Swing Video - Please Evaluate

[Chicago Lefty]

Please evaluate my swing. My biggest problem has been not being able to
go inside out. I come over the top constantly. Occasionaly I get the a good shoulder turn and not so much throwing my arms at the ball feeling, but those feelings are few and far between. Please evaluate and lmk if you think I am casting.

Sorry for only one angle. Can only get my iPhone setup on the table behind me :). Thank you!

[GamerJG]

like you said, it looks like you are swinging inside-inside and coming over the top. you'll have to ask the others how to fix it. i just visualize in my mind that i have to swing inside-out and make myself do it over and over. good luck, you should be able to fix this by practice.

[michaeljames92]

seriously get like 3 lessons. It saves all the heartache and frustration of trying to fix it yourself. I had an over the top swing till about 6 months ago now i hit push draws. The pro will get your set up right as coming over the top is often caused by bad positions before you even swing the club

[Chicago Lefty]

Inside-inside huh? Well I suppose I have made some progress from being outside-in before.

I do plan to take lessons once I get a few extra bucks. But with the season winding down, lessons aren't high on the priority list. Hopefully by the new year I'll get in there and take a few half hours.

[Chicago Lefty]

After freezing a few frames, it really seems I'm not clearing my hips early enough. Can this contribute to coming over the top?

[cody west]

your posture is good, take the club back on a strait light to the target and focus on hitting the back of the ball, i did a drill where you put something about 1 or 2 inches from the ball (on the outside) and swing, you will make a good pass at the ball. its impossible to slice it if you dont hit what you put next to the ball. just pick something that wont break your club

[Williamevanl]

Holy noodles are you coming over the top. You already know so I don't feel bad telling you. Alright, lets see. You might wonder how bad or how far off am I.

Okay so we've got:



What are we seeing. Someone said you were coming a little inside on the takeaway thats pretty minuscule as pictured in picture C second frame. 'Really hard to catch in Youtube btw'

Anyway your swing swing starts a little steep and then gets crazy steep. So picture A: Backswing angle already on steep side, not bad really if you weren't so close to the ball.

B/C: Huge over the top move, as in really steep how much? Well the first frame in C is where your club ends up resulting in you cutting across the ball from this outside because there is no other choice at the point. Ideally you would want that position to be closer to where it was on the takeaway, 'second frame C'

Anyway, I pictured Tiger to show you where you want that B frame to be. It's strangely difficult to do for some reason though. Like all things golf, up is down, left is right. My only advice is the more you let your body perform the swing the better off you'll be in getting into the proper positions. Get your arms in the same position in the top and just let them fall, pretend they are paralyzed and only utilize the body until the drop closer to where they are in second frame C or frame D.

I worked with a friend on this for a year or so and he was never able to do it, so it can be difficult.

[Chicago Lefty]

Wow, thanks for the breakdown of my crappy swing, lol. It does appear I need a lot of work!

So, from what I can tell...it looks like my takeaway isn't that bad. I may be addressing the ball too closely forcing me to come over the top plus pull my chest in and push my butt out on my downswing. I'm almost hopping back on my downswing. Sometimes I can actually feel my head going up and down which definitely effects how well I strike the ball.

One questions is that you say I am a little steep on my backswing. It appears at the top of my backswing, I'm actually flatter than Tiger?

[ND Fan]

A simple drill is to find something rigid enough to stick in or sit on the ground but flexable enough to bend but not break and not damage your club. This object can be anything you could even used a plastic range bucket. This should be placed inside the line of the target and stick up any where from 6 to 12 inches as long as the club can go down the target line without hitting it. Obviously the height of the object will determine how far from the line it has to be so the club can clear it as it is swung down the line. If you cut across the ball as your doing in your video you will hit it if you swing properly you will not.


Place the object to start approximately 10 inches forward of the ball, towards the target and 8-10 inches inside the line, closer to you. Swing until you no longer hit the object. You might find the ball goes out to the left and stays there at first but your hands will adjust eventually get the ball straighter if not hook. Right now your hands basically just block through the ball, keeping the club face open because if you rotated your arms properly with that swing path you would hit some ugly pull hooks. If you have ever played tennis and hit a top spin forehand it's the same principal but the inclination is rotated 90 degrees


I would stop worrying about your hips, clearing them sooner would only serve to cut across the ball more in your case.

[Chicago Lefty]

The messed up thing is that I feel I understand the concept of the swing...I just can't get my body to do it. I play a lot of baseball and I am
so used to throwing my hands at the ball that I think I am having trouble getting away from that.

[Williamevanl]

You and everyone else. I made a collage once from all the people on the first page at swing academy to show that nearly all amateurs have some over the top motion.

A lot of people mask it with alignment and grip compensations.

[uttexas]

At the top of the backswing, don't think about hitting the ball or uncocking your wrists. Turn your hips toward the target and pull/drop your arms down so that your left elbow travels toward your left hip. Then start uncocking and swing through the ball.

Watch Bubba Watson drop the club down, maintaining the wrist cock, straight left arm. See how his left elbow drives down into his left hip from the top of the backswing.

[Chicago Lefty]

Here's another attempt at flattening out my swing and staying more
connected.

[iacas]

Unfortunately in that video you really roll your hands and get the club behind you on the takeaway. You should look up the "deep" hands thread I started - if you get your hands a bit deeper the clubhead will stay out a bit more and the "flattening" won't be quite so faked as it tends to be when you get the clubhead in instead.

[Williamevanl]

Iacas is probably right 'he knows a little bit about the golf swing ' but I definitely think that fundamentally this is a much better swing than before. I'm actually impressed that you changed it so fast.

Your second practice swing looked especially good. I think you will find one of two things, your over the top will return on the course or it will return as soon as you go after your original distances. I'm assuming that you aren't going after it the same way you were before.

Quick question though, what happened to your ball flight?

[mc0388]

Here's another attempt at flattening out my swing and staying more

Your swing looks better, but still a little tense (muscle memory not there yet). With more practice you'll be able to swing with much more confidence

The messed up thing is that I feel I understand the concept of the swing...I just can't get my body to do it. I play a lot of baseball and I am

I played a lot of baseball, so I know the feeling of throwing my hands at the ball. Which should help you as a ball striker in the future:

Take the same downswing, but "your" left elbow cannot leave your side. This connection should force your hips to come through faster. You can still throw your hands at the ball as long as its with the back of "your" right hand... AND of course you fixed the over the top shenanigans.

[Williamevanl]

By hard to fix, this is what I meant. By your third swing you have this going on...


The blue line in frame 2 is your angle going back and the red line the downswing. You'll notice you still are coming over that original line. Instead of the club dropping it is raising up. Again it would be great if you took it back on the red line and came down closer to the blue line. I showed tiger again for reference.

Overall though it seems like a huge improvement over that third frame.

[Williamevanl]

Sorry to the folks with low bandwidth.

Everyone seems to drop the club in one way or another, someone posted buba so I took a look at that. He has a really interesting swing. Interesting but effective because he still gets into the same positions as great golfers. Bub vs sergio. Sergio seems closer to the norm.

Video isn't great if you don't notice the nuances.