Swing Video Within: 6 Iron Slice

[twotacosfor99cents]

Here's a video of my swing that I was working on at the range.

http://www.redfaktor.com/dump/6iron_slice.mpg

As you can see, the ball slices right. I think it's because my swing is looping outside to inside. Plus my hips seem too active.

What say you, Sandtrappers?

[beung]

some of what I say might be effected by camera angle.

I will start in sequence of the swing.

You are a regripper, ala Sergio Garcia. I know this is a tough habit to break but I would try my hardest to do so. During practise try not grounding your club at address and don't take so long to actually swing when you address the ball.

From the looks of it, your feet are aiming right, the ball start on a line to the left and then slices right. Tough to hit a straight ball when you have conflicting angles working against each other. I would try opening your stance a little, I know that sound like it will make your slice worse but make sure to open your shoulders too, line them up to your feet. You need to stop swinging across your body. Stand behind your ball and put a club on the ground parallel to the line you want the ball to travel, not pointing to the spot in the distance but parallel to that line. Then take your stance, you're probably going to feel like your stance is open, just make sure your shoulders are lined up with your feet.

Your swing is a little too vertical for my liking, the camera angle might have soemthing to do with that but you have a very vertical backswing and a very vertical finish. Do you backswing with your left or right hand? Try starting your backswing with your left and completely relaxing your right hand and arm. Have just enough preasure on your right hand and arm to keep the club in your hands during the backswing.

There isn't really any need to lift your left foot off the ground and if you do make sure it's not alot. If you lift it too high it's very hard to get it back into the same position that you started the swing on. It's very easy to lift your left heal and rotated it counter clockwise which will make your hips really wide open. Altering your swing path and more then likely opening your clubface.

Maybe shorten your backswing a little bit, it's tough to tell but it looks like your club is beyond parallel at the top of your backswing.

Try swinging out to the right instead of pulling the club across your body to the left. Even if you hit big slices out to the right, work on a more inside out path. I think your swing plane is in need of the most help, your efforts to anti-slice are only making it easier to slice.

Take a look at your finish, your hands are too high - they are almost above your head. Your hands should finish about level with your left ear and your should be able to see the clubhead on the other side of head as it comes around the back of your head/neck.

[twotacosfor99cents]

Yep, I see everything in this video that you mention - I'm glad I did this today.


Fix-it list

1) Stop re-gripping.
2) Ground left foot.
3) Use hips + shoulders to start swing, not arms.
4) Use left arm to backswing, weak right arm. Left grip is strong, right grip is weak.
5) Swing towards "first base" - I was trying to do this in the end.
6) Finish with hands level to ear.

Sheesh, this is a long to-do.

[twotacosfor99cents]

Sheesh. I'm almost embarrased to post this video. I just looked at it frame by frame.

I checked my plane by comparing my backswing's perpendicular moment (where the club is perpendicular to the ground) and my downswing - the club points to the ball both times, at the same angle, so the plane seems to be okay.

Another thing I just noticed:

My hips are rotated way too far out at the moment of impact, and my right heel is off the ground.

Example of body position at impact:

[twotacosfor99cents]

Also....

I'll try to get different and better angles next time - with a tripod or my fiancee.. :) I'd also like to see a top down version of my swing so we can see where the club is tracking.

[Avid Golfer]

Here's a video of my swing that I was working on at the range.

Below is a comparison of your setup and swing to the setup and swing of Aaron Baddeley.

