A Golfer I'm Helping

[iacas]

Here are two videos, both with a 5-iron: Face On , Down the Line .

This golfer regularly shoots mid-80s. He's fairly tall, albeit thin, and gets almost no power. Women could out-drive him. Old women. He relies on a scrappy if not always great short game and enough "odd" shots that I've taught him (8-irons from 90 yards, swoopy cut 5-irons from 130, etc.) to get around. Still, he has the potential to become a 3 handicapper rather than the 9 he is now.

First, too, let me say that these swings aren't indicative of his usual contact. He's working on some things that are VERY different than what his swing has become over the winter, and this was the first day of working at them.

That being said, he's working on:

1. More wrist in the takeaway. His hands get well outside of his right hip (face on view) before the club hits horizontal. He hits nearly the same position on the way back down, and thus effectively casts the club, losing tremendous power.
2. The extra, earlier wrist break on the takeaway should lead to the club being a bit more on plane (straight back from his hands when it reaches horizontal). He tends to get the club behind him rather than keeping it in front of him, and that leads to a very low "top of the backswing" position.
3. Once his club gets horizontal, I'd like him to focus on "lifting" the club up. You don't actually just "lift" it, but that's what it "feels" like for him. You do it by continuing to turn your shoulders.
4. Finally, we're working on firming up the left arm. It breaks down and bends quite a bit, leading to an overly long backswing and loss of clubhead control at the top. The "lift" move helps to stabilize that, and with the earlier wrist break, should lead to an almost-horizontal position at the top with firmer, more in-control arms and wrists.
5. The last thing we're working on: some tweaks to the setup. His stance gets too narrow and that restricts his weight shift. He has almost none going back. I like to pre-set the weight back, turn on top of the right leg, and then fire forward. I'd like his hands a teeny bit further forward, his front foot perhaps flared a bit, and his spine tilted just slightly to the right.

Right now, as you can see, the hands are very low at the to of the backswing, and the first move down is to cast and lay off the club. The head dips as he "goes down after the ball," and his butt moves in and his back straightens up in order to give himself the room that the big head drop takes away. This move, too, will be eliminated with a firmer position at the top and a better weight shift.

I'm somewhat posting this for "that golfer," but you should feel free to comment. These swings aren't entirely indicative - it was windy, he was a bit tired, and I told him to try to hit the ball hard to exacerbate any existing flaws.

[JackieTreehorn]

Looks like he loses his wrist angle early before impact which would relate to lack of power. I suggest having him practice half and 3/4 swings to get him to feel wrist action.

[iacas]

Looks like he loses his wrist angle early before impact which would relate to lack of power. I suggest having him practice half and 3/4 swings to get him to feel wrist action.

We've already addressed that by making the wrists hinge earlier in the backswing. When he does that, he tends to hold the angle longer. It's been my experience that it's true for a lot of players (within physical capacity).

He loses a lot of power not only because he lacks lag but because he's giving the ball such a glancing blow (down at the ball rather than through the ball).

[Joetruth]

Watching in slow motion, you can see top early release of the right cocked wrist, before contact the right arm is straight, which means he is now throwing the ball rather than striking. it also causes him the pull or hook the shot from the rear view. He needs to practice releasing after his hands pass over the ball, this will cause the downward strike on the ball.

[Richie3Jack]

Here's a video analyis I did of Fred Couples' golf swing. Fred has a picture perfect takeaway and is perfect at the halfway back point ( http://www.swingacademy.com/swingana...ol.aspx?id=944 ) as he has the club perfectly on the plane at these two points of the swing. I can't really work your video in slow motion for some reason, but the common mistake that amateurs make is that they unlike Couples, they roll their hands inward on the takeaway.

When they do that, the clubhead gets off the plane. It's also known as getting the clubhead "inside the hands" on the takeaway. With the Couples swing, he has the clubhead correctly "outside the hands." That's a good thought on the takeaway. I've also found the swing key of having the thumbs pointed down at the target line on the takeaway works for golfers, getting them in the correct position.

What happens when golfers roll the hands inwards on the takeaway is almost always two things:

1. The club and hands get below the swing plane.

2. The club usually gets at a too flat of an angle.

Here's a video of a swing of a golfer that rolls the hands inwards and then does these two things ( http://www.swingacademy.com/swingana...l.aspx?id=1032 )

Now, you can bring the club and hands under the plane and still be a consistent ball striker, but you had better keep the club on the same angle as the swing plane on the backswing. Vijay Singh and Luke Donald bring their hands and club well below the swing plane line, but their clubshaft is on the same exact angle as the swing plane. But this golfer, which is common for amateurs, has the club on a very different angle than the swing plane. The swing plane is at a 60 degree angle, his clubshaft is on 47 degree angle.

