The Overswing and past parallel

[beefstuf]

When I am swinging smoothly and my backswing is parallel I tend to play my best golf. Lets think of this swing as a Jack Johnson song; makes no offense in the background and holds a very smooth tempo. This does go without saying. This golf swing can produce many GIR and quite a few pars in a row.

I try to take the advice of others and assess the weakness in my game and work on it, but the problem is all aspects are inconsistent. I can only assume that this would be mostly due to the fact that an overswing can produce a pull, or a slight slice.

More specifally over the past couple of summers I have been plagued with overswinging and going way past parallel. I try to practice not going past parallel and maintaining a smooth swing, but the problem is I always revert back to these bad habits.

I have reached my highest level of frustration. I can go 8 straight pars, back to back birdies, have a front nine of 35, but for some reason cannot keep it together for the full round. I have even been plagued with shooting a 51 yesterday.

So my question is can you fully attribute an overswing to huge inconsistencies in golf and more specifically what steps can be taken to a)completely remove the overswing and b) know when you are parallel and begin your downswing.

Cheers

[BC MIST]

How far one swings back is a function of a few things, one of which is your flexibility. A swing is full when the lead shoulder is opposite or just past the ball, regardless of where the club shaft is. To try to achieve a bigger shoulder turn is pointless and will likely lead to the leverage angles breaking down.

If your attempt to swing to parallel, or even beyond, what MAY be happening is that the lead(left) wrist is breaking down, likely cupping. This cupping causes the shaft to go beyond parallel, but most importantly, it causes the club face to move away from being square. If left there the ball will slice/push, or often, the hands will flip or the forearms roll over, to compensate for this and the ball will hook.

Golfers that hit the ball straight, have a FLAT lead(left) wrist at the top in particular, but really, it's flat from shortly after the back swing begins until after impact. As a drill preset your hands/arms into the picture included in the thread "flipping wrists". Doing this achieves the flat lead wrist and really, the position you want to be in at the top, before you swing. From there just complete your backswing, holding on to the feeling/position that the hands/wrists are in. 3/4 swings with a short iron first before moving on to longer clubs. When you play, achieve a feeling of firm wrists at the top, one with no wiggle in them.

[beefstuf]

Thanks Lyle...it is worth investigating this; I have a feeling you are completely right. I am focusing so much on hitting down on the ball that I am also coming down way too steep....a few things to work on.