Driver swing critique...

[timastyle]

Here are a couple videos of me hitting my driver. One is a down the line view and the other is face on.




I know I am off balance on a couple of them and am working on that. I also noticed from the DTL view that my right arm is separating from my body, but I didn't think this was happening. Do you think it looks like there's too much separation?

Any other critiques are welcome. If possible, when pointing out my faults, can you also provide a fix for it too, so that I can work on fixing it please?

[James_Black]

I can only see one fault but it's a pretty big one.....

In the second video look at your left leg.
Thats not supposed to happen, You're not meant to bend it much at all.
It's going to be very awkward to fix though.

I'm not sure about this one.
I think your standing too upright at address

It's a pretty smooth swing though.

[jamo]

In the first video, your shoulders arms and legs look pretty good here. A couple potential problems are that your left arms is bent, ideally it should be straight at the top so it will be straight at the bottom. Thats a pretty easy fix. As for the right arm separation, it actually looks pretty good. Your right arm is actually angled down, here is a picture of Tiger , and his is horizontal. I don't think you have a problem there. As for the aforementioned standing too straight, i agree with that. You can see it in the backswing that you are standing too straight.Just adjusting your posture will fix that.

In the second video, your shoulders and hips turn really well, but your head is pointed backwards. I'm not sure really how to fix that, other than just trying not to make it move, through focusing on the problem. I guess you can have someone hold it while you swing, but that could mess up other things, like the follow through. As for the left leg, that is likely why the head moves, because you are moving your weight back a little. If it fixes itself when you fix the head, don't worry about it, but i wouldn't necessarily worry either way, it is letting you turn your hips more.

[timastyle]

I can only see one fault but it's a pretty big one.....

Thanks for the tips...

In the first video, your shoulders arms and legs look pretty good here. A couple potential problems are that your left arms is bent, ideally it should be straight at the top so it will be straight at the bottom. Thats a pretty easy fix. As for the right arm separation, it actually looks pretty good. Your right arm is actually angled down,

Is my left arm really bent all that much? I went through and paused it at the top and it looks to me that there's only a slight bend, which I thought was ok. I think the reason for this may be caused by what you and JB stated about me standing a bit too upright. While I feel like my eyes stay pretty still on the backswing, I think my left shoulder may be pushing my chin away from the target. Is my left leg breaking that much? I just feel like this is naturally happening from shifting my weight to my back foot on the backswing. What do you think some potential faults can come from the left leg breaking too much?

Any additional advice is appreciated...

[TakeDeadAim]

You only need to concentrate on fixing that balance after impact. It is caused because you apply some lift with your shoulders at impact almost causing you to reverse pivot. Work on your finish, ensuring ALL your weight ends on the inside of your left thigh.

[timastyle]

[

You only need to concentrate on fixing that balance after impact. It is caused because you apply some lift with your shoulders at impact almost causing you to reverse pivot. Work on your finish, ensuring ALL your weight ends on the inside of your left thigh.

I've heard a number of times on here about a reverse pivot, but I don't know what that means. Can you explain that for me please? Do you mean that I'm not transferring my weight to my left side on the downswing? Any fixes you can recommend on lifting the shoulders?

One other thing I've noticed is that just after contact, probably when my arms are just before parallel to the ground on the follow through, I think I start to chicken wing my arms. Anyone else see this? Any suggestions on fixing it?

[TakeDeadAim]

I'm not transferring my weight to my left side on the downswing?

Exactly right. The chicken-wing arms in your case is just a consequence of hitting up on the ball with your shoulders, which in turn, makes you bounce backward throwing you off balance. Try this. Place a quarter on the top of your left shoe. Ensure it stays there throughout the entire swing. It may restrict your backswing a little, but don´t worry, it will end up smoothing out your swing.

How to fix lifting the shoulders? Just concentrate on passing your arms through the impact without placing pressure on your grip, and aiming your hands at the target on the follow through...

[timastyle]

Exactly right. The chicken-wing arms in your case is just a consequence of hitting up on the ball with your shoulders, which in turn, makes you bounce backward throwing you off balance. Try this. Place a quarter on the top of your left shoe. Ensure it stays there throughout the entire swing. It may restrict your backswing a little, but don´t worry, it will end up smoothing out your swing.

So the quarter is supposed to stay on my left foot the entire time or is it ok for it to fall on the follow through? I tried it out on the range yesterday and it fell after I hit the ball on my follow through. My weight on my follow through seems to come to the outer part of my left leg. In your previous post you said it should be on the inside of my left thigh? Is that right?

[TakeDeadAim]

So the quarter is supposed to stay on my left foot the entire time or is it ok for it to fall on the follow through? I tried it out on the range yesterday and it fell after I hit the ball on my follow through. My weight on my follow through seems to come to the outer part of my left leg. In your previous post you said it should be on the inside of my left thigh? Is that right?

The quarter is suppossed to stay there the entire time, and it will proof that you have a completely balanced swing. Some people lift their left heel a bit on the backswing, which is ok, and if you do, the quarter will fall off your foot as you turn to the top of your backswing. If so, try to shorten the backswing just a little bit to go through with the rest of the exercise.

No one should roll their left foot outward on the follow through and this is what the quarter in place will prove that you are doing correctly. Regarding where you should feel tension and weight... on the inside right thigh on the backswing and the inside of the left thigh on the weight transfer and follow-through. Good luck and keep doing that exercise. I speak not from knowledge, but from my own experience with this exercise... hahaha

[timastyle]

The quarter is suppossed to stay there the entire time, and it will proof that you have a completely balanced swing. Some people lift their left heel a bit on the backswing, which is ok, and if you do, the quarter will fall off your foot as you turn to the top of your backswing. If so, try to shorten the backswing just a little bit to go through with the rest of the exercise.