And most amateurs usually do 1 of 2 things from this position:

1. They have a flat golf swing and mirror their backswing by coming too far below the swing plane. This is usually done by low handicappers and if you're going to err, this is the better way to do.

OR

2. They usually get close to the swing plane at the top of the swing, but make a looping, over the top move. This is usually done by high handicappers.

The swing academy golfer does number 2.

Power comes from flexibility and body rotation, particularly proper hip rotation. I've seen 5'7" and 140 lb golfers hit the ball 280 yards with an easy flowing swing because they have good flexibility and utilize proper body rotation. So size does matter, but if you utilize proper technique a golfer can hit the ball quite long, regardless of size.

I'd suggest putting his swing up over at SwingAcademy.com which allows you to use all of the proper tools to analyze the swing and can get the swing in slo motion.





3JACK

[kc8kir]

It really appears to me that he is overswinging. At the top of his swing he is distorting his spine angle, his left wrist is breaking down, and the club passing parallel. Almost at the point of reverse pivoting. I was in this same backswing position a few months ago. Trying to keep it so mechanical and the left arm straight, I was distorting the swing with my "hands high" Nicklaus swing attempts.

Some of the take away positions are very good, but yes, he is loosing all lag. Since his wrist break down at the top, the club past parallel makes it very hard to re-establish the correct angles. The club straightens with the left arm and you end up swiping the ball instead of hitting through it.

Check his grip for tension and then make sure his left hand has a short thumb position. That will help control the wrist breakdown (see Hogans Five Fundamentals about this one). Gonna feel wierd at first, but the control is superb.

3/4 swings and practicing the hogan power move drill should help with the power problem and teach him to maintain lag. Make sure he controls club position with the left, adding power with the right hand only the bottom (to maintain lag and give a release through the ball). As Hogan warned "beware the overcontrolling right hand!".

He also needs to stop dipping on the downswing. Sitting into your left side a bit is ok, but he is literally dropping that right shoulder and head so much that it is going to cause a lot of inconsistencies. Power will be lost as well because you are abruptly changing the diameter of the swing (think of a weight on the end of a string, spinning round your finger, if you bob your finger, the string bends and the energy is wasted). In the downswing, we are really just giving that spinning weight a slight lateral transfer, to encourage lag and build momentum towards the bottom of the arc. Spin (or swing, either works) that weight on your finger and if you time it correctly, shifting your finger laterally will add tension in the string and momentum to the bottom of the swing. This is the best example of lag creation I have been shown.

Try to teach him steady head position in the swing. Swing around the head. Not rock solid position, but enough to keep his spine angle.

Gotta add some whip to that swing! If he is shooting hcp 9 with that swing already, he has real potential because he must have awesome hand-eye coordination and short game skills.

Just my 2 cents.

[sonicblue]

Just thought it'd be helpful to post a couple screen caps that, I think, highlight some of the bigger issues. Erik, I'm sure you're all over this, but in case others want a visual to go with some faults:

1) His wrist lag is completely gone already here:



2) This highlights that restricted weight shift. You should be able to see at least part of the back of the left shoulder and the left butt check, yet he's still almost completely square.

[Scott_Tee]

You are helping him with his mechanics, but how is his 'Golf Smarts', does he take any unneccessary risks, etc?

[JackieTreehorn]

Also, he doesn't have much tilt back (to right foot) at address. Giving him some more tilt should free up some more power by getting his weight behind the ball. This guy has a pretty good video on tilt I think.

[wofat]

I know I'm a total noob here and maybe i'm missing something, but the thing that stands out at me the most is the complete lack of any turn at his waist. When he comes back, at the top of his backswing, his belt buckle is still staring you in the face. How can you generate any power without any hip turn?

[iacas]

Erik, I'm sure you're all over this, but in case others want a visual to go with some faults.

I think I'm on top of it. Good response, and I hope you don't mind me adding a few extra thoughts.

His wrist lag is completely gone already here

Right, and we're attempting to correct that, for now, by setting the wrists earlier. It works (for lots of people) out of the rough and out of bunkers (set the wrists earlier to maintain the lag longer), so I think it might work for him there.

