My Swing (bplewis24)

[bplewis24]

I was playing a round with my father and brother today, so I decided to take some video of my swing before we started. By the way, shot an 82, which is my best round in a while. And maybe not coincidentally, the club I was hitting the best in my bag was the 3wood that I used in this video. Several 235-245 yard tee shots, which is the furthest I've ever hit it. Anyway, have at it:



I already knew that I have two habits that are hard to break. First, I do a sort of corkscrew thing with my hips to begin my turn. Second, and probably more importantly, my lead side raises up as I uncoil through impact. I believe this may be one of the biggest problems with my swing, and I can't really figure out how to change it.

What else do you guys see?

Brandon

[Shanks A Million]

Ignore those moves for now, here's the single and profound reason you're not shooting 80s all the time.



This move is almost universal among the bulk of the golfing public; it's utterly ubiquitous. the low point of the swing is behind the ball. Scratch golfers and tour pros have low points significantly ahead of the ball. You can lift, corkscrew, move your head, loop your swing, all sorts of stuff and still play well, but to time a flip is almost impossible.

Here's a more detailed look:



Red lines are where you are. Green lines are where a tour pro is. The club shouldn't release till well after the ball, not before, not at, not even a little in front, but after.

[muggs]

Yeah, first thing I noticed was your position at impact. Even in full speed it was obvious you're well behind the ball. Shanks knows way more about the swing than I do, and he's given you some great advice. But that's what I noticed right away (mainly because I'm trying to fix the same thing).

Nice swing though. Take away looks good, your left arm is perfectly straight, good position at the top of the swing. If you can work out your position at impact you'll be a single digit handicapper in no time.

[bplewis24]

It may take a lot of practice to get rid of that move, then. In the video/pics above, I am consciously trying to keep more weight on my front (left) foot throughout the swing to have my low point come after contact. I try and try and I am rarely successful at it. I notice it with my irons. I struggle to take a divot of late, and when I do it successfully it's usually right at the ball. And when I am finally successful doing it, I usually hit a draw that I'm not playing for.

Brandon

[Shanks A Million]

It may take a lot of practice to get rid of that move, then. In the video/pics above, I am consciously trying to keep more weight on my front (left) foot throughout the swing to have my low point come after contact. I try and try and I am rarely successful at it. I notice it with my irons. I struggle to take a divot of late, and when I do it successfully it's usually right at the ball. And when I am finally successful doing it, I usually hit a draw that I'm not playing for.

That will happen, so open the face a touch if it helps you. Basically, your arms are great, nice and straight, good extension, just in the wrong spot. You need to focus getting hips and hands forward at impact. Hips should be slid forward, hands should be out in front of the left thigh.

[Deryck Griffith]

It may take a lot of practice to get rid of that move, then. In the video/pics above, I am consciously trying to keep more weight on my front (left) foot throughout the swing to have my low point come after contact. I try and try and I am rarely successful at it. I notice it with my irons. I struggle to take a divot of late, and when I do it successfully it's usually right at the ball. And when I am finally successful doing it, I usually hit a draw that I'm not playing for.

If you really look at your face on view, you can see that your hips do not move forward all that much. What shanks is saying is right and his suggestions are good. To add to what he said, when you practice, really practice having the feeling of your hips moving towards the target. That will help to get your swing bottom in front of the ball after contact. Right now, you turn great, but with no lateral hip movement and because of that, your swing bottom happens dead center in your stance.

To also help with the feeling of move the hips forward, think like a pitcher who pushes off of the mound to throw a pitch. That "idea" of pusing like a pitcher with your right foot should help you with getting those hips forward as the downswing begins...good luck!

[bplewis24]

You need to focus getting hips and hands forward at impact. Hips should be slid forward...

If you really look at your face on view, you can see that your hips do not move forward all that much....

Thanks guys. Is there no concern of too much hip slide? I'm afraid that I'll get in the habit of having a lot of hip sway and get too active with my lower body. Or is that something I won't have to concern myself with if I slide or turn the correct way?

Anyway, going to the range today for sure. I should have put some video up a long time ago. Last night was the first time I ever saw my swing and I was impressed by some parts (club face at the top...I always imagined it was wide open), laughed at others (hip corkscrew move) and shocked by one aspect (that my club goes parrallel on the back swing...I never thought it came even close). It's definitely good to see what you're actually doing, though. Brandon

[Shanks A Million]

Thanks guys. Is there no concern of too much hip slide? I'm afraid that I'll get in the habit of having a lot of hip sway and get too active with my lower body. Or is that something I won't have to concern myself with if I slide or turn the correct way?

If I think of anyone who slides the hips forward too much, I'll let you know. You want the hips to slide forward, but the upper body to stay in place. Basically, your hips clear so your hands can come from the inside.

[bplewis24]

Well, it's definitely not going to be easy

Went to the range and tried working on rotating my hips, sliding my weight forward and swinging from the inside. It will take more getting used to as I hit several complete shanks that slid off to the right about 50 yards away (5iron). But I did consistently take divots, which has been eluding me. Most of them were about even with the ball, though, and not in front. I'll keep working on it and see where it takes me, cause right now I have to consciously think about rotating my hips, which kind of has me taking my eye off the ball.

