How I’m Fixing My Inside Takeaway (Practice Session)

I’m working on fixing my inside takeaway – those rolly wrists! – by starting with exaggerated moves, where I’m pausing to set each position before making a swing. And then building up to slow mo and smooth swings. My goal is to groove the moves of the takeaway I want by exaggerating those feelings in this practice session.

Thank you to Golf Manor Club in Farnham, Surrey (https://golfmanor.club) for letting me practice in the dry! If you’re local, use the code JESS10 to get a cheeky 10% off your next bay booking.

0:00 Intro
0:30 What I Noticed In My Takeaway
1:48 My Purpose And Plan For This Practice Session
4:17 Staggered Swings
7:45 Slow Mo Swings
11:45 Smooth Full Swings
13:30 Outro

👋 I’m Jess Ratcliffe – after getting to single figures in a year (34 – 9 hcp), I’m documenting my journey as I work on my game. Subscribe to join me. New video every Saturday.

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So in my practice today I am working on fixing my inside takeaway so I’m putting a tea in the top of my nine eyon here because I’m just going to take you through the drills that I do when I’m hitting balls as you know I’ve been

Working on this in my takeaway for quite a while now well I say quite a while over the winter because I just noticed in my swing that it was one of those tendencies that if I don’t stay on top of it if it creeps in when I’m inlow

When I’m playing then it just sets me off on a bit of a wonky swing from the get-go because the issue that I had is that I was getting rolly with my wrists so my wrists and hands were moving away from my body in my takeaway so in this case

And I’m going to like really exaggerate it the tea would be facing the target let’s say I’d start to roll it away rather than have the tea stay facing my hips my body so I really started to work on that I was doing my dry drills I was

Then going to the range and I felt like that initial part of my takeaway that first little bit here got a lot better but I noticed when I would watch my swing back because whenever I’m working on stuff in my swing I always put it on

Slow-mo video so I can watch it back see if I’m actually making the moves that I want to be making most of the time I’m not but you know work in progress we’re getting there but I did notice with my takeaway this bit was going so much better but then something would happen

Where my wrists like a magnet would flick me on the inside roll me around on the inside and it would typically happen at the point where I’m already in motion so I’d really have that smooth takeaway going on but then as I’m then in flow something here would happen where I’d

Send the club a little bit behind me and get a little bit flat so in my practice today the purpose is takeaway I’m just going to really Groove the move that I want to be working on both that smooth takeaway but then also feeling more like

The club is going up up for me the exaggerated feeling is that it’s going up a little bit steeper because I can get a little bit too flat a little bit stuck behind me and then that sends me over the top of my down swing so my

Focus is to really feel the exaggerated feelings that I want to get grooving into my takeaway so my plan I’m going to start with some staggered swings getting into the right positions and sort of swinging in stages so this way I find a little bit challenging but it gets the

Brain and body going because I’m just going to get to the positions that I want to be then the next position then the next and sort of pause throughout the swing and then hit the ball I’m going to do a few reps of those quite a

Few reps of those to really get the moves in and then when I feel ready when I feel like I’m aware of those moves that I’ve been working on I’m going to take it to really slowmo swing so again feeling like it’s just a smoother sequence of those same like staggered

Feelings but as one move rather than doing them in stages super slow-mo so again I can really try and build that awareness of the positions that I want to be in and override hopefully my default Tendencies a little bit or at least make progress towards that and

Then I’ll finish up with just some smooth swing so normal speed but feeling a really good Tempo really smooth and possibly because I like to add in a little bit of performance pressure finish up with maybe trying to hit five that I feel really happy with five

Smooth swings where I feel happy that I’ve hit the moves that I’ve been working on particularly in my takeaway one caveat that I need to throw out there is as you might have also seen in my videos I’ve been creeping a little bit over the top again which I think I’m

Still going to be in this swing but I’m going to work on that in another practice session that’s the second part of my swing that I’m really trying to work on at the moment is that drop from the top and I’m just not that good at it

Yet so I’ll be doing a different practice session where I dedicate that session just to to that feeling because I really find that by going deep on one thing rather than trying to do all the things is how I can personally feel like I make more progress with these swing

Changes than if I try and cover too many things in one go so let’s see how we get on we’re going to start with those staggered swings and just go slow so my feelings making sure my teas in that I’m trying to focus on and actually yeah I’m

Just going to start with some really small swings so like small stance down the shaft a little bit just feel kind of that softness and my focus here as much as it’s so tempting to like want to hit a brilliant shot is more about the feeling and more about the process that

I’m going through to execute the swing than the outcome of the Swing I’m I’m sure that there’s going to be some wonky ones in here and they also might not go that far because I’m doing small swings it’s more about hitting the feelings grooving the moves than absolutely

Ripping it or kind of feeling like I’m giving it a full swing like I would do if I was playing that’s the focus is really trying to get to these positions is feeling that smooth slide away so at this point the tea is still facing my

Body it’s not rolled away from me and then from that position so I’m going to stop about here and then really feel like I lift because I know that my tendency is just to get to here and then seem to go really flat so I’m going to just exaggerate the opposite I should

Also say and then I will hit symbols take this with a massive pinch of salt I’m not a golf pro I’m just a real Keen Bean who can hopefully look at my swing from the knowledge that I’ve got from my coach Jason I know roughly what I need

To be working on when I’m on my own and I can really just focus on executing those moves and I know that when I see my swing back I typically know what I’m doing wrong but this might not mean that this is what you’re wrestling with or it

Might not be the same feelings that you’re trying to groove and so just to put that put that in there that that that’s my little caveat just a golf nerd not a golf pro just going to focus on feeling into the stages oh that was a bit thin another thinny okay that’s

