Lousy swing captured on video ... any help?

Hello fellow addicts, I'm new here, and hope I'm not being presumptious, but I thought I'd see if I could enjoy some expert analysis from my betters. The following two shots are with my 6-I during one of my first days back on the range after a year lay-off. Although I am definitely rusty, I am charged up and ready to improve. Each shot is far from my current best, but they are useful becaues they exagerate a repeated, almost emblematic problem I've suffered for years: I get jammed up on the downswing and have to pull up on my toes not to dig a hole behind the ball at impact. It seems like my upper body is dropping when I initiate the turn at the top of my backswing, instead of my hips turning to start the downswing, but what do I know? Both shots sliced well left. Any advice?

Facing view, 6-I (lefty)
http://www.swingacademy.com//SwingAn...l.aspx?id=1255

Down the Line, 6-I (lefty)
http://www.swingacademy.com//SwingAn...l.aspx?id=1254

U-G-L-Y!!

Thanks in advance....

Overall you have a nice swing. I think you just simply need to fine tune certain aspects of your golf swing. Have you tried getting professional help from your local pro?

I would practice with only my wedges and leave the 6 iron in the bag for now.
With the wedges try taking the club back to hip high and hit short shots and see if you make solid ball contact. What I notice in the video is that you seem very stiff, maybe your grip is too tight, try holding the club like you are holding a tub of tooth paste with the cap open. hold lightly without pushing the tooth paste out.

I would try the wedge shot with my feet together or just slightly apart. you are looking to make solid ball contact with your wedges. Also hold a piece of cloth under each arm pit to keep your arms close to your body for a compact swing.

Once you make solid contact you can take the club back further until you are at a full swing. When you are at the top of the swing make sure you have made a full turn with your hips and shoulder then release or uncoil your body in slow motion or without any effort and see if you hit the ball solid and make the click sound.

Remember to take the club back with the loose grip and let the club lift off the ground naturally as you turn the club around your body.

good luck, hope this will help a little bid.

Thanks much! I'll certainly give that a try. Your observation about being too stiff is right on the money now that I think about it -- when performing the golf swing generally I've always felt uncomfortable, and pretty unnatural and tight, not at all smooth and supple like it looks when the pros swing. (You'd think it might occur to me to try to unclench a bit, but of course it didn't. ) Thanks again for your help.

1. Your left hand is extremely weak. Any reason for that?

2. It actually looks like you have lost all lag a good few feet before the ball


3. Your feet are sliding out and moving. Not an issue with your back foot, but look at your front foot move.

Hey worst_shot_ever,

Not bad. I see a real good connection, by the way. There are a few things that I'd like to mention.

1) GRIP - Your grip is in an extremely weak position. Make sure that the upper portion of your right index finger is pointing anywhere from your chin (weak grip) to your left shoulder (strong grip). The stronger you make it (in regards to position, not grip strength,) the easier it will be for your wrists to release the club through the ball.

2) TENSION - I agree with ks8829 that there's too much tension. I'd ease up a lot, especially in the arms in order to allow the wrists to release. With tense arms, you'll have tense and slow moving wrists, which is a golf swing killer. Remember, you're trying to swing through the ball with your body and arms, not hit it with your arms.

3) BACK SWING SWAY - Good amount of back swing sway with your upper torso. Too much sway with your lower torso. Look at how your left foot's instep lifts off the ground a little. This is an indication that you're transferring the weight too far. Remember to transfer your weight to your left foot's heel and instep during the back swing so you'll be able to push off more easily during the transition and downswing.

4) BACK SWING ROTATION – Too much of this. I think you’re rotating your back to over 100°. Go to 90° maximum so that it’s easier for you to take the correct path forward. You’ll find that you’ll be more consistent. Don’t swing back using any arm strength, but only with the shoulders.

5) BACK SWING SHOULDER TILT – Your shoulder tilt is too shallow. When looking at both videos, I can see that your right shoulder eventually bumps into your chin and pushes it backwards. Try to swing your shoulders a few degrees (5-10°) steeper so that it clears under your chin. This doesn’t mean you’ll need to bend over any more at address though, as this position of yours looks correct.

6) DOWN SWING INITIATION – You should review the following links in order:
Weight at set up
Weight shift in the back swing
Weight shift during the transition
Weight shift during the downswing
Weight shift during the follow through

The biggest problem I see with your downswing is your tendency to help the ball up by snapping up your entire body at the impact area. I can see that by the time the club shaft is 2 ft. past the ball, both of your heels and your head has risen up about 2-4 inches, and both knees have straightened out. Instead, you’ll want to stay down through the strike. The videos links above will explain this better than I can.

7) IMPACT AREA – I don’t see enough shoulder rotation here. Look at your shoulder position in the frame from the “down the line” video after your ball is struck. I can just start to make out the “TLR” on the back of your shirt. This is where you shoulders and back should be at impact. Your hands need to be pressed as little more forward. Matter of fact, they should be anywhere from 1 to 6 inches ahead of the ball when at impact. In your “Facing View” impact frame, I can see that you’re close, but can nevertheless, still see a little bit of some flipping action taking place here. How do I know? Well, your left wrist is not bent back, but has straightened up as though it were rotating forward. And your right elbow is bent and not in line with your club’s shaft. I think that if you develop the proper foot work that I listed above in number six, this will take care of itself.

Best of luck

I've added my analysis. As a swing model I flipped Ernie Els and Trevor Immelman to left handed for comparison.

All:
Thanks to all of you for the helpful observations and suggestions. Really a first-class group of people around here. I've got a 6:30am tee-time tomorrow, so I'll be able to start working on some of these issues right away.... I'll let you know how it goes!