Here is a link of Tiger Woods' swing:

It looks like his weight is on the outer part of his left foot on the follow through. I find it would be rather difficult to not do this if you are utilizing a hip slide and getting the most out of your swing.

[Andrew Rice]

The thing that I notice is the backswing seems to be a little too slow. The transition into the downswing takes too long and that is why your balance is a little off. Most Tour caliber backswings take around 0.75 sec and yours appears to be over 1.00 sec. Try to speed things up a little as this will give your body less chance to get out of position.
Don't rush, but just pick up the pace a little.
Just my 02 cents.

[timastyle]

The thing that I notice is the backswing seems to be a little too slow. The transition into the downswing takes too long and that is why your balance is a little off. Most Tour caliber backswings take around 0.75 sec and yours appears to be over 1.00 sec. Try to speed things up a little as this will give your body less chance to get out of position.

I think I would tend to agree. I feel like my swing gets a little jerky at the start of my downswing. I think my tempo isn't ideal, which leads to some inconsistency. My misses are generally a push right, where the ball starts right and goes straight to that line. Sometimes, I will have a fade and very rarely a duck hook. I am contemplating changing my driver shaft to get a better feel as well as a tighter dispersion. Here is the link to to it:

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads...shaft-question Thanks for the help!

[TakeDeadAim]

Here is a link of Tiger Woods' swing. It looks like his weight is on the outer part of his left foot on the follow through.

Correct. But he doesn´t have a balance problem that needs correction, right? The exercise I mentioned will help you concentrate on keeping the weight in the right places throughout the swing. To do it correctly you will have to smooth your swing some. Little by little you´ll start getting some more umph into the swing, and a slight roll of the outside of the left foot can occur and it is ok, as long as you finish in balance.

[timastyle]

Correct. But he doesn´t have a balance problem that needs correction, right? The exercise I mentioned will help you concentrate on keeping the weight in the right places throughout the swing. To do it correctly you will have to smooth your swing some. Little by little you´ll start getting some more umph into the swing, and a slight roll of the outside of the left foot can occur and it is ok, as long as you finish in balance.

Touche! I definitely agree that my swing isn't as smooth as I would like it. I'm actually going to go get Tour Tempo to work on that more. I think I can greatly benefit from it and take my game to the next level. In the meantime, I will work on that drill and see if I can make some progress in my balance control.

[Titleist Man]

VERY EASY FIX: your weight is on your heels at adress... try putting it more on your toes. Try to feel stacked over the ball(more towards the ball, not away from it). That will help you from coming out of it ALOT and prob stop your left leg thing. Once again VERY EASY fix. Good luck

[timastyle]

VERY EASY FIX: your weight is on your heels at adress... try putting it more on your toes. Try to feel stacked over the ball(more towards the ball, not away from it). That will help you from coming out of it ALOT and prob stop your left leg thing. Once again VERY EASY fix. Good luck

Thanks for the tip. I would have to agree in thinking about it. I feel as though I lose a bit of balance when trying to put more weight on my toes, but then again, I'm probably overdoing it rather than keeping a happy medium.

On a side note, when I do hit the ball well, I sometimes tend to have a knuckleball. Any thoughts on what that could be from?

[Keep It Simple]

I think you are not far away from having a really good golf swing. But, you are mixing the fundamentals of a one plane swing with those of a two plane swing. I am not a student of Jim Hardy nor a conscious practicioner of his method but the differences in 1 and 2 plane swingers on the PGA tour are undeniably visible.

Your set-up is that of a one plane golfer (bent over at address, wide stance, arms out away from body, club in the middle of stance) so if this is the swing method you are striving for, the following needs to be fixed.

- cupped left wrist at top of backswing (needs to be flat or slightly bowed)
- hips rotate too much away from target in backswing, you are losing coil (you may want to stretch to improve flexibility and/or practice with a heavy club)
- club is over the line at top (needs to be parallel with target line, restricting hips and fixing wrist should solve)
- your swing plane back to the ball is not perpendicular to your spine angle it is too steep. This is why you can't swing hard from the top. Again, fix the left wrist and you should be on a better plane.

There is lots of info on 1 and 2 plane swings out there to further help you along.

[timastyle]

I think you are not far away from having a really good golf swing. But, you are mixing the fundamentals of a one plane swing with those of a two plane swing. I am not a student of Jim Hardy nor a conscious practicioner of his method but the differences in 1 and 2 plane swingers on the PGA tour are undeniably visible.

Thanks for all the advice Keep It Simple.

I was actually going to work on fixing the cupping of my left wrist at the top of the backswing at the range today. I saw Michael Breed on the Golf Fix talking about placing a credit card in the glove so that you feel it when ou cup your wrist. As far as the hips rotating too much, I didn't know there was such a thing or an adverse affect to turning it to much, but I suppose it makes sense that I would be losing coil. Do you have any drills or thoughts on how I can work on lessening my hip rotation? While my flexibility is not optimal, I believe that one of the reasons that I may be turning my hips too much may be attributed to my steep angle, which goes back to me standing a little too upright. If I am a little more tilted down at address, I would struggle so much to get my arms upper body rotated up and therefore, not require as much hip turn. Would you agree? I also noticed the clubhead crossing the line and would agree that if I fix the cupping of my left wrist, I will likely keep it from crossing the line. Thanks again for all your help and keep them coming. I will try and get some video of my irons for critique as well soon.