Interesting so caught a little bit near the heel which is my old over the top but we’ll work on that in another video another practice session it says I have to be patient I’m not very good at being patient nice and slow get those Feelings a little bit better and I’ll just stagger this this is why I love coming to practice in a simulator not only because of the data but because when I’m doing small swings like this it just feels like such a waste of range balls you know when you

You’ve paid however much to have your big bucket of range balls there and if all I’m doing is sort of more focusing on the feelings in the move this is why I love driving Dr Drills but I think there is a bit of a leap to be made

Between dry drills at home and then actually making those moves when there’s a ball there I feel like something different happens when we’ve got a ball in front of us or I know it it happens with me anyway I can sort of slip back to just thinking right hit it so this is

Why again I’m here in Gulf Mana farum brilliant brilliant place by the way because it’s raining outside and I’ve got my spring clothes on oh sort of accidentally did a smooth one there rather than a staggered slipped into it okay maybe I’ll build up to that now actually because I feel like I’ve

Worked quite a bit on the staggered the feelings now it’s that next stage I’m just going to do real slowmo still small swings because I’m just about trying to get that feeling and I’m just going to do slowmo swings wasn’t so slowmo on the down it’s

Like do you just feel you get to the top you’re like go for it rather than being patient letting it just drop but again we’ll work on that in another practice session right slowmo be patient Reckless oh that was thinny thinny SL Healy is

That out to in maybe that is what I need to really jump to work on our next but we’re sticking with it sticking with the process getting this takeaway down as a solid foundation and then knowing that we can work on the next move from there because that’s the thing I noticed that

With the rolly wrists if I didn’t fix them or work on them and get myself in a better position on the takeaway and the top of the back swing it was really it’s really hard to get that drop so it’s almost trying to do something when something else that

You’ve done earlier has sort of set you up on a bit of a wonky sequence so that’s why I’m really trying to take my time working on that takeaway so hopefully it’s a tendency that leaves me alone a little bit over the the coming golf season because I’ve worked on it

Now so fingers crossed see what we can do here just going to try and be a little bit slower from the top I feel good with the pace of the takeaway I’m hoping that it’s hitting the positions that I want I’m sure like magnets my wrist is still trying to roll but at

Least I’m sort of building that conscious awareness of the feelings that I want rather than just slipping back to the habits that I’m trying to work on I was about to say that felt nice but I’ve pushed it out to the right little bit out to the right again so

I’ve just got to square that face up lost my tea so still a little bit out to the right nowhere near as pushy I mean I know that this might not replicate it exactly but when I played worst ball all my misses were out to the right as you

Probably saw especially the I think it was a little Punchy seven that I hit into that that green both of them missed quite a bit to the right I feel like this is less to the right so we’re moving forward these are only little nine iron swings though so can’t sort of

Compare them too directly but it feels like progress and I think that’s one of the keys is with my practice I feel like I can really get into the Trap of just wanting it a little bit too quickly wanting to sort of have it click and not really acknowledging the progress even

If it’s Little Steps like little moves forward W like in this session for example I can already feel from the work that I’ve done the dry drills and also these staggered drills on the Range it’s just really starting to feel like that takeaway feel is a little bit more

Natural now a little bit more of what could become my default I’m sure I still have to consciously think about it or at least do a bit of a rehearsal maybe in my pre-shot routine to really make sure that I can take this work from practice

To my play on the course but at least it feels like there’s progress and that’s what I’m trying to hold on to and celebrate more more of is the little steps forward that will ultimately hopefully add up to those big leaps anyway but rather than kick myself

Because I’m still a little bit out towin here or I’m not necessarily hitting the shots that I want to be hitting in terms of the shot shape it’s actually acknowledging that my focus today my purpose was my takeaway and with that part I feel like I’m making progress the

Other elements that’s just on the to-do list isn’t it so we’ll get to those in future practice sessions but for now this is all about the takeaway and really just trying to groove that move as she thins one okay so now that I’ve worked on the staggered swings getting those moves

Grooved by setting each position and really feeling each move then I’ve worked up to the slowmo swings now I’m just going to go for some normal swings like really smooth normal swings but just to try and build on that feeling and try and take it to more of a fuller swings obviously

I’ve been doing smaller swings here where you might not be able to see but my stance has just been a little bit smaller than a full swing and down the shaft a bit again just focusing on more of those drill moves and the actual full swings but now that I’ve done those Reps

For a little bit feel like I’ve got a good grasp on that feeling in the takeaway let’s see how we get on when we take it to more of a full swing bit thin maybe and a bit out to the right okay this is that little Bridge

Isn’t it between the slow swings and the full swings so a bit of work to do not quite that felt better bit pushy I felt good in the takeaway though which is the key that’s what we’re working on so let’s focus on that there’s me saying let’s not worry about

The outcome of the shot and then obvious I’m staring at everyone hello is that our first straight one of the day I’m happy with that I mean the NOP I’m not going to say it I’m going to stay positive so that’s it that’s my practice so I’m going to crack

On I’m going to try and do some performance stuff now maybe head to targets purposfully aim them up to the right because we know that’s where my misses have been today but really that’s kind of my key that’s my focus for today was really working on my takeaway and it

Feels good to have just grooved that move a little bit more and what I’m going to be working on next which is the second part of my swing like I mentioned that I’m determined to crack is that drop from the top so I’ll be doing another practice session at another

Point working just dedicated to that drop from the top and in the meantime I would love to hear what you’re working on in your swing and how you work on it as well do you do a similar practice session to this let me know in the comments below and I’ll see you there