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/156...addeleywe5.jpg Here are my thoughts: At address it looks like you have a little too much knee flex, and you are standing a little too far away from the ball. Comparing you to Baddeley you have more of your knees showing to the right of the balance line (blue line), your hands are farther away from your legs, and your shaft points higher then the positions we see in Baddeley's setup. As you take the club away to hip high we see that your hands, arms, the club have moved away from you (and the red plane line), and your upper left arm has separated from the side of your chest. At the same point in Badd's swing we see that the hands and club have stayed near the original shaft angle plane. Your movements can lead to a loss of balance, tension in the arms, a loss in arm and body sync, and an arm dominated swing. As you swing back to the left arm parallel back position we see your club shaft and arms upward, your front knee pull toward the ball, your front heel lifting off the ground. These positions are a result of how you setup, and the movements you made at the start of the swing. In the next frame we move on to the top of the swing. At the top your left arm has risen onto a steep angle (see the red line comparing your left angle plane to the original shaft angle plane), your right arm has seperated far from your chest (look at the angle of your right arm compared to your spine angle), your hips have made a large turn, your left knee has kicked in toward the ball, and your front foot has risen up on to your toes. These positions are going to make it difficult to have your arms and body move down in sync, compromise your consistency, and require you to time things perfectly to make solid contact. Looking at Badd's you see a much more stable and balanced position where the arms and body will work in sync, and timing will be far less of a factor. At the left arm parallel down position your downswing movements mirror your backswing movements. Since you lifted the arms and club upward, it comes down the same way with your arms seperated from your body, balance toward your toes (and the ball), and the club dropping from above your shoulder on a steep angle. In comparison Badd's drops the club behind him, keeps his back facing the target, and approaches on a shallow angle that allows him to maintain his wrist hinge. When you reach hip high on the downswing your steep angle has caused you to loose your wrist hinge, the clubhead is above the ball, so you will have to pull the club, arms, and body left unless you want to slam the club straight down into the ground. Its also worth noting the position of your lower body which has moved out toward the ball. From this lower body position balance is compromised, the arms and club have no room to swing down. In comparison look at Baddeley's lower body. What was to the right of the balance line (blue line) at setup is still to the right of it approaching (and at) impact. In general he has kept a relatively quiet lower body (where the back heel is still low to the ground). His back is still turned away from the target (we can still see his left shoulder), and that allows him to drop the club on a shallow angle (directing energy in the correct direction) and maintain his right wrist hinge (to provide power). Finally, we see the result of the setup and swing at impact. Your setup and swing motions have made it so that you have stored very little power, you will make a steep impact (adding spin -both back and side spin-, and leading to both fat and thin shots), and your possible shots patterns could be a slice, a pull, a heel shot, and the dreaded shank. In summary the things you may want to work on is: Setup: posture (flex the knees less and stand closer to the ball). Takeaway: move the arms and body back in sync maintain the distance from the grip to stomach (you could practice with objects tucked under your arm pits). Backswing: keep a stable lower body that is balanced, and allows your upper body to coil over (and be supported) by the lower body. Downswing: allow the arms to drop while the back stays turned away from the target while again maintaining balance. You may find correcting some of the early positions will automatically correct the later positions, and so you may not need to work on all of the above.

[twotacosfor99cents]

Wow.

Thanks so much for that very informative analysis. I will try to put it to use tomorrow... I printed a copy of it and the photos, so I'll try to work at it.

Thanks so much again!

[Richie3Jack]

To put it in simple terms, you have a very steep golf swing. You actually take the club to the outside and get above the swing plane on the backswing. But instead of coming from a shallower angle on the dowswing, you come from a steeper angle. It's an over the top move, although most amateurs usually take the club too far inside and make a noticeably looping over the top motion on the downswing. There's no looping motion here, just a steep backswing followed by a cutting across motion on the downswing.

On video recording your swing, I suggest that next time you get the camera at waist level. And then you can always upload it over at www.swingacademy.com so you and others (like myself) can more carefully analyze the golf swing in slow motion.



3JACK

[Richie3Jack]

Sheesh. I'm almost embarrased to post this video. I just looked at it frame by frame.

Having the right heel off the ground doesn't cause a slice and it's hardly a killer move either. Most pros have their heel off the ground a little. If anything, the right heel off the ground causes the spine angle to rise and get distorted, which affects the club consistently returning the sweetspot to the ball, not slicing. The slice is caused by your over the top/cutting across downswing. The hips should rotate a bunch on the downswing, to the point where the belt buckle is facing the target at impact. 95% of the amateurs don't rotate their hips enough on the downswing and the ones that do and still have problems, it's due to them coming way over the top. You look at most of the pros on tour and they probably have their hips rotated about at least 20 degrees at impact, and guys that hit the ball long like J.B. Holmes, Tiger, Couples, Daly, etc have their hips about 45-60 degrees open at impact. 3JACK