My Swing (Shanks a Million)

[Shanks A Million]

Ok, my leg certainly is feeling better, but still a bit wary of it.

You'll notice one thing major with this swing, and that's that my left arm is bent. I have rheumatoid arthritis, and neither arm can fully straighten. The backswing is still a touch flat, but I've stopped worrying about it as much. I want to achieve a sound fundamental basis and I'll determine whether or not it's still too flat from there.

Here's what I was working on. Less shoulder turn back (45° is plenty of turn back for me), more through (90-110°), and not flipping the club.



What do you all suggest to work on next?

[mcfc_nick]

that is not a swing of beauty but its easy to tell that it works for you, and your left arm doesnt bend so much

[imtomtomim]

is your miss the pull hook? club comes inside really early in the backswing and looks like it's headed left on the downswing.

posture looks a little hunched over

your head likes to cock before you start your downswing. I only see that work when you cock your head from the beginning of the motion and still that's iffy (Ochoa). doesn't hurt your turn too much, but could be an indicator of you fighting your body. also tells me that your focus on the ball gets blurred. think baseball, keep your eye on the ball. what ball player have you seen watch the ball through the corner of their eyes instead of face on?

also small mention of your hands getting further away from your body at impact

These are all just notes of your swing, you're hitting the ball so don't go around messing with all of this. I'd say just work on posture and staying down through the shot. don't let your shoulder pull your body up, let the club swing around and then make you stand up. keep watching the impact location. Only necessary straight arm is at impact

[iacas]

You'll notice one thing major with this swing, and that's that my left arm is bent. I have rheumatoid arthritis, and neither arm can fully straighten.

SAM, I feel like I can speak frankly, and I don't buy it - it's straight throughout the backswing. Heck, it's straighter at address than impact. The bend in the left arm and the flipping are part and parcel the same thing.

[DavidFehertysBike]

Its not the best looking swing out there..lol, but youre playing 7 handicap golf with it so i guess your doing something right. I think you do a good job of taking wihat your body will give you.

[delav]

Agreed. You seem to make decent contact with the ball, given the few compensations in your swing.

For as passionate about the game as you seem, have you considered working towards improving fitness? To me, that seems like a logical next step if great golf is your goal.

[Shanks A Million]

that is not a swing of beauty but its easy to tell that it works for you, and your left arm doesnt bend so much

Haha, is anything about me a thing of beauty? A 260 lb golfer trying to make a full turn is never going to be pretty.

is your miss the pull hook? club comes inside really early in the backswing and looks like it's headed left on the downswing.

My club has always come back on the inside, but believe it or not, I've blocked the ball more than pulled it. All it really is is too late of a hinge, which I'm working on fixing. I've had some instructors tell me it was an illusion, and not to worry, others told me to hinge earlier... Who knows?

This was the first day I was trying iacas's anti flip drill (one of the best ever drills, btw), so this swing was a sloppy transition swing, and you're completely right, it was a pull hook on that day. Today, it was just the opposite, a push-fade. I'll get it dialed in and post a new video, and we'll see from there.

posture looks a little hunched over

Because it is, yes. I'll fix that soon. Add it to the list.

your head likes to cock before you start your downswing. I only see that work when you cock your head from the beginning of the motion and still that's iffy (Ochoa). doesn't hurt your turn too much, but could be an indicator of you fighting your body. also tells me that your focus on the ball gets blurred. think baseball, keep your eye on the ball. what ball player have you seen watch the ball through the corner of their eyes instead of face on?

This is actually not anything more than my shoulder pulling my head back. I regularly practice twisting my neck to try and increase the flexibility there, and less shoulder turn back will no doubt help. I have tried cocking it back at address a-la Nicklaus/Ochoa, but it really seemed to bother me, and I lost focus.

I may consider working on that soon, but it doesn't really affect my focus on the ball, my eyes are used to tracking it. For now, I'd rather worry about bigger problems, like flipping. I'll put it farther down the list.

also small mention of your hands getting further away from your body at impact

Noted, will add that to the list.

These are all just notes of your swing, you're hitting the ball so don't go around messing with all of this. I'd say just work on posture and staying down through the shot. don't let your shoulder pull your body up, let the club swing around and then make you stand up. keep watching the impact location. Only necessary straight arm is at impact

I'll always hit it, I have freakishly good hand-eye coordination, but that doesn't mean I want a flawed swing. I want the best swing I can have, and that means making changes, even if they hurt my game at first.

SAM, I feel like I can speak frankly, and I don't buy it - it's straight throughout the backswing. Heck, it's straighter at address than impact. The bend in the left arm and the flipping are part and parcel the same thing.

