hogan kept his elbow tucked into his side and he had the greatest swing of all time. Golf is hard and complicated.

What type of shot is this?

💡💡💡💡💡

I have written many positive reviews on your videos, as I think that you are one of the best out there, but from a Health & Safety perspective and given that most golfers hit behind the ball, laying the alignment stick behind the ball in that way, if a golfer should hit that at 80 mph, it could shatter and the shards from the plastic could inflict serious face/eye damage, this is not to be recommended.

you have elbow problem

keep the club face open. Let the clubface release at the bottom of the swing creating a vortex at impact. Ball has no choice but to follow the swing path.

Hi Chris, is this divot and eliminate hitting back of the ball ?

Powerful golf, baseball, cricket, and 2handed tennis swings have have just 4 simple components:
1) hands leading, in front (causes natural forward shaft, bat, racket lean)
2) just before impact, start pushing with trailing arm/start to straighten trailing arm
3) snap and release thru the ball
4) trailing arm fully straight, hips naturally facing to target

Thats it folks… one day the teaching pros will make it this simple. Once i started feeling that push and straightening of my right arm, my tennis and golf games immensely improved, both in power and consistency.

Great drill and makes sense.

Superb again, thanks Chris.