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I thought it's the opposite... I was not swinging but hitting with hands, wrists, or arms. It's only after I made the changes (both "dead" wrist and keeping hands in front of body) that I finally felt that the power of my big muscles (torso and upper body) were transferred to the club head.

Maybe for whatever reasons, I just couldn't obtain that "natural hinging and unhinging". Not only did I lose distance and consistency with it, but the left wrist joint was a bit sore after hitting just 50 balls on the range. Now with the new swing, the left wrist felt fresh after hitting 100 balls.

The right inner elbow was actually injured from tennis playing. But with my old swing, even with protective elbow brace, the elbow was always sore after playing or practicing. With the new swing I didn't feel a thing afterward.

Kinda sounds like you are keeping the clubface square to the swing plane if you don't rotate the arms or cock the wrists. That is a swing philosophy I heard before called the square-to-square method. In other words as you bring the club back the clubface is looking at the ball and will basically be looking at the ground halfway. Or maybe I just misunderstand.

Probably shaft length. Try choking down a bit on the driver and even taking a shorter swing with it.
I went through the exact same process you are describing several years ago, and I believe you are ablolutely on the right track. But this should not be confused with ultimately not breaking the wrists. The comments by the gentleman in the post above about wrist break being integral to swinging are accurate, and refreshing to read. You'll get back to that I am confident. In order to clarify my point, consider the idea, employed by many, of "holding back wrist release".
What happens to muscle tension when one attempts to delay release? The muscles in the hands and forearms are then "keyed" in the wrong direction! Why do that? What you are actually doing by attempting to NOT break the wrists, is keying the muscles in the direction of the hit. And that is exactly what you want. Eventually you will discover how to manage muscle tension in such a way as to, rather than prevent break, RESIST break, allowing club C force to eventually take over and break the wrists with the muscles then keyed in the direction of the hit, allowing for a natural release as you term it, and a very powerful strike.
I actually choked down on all my sticks when at the point you are. When I learned to employ the above, I was dead flaberghasted at launch rate. A lifelong 140 8 iron suddenly became 160 choked down with a "3/4 swing". Dead straight. This is why I inquired as to the definition of full swing. If that definition does not include the individual's viable range of motion (IVROM), then it is an inaccurate and misleading definition.
As far as your hand/torso position? Please sir, don't let anyone talk you out of that. If you assign to the arms/hands thier proper function, which is to maintain positions and tensions established at address, (And that is quite enough work for them to do), you will soon be swinging in the manner the gentleman is refering to; freely but properly keyed, with BOTH arms maintaining position (they are both holding the club, aren't they?), and I expect the right elbow will be less bother.
The reason I asked about connection is because all of the above is contingent upon it. If you don't maintain shoulder leverage, it's kind of hard to make any of the above work.

Joe Hill

Similar, but square to square focused on club position (edit-hand position actually), not how to make it happen.

I think what you described was mostly what happened to me. But at the end of my backswing, the club face seemed to be (judged by what I saw in front of mirror, though it might change in the real swing) facing 90 degree away from target. Maybe the truth is somewhere between the "square-to-square" swing and the "standard" swing. I won't know for sure until I tape my swing which may not happen until this weekend.

BTW do you have any reference or link about the "square-to-square" swing. Would love to read about its pros and cons.

Hi Joe,

Appreciate your informative response! It's great to hear from someone who's been to similar path. This gives me more confidence in staying on the (right) course in my golf journey.

I think you're right in suggesting that I might have disconnection between shoulder and arms. What happened before was that my arms hinged from shoulder so on downswing, the shoulder always turned faster than arms and when the ball was struck, not only the club face was open, but the power of upper body was not transferred to the ball at all. I believe now by focusing on "keeping hands in front of body" at all time (except after contact), the C-force is working and power transfers well to the ball. The dead wrist helps in a similar fashion by allowing power to be transferred from arm through hand to the club- unlike my old days when the wrist could be not yet unhinged/released when the ball was struck.

Oh, another interesting thing I found was that with club face looking at ball as long as possible during take off, the recoil sequence was good from top to bottom. But if I allowed club face to rotate away from the ball at early stage of take off, the torso or even hips would turn first, when there's no recoil between shoulder and torso. I think this is not good.

I got all these ideas from watching US Open where Rocco always did his pre-shot routine of that awkward-looking short swing. I thought- gee maybe that would work for me by applying it to full range of my swing. I went to range on Sunday night with such thought and found its positive effects far exceeded my expectation. With the responses I got here, I think I'll keep doing it to ingrain it into my brain and muscle. Then when it's also working well on the course, I may gradually experiment with some wrist hinge.

Choking down on driver? Ok I'll certainly try it. Likely will play many rounds of golf next 2 weeks when I'm no family vacation visiting relatives and old friends. If I can't solve the driver riddle in time, I'll simply tee off with 3 wood instead.

Best,
Ehien

For most people, it means going to about 10:30 or 11:00 oclock on the "swing clock". Certainly, not every person is going to have the flexibility and/or athletic ability to go back that far. On top of that, a lot of people may not have the golf ability to go back that far and control their swing on the forward swing.

But, physiologically, you can't have a conventional grip in a golf club, and keep it on plane, and not rotate it and take the club back to 10:30-11:00. Humans just aren't built that way.

You may want to look at some of the stuff called the "symple swing". They teacha method that stays square to the swing plane for the full swing -- but they use a fairly unconventional grip to achieve that. But, it is at least one method out there that promotes fully square-to-square.

To me, wrist hinge is not a conscious effort, but a natural result of a good swing. I suspect that you are hinging a little bit, or you probably wouldn't get 150 yds out of a 7 iron.

I would go with what is working.

This is possible too. Just like I've played tennis more than 20 years (USTA 4.0~4.5) but never realized I had too much wrist action until last year. It's working now, but I'll definitely tape my swing to see what's exactly happening- at least for curiosity reasons.

Found some info on the Web about this swing. Interesting. But my grip is the traditional (and neutral) overlap grip.

I'm able to get shoulders 90 degrees with palms square to target line at address, and maintain all the critical positions previously discussed. The triangle will fold toward the target near the top IF one is still connected. John Daly gets in this position when he is swinging well (that's been a while). Its all a matter of how deep the shoulder turn is. I do not actally swing that deep, nor do I recommend anyone attempting to apply these principles go for the fold. The opportunity for error is magnified exponentially for each increment of breeching IVROM; mine is about 10:15, and I have found nothing is gained by going past it. One's maximum velocity at impact is determined by leverage, compression, shoulder to club equilibrium, acceleration, all of those things and more, not length of swing. Dana Quigley?

Ehien, I think Rocco has one of the best pre-shot waggles on tour, and if I may add, I know he's not holding the trophy, but he is a champion.

Like everyone else, I love his spirit and attitude. Just thought his pre-shot waggles was a bit funny. But I do think it's effective and that's why I'm coping it to my swing.