My swing (joelcochran)

My wife and I were on the driving range together this morning, so I asked her to video my swing with my new phone.  I have not seen my own swing in about 15 years, so I learned a few things.

First, I need to keep losing weight: I've lost 28 lbs since January, another 28 and I'll feel OK seeing myself on film.

Second, I learned that my phone is a pretty decent video camera!  Verizon HTC Trophy (Windows Phone 7)

Third, it looks OK at full speed, but when I look at individual frames it seems I'm casting some.  Here are the videos:

Down the line

Front View

Here are some still frames:

Backswing - top

Downswing 1

Downswing 2

Impact before

Impact after

These aren't the same swing, so the images are a little out of sync, but it seems to me the problem occurs starting around the Downswing 2 position, and clearly by impact I'm behind a little.

Could this be causing both a loss of distance and a blocking problem I've had recently?  The front view Impact before image highlights it best.

Any suggestions on how to improve these positions?

Joel- you have a pretty good swing.  I would work on widening your stance, it looks narrow causing you reverse pivot as opposed to rotate to your back leg.  Get your feet and knees wider, work on stability from the ground up.  Not too bad though!

Looks like you are casting the club to me.  Probably losing some power because of it. Maybe work on getting your hands to the ball before the head of the club - leading with the hands through impact.

I've really been focusing this past week on Impact position.  Heading to the range in a bit, hopefully can get some more video taken to see if there is any progress.

Thanks for the feedback!

Joe,

The real problem is that your whole body is moving (sliding) forwards on the downswing. This has the effect of moving the ball back in your stance, causing you to flip the club head into impact or miss the ball altogether. Any power in the swing is thus 'thrown away' before impact occurs.

Joe, here is my advice. Pull your shoulders back, and it will take some stretching to get use to it. Get in your set up position and I will be willing to bet that your shoulders actually make a bowl shape. Think of it this way, you want everything pointing down the target line, and with your shoulders being such a vital component it only makes sense. I'm not saying to pinch your shoulder blades back until you feel pain, but pull them back until your back straightens out and your shoulders are in line with your hips...

PS- I'm not a teacher but I have experienced the same thing, I was so concerned about getting my arms close, that the closer they got the more I was rolling my shoulders forward.

Hope it helps you...

I really felt the slide today on a couple of iron shots, like I'm lunging at the ball.  Not sure how to fix that: I'm just trying to get the weight transferred to my left leg.

After the first set of videos I posted, I spent a lot of time on the range working on impact position.  I thought I had made progress, but when I filmed again a couple weeks later it looked the exact same, so I never posted an update.

I found the huge Stack and Tilt thread and read through most of it.  After watching some of the videos I could really see a difference in keeping the weight centered vs. what I was doing.  I've spent the last week or so concentrating solely on staying stacked and I think it's really coming around.  I'm currently alternating between awful shots and the best shots I've ever hit.  When I get it right, the iron shots are long and crisp with a perfect little draw.  When I don't, I have a tendency to pull-hook the ball, but I'm also not too sure that face angle isn't the real culprit there.

Like many people report I was really struggling with S&T; off the tee, until yesterday that is!  When I miss it off the tee it's been either a top or a low hook.  Today I hit a good drive on 1 but then topped 2, 4, and 6 (3 and 5 are par-3s).  Starting on 7 I moved the ball back in my stance slightly and teed the ball lower and all of a sudden they were seriously flying with a very nice push-draw.  I had my best drives ever on 7,8,9,11,13,14,15, and 16.  I had a popup at 12 and the nasty low pull-hook on 18 (double crossed trying to fade the ball).  I even had a real 300 yard drive: I was 213 out on a 515 yard par-5 and the tees were back.

I ended up over the green on 3 holes (very unusual for me) which I blame on the fact that I haven't yet adjusted to my new length.  When I try to take less club I instinctively swing harder which leads to disaster.  I think I just need a little time to develop faith in my distance.  I'll admit that at first I thought S&T; was a gimmick because my only exposure to it were commercials on the Golf channel.  I no longer feel that way: I think this is the best way for me to swing a golf club.  I've seen the evidence in my own results in a short time and my back no longer hurts.  I can't quite justify the cost of the DVDs to the wife yet, but I'm going to try to pick up the book soon.

Hopefully I'll be able to video on Thursday.

Didn't have a chance to record last night - probably a good thing considering how poorly I was hitting.  Way too much effort and I couldn't find my groove.  I did manage three good shots on the course, all on partial swings.  I really should hit that shot more often as it is far more reliable for me.