After some input on my swing release

[RossOliver]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum and I was just hoping to get some input on my swing below (sorry for the poor quality). I'm having trouble swinging from inside-to-outside; I tend to come across the ball slightly, although without too drastic an effect - I get a nice trajectory and reasonable distance with the ball staying straight until near the end of its flight, where it turns into a ~5-10 yard fade. I've never been able to release the club properly - my golf pro tells me the club should exit the swing out of my left shoulder from a down-the-line view, but it always comes out mid-torso level.

If anyone can spot something in particular causing my cut across the ball and rather ugly release I would really appreciate your input. I've been fighting with this for a while now and it's driving me nuts! The video below is with a 7-iron - on this particular shot I think my takeaway is a bit shallow.



Thanks for your time,

-Ross

[senorchipotle]

wow, very nice swing, almost. 9/10th's of your swing is beautiful, and you're actually starting from the inside, but that move you're doing, i don't even know what to call it, you're yanking the club to the left. don't do that.

[WALRUS]

wow, very nice swing, almost. 9/10th's of your swing is beautiful, and you're actually starting from the inside, but that move you're doing, i don't even know what to call it, you're yanking the club to the left.

yep that right there is about all you can say

[uttexas]

Really nice video. Love your backswing. It might be just a hair too long. Love the position you get at 95% of the way into your backswing (when the timer just gets to 7 seconds)---then the last 5% of the backswing you do a lifting maneuver with your arms (right arm separates from your torso) If your timing is on, you can get away with this move, but separating and lifting your arms adds an additional timing element on both the back and forward swings.

The reason you are cutting across the ball---on your first move on the forward swing, it is mostly shoulders and arms, your hips then start to push forward halfway into your forward swing, but your arms outrace your hips into the impact--thus pulling across the ball. Your forward swing is steeper than your backswing due to your shoulders and arms initiating the forward swing. Your backswing plane is almost ideal. Try swinging so that you feel that your forward swing flatter than your backswing (record yourself feeling this---you might still be forward swinging steeper than you feel). Your backswing plane is almost ideal---if you could flatten your forward swing to this plane (or flatter) your ball striking will improve.

Synopsis-----Try shortening your backswing a hair, then start the forward swing by pushing your hips forward, flatten your forward swing.

[uttexas]

Here's a good example:

[RossOliver]

Thanks for the kind words and great feedback! I went back to the range today to try and put them all to practice, but if I actively try and fire my hips a bit earlier and bring the club down flatter and on the inside I end up with a shank to the right off the hosel every time. I've recorded a practice swing - I'm not sure why I do my actual swing differently, but I feel like I release the club properly when I do a practice swing:



Is that better and what my swing should look like? That one was a little bit unbalanced at the end, but my release seems much smoother. The club also tracks my right forearm on the downswing, which my pro tells me is the ideal?

Thanks again,

-Ross

[uttexas]

I think you are on the right track here. You must be a good athlete to be able to change your swing that quickly. I now notice that your head drops significantly at impact relative to address position. Your forward swing plane looks better in the new video until at about the seven second mark (in the new video) when the club face drops down from your waist, behind your legs (I think it's getting a little "stuck") Gotta get back to my work, but will try to post later.

[RossOliver]

I think you are on the right track here. You must be a good athlete to be able to change your swing that quickly. I now notice that your head drops significantly at impact relative to address position. Your forward swing plane looks better in the new video until at about the seven second mark (in the new video) when the club face drops down from your waist, behind your legs (I think it's getting a little "stuck") Gotta get back to my work, but will try to post later.

I used to do a lot of climbing, so I have good core strength and strong forearms/wrists - tend to get a bit handsy with the club sometimes though, leading to lots of inconsistencies unfortunately. I see what you mean about my head dropping and the club coming in from behind my legs. I think this is due to a drill my pro has me doing where he wants me to try and hit the ground close to my right foot - exaggerating an inside to outside swing path. Could it have something to do with my right elbow on the way down? I'm not really sure what I should do with it - I've read it should lead the club into impact (staying bent for most of the downswing), but I think that causes the club to come from behind me as in the video above. Would I be better straightening my right arm quicker, or would this just promote an outside to inside swing more?

