My Swing (Kol2nas)

I've been Playing Golf for: One season, since May 2012

My current handicap index or average score is: 100 +/- a couple of strokes

My typical ball flight is: right going right 10 to 15 yards with mid irons

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Slice. I would like to get to a typical shot of 2-3 yard fade.

Hello! First time poster here. Any feedback would be highly appreciated!

Videos:

P.S.

Sorry for phone quality.

Welcome to TST.  I'm sorry but your swing looks better than a 30 HDCP.  Did you film like a hundred shots and only post the one good one? Just kidding... Seriously though, your swing looks much better than a 30.

Alright, now my take... The video quality is a little hard to see the shaft... But here are a few things I noticed:

1.) You lost your inclination to the ground (spine angle) around A6 - you start to stand up... Also referred to as Early Extension.

2.) You don't maintain the flying wedge through impact very well.

Try working on these items and you should be able to increase your consistency and accuracy of your ball striking.

Thanks for your comment. You pointed out the exact things I was thinking about.. Just didn't know how they're called and what to do in order to get rid of them. Golf came to where I live only 3 years ago, and I got hooked only this year so not quite yet familiar with golf terms.

As for my handicap, only once this year I played a score of 87. This was when I borrowed a completely full set of golf clubs from a friend. I only have 6-SW irons, a driver, and a putter, so a lot of times I'm quite limited in my shot making, or the opposite I go very bold and get punished by the course.. :)

Golf is an amazing game.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  If you have any other questions, let us know.

Well actually I forgot to mention I very often hit fat shots... Especially full wedges... Wedges are a disaster for me.. But maybe that is because, as you mentioned, I don't maintain that flying wedge long enough?

Work on that 2nd video drill.  That will help you find your low point more consistently.

I think Beachcomber's right on.  And yes, losing your flying wedge early can definitely cause fat shots, especially on wedges when you're sort of closer to the ground and more bent over.

And fixing the two things BC mentions will definitely help the slice.  You're swing looks really good for a new golfer.  It's very common (something I've struggled with for a long time) to go with the natural feeling method of driving the swing through impact and basically standing up and pulling the club to the left.  It's much less natural feeling to drive the club more down the line so your plane is more or less parallel to the target line at impact instead of pulling over to the left.  As far as I'm concerned, given some basic level of athleticism and coordination, which you clearly have, that's THE hurdle to becoming a solid golfer.

One piece of advice.  According to Erik my problem isn't as common, but I'll share anyway.  I never had that much of a problem when my only goal was to come to impact on plane, but the natural feeling way for me to do that left the club face way open, so I hit tons of push fade/slices.  Then trying to get the club face square I often do some version of your problem and pull across and hit a more standard straight slice.  So be aware of keeping the club face square(ish) at impact while you work on keeping on plane.

Hi, mdl, thanks for a comment.

If I understand it correct, you made it straight to the bulls-eye with that last paragraph. I noticed that when I try to come more from inside and drive the club more down the line through impact, my wrists kinda get stuck and doesn't rotate until late in the followthru, leaving the club face way open.. And if I try to force that rotation I usually get a snap hook or hit it way on the toe of the club face.

Could anyone give me a hint on whats going on? I worked on the drill that Beachcomber posted above (maintaining my flying wedge better) and seems like it is working so far. I gained a few yards of distance, but I used to hit quite a few fat shots before working on this drill and after I started working on that the amount of fat shots increased dramatically... but only on shortest irons and wedges... Divots are wide, more or less aiming at my target, they are not deep (they don't even reach roots of grass) but they are so long... sometimes more than a foot!

Too bad I couldn't capture any of my swings on course, but maybe someone has the idea what is going on from what I described here?

Sounds like a low point issue.  A few things to check... But first, lets use this video for comparison sake:

Luke Donald has a very solid golf swing, and is one of the better players on tour, and a big reason for his success is his ball striking, in particular his irons.  Therefore I believe there is a lot of good things you can learn from his swing.

1.) Setup / Address: He has nice knee bend and waist bend such that his right and left arms hang at address.  His hands are placed onto the club above the knees, but below the waist - about midpoint to the quad.  Make sure your address is nice and balanced.

2.) Notice that his head is very steady on the swing - it is not moving left to right of the video (toward or away from the ball) - very steady head.

3.) His inclination to the ground - upper body spine is very consistent throughout the swing... He isn't standing up - he can do this by sliding or bumping his left hip toward the target to start his downswing.

Work on these things and it will help you with your low point.

Went out to play yesterday, got a score of 46 after 9 holes. Was happy until I got home and watched my swing...

The funny thing is that with this swing I got a great shot, just like planned, 3 yards high fade. Landed it 3 yards short and maybe 1.5 yard left of the pin. But when I saw my clubface at impact, it left me wondering, how is that not a shank...?

All in all I still lose my posture badly, still hit a number of fat shots, but somehow my overall game is improving. This weekends and  yesterdays scores are all below 50 for 9 holes. 49, 47 and 46

And here is my driver swing from same game yesterday, if anyone can spot anything?

Your arms are traveling too far in the backswing still.  Shorten your backswing... You can tell you get off plane on the downswing - and looks like you hit the 7i thin.  You should probably feel like you are hitting 3/4 swings.  If you stop the 7i video at the 0:10 point, you are in a pretty decent position... But you let your arms continue to travel - moving hands up (vertically) which causes the club to get off plane.

Watch this video of Charles Howell III... See how short his backswing is?  When you make a golf swing, think of CH3.  He maintains a tight right armpit (pressure) and the right elbow remains in front of his shirt seam (side).  He doesn't let it travel vertically up and away from his trunk area.  This helps keep the club on plane and will increase your consistency in finding your low point.

Same issues with the driver - only magnified.

Hello everyone! New season started with a new (I hope) improved swing. Shaved 10 strokes off my HCP, and changed from slice to hook... lol

Posting my this years swing on which I've been working entire off season. My concern is the some kind of pirouette my club head does at the top of the backswing, and still struggling stopping my hands traveling too much :( If you spot anything else, any tip would be highly appreciated!