My Swing (hercules71185)

[hercules71185]

I've been Playing Golf for: a few weeks

My current handicap index or average score is: unknown

My typical ball flight is: 300ish yards

With an iron I may swing entirely different or something I haven't recorded it yet but I will once my hand is better. My irons are rock solid for a newbie. I am very consistent. My driver is another story and it needs help. I am very good at generating power in all sports from boxing, football, to racquetball, tennis, baseball, soccer and pretty much anything with motion. But, golf is more technical and I need help.

I have severe fluctuation, I mean I can hit, 240 yards if it goes too high, where as when the ball leaves the tee properly I'm a little over 300 yards, but a 4 iron I can consistently hit 215 yards. I'm new so I do have fluctuation obviously. But, the place I was at(driving range) has these raised boards that are used to indicate if you hit the green. You can easily hear it and the 8 iron I hit the 175 green a few times in a row. Which is about a 10 yard circle. I think that's a good start. But, back to the thing that messes me up terribly. My driver. I have used flex shaft, and couldn't even hit the ball unless I was swinging soft.

Long story short. Critique me and make me sad on how bad the form is. And then I'll continue posting videos of my progress`

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Videos:

first video is from the back where you can see the ball launched too high, but even when it's low which is rare the backspin takes it in the clouds. This is a 9.5 driver. Very stiff. The ball in this video went aprox 285 yards and had almost no roll out. I'm not sure of the term but I sliced it to the left.

Same club different view.

[jimmyzl1]

Get some lessons. The power is coming from you taking a baseball style swing to it in relation to your footing. You arent aiming. You aren't setting up. You're lifting your left foot, and you are off balance.

However, not every golf swing is picture perfect, look at Jim Furyk.

[hercules71185]

I critiqued a lot more. I'll post vids soon. I still jave the baseball approach, but weightshift is more forward and my arms stay tighter. I adjusted my grip and I'm now consistently hitting the ball in a straight line. About a 20 yard left to right variance. Much better of a start.

[mvmac]

Some good info and intro to why we want to keep the head steady on the back swing. http://thesandtrap.com/t/55426/introducing-five-simple-keys

Steady Head - the average PGA Tour player moves his head one inch during his backswing and less on his downswing. Since virtually none of them move their heads forwards on the backswing, that means that for every guy who moves it two inches, there's a guy moving it zero inches. For every guy that moves it three inches, there are two guys who don't move their head one bit. A relatively steady head is important because it's efficient to turn our shoulders in a circle. If the circle remains relatively steady, contact with the golf ball becomes easier and more consistent.

[hercules71185]

Wow thanks.mI'm going to the range tonight to work on this now. I really appreciate that

[Ole_Tom_Morris]

You see -- or used to see -- a lot of swings like this in long drive competition. Never saw Jason Zuback swing but his was probably like this. Lot of power and athleticism. Not bad actually.

Where it differs from modern model golf swings is in the side to side movement of the body, in going up on the toes of the left foot in the backswing, in the head movement, in the very wide stance.

I'd say work on pivoting the shoulders around the spine, keeping head steady and rotating the swing around the spine as an axis rather than moving from side to side. Hips rotate as in a barrel rather than moving to right and then left. And I'd post that left leg as you hit the ball.

[hercules71185]

Thanks and I managed to not lose any distance keeping my head still, maybe a yard or 2, but I gained more just by keeping the ball lower and better. I'll post a slomotion later but see if this is better.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Ole_Tom_Morris

You see -- or used to see -- a lot of swings like this in long drive competition. Never saw Jason Zuback swing but his was probably like this. Lot of power and athleticism. Not bad actually.

Not really.

Ignore the title - he's just talking about keeping his head steady:

[hercules71185]

in the video I just posted I definitely got my head movement much more limited. I move it a little but no where near the same. I don't know why the embed that I'm using isn't working though.

[Shaggie13]

Originally Posted by hercules71185

in the video I just posted I definitely got my head movement much more limited. I move it a little but no where near the same. I don't know why the embed that I'm using isn't working though.

I can see the video.  Good job on correcting the steady head, looks much improved.  I would say next couple of steps would involve getting more weight forward on the downswing and keeping a flat left wrist at impact.  Wright now you are flipping the club head causing mishits and pop ups.  Look at this thread for some guidance. http://thesandtrap.com/t/61376/5sk-video-thread

[hercules71185]

Awesome thanks for the info. I was wondering why the ball height was varying so much now. The head movement really did fix my left to right issue. Now I guess I need to get my wrist flat to keep the ball down. I'll have some time this coming week to go try it out. :) thanks again my improvement has already been shocking. Never have I actually hit an entire bucket without shanking and maybe 2 hooks the rest were basically arrow straight. 2 weeks ago without exaggerating I'd hit 1 in maybe 10 that actually were contacted properly. If this were an averaging I'd say my average improved 200 yards counting my shanks as overestimated as that sounds. I'm actually sure its not.

[Ole_Tom_Morris]

Please don't use the S-word. They say s_____ is contagious. :(

[hercules71185]

Step 1. I'm going to work on my swing range and then my lag. both should be fixed this week. I will post my video of my progress soon.

[hercules71185]

What is the "s" word?

[GlenGee]

Shank :)

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Ole_Tom_Morris

Please don't use the S-word. They say s_____ is contagious. :(

They're not. Shank shank shank shank shank shank shank.

[hercules71185]

Ok so the casting is going to be hard to work on. I lose about 50% of my power when I try to release it late.

[hercules71185]

Ive got the casting almost fixed. My problem now is generating power. If I swing how I was the ball goes 50 yards further than if I lag.... :/ my fix was to act lime im swinging down to the ball..