Help with my swing (video and stills)

[Shorty]

Your biggest problem is the one that most people have mentioned but I don't see any change from the first videos to the last.
Your stance is WAY too narrow. You have pretty broad shoulders and a stance that is shoulder width is a rule of thumb. You need to go about six inches wider. Then you will not have your overbalancing issue.
I guarantee that if you make this simple change you will see massive improvement.

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/5...ansetupas1.jpg

Check out Greg Norman at address and compare his position to yours.

[Zeph]

The balance issues is not from a narrow stance, but from poor weight shift, swaying and too much arms.

The width of stance depends on what club you are using. With the driver, shoulder width is fine, the shorter the club, the more narrow stance. A wide stance feels more balanced, but with the proper motions, you can stand with the feet together and swing without losing it.

[jonnythan]

The instructor I've been working with has kept encouraging this narrow stance, in part because I think he wants me to find my balance a bit better as Zeph alluded to.

I also see what you guys are saying about swinging with the arms and not starting ground-up. I was swinging a 9-iron in the den last night and thought I started to feel it. If the weather cooperates, I'll have more videos later today.

[TN94z]

I still see that you are starting your downswing with your arms. Really concentrate on starting from the ground. This really helps to pull everything on plane.

The stance thing can go either way really. It has been a rule of thumb to be shoulder width apart, but with a narrow stance, it helps you get your hip rotation if you are not very flexible. My teacher actually had me narrow my stance as well...even with the driver. You don't want it too narrow, but being wide isn't a set rule.

[iacas]

Seven words for you: start the downswing from the ground up.

At the very least, your hips have to push forward to lead the downswing. Whether you get that by driving your front knee down and forward or what, I don't care, but the swing still starts and finishes too much above the waist.

[Shorty]

The balance issues is not from a narrow stance, but from poor weight shift, swaying and too much arms.

And the swaying and weight shift are partly caused by bad balance because of the overly narrow stance. You can not stand with your feet together and not lose balance. Your stance is the solid foundation you depend upon.

[CG031]

The balance issues is not from a narrow stance

I disagree to an extent with this here, but I do agree with the rest of your post.

I think balance issues can stem from a narrow stance - I sometimes have too much lower body movement, and lose my balance - my instructor says it's because my stance is slightly too narrow, and I need to widen it. I prefer to have it fairly narrow, though, but I can see that when I widen it I do have more balance, except I feel extremely uncomfortable over the golf ball. I'd say the OP's stance is just slightly too narrow - I'd say widen it, at least a little bit. I've never really seen many good players with a stance as narrow as the original poster, to be honest. I mean that is REALLY narrow.

[shankapotamus]

OK here is the latest:

It stills looks like you're swinging with your arms. The downswing should start with the transfer of weight to your left foot. But you have made some good improvements!

Facepalm for re saying what others have said. Didn't notice their was a third page <.<

[Shorty]

You are a strong looking character and you are not taking advantage of your hips and legs to power your swing. You must initiate your downswing with your hips, otherwise you will never generate any power at all.

[iWALK18]

I was shocked to notice you have a 31 hdcp after watching you swing. I think you have a lot going on that looks really good.

My suggestions (coming from the old video):

1) A bit wider stance (don't overdo it, just a bit wider)
2) Try to sway less. I think a little sway is acceptable, but not as much as you have.
3) You slice because you try to hit the ball left of where your stance is aiming you. It could be because you're trying not to hit right so you pull it left, but this gives you a slice. Think about hitting the ball just right of center field and I bet you will straighten out your slice.

The new video looks much better on the swaying, and just in general. But i agree you do need to widen that stance. I don't know if maybe your instructor is trying to keep your stance narrow to free up your hips so you will start from the ground up as everyone has said...
Still slicing?

[cmvash]

A drill I do whenever I find myself swinging with too much arms(as you appear) is to stand with my feet together and do some practice swinging. This forces me to use more rotation with my body(mostly hips) and less forced movement with the arms(which tends to cause over the top movements).

And yes, it is possible to stand with your feet together and stay in balance.

You have a good tempo. Once you start swinging more with your body and less with your arms I think you'll knock your handicap down quite a bit.

[jonnythan]

Something like this? I was trying to initiate with my hips and legs and let the arms follow. I hit a bunch of nice shots. Looks like I was pushing my left knee out a bit, not sure if that's bad or not?

[jonnythan]

I was shocked to notice you have a 31 hdcp after watching you swing...

I'm extremely inconsistent.

The slice is still there, but not nearly as dramatic and not nearly as often. Before I almost never hit anything straight. Now, when I make good contact, it's straight more often than not. I'm improving, thanks in large part to you guys. I think this is helping me more than the actual instructor sessions!

[Zeph]

Good work on keeping the swaying away. Your hips work better, but the arms still do a lot of moving.

Looks like you've got a bit of reverse pivot also. Not so much stacked on the left foot at the backswing, but hanging back and not getting the weight onto it before the downswing. You can try to exaggerate it by really shifting over to the left side before the downswing just to get the feeling. Make sure you don't sway though, don't let the arms pull the weight on the backswing. Let the torso and arms finish the backswing, then shift weight while turning the hips and starting to drop the arms. It gives a really good feeling through impact and will leave a divot in front of the ball.

Your stance may be a bit narrow still. For training purposes you could try taking a really wide stance, making it easier to get the feeling of proper weight shift. I know there are those that advice having the feet together for this, but I didn't find that drill useful. A wider stance will make it easier to shift weight without losing balance.

[jsherm45]

The last video you posted looks MUCH better than the first two. Previous posters were exactly right. You MUST initiate the downswing with your hip turn, not your arms and hands.

At this point, I would focus on finishing every shot with your right toe up and chest facing the target (two signs that you've made a full turn). As previously stated, power comes from the big muscles of the legs and shoulders, NOT the arms and hands.

[patz0r]

Be careful with video analysis. I learned quickly that you can really mess up your swing by trying to fix too many things at the same time. I went from a fairly natural player to a headcase in about a month, lol. My suggestion would be to trust your instructor and let him work on one thing at a time with you so that you can really focus on it and improve. Don't get too mechanical.

[shankapotamus]

Start the downswing by shifting your weight to your front foot, which will cause a hip bump, which will pull the hips around, which will pull the arms, wrists, and then the club. But by the time of impact they will all be equal. Here are some good videos to notice this

[iacas]

Start the downswing by shifting your weight to your front foot, which will cause a little hip bump, which will pull the hips around, which will pull the arms, wrists, and then the club. But by the time of impact they will all be equal.

Yeah, and be careful what you call "little." I used to think I was doing a little hip bump, but it was too little. Since my hips have no problem rotating, I now concentrate on going forward as far as I can with my hips.