Thanks, -Ross

[Rexx]

Nice changes from the first video. Head moves a little forward (toward the ball) at start of backswing -- watch the balance in your feet to make sure you're not shifting weight to your toes, possible reason for shanking. Also, need to get the right elbow closer to the body by the time the hands are at the mid-torso/waist in the downswing. This is done by sliding the left hip toward the target + dropping the hands vertically as the initial downswing move. A front view would be nice + more lighting. Is it possible to take video out in the open?

Posted the above before I saw your post. No, you do not want to straighten the right arm early in the downswing. That would end up with a downswing that reverses the backswing, which is a big power loss. In other words, from the front view, you want a "steeper" downswing than the arc created in the backswing to help hold/create the power lag.

[RossOliver]

Ah I see - so should the first move of my arms be to drop, closing the space between my tricep and right side, so my elbow is just about touching the right corner of my pelvis? And would I be right in thinking it pretty much stays there until impact (at impact being 85-90% straight), then the right arm fully straightens and releases? The problem I had in trying this was I would hit heavy and behind the ball - is the lateral hip movement to counter that?

I'll try and get a front facing video with better lighting tomorrow if I can drag someone with me to the range to hold the camera...

Cheers,

-Ross

[uttexas]

Yes, first move with the arms/shoulders on the forward swing is to adduct the right tricep down into the torso.

4 iron---you can watch this one in swing vision starting at the 29 second mark


Driver

[Rexx]

You know... after watching the video more, I probably need to retract my statement about dropping the hands, at least until we get a front view. It's just too hard to tell from the down-the-line view in silhouette. There are two things that I notice after looking at it more. You have a one-planish position at the top of the backswing, but your follow through ends in the higher finish of a two-plane swinger, which means you did something during your swing to change. I think in your quest to get more inside-to-outside swing, you drop your right shoulder vertically on the downswing AND your arms are outracing your body to the ball. Your top of backswing reminds me a lot of David Duval, so maybe you can see a bit more of what I'm talking about in this video (go to the 2:00 mark):

[RossOliver]

That clip of Sergio Garcia is crazy - the amount of lag he gets is just insane! I see how his swing differs from mine though - his club head traces his right forearm all the way down the the ball whereas mine drops underneath, off plane after the 7s mark as you mentioned.

I can also see the resemblance to David Duval - he appears to have the lower follow through that I am struggling with in my actual swing (although not quite as extreme). His club also appears quite closed mid-way through his backswing which is something I am working on - I used to have a vertical club face similar to that of Tiger's swing mid-way back, but then I continued to open the club face by rolling my hands over, thus slicing the ball :-/. It's also apparent that Duval traces his right forearm all the way down to the ball like Garcia - this seems to be the part I am coming unstuck at...

-Ross

[senorchipotle]

That clip of Sergio Garcia is crazy - the amount of lag he gets is just insane! I see how his swing differs from mine though - his club head traces his right forearm all the way down the the ball whereas mine drops underneath, off plane after the 7s mark as you mentioned.

dude... do not try to hit like sergio. your swing is beautiful as long as you don't do that flippety doo dah thing at the end. the second vid of your swing is spot on. that's how you need to hit the ball, in that position. don't over think it. just do what you did, and make sure you're hitting down on the ball and your hands keep going straight through the hitting area after contact. good luck.

[RossOliver]

dude... do not try to hit like sergio. your swing is beautiful as long as you don't do that flippety doo dah thing at the end. the second vid of your swing is spot on. that's how you need to hit the ball, in that position. don't over think it. just do what you did, and make sure you're hitting down on the ball and your hands keep going straight through the hitting area after contact. good luck.

Heh, I think my wrist would snap before I got the kind of angle he achieves on his downswing... thanks for the encouragement - hopefully what I've been working on will pay off during my next round... if the damn snow melts!

-Ross