Here's My Driver Swing.

[kennay92]

Alright i know these are only practice swings but evaluate as you please.

[iacas]

Next time, a ball, please. I'll critique your practice swings, but that's all I'm doing here.

First, an image (right).

Now, the frames I've marked...

Frame A
Setup. Your hands should be a little more in so your arms hang just a bit more. You'll need to increase the angle between your forearms and the shaft to do this, but okay.

In this frame I've marked two lines that are relevant. Red is the hip/hand line. Your hands should be on this line, and it goes from the ball to your hips or belt (which is just above the hips). Your hands are above the line already because... your arms aren't hanging quite as much as they should be.

The yellow line is the elbow plane line. Hang your arms a bit more and this will improve, but obviously it's close because the elbows are further up on your arms. Anyway...

Frame B
Hands should swing back along the hand line until your right arm starts to fold, which should be after the club reaches parallel to the ground. Here the club is parallel to the ground and because your hands are outside and above the red line, the club is slightly inside the red line and inside your hands. Ideally the club is right on line (the red line) with your hands here). Your elbow is already starting to fold, too, which is too soon. In addition to dropping your hands at address, you needed to keep your armpit pressure points a bit more at this point - a tee in your right armpit would have fallen out at this point already.

Frame C
The top of your backswing... or rather, where you should stop. Notice yoru right elbow and how far off the bod it is. Drop that to the body - maintaining that right armpit pressure point - and your hands again will drop back to the yellow line (which, again, is where they should be after your elbow starts folding). Instead of stopping here, though, you continue on to...

Frame D
Where you actually stop. Notice again the right elbow. Also notice the relative lack of hip turn and the relatively bent right knee. More straightening of the right knee would be good here - get your right hip higher and - in this view - further left.

Frame E
Position 6, or P6, with the club roughly parallel to the ground again. You recover fairly well but it involves a few compensating moves. Your wrists are supinated (bowed) and your right heel is coming off the ground. You're "stuck" a little, with the clubhead trailing the hands here (tough to see but it's back by your butt when it's parallel to the ground).

Frame F
Your clubhead - and hands - should really tend to exit the other side of the body on the yellow line. You're way above the line because you got stuck a little.


Fixes
- Work on keeping the arms down a little more at address.
- Maintain the pressure points in your armpits, particularly your right armpit.
- Get a Swing Extender and learn to cut off the backswing when the right elbow has folded 90°. Going any further than that only screws with your timing.

[kennay92]

Next time, a ball, please. I'll critique your practice swings, but that's all I'm doing here.

thanks man! my instructor said people would say i need to keep my elbow in more but he said as long as i bring it into my hip on my downswing it would be okay, but i guess i should actually work on it. And again, my instructor said people would say that i need to bring my hands back but my instructor told me to do that but back my stance up and inch or 2 because on every single one of my driver hits i hit it on the heel side of the club, always. but again i guess i should just correct it instead of compensating for it. and yeah, ill work on that over extension in my back swing, thanks a lot iacas! BTW, any tips to put my driver shots more towards the middle/toe side of the face? and also, would you say, in your opinion, say that this is a good swing so far for player on playing for 4-5 months so far? just to know where i stand.

[iacas]

thanks man! my instructor said people would say i need to keep my elbow in more but he said as long as i bring it into my hip on my downswing it would be okay, but i guess i should actually work on it.

You should, yeah. That "dropping" after "lifting" the club is going to be a source of inconsistency.

And again, my instructor said people would say that i need to bring my hands back but my instructor told me to do that but back my stance up and inch or 2 because on every single one of my driver hits i hit it on the heel side of the club, always.

You could try standing up a little. Your hands will drop.

But either way, I'd think about your instructor. He seems a bit like a "quick fix" type of instructor.

BTW, any tips to put my driver shots more towards the middle/toe side of the face?

Your follow through shows why you're hitting the ball on the heel. Do the things I've said and you'll be okay. Or your club is too long, but that's unlikely.

and also, would you say, in your opinion, say that this is a good swing so far for player on playing for 4-5 months so far? just to know where i stand.

Yeah, I'd say so.

[kennay92]

You should, yeah. That "dropping" after "lifting" the club is going to be a source of inconsistency.

alright thanks a lot, ill try and definatly work on this, oh and btw, what is a swing extender?

[iacas]

alright thanks a lot, ill try and definatly work on this, oh and btw, what is a swing extender?

Sorry, couldn't resist:

http://tinyurl.com/yfanlwz

[kennay92]

Sorry, couldn't resist:

god da**it, i usually always do this to people, dang i feel stupid.. here's my sign.lol (bill engvill) oh, and wold you recommend any specific one?

[iacas]

oh, and wold you recommend any specific one?

Hmm? There's just one.

http://swingextender.com

[kennay92]

Hmm? There's just one.

oh i thought it was a like industrial wide training aid, not a name brand training aid, i gothca. but yeah thanks ill see if i can pick one up.. im not so sure on the 25 bucks for the probaly 5 dollars it took them to make that, but ima see what i can do.

[iacas]

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28081

$25 is cheap for a training aid. Don't begrudge the guy a little profit.

[kennay92]

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28081

but i have to pay for everything golf related, my mom doesnt pay for anything, and when i say anything, i mean anything.. every single thing that could possibly be golf related that i have all comes from the pockets of a 17 year old part time job. every green fee, every club, every ball, shoes, bag, tees, anything... so summary of the story, i dont have the money right now to pay for it, littleraly i have 18 dollars on my debit card after today paying for my tomorow tee time, paying for my car insurance, filling up the gas tank, and going to the range today.....soooooooo, who wants to buy me a swing extender??? lol

[iacas]

but i have to pay for everything golf related, my mom doesnt pay for anything, and when i say anything, i mean anything.. every single thing that could possibly be golf related that i have all comes from the pockets of a 17 year old part time job. every green fee, every club, every ball, shoes, bag, tees, anything... so summary of the story, i dont have the money right now to pay for it, littleraly i have 18 dollars on my debit card after today paying for my tomorow tee time, paying for my car insurance, filling up the gas tank, and going to the range today.....soooooooo, who wants to buy me a swing extender??? lol

So make one. Just find a foam block or something.

[kennay92]

So make one. Just find a foam block or something.

im not neccasarily the craftiest person, but i could give it a whirl...if i had a stryofoam block

[iacas]

My instructor wanted me to point out a few other things:

1) Again he stressed how different a practice swing is from a real swing.

2) Move forward a little. Weight is too much on your heels. This will help drop your hands, too.

3) Maintain the pressure point in your left armpit throughout the swing. It comes off your body really early.