My Swing (newbgolfer)

Hey Guys,

Sorry about the crappy videos, but its the best I got for now. I'm looking for general advice on my swing. My misses are usually right (slice) and fat. I've been self teaching over the past year or so and am currently working on keeping centered over the ball and my head still.

Thanks a lot!

Both of your videos are private.

Ha sorry. I updated it - you should be able to view them now. Thanks!

I don't like giving too much advice for fear I might be wrong and mess you up but here is what i think.

In golf the simplest way to hit the ball straight is to keep the club roughly in a plane. I'm sure you've heard this. If the plane is extended indefinitely it should intersect your target line and then where your hands stop in the back swing. If you imagine that plane your club should stay pretty close to in that plane the whole time. Certainly some

Looking at your swing you can see you club stays nowhere near any type of plane. Your take away goes way inside and below this plane, and your downswing goes way above and outside of this plane which means at impact your club is traveling from across the ball from outside your plane to inside your plane which is causing your slice.

One thing you can do to keep your club more in a plane is imagine your target line extending back indefinitely and try to point you club at that line as you take your club back for as long as you can.

Hey jshots,

Thanks for the reply. I'm trying to understand your post a little better - so draws have an "inside" plane and fades have an "outside" plane?

What you suggest is to keep my clubhead pointed at the plane as long as I can...but that helps on the backswing. Is there a tip I could use on the downswing? It FEELS like i'm keeping the backswing and downswing on the same plane, but obviously im' not haha.

Thanks!

If your club face is square to the target line then what you said is correct, because your club path is not in the direction of your club face. Its the same way you put spin on a ping pong ball to make it curve. You can read more about ball flight laws here.

On the downswing you can pretty much do the same thing but use the butt of the club instead of the clubhead. If you point the butt of the club towards that indefinitely extended target line you will be getting your club closer to in that plane.

You're taking the club back WAY too far inside.  Probably you taught yourself this trying to fix your slice, but coming back so ridiculously far inside like you are usually just ends up leading to fat shots, pushes, and slices, depending on how you react to being so off plan when the down swing comes.

Also, you're stance is super thin, try widening it a little.

You look athletic coming through the ball and on your follow through, but I'd say it's a little too baseball style in rotation, and you're not bumping your hips forward enough.  That kind of rotation can also lead to slices if done wrong, as you end up wrapping the club around from the outside instead of driving it through the ball straight on or from the inside a bit.  I'd worry about not being SO far off plane before this though.

Sorry, it's just really, really hard to see anything at that speed and in those sort of lighting conditions. It looks like you take a decent cut at it and probably have the potential improve quite a bit. But you'll need to find a way to get better video if you want to get a good idea of what's going on in your swing.

I could actually start a thread about the pitfalls of being self thought, but I am persisting myself so I am in no position to say anything to you newbgolfer. One thing I would say at the outset is to make sure you have a mirror to see what you are going or else video your swing. I have become more and more aware of this as my own golfing journey has progressed. As it turns out you are never doing what you think you are doing. What feels like and what actually is are two different things in a golf swing.

Another thing is advice and learning sources. A huge amount of what is said or thought is almost contradictory or even misleading at best. A few quick ones that spring to mind are

"Keep your head down" - you never keep your head down you actually keep it up! With your chin well above your chest so your shoulders can rotate.

"Head over the ball" - your head is never over the ball its actually meant to be behind it.

"Release the club" - you don't actually release the club until the ball is gone. If you take this saying up wrong you end up casting the club coming out of the shot.

Anyway just to continue my amateur advice.

A proper grip is a must. Neutral grip. Do not make compensations in your grip if you can at all.

One thing that you can easily make sure is perfect is your setup. look this up. find a pro you like and copy his setup. You can do this easily with a mirror. (Thats what I have been working on the last few weeks and its really helped a lot.)

Next thing I would do is try to get the club on plane. the thing that really helped me get the club on plane was the keep the club in front of you concept. This involved me having the feeling of  the right elbow being in front of me through the swing. Different feelings might work for you but if you have a mirror handy you can make dry run swings and check it out for yourself.

Next thing would be to look up the Hip Slide thread.

I have been working hard for the past few months and starting out this season my swing was extreemly similar to yours. I have made good progress this years with my scores starting to improve and my ball striking as good as it has ever been. The biggest thing I had to learn was their are no such thing as quick fixes. The old "fix your slice now" or "never hook again" or gain 10 yards now" tips.. they don't work. Poppycock..

The only way improve your golf swing is to start with a basics and learn to do that properly, then move on to the next basic and learn to do that properly, eventually on to the more advanced stuff. At every stage you have to monitor yourself to make sure you are doing it properly and not just thinking you are doing it properly! A word of warning I am a self thought hacker but I really thought I might help with some of the bits and pieces of logic I picked up along the way. Best of Luck

Thanks everyone for all the information. I'm gonna try and get ahold of a better camera and will post an update when I get a chance!