Thread: Golf Swing of a 2.9 Index... NOT! :-P

I don't record myself very frequently because one of the joys I get out of trying to improve at golf is to try to figure things out without looking at video. Such is the case today, when I recorded four of my swings with a 5-iron, practiced a bit more, and then went to play 18.

I shot 74 and really struck the ball nicely all day. My misses were in the right spots and not all that bad.

The video was shot because I was starting to hit a lot of shots fat. My hands, as I posted elsewhere, had gotten behind my zipper at address instead of just in front. That's all it took.

After shooting the video, I fixed another flaw that became obvious to me now that I was no longer chunking everything - one of my old "fallback" flaws of snatching the club away very quickly to the inside, getting flat and across the line at the top, and then kind of "jumping" at the ball on the downswing to create the room I need to hit the ball.

I began practicing a move kind of like Chris DiMarco's pre-shot routine where he takes the club back to just past parallel/hip-high, keeping the clubhead outside of his hands the whole way. This leads to the arms swinging back more rather than around, which in turn lets me have a more upright swing plane and generate more power. With my flatter swing, it's more of a one-plane type swing and the only power I can generate comes from my core... I prefer something closer to a two-plane swing with more power coming from other parts of my body. I've never had much problem timing it, after all, and in fact other things - like my lag - are substantially better the more upright I swing.

So anyway, these videos were outdated almost as soon as they were taken, but I thought I'd share them anyway. The club in these videos is a 5-iron, which when I'm swinging poorly (i.e. flat like you see here) goes about 175 and when I'm swinging well, as I did on the course later, goes about 195.

Down the Line (1), Down the Line (2), Face-On, Face-On Angled

Anyway, there's the (broken, since repaired) swing of of a 2.9 handicap. And when I say that, I mean the swing is probably about a 6 handicap... and when I'm swinging properly I'm about a 2.0 right now (my 74 today comes out to 1.3).

P.S. All video shot with my Canon SD550, 60FPS, 320 x 240 (it may show up as 640 x 480 because I prefer to view them slightly larger and likely saved them at that size).

BTW, I'm not asking for any tips or advice. Please refrain from telling me what I should do to fix things. That spoils the fun for me and, again, the videos were outdated minutes later when I felt my left knee "jumping" - a problem whose cause I'm well aware of.

Dude, he just asked that you not give advice! I would say that would also mean refraining from backhanded compliments.

iacas, show us the updated version.

Originally Posted by Diggitydog

Dude, he just asked that you not give advice! I would say that would also mean refraining from backhanded compliments.

Yeah. Precisely. My hopes in sharing this are:
a) to demonstrate that even good players have bad swings
b) to demonstrate some flaws so others can note them and perhaps recognize something like it in their game
c) to force myself to write about it. In doing so, I force myself to think about it.

Originally Posted by Diggitydog

iacas, show us the updated version.

No need. Why would I put a good swing on video? It's fixed. I don't need to look at the video to correct anything.

Besides, my friend who was shooting the video left after taking those four. I spent another 15 minutes working on the "knee jump" and then went out and played.

That being said, I'm going to try to get some more video on Saturday, as well as put in some time with a mirror.

Originally Posted by iacas

P.S. All video shot with my Canon SD550, 60FPS, 320 x 240 (it may show up as 640 x 480 because I prefer to view them slightly larger and likely saved them at that size).

nice video recording with that camera. i need to get me one and finally record my swing.

Now here comes the noob question: How were you able to get it in a quick time format and upload. It's so much easier to view someone's swing and be able to slow it down manually.

Like any good golfer, you know where the club is at the top/on the way down and you put it in the right spot. My flaw is I don't cock my wrists soon enough, pull it way behind me as a result, but at the top/down/through its 100% on plane... However for me the back swing pulls everything out of wack. Seems from what you said thats your issue also.

Good swing though... right on plane down and through.

Originally Posted by Golf4life

nice video recording with that camera. i need to get me one and finally record my swing.

The SD550 (or, more likely, whatever model has replaced it by now) is pretty nice because it does take 60 FPS video at 320 x 240. 30 FPS video is almost worthless.

Originally Posted by Golf4life

Now here comes the noob question: How were you able to get it in a quick time format and upload. It's so much easier to view someone's swing and be able to slow it down manually.

I opened the .avi in QuickTime Player. I moved the in/out-point sliders to remove all the extra stuff (my pre-shot routine, etc.), I chose Save.

I hate, hate, HATE YouTube videos. That's why I won't even comment on anyone's swing on YouTube. It's worthless. Frame by frame? Peh! You can't even grab and put the play indicator where you really want.

Erik, do u use a certain file sharing site or is quick time the file sharing site? "Not the best with this stuff...."

Originally Posted by Finn07

Erik, do u use a certain file sharing site or is quick time the file sharing site? "Not the best with this stuff...."

I just hosted them on my server. Same one that hosts thesandtrap.com.