The fix often isn't to "try to maintain" lag, but to do something which helps you to maintain the lag automatically.

This highlights that restricted weight shift. You should be able to see at least part of the back of the left shoulder and the left butt check, yet he's still almost completely square.

Weight shift isn't going to show up in that kind of image. Hip and shoulder turn will...

Additionally, that picture's distorted because of the head dip and the fact that the mid-section (his butt) have had to move in towards the golf ball to compensate for the head dip. Again, he tends to hit down at the ball rather than through.

You are helping him with his mechanics, but how is his 'Golf Smarts', does he take any unneccessary risks, etc?

Nope. His course management and shot selection are the only reason he can get around the course 80-85 these days and with that swing. We've played rounds together (often from the red tees) where I tell him what to hit on every shot. Sometimes it's a high fade with a 5-iron from 120 to a front right flag. His course management we don't have to work on much - he's fine. And by fine I mean, like his shot selection, he's about 10x better than most people.

Suffice to say I don't have much respect for the average golfer's shotmaking or course management.

Also, he doesn't have much tilt back (to right foot) at address. Giving him some more tilt should free up some more power by getting his weight behind the ball. This guy has a pretty good video on tilt I think.

Yeah, that's next. I'm not going to worry about that now though - I want to fix the path of the golf club before we get into how wide his stance is (which I believe is part of the reason he's not got much weight shift - there's nowhere for it to go).

I'm personally a fan of a middle sized stance. I may even be a bit narrower than some. I pre-set my weight to the right, coil around my right leg with no "felt" weight shift (the arms going back, etc. will naturally lead to an actual weight shift, even if the head stays relatively still), then moving "through" the ball (but again keeping the head relatively still until after impact). This reduces the body's role in the golf swing to "coil and through."

I know I'm a total noob here and maybe i'm missing something, but the thing that stands out at me the most is the complete lack of any turn at his waist. When he comes back, at the top of his backswing, his belt buckle is still staring you in the face. How can you generate any power without any hip turn?

I've seen people hit the ball 280 on the fly sitting in a chair. Though I don't believe completely in the "X Factor," it says that power is the difference between shoulder and hip turn. Steve gets to 100 degrees of shoulder turn (but that's where he gets sloppy - so he may end up at about 90, which is fine) and very little hip turn.

That being said, his hips turn back about 30 degrees, and I think it's partly attributable to his narrow stance. Hit balls on the range with your feet together - you probably won't get as much hip turn that way either.

[catfell]

Eric,

I know you mentioned that the video's are not his usual contact, but it's all I have to work from.

I'm not sure how much of a makeover you are hoping to perform on the candidate's swing, but it seems like his swing has got a lot of extra or unnecessary movement.

It seems like the hips, shoulders and arms are very out of sync.

Looking at the facing view, his spine is straight at address, but as he reaches the top of his backswing, his spine is shaped like a "C". From the side angle, just before the top of the backswing, he seems to straighten his forward spine angle to get a longer backswing. Additionally right before the top, the right knee is straightening to help the backswing seem longer and as it straightens, makes it harder to get any leverage or transfer his weight.

His downswing is starting with his shoulders and arms moving first. His hips aren't pulling (twisting his spine back towards the ball) his upper body. As his hands pass parallel to his shoulder, his center of swing seems to be somewhere to the right of his body and below his armpit. In addition to his lack of clubhead lag, he's shortened his effective lever length to the distance to the distance between his right elbow and clubhead.

His hips are rotating on the downswing, but he's pushing them forward (his left) like a hockey hip-check, and that is pushing his spine to reverse into an backwards C shape when he comes through the ball. So now he's thrown his hips ahead of the ball, and using that momentum, is pivoting around the out of body point, and moving his upper body in the opposite direction (head and shoulders moving down and away from the ball. The bottom of his swing (inferred from the facing video) looks like it's way behind the ball. Looking at the last frame before the ball is struck, the top of his spine is turned behind the ball, and his weight in front of the ball. I'm guessing he's a sweeper and not much of a divot taker.

From the two videos he's obviously got very good hand-eye coordination, but he's not using his big core muscles to hit the ball. He's using his smaller muscles. I do believe that the "X-Factor" certainly helps create power, but it is fundamentally more important to try and keep the spine straight in all directions and swing around it. X-Factor simply increases the lag and maximizes power relative to the amount of movement.

