Please analyze my swing

[shortstop20]

I have videos on Swing Academy that I would like someone to analyze.

Driver - DTL: http://www.swingacademy.com/swingana...l.aspx?id=1671

Driver - Face on view: http://www.swingacademy.com/swingana...l.aspx?id=1672
I accidently deleted my shot, so this practice swing will have to do.

6 iron - DTL: http://www.swingacademy.com/swingana...l.aspx?id=1673

6 iron - Face on view: http://www.swingacademy.com/swingana...l.aspx?id=1674

I know some of the things I need to work on:

Get rid of that hip slide, get more shoulder and hip rotation, correct my spine angle(during the swing), keep that right knee flexed, fix that inside takeaway, shallower swing plane, fix the over the top move. Looking for ideas on how to fix this and any other things I need to work on.

[Mr.Wedge]

First is the grip. Your right hand is rather weak; needs to be rotated so the V is more on top of the shaft, palm square to the target.

Maybe kick the knees in toward each other in order to get the weight on the insides of your feet. You really want to key the insides of the legs and that will do it. It looks like your weight may be a tad on your heels.

I think that tilt at address may be helping to cause the lateral move. I am not a big fan of spinal tilt at address. You can see you get the spine vertical from the front view after you make the shift coming down which is a healthier position. Tilting the spine that way at address to me just overcomplicates the shoulder rotation unecessarily IMO. If you keep it, cut it about in half, getting your head over the inside of your right thigh at address.

You could use the old arm pit drill. I like to use a boulder sized shooting marble in each arm pit and swing without dropping them. You start off disconnected at the shoulders. Relax the arms and try to keep the take away one unit. I wouldn't worry about the hips but focus on the shoulder rotation. Think of a directional arrow pointing out the back of your right shoulder and follow it. Do that and keep the right knee flexed and kicked in a tad and you'll see big improvement is my guess.

[shortstop20]

First is the grip. Your right hand is rather weak; needs to be rotated so the V is more on top of the shaft, palm square to the target.

So my arms are getting too far away from my shoulders and chest? I'm not familiar with this drill, can you find a picture of it somewhere? Thanks for your comments Mr. Wedge.

[Mr.Wedge]

Assuming you meant left hand, it looks about right in the vids, but the right is too far under the shaft.

I don't have any pics of the armpit drill, but you have hard of VJ practicing with a head cover under his left armpit, or Hogan practicing with a handkerchief (not wadded up, just the tip of it folded into a small ball)? It will feel very different and awkward to you, so if you work on this best with 1/2 to 3/4 ish swings with a wedge or short iron at first. The lead or left shoulder is probably most important but doing both will help you get the feel of rotating the shoulders as one unit. It also helps with your swing radius, keeping it consistent throughout the swing. This link can give you an idea of how the arms and shoulders work together as one unit:



Notice how relaxed his arms and shoulders are at address and at impact, driver to wedge. Note he is not extending his arms from his shoulder joints. His shoulders are relaxed and square. That is his natural swing radius and he doesn't change it throughout his swing.

[beung]

Too much sway in your swing, your hips are sliding too much.

Your backswing is too long, your shaft is beyond parallel at the top of you backswing and possibly across the line - as in it points to the right of your target line at the top.

The hip slide and too much back swing is probably what is leading to the over the top swing.

Work on your flexibility or take a shorter back swing....you know which one is easier :P

Because of your long backswing, you are breaking down at the top and this causes you to cast the club right at the beginning of your downswing. Start your downswing with your your legs, then hips, then chest, then shoulder, then arms and then finally your hands.

[shortstop20]

Well I went to the range today and worked hard on my alignment, grip and stance first of all. Definitly feels more comfortable and confident now. That tipping of the knees in trick worked well too, helped my balance. I tried to remember as many tips as I could and practice them but I didn't want to give myself too much to think about. Also am working on getting rid of the hip slide and turning it into a rotation and using the shoulders more in the swing instead of just the arms.

It seems that the changes of starting the downswing with my hips and holding my lag alot longer really helped get the club on plane for me on the downswing. I have no video to prove it but it sounds logical to me that it would help the club on an inside path more. What do you guys think? I hit alot of good drives that went straight or slight fade, medium trajectory, between 220-240 yards and a couple that reached the 250 mark which is just awesome for me.