My Swing (Taggsy)

My current swing with 7 iron and driver.
7 iron has an average distance of 155 yards, the driver anywhere between 240 and 260.
Typical ball flight is a draw or almost completely straight. Miss-hits are pushes, and on the odd occasion I'll hit the ball fat.

It doesn't look too conventional because I'm self taught- I stand quite far from the ball at address, and my arms remain low on the backswing.

I've spent all year so far concentrating on my full swing, and I've got to the stage where I'm happy to stop tinkering with it. My short game is pretty poor though, anything within 30 yards is a bit of a lottery.

Guess my last score ;)

I was kind of thinking the same thing... with a little Moe Norman mixed in.

Thanks for the comments chaps.

I've had a lot of fun this year working on my swing, and actually understanding the concepts behind it.
You've picked up on the most distinctive parts of my swing, the low swing plane and the abrupt stop at the end. There's a reason for both of those features.

By keeping my hands low and the right elbow close to my body on the backswing, I find it much easier to hit the ball on an in-to-out path.
As soon as I start the downswing, the club is on plane and so there's no need for me to drop my hands into position. This means so long as I shift my weight towards to target, I'm guaranteed to not come over the top.



From this position I simply rotate my trunk as fast as possible, with my arms and hands remaining passive throughout. You'll also note the club face practically square to the plane line at this position (facing the camera), meaning there is no anti-clockwise rotation (rolling) of the wrists though impact, or indeed most of the downswing itself. Put simply, at the start of the downswing, the club head is already set for impact.

((The technical bit - I rely primarily on the 4th power accumulator to power my swing. The left arm is pulled against my chest on the backswing, and is released on the downswing by the turning of the trunk. I can also use the 1st accumulator for extra club head speed through impact, especially with my driver, but this can make the swing a little harder to control. If I straighten the right arm too early, I'm prone to hit the ball fat, or even with an out-to-in path. If I release it too late it's hardly worth using. I don't use the 3rd accumulator at all- as explained above, I don't roll my wrists through impact. As for the 2nd accumulator, there isn't much lag stored as I don't consciously cock my wrists (although it does happen, and they do uncock on the way down. The "lag" in my swing is the bent right wrist / arched left wrist. This does release through impact (and I would have thought been a 5th accumulator?).
As for pressure points, it's the 4th again for me. If I want more distance I'll increase the pressure felt between the left arm and chest on the way down by turning my trunk faster.))

As for the abrupt stop of the swing, this is something I do for two reasons; it stops me from "chicken winging" during and after impact as it's easier to maintain the straight left arm right up until the end. Secondly I don't rotate my wrists even after impact. This means I can't re-cock the wrists.
Note in this picture the straight-ish left arm, and how the club face is again square to the plane line.



I'll update my handicap soon, but I've scored in the 80s on my last few rounds- 85 (42/43) my most recent game.

Where abouts in London do you play pal? Moving down south (Richmond) soon so i'm looking for some nice courses to play

You'll be spoilt for choice there. I happen to work in Richmond, so know the area quite well. There are a couple of courses in Richmond park itself, and another just north of the town centre, next to Kew Gardens (The Royal Mid-Surrey - costs over £100 a round! One of the best courses in the whole country apparently...).

Nice one mate, i'll play as many as I can before deciding which to join. Good luck with the swing!

I've had to change the dynamics of my swing in the past month. It doesn't look radically different, but in Golfing Machine terms I've become a hitter.
My previous swing had very little involvement from the arms and was powered primarily by the turning of my shoulders and allowing the arms and club to swing towards the ball using centrifugal force. It's a great way to swing if you can do it, as you simply turn as fast as you can and let the club do its thing.

Unfortunately I have a natural tendency to use my right arm during the downswing, which interferes with that centrifugal release at impact. Because of this mish-mash of forces on the downswing, I was alternating between hitting the ball fat, or topping it.

I've decided to stop resisting that right arm and instead use it properly by making it do a lot of the work. In order to make my new manual release work I've also had to add rotation of of my wrists through impact as this seems to be the best way to control the bottom of my swing. This also makes up for the loss in power compared to my previous swing. As a result I'm also able to recock my wrists at the end of the swing, meaning it doesn't stop as abruptly as before.

Here I am with a 3 iron hybrid, what do you think?

I'm a forum sandbagger ;) I'll update the HC soon, just need to find my recent scores and do the math.

Thanks for the compliment! You're right about the ball flight in that it's mostly draws, but to be honest I don't have a problem with pulls as I always seem to be slightly open / square at impact. My poor shots, apart from contact issues, are straight hooks.