Hah, you always can. Yes, you're correct about that. It does bend a bit more at impact than it

should , even with the defect, but trust me, it can never go fully straight, and it never has. It does appear to straighten when the elbow is facing the camera, though, you'll notice that. It'll always be somewhat of a trade off, but I'd like to get it at least straight er . Here's the farthest I can extend the arm. This is actually so far, it's painful:

Agreed. You seem to make decent contact with the ball, given the few compensations in your swing.

Yes, indeed, I've lost quite a bit of weight, nearly 30 lbs. I'm doing regular workouts and all that. I'm also doing stretching and flexibility. My girlfriend is a gym rat, and she drinks pure fruit smoothies and all that stuff. She's getting me into that healthy lifestyle, etc. My mother also is a dietitian, but she doesn't have the same power over me... I wonder why.

Great tips everyone, going to add them all to the list. It'll take about a month to get through these all, so keep tuned for updates.

• Arm straight
• Come back on plane
• Hands close
• Stay down
• Don't slouch
• Head tilt (maybe)

[Deryck Griffith]

I have to give you credit for such great contact with the ball!

I will say that while the mechanical goals are important, continuing with your fitness goals should be top on the list. Being that you are a 7HC right now, I can only imagine how low you can go when you gain more agility with your swing.

[Shanks A Million]

I have to give you credit for such great contact with the ball!

I threw in some mishits there, didn't you all notice?

The third swing face on is a fat shot. The first down the line is an overswing and pull.

[sean_miller]

I threw in some mishits there, didn't you all notice?

I was going to comment on that - didn't know which ones they were in the sequence though. I was grasping for the right terminology, but at least one DTL shot is a funky takeaway that seems to go downhill from there - relatively speaking (you still hit it).

To be honest, you're a big man wearing a big shirt, so it looks like there's extra motion. Watching frame by frame (as much as youtube allows anyway) shows something else. When I focus only on the club positions and movement your swing looks basically solid. Does the video show there's room for improvement? Of course it does, but until you shed a couple more pounds, there's no sense buying smaller T-shirts!

[Shanks A Million]

I was going to comment on that - didn't know which ones they were in the sequence though. I was grasping for the right terminology, but at least one DTL shot is a funky takeaway that seems to go downhill from there - relatively speaking (you still hit it).

Yes, I noticed that too. The shirt blows in the wind. I'll do some with proper golf shirts.

[jwolf02]

This was the first day I was trying iacas's anti flip drill (one of the best ever drills, btw),

Not to hijack your thread with a question, but is there a link, etc to this drill?

[Deryck Griffith]

I threw in some mishits there, didn't you all notice?

It was hard to see the ball fly off clearly after the contact. I did notice one of the bad shots but I've seen your videos before and have always appreciated your contact when you hit it good.

[colin007]

Not to hijack your thread with a question, but is there a link, etc to this drill?

i was wondering the same.

[Shanks A Million]

Here's the drill, I know it's posted on the site somewhere as well:

[Shanks A Million]

I know some people are fans of these, others aren't. I've been on and off with my loop for a while, but I'm thinking I'm going to keep it for good, because, to be honest, it's the only thing that gets me on plane consistently. It's nearly impossible for me to get under plane, so I don't worry much about it, and let my hands drop as low as possible in the downswing.

*(note, sorry about my fashion sense here, but I wasn't planning to post this, and yes , I did cut my hair since then, I look like some bad Elvis with two shirts on).


But I'm not the only one. Furyk, Trevino, Fowler? They all employed it too.




But some say these should be fixed. Personally, when I don't use the loop, I loop it the other way. That leads to a steep swing, and I just can't live with a steep swing anymore. I'm getting too old to throw away strokes with an over plane swing.

Does anyone else play with a loop?

* Now, the major thing I need to fix is my followthrough, as my hands are literally just stopping midway through the followthrough, and there's a chicken wing. I don't flip as much as I did, but it's still something I'm working on. I may always have a little chicken wing, but I'm hoping to minimize it.

[nuck81]

I've stopped thinking anything about swing thoughts.

The past few weeks I've been posting videos of swing after swing, thinking this and that, changing this and that, and I got worse. I read a passage in one of the Rotella books that said most amatuers have a good enough swing to break 80 they just don't trust it. So I've commited myself to focusing on target and just hitting the ball.

If it works, don't mess with it...

[Weezy]

Everyone plays with a loop to some extent. Noone takes it back and through perfectly on plane. Golf is not a game of perfect. Usually loop guys like to stand close to the ball which forces them to drop it down or fight over the top for the rest of their lives.