My Swing (Amofada)

[Amofada]

I have been working on making my take away a little less handsy. I know I'm jumping a little bit at the ball starting my downswing. I have a very crooked spine angle at impact that's hard to correct. (Looks a bit like Robert Karlson) Might be an issue health wise down the road? That's my concern more than anything.

This particular shot was a pretty good one. 280 yrds low power fade with a 3W

[brgolf]

It's an impressive swing.

There is nothing about the spine angle which shouts 'health issue' at me. Truthfully if you want to be sure about that you would likely need to be asking an expert in both golf and medicine rather than the inevitable annecdotal evidence you will get on here.

[uttexas]

Great swing--really nice impact, release, and follow through. I think your shoulder rotation and "spine angle" on the forward swing and into impact are good--and maybe a bit too verticle. I'm not an instructor, or PGA professional, but I'd say your shoulders rotate a bit too horizontally instead of around your spine (inclination to the ground) on the backswing. If you think of the golf swing as swing around your spine, you would have to turn your shoulders perpendicular to your cervical/thoracic junction "spine angle". Thus, your shoulder rotation plane during the backswing is flatter (more horizontal) than your spine (or inclination to the ground). Your first move on the forward/down swing is a correction move and you tilt your shoulders more vertically--and I think you overcorrect just slightly. Your forward swing and impact shoulder plane looks a bit steeper than perpendicular to your "spine angle".
Please post a face on view.

[saevel25]

Crooked Spine at impact, i don't think you do. I think thats common, Jim Mclean has studied this and shown that its impossible to keep a straight spine at impact, the golf swing doesn't allow it. Even when they analyse golf swing on the gofl channel they draw a line from neck to the tailbone and it should maintain the same positions at those two points, but the spine can still be tilted like that. But you have a very good golf swing, keep it up. Unless you are feeling back pain, i wouldn't bother with it, i don't think it will cause you issues.

[Rexx]

Your hands move outward (away from you) to start, combined with a rolling of the wrists and forearms. Notice the gap between your left arm and body has increased as you start the backswing. Hands should move inwards, while clubhead remains outward by not rolling the forearms or hinging the right wrist (this will come later when right elbow starts to fold). And it's hard to tell without a front view, but it looks like you may have chicked-winged or flipped that one a bit -- the motion through impact doesn't look quite right. But, solid swing nonetheless.

[iacas]

Your hands move outward (away from you) to start, combined with a rolling of the wrists and forearms. Notice the gap between your left arm and body has increased as you start the backswing. Hands should move inwards, while clubhead remains outward by not rolling the forearms or hinging the right wrist (this will come later when right elbow starts to fold).

That's a good post. Only took to #5 to get it, too. Good!

[iacas]

Your hands move outward (away from you) to start, combined with a rolling of the wrists and forearms. Notice the gap between your left arm and body has increased as you start the backswing. Hands should move inwards, while clubhead remains outward by not rolling the forearms or hinging the right wrist (this will come later when right elbow starts to fold).

That's a good post. Only took to #5 to get it, too. Good!

[Amofada]

Your hands move outward (away from you) to start, combined with a rolling of the wrists and forearms. Notice the gap between your left arm and body has increased as you start the backswing. Hands should move inwards, while clubhead remains outward by not rolling the forearms or hinging the right wrist (this will come later when right elbow starts to fold). And it's hard to tell without a front view, but it looks like you may have chicked-winged or flipped that one a bit -- the motion through impact doesn't look quite right. But, solid swing nonetheless.

I know. That's what I mean by working on my take away being to "handsy". I'm setting my wrist earlier than optimal and the hands coming outside is a reaction of that. That's the #1 thing I am working on ATM. However I do feel like my P3 still is pretty good. About the motion through impact, it's a result of the swing being a bit tentative knowing that I absolutely can't miss right on that hole having done so earlier, it's sort of forcing the ball not to go right. That's not something I usually struggle with, but something that gets in my head at that very tee box affecting the swing somewhat. Also why I'm going with a fade down the left trying to eliminate the woods on the right there. Thanks though.

But as stated my concern is the swing might screwing up my back. I've had some upper back, lower neck stiffness and I'm thinking the golf swing is the culprit.

[saevel25]

Upper back and lower neck stiffness.

Most back issues in golf are lower back, especially in the younger players due to they mantain a C in there swing through impact. Rory does this and has had back issues earlier this year. I don't know what might cause upper back and lower neck issues. But i think it is because your head moves down in the downswing. If you look in the background your heads moves down because you can see more of the fairway. Then your back lifts ups and arches more. This will stretch your neck and upper back. If you put your chin to your chest and rotate your head you will feel a stretch in the muscles of your neck that connect to your spine. This is what you are stretching. I would say if you want to fix this, limit the amount your head drops in the downswing.

[Shanks A Million]

I know. That's what I mean by working on my take away being to "handsy". I'm setting my wrist earlier than optimal and the hands coming outside is a reaction of that. That's the #1 thing I am working on ATM. However I do feel like my P3 still is pretty good. About the motion through impact, it's a result of the swing being a bit tentative knowing that I absolutely can't miss right on that hole having done so earlier, it's sort of forcing the ball not to go right. That's not something I usually struggle with, but something that gets in my head at that very tee box affecting the swing somewhat. Also why I'm going with a fade down the left trying to eliminate the woods on the right there. Thanks though.

I used to take the club back the same way, and often still do. It's a tough nut to crack. You can see, at the point when the clubhead is level to the ground, it's gone to the inside, where as, for my money, it's best to have it on the hands, or above them.

I suffer from a lot of lack of flexibility. I know just how hard it can be to get your body to cooperate! I am working on getting my club right on the hands halfway back, which seems to let my body naturally drop it down to a good plane. Iacas has tons of advice he can give you about that. I like the Rickie Fowler drill: Notice how he has the club above his hands halfway back? Hands are deep, club is shallow. I like to exaggerate that sometimes to get me on plane.

[Rexx]

I know. That's what I mean by working on my take away being to "handsy". I'm setting my wrist earlier than optimal and the hands coming outside is a reaction of that. That's the #1 thing I am working on ATM. However I do feel like my P3 still is pretty good. About the motion through impact, it's a result of the swing being a bit tentative knowing that I absolutely can't miss right on that hole having done so earlier, it's sort of forcing the ball not to go right. That's not something I usually struggle with, but something that gets in my head at that very tee box affecting the swing somewhat. Also why I'm going with a fade down the left trying to eliminate the woods on the right there. Thanks though.

Your P3 position is a little off, the hands would normally be a few more inches left. But in your case, the left arm is bent slightly, so you are actually more like 4-6 inches off. The left arm should be straighter and a bit more across the chest here. I think at least some of this is related to the initial takeaway.

And I don't know if it's your normal shot, but I believe you hit a pull fade there. Your alignment appears to be down the center of the fairway, but the ball appears to start at the left edge of the fairway. I know you said you're trying to avoid the woods on the right, just curious if you were trying to play a pull fade.