swing analysis help with picture

[mtsalmela80]

I recently had my girlfriend videotape some swings of mine at the range, and discovered that I am losing my plane at the top of the swing. During the backswing, I maintain plane, however at the very end, I pull high, then on the way back down, I an steeper.

Any tips on resolving this? The only thing I can think of is to stop the backswing before I get off plane.

[umpiremark]

Is the camera angled or are you? If I look at the back of your feet compared to the mat surface, your left foot is stepped back from your right. But in the pics, I can't see/know where you're aiming - maybe you are square. On your backswing, pic 3:54, it looks like your right knee locks straight. That could pull you off line/off plane. At 3:57 it appears as though your left hip is pointed up and right shoulder pointed down, which dips your angle of attack.

You're a 36 hndcp. On the backswing - when the left arm gets straight, pause and start down (Don't forget to hinge the wrists, though). Don't be so excessive or go for that "John Daly" overswing. Once you start hitting better and scoring better, then tweak more turn. IMHO ... hope this helps a bit.

[iacas]

Submit videos to http://thesandtrap.com/swing_check is my suggestion.

[mtsalmela80]

Thanks for the tips. I will need to take the 4 suggested videos in order to submit them to the analysis link. I just had her shoot behind me with the long stick on this day.

I am aiming for a patch of 5 traps about 180 or so yards out, that is why I am angled off to the left and not square with the mat. At this range, I like to aim there and I consider any shot that ends up going directly over or towards the patch of traps a good one.

I do notice that when I am conciously trying to maintain plane, even though its not perfect as these pics show, my swing path is a lot straight if not a little inside-out which really cuts down on bad slices.

[bunkerputt]

Hey MT. Congrats on trying to improve via video. It takes a few years, but keep at it. The first time I did it, I thought, "OK. So now, what the hell am I looking at?". It took a while to figure it out with a lot of side-by-side comparison with pros, but I'm slowly cracking the code.

Obviously it's a little more difficult to judge by still frames, and those at an angle I'm not used to seeing, but I think it's still pretty instructive. The things I see:

1. Your arm swing is too long for your shoulder turn. Most likely, this is an effort to preserve distance while trying to keep the lower body "quiet". This is one of the most difficult swing faults to time without coming over the top, as it requires getting your arms moving to where they're synchronized with your shoulders first, and then getting your shoulders moving. Combined that with starting the swing with the lower body and it's incredibly unnatural. A better way to swing is to turn your shoulders against your hips and then let your shoulders pull your hips around. i.e. make a bigger hip turn rather than arm swing. Check out Tiger and Hogan at the top of backswing position and you'll see what I mean.

2. Your wrists aren't hinging up the plane. You want the left wrist to "up-cock" and the right wrist to "back-cock". Check out this site for a good explanation: http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/wrist.htm

3. The rotational dynamics of your swing seem mechanical. This is the most difficult to judge without video, but it seems like your body hasn't rotated around an axis very well. This can either be due to some mechanical swing thought that you are trying to emulate (e.g. keep the lower body quiet), or physical limitations. Have your girlfriend film you throwing a football or better yet a frisbee and see what your body does. If you have an athletic, natural motion, work on getting back to that in golf. Otherwise you may have to do some hip and torso flexibility exercises for 6-months or so.

4. You have a hip thrust on your downswing. If you look at frame 3, you have stood out of your posture and your hips have moved closer to the target line. This is usually a misguided attempt to swing hard. You want to feel a little squat at the transition followed by your left hip working up and backward. This may be contributed to by #3 above.

I'm not a teaching pro, and I've only been doing this for about 4 years, so take everything I say in that context and put it to the test before you convince yourself that it's right. Keep these points in your mind for reference until you can confirm it all. Good luck.

[b_lcky]

I don't want to overwhelm you with tips like bunkershot. While I agree with what he said, it's hard to focus on so many things at once.

So, with regard to your swing plane question...You have flying elbows in the backswing and follow through.

At the top of your backswing, your right elbow should be pointing at your right hip and should continue to point there as you initiate your downswing. If you want to maintain the swing path throughout, try to mimic your right elbow position with your left elbow in the follow through (i.e. left elbow pointing at left hip).

Hopefully this helps.

Scroll halfway down the page and pay attention to tiger's right elbow.

[Scottydoint]

Shouldn't that line be from your ball through you right shoulder? IDK, don't get to technical and make sure you what you are doing if you are going to go by something like that.

[Scottydoint]

On second thought that line does no good because you are not square to the picture.