My Swing (Aquaguru)

I've been Playing Golf for: seriously for 5 years

My current handicap index or average score is: 4-6, average score is 76-80

My typical ball flight is: driver-slight fade, irons-slight draw

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: push out to the right on both driver and irons.

Videos:

My apologies if this isn't the type of quality you guys are looking for but its the best I can come up with.  I just shot myself swinging during one of the rounds I played last week by self.  There is a variety of shots (DTL, face) with my irons, wedge, and driver.

I would recommend that you shrink it down.  It's a long video and starts off with some bad angle shots.  That might drive away some potential good advisors.  Skip to the iron shot at 1:50 because that is a fairly good angle with not too much glare, and the down-the-line iron immediately following is OK too.  Cut the video to 15 seconds or whatever with just those two swings and it'll be easier for the experts to evaluate.

I'm not an expert tho, so I can only say nice swing!

P.S.  WTF with that tee shot at 1:12?!?!  Is that 18 at Augusta?  Damn that's narrow!

looks like a solid athletic swing. One thing I see at first glance is a little too much knee bend. I would take some of that out.

As requested I made the video shorter here.

Mods if you can replace the original video feel free to.  I would but I can't figure out how to edit my original post.

That tee shot really isn't that bad.  Its about 15-20 yards narrow, but it does extend for about 125 yards when playing from the tips.  I have measured that before.  When I bring people to play there for there first time they always get nervous about the tee shot because the tree line on the left extends 300 yards down the fairway so the miss is right. However, if you push it right off the box you will be in a lateral (woods).

The only reason I bend my knee so much is to prevent myself from really pushing the ball off to the right and the occasional shank.  The knee bend helps promote a slight draw in my swing.  Why that is I have no idea but it has worked for me.

As others have said, you've got a nice, athletic swing.  I bet you have a tough time hitting a controlled cut or a fade though...

As you begin your down swing, you allow your hips to move toward the ball and your 'butt to come off of the wall.'  This is likely part of your pushes and shanks.  Honestly, I fight this exact issues as well.  I've found its a chain reaction stemming from my takeaway and the depth of my swing arc, relative to the ball.

For me, working my hands deeper on my backswing (hands moving close to my right hip and up behind my right shoulder) helps me generated a deeper body turn and better connection between my arms and by body.  Intuitively, this helps me turn onto my left heel through the ball, and keeps my butt from pulling off of the wall.  It's also helped my ball striking, trajectory control and shot shaping... I'm finally able to play fades on my approach shots like I've always wanted.

Good Luck.  If I have time, I'll grab some of your video and throw it into Analyzr to illustrate a few things.

You are correct this is the one shot that I do not have control of at all. It only comes up 2-3 times in a round where I truly need this type of shot, but its frustrating that I cannot hit it. The odd thing is I can hit both a controlled draw and fade with the driver 8/10 times.

Not 100% sure about this, but I thought I'd throw it out there in case some better golfers or pros wanted to comment.

My first impression (in terms of possible faults, you've got a really nice swing) was that your follow through feels sort of sawed off.  Like you're always trying to play an 80% knockdown under the wind or something.  I don't have Analyzer or anything so I haven't slowed it down to check, but it looks to me like you get your weight forward at least adequately, but then some of the swings you look like you almost post up once that happens and your weight falls back on your rear foot.  Is that something you've noticed?

What happens if you need an extra 5% and really go after it?  Do you finish more forward? If so, does that exacerbate your push miss, making it more frequent?

I do feel as if I hold back a little bit.  When I want to I can go 100% and get an extra 10 yards out of a shot with no ill effects.  I always have a high shot type, a low penetrating shot is one that I cannot get.  This may be due to the fact that I hold my weight back on my back foot as you pointed out.

Updated 2018

Current handicap 4

best score of the year 68

miss: draw hook left

Goal: achieve consistent fade shot

I was just fitted for new irons and found out I would benefit from 1/4 “ under due to miss hits towards the heel. Hopefully this will help in producing a straighter ball flight. Certainly showed on the track man during the fitting 

Update after getting custom fit for new irons. I have been able to hit more controlled shots; no longer seeing the big draws, straight pulls, and miss to the right. Driver swing has been a work in progress with a two way miss. I feel like I have been struggling to shift my weight to my left side resulting in me falling away from the ball

On 8/20/2013 at 4:38 PM, delav said:

As others have said, you've got a nice, athletic swing.  I bet you have a tough time hitting a controlled cut or a fade though...

 

As you begin your down swing, you allow your hips to move toward the ball and your 'butt to come off of the wall.'  This is likely part of your pushes and shanks.  Honestly, I fight this exact issues as well.  I've found its a chain reaction stemming from my takeaway and the depth of my swing arc, relative to the ball.

 

For me, working my hands deeper on my backswing (hands moving close to my right hip and up behind my right shoulder) helps me generated a deeper body turn and better connection between my arms and by body.  Intuitively, this helps me turn onto my left heel through the ball, and keeps my butt from pulling off of the wall.  It's also helped my ball striking, trajectory control and shot shaping... I'm finally able to play fades on my approach shots like I've always wanted.

 

Good Luck.  If I have time, I'll grab some of your video and throw it into Analyzr to illustrate a few things.

OPs iron swing reminds me of mine, so this advice intuitively connected with me. Thanks for this post. 

I have been trying to work on getting more rotation and a more complete flow through to help with the straight pull shots I hit every once and awhile 

I would highly recommend reading the part about camera angles in this article: https://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/filming_your_swing

My guess is that you're too steep on the downswing, which can cause the occasional wildness you're talking about. I've had that same problem. But it's hard to tell because your DTL view is not at all where it should be. A better angle would be really helpful.