Our subject seems fairly young so I'm going to assume he's pretty flexible. So I would think he can turn his hips back a little more.

Assuming we're performing a makeover and not an adjustment, I would like to see a stronger butt/coccyx sticking out a little more to encourage a better planted straight spine, more hip turn back (it is possible to turn your hips back even with your feet together, try standing up straight, and turn/twist to your right side and let your hips follow, I'll bet they're turned more than you think, and you can still bend at the hips to resemble a golf stance), and work on synchronizing the coil and uncoil of the spine to improve his body lag and lastly his wrists and clubhead lag.

Sorry, that was a lot longer than I thought it would be.

Just my 2¢, but since you asked...

catfell

PS, how do you put in still images from the video? Is it possible to link to the video, or does a separate jpg have to be created, hosted then linked?

[iacas]

Eric,

It's Erik, and I'm not asking anyone else to critique the guy's swing. I might post some follow-up videos that show the results, or not, but at this point I'm explicitly ignoring (as is he) anyone else's take.

Too many cooks spoil the stew, as they say.

Just my 2¢, but since you asked...

Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't believe I ever asked anyone. I'm not really interested in the theories of others, even if they agree with me.

Step one is to fix the club's path (along with his wrist/elbow breakdown). That should help a lot - the over-swinging, the lack of lag, etc. Step two is to widen his stance and get a better weight shift and to maintain a steady head height. All in due time.

[michaeljames92]

how old is he ? a 130 yard 5 iron is pretty short going and a 9 handicap is surprising to me. however i spose if you can putt well it can be much more valuable then long hitting ability.

[iacas]

how old is he ?

17.

a 130 yard 5 iron is pretty short going

Please read that section again. He doesn't hit his 5-iron 130 yards. I sometimes make him hit 5-iron from 130 yards to a front pin in training rounds to help develop his sense of feel and heighten his shotmaking skills.

[iacas]

Just a quick update: yesterday was a good day on the range. He hit teed 7-irons, then teed 5-irons and 3-irons, then 3-woods and drivers.

He's slowed his backswing a bit more now (his tempo was always ~ 2.2:1 as opposed to 3:1 recommended by "Tour Tempo"), and that's helped with his timing. He's getting the clubface square a bit more now.

When he swings too fast, he gets laid off, long, and low. When he swings back at a slightly slower tempo, he's on plane, he's firm (but not rigid) with his wrists and left elbow (which would often "flop," resulting in a long, uncontrolled top-of-backswing position), and his hands are higher.

As I suspected, fixing these problems have helped to fix some of his other problems, but primary among them was his tendency to crowd himself. Again, he'd hit "down" at the ball rather than "through" the ball. His head went down, but his body straightened to give himself room to swing his hands through. That's mostly gone now.

Things to work on next, after he's 100% comfortable with these changes (he's ~ 80-90% there):[list][*]Wider spacing of feet[*]Double-check the "head dip"[*]A bit more retention of lag[*]A pre-shot routine that works for him to feel the proper everything (he may have this already)

If we didn't do any of those, he could still play pretty good golf, so we may wait until after he has a tournament in a week or two before we hit on those.

[DaveLeeNC]

We've already addressed that by making the wrists hinge earlier in the backswing. When he does that, he tends to hold the angle longer. It's been my experience that it's true for a lot of players (within physical capacity).

I'll be curious as to how this ultimately works out for this guy. I also have an early release (although not nearly as severe as this one) and have gone so far as to complete my wrist hinge at address (cock/hinge the wrists then start the backswing). It had no effect on the timing of my release.

I actually used this swing on the course for a couple months (it seemed to generate a swing that was somewhat easier to "manage"). But ultimately didn't like having the weirdest swing in my foursome dave

[iacas]

I'll be curious as to how this ultimately works out for this guy. I also have an early release (although not nearly as severe as this one) and have gone so far as to complete my wrist hinge at address (cock/hinge the wrists then start the backswing). It had no effect on the timing of my release.

It's helped a little so far, but frankly, his lag is the last thing I'm going to worry about. It's obviously far more important to make solid, consistent contact with a predictable ball-flight. So we're working on that, then I'm going to make sure his "dip" (of his head) is gone and widen out his stance. Then probably towards early August, we'll see where his lag is.

And actually, now that I think about it, the improvement in his tempo has helped his lag a little bit too.