On the plus side, when I do it properly (as far as what I'm trying to accomplish), I hit a push-draw with my irons. Also, (hips rotate, weight shift forward, hands release inside) it seems to generate more power. I hit driver for the last 5-7 balls, and although most were slices, I hit a few straight that apparently went further than most drives I've hit before. One hit the back net on the 2nd bounce, which I've never done at this range before.

Can't wait to go back tomorrow.

Brandon

[nevets88]

I think it depends on the instructor. A good pro can do alot in a couple of lessons, the problem is finding one. There are videos in YouTube that show before and after in one lesson and document amazing progress, from cupped right wrist, casting, to hands ahead of ball at impact, hit the ball first before the ground.

[darkhunter139]

I had a lesson at golf galaxy and I feel like it did help a lot, they film your whole lesson and email it to you so you can keep rewatching it whenever you need a refresher. I have another scheduled for the end of this month. Its $50 a lesson or $130 for a package of 3.

You can check out the golf galaxy website to see who gives lessons at a location near you then look him up on google or something.

[bplewis24]

The Golf Galaxy around here is probably 30+ minutes away, so I'll find out if this instructor can provide video or not to see if it would be worth it to drive that far.

Brandon

[newtogolf]

Originally Posted by nevets88

I think it depends on the instructor. A good pro can do alot in a couple of lessons,

+1 I had an instructor last year that took my mess of a swing and made it usable to get through some tournaments and rounds with friends without embarrassing myself too badly.  This year I found a different instructor who has changed my grip, how I address the ball, my backswing, and swing and follow through.  He has provided me with a foundation to build on that after about five weeks of practice I can "feel" and understand.

Last year when I mishit a ball I had no clue why, but now after just 3 lessons I know where I messed up and can correct it.  I still have alot of learning and practice ahead of me, but at least now it makes sense what I need to do.

[Tomboys]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

Okay, so a close follow of my recent posting history would show I was intent on purchasing a new 3 wood.  Over the weekend, after another horrible outing at the range while attempting to work on getting more hip shift and my hands more forward at impact, I've decided that I should take that money I was going to spend on a 3 wood and get some lessons instead.  I noticed that the Mizuno rep I was dealing with at the demo day is also the local pro at a course I frequent a lot.  I almost consider it my "home course."  He offers instruction packages of 30 minutes for $50, 60 minutes for $100, or a 4 part, 4 hour lesson for around $300.

So, my question is, how beneficial have people found it to get only 2-4 lessons from an instructor?  Would a more advanced/better swing benefit more from such a short period of instruction, or would a poor swing/very high handicap benefit more?  I'm just wondering if it would be worth my time to get only 2-4 1 hour sessions.

Here is my swing from last year for reference.  As a person who has been a teacher/coach myself (football), I have always been good at accepting instruction, if that makes any difference.

Brandon

Please take this as a compliment, but are you related to Rickey Henderson?  You have a similar physique to his and a swing from a deep-crouched position similar to his.  And, for those that aren't up to speed on his backround, his first love was football, not baseball.

But, back to golf.

I'm no expert, so take what I say with a big grain of salt.  IMO, with the proper instructor , you'll have no problem shooting better scores just after 2 to 4 lessons.

Just to give you an idea, I have nowhere near the athletic ability you have.  I would consider myself of just average athletic ability.  I've been playing golf on and off for about 15 years and I've taken probably about 15 lessons in my entire life.  I don't get to practice much due to my schedule (in fact, I've gone to the range a grand total of once so far this year), and I probably play about 3 times per month.  This time last year, my swing deteriorated to the point that when I went on a golf "man-cation"--where I played 4 rounds, I couldn't break 100.  When I got back home, I started interviewing golf instructors for lessons.  It was make or break time for me.

When I had my first lesson with the new instructor, he asked me questions about what I knew about the golf swing and what I felt my problems were.  However, while I had an idea, I didn't want to muddle the waters because what I "knew" wasn't doing me a sh*t-bit of good.  So, I simply replied, "Doesn't matter what I know, look at my swing, tell me what I need to do and I'll do my best to do it."  From there, he watched me hit about 10 golf balls.  He looks at me and says, "You're letting the clubhead pass your hands before and through impact (flip) and your tempo is way off."  So, we did some knockdown and tempo drills for about 15 minutes.  So, after about 30 minutes (15 talking and 15 drills), he takes me to the course to play 3 holes.  Afterwards, I asked him (based on what he saw on the course) if he felt I could break 90 anytime soon.  He replied, "Breaking 90, no problem.  Breaking 80, that's gonna be tougher."

After my first lesson with him and exactly zero time on the range, I went out and shot a 97 on a course that I had been shooting 103+ at.  While a 97 is nothing to write home about, I was most happy that my ballstriking had improved substantially.  I couldn't remember the last time I hit as many solid shots during a round.  From there, I went on to take 5 more lessons with him spaced a week apart.  Now, you have to understand, the reason why I took all those instructions was because of my unique situation.  I am a single father raising two (college) boys that live with me full-time and another son that splits time with me and my ex.  On top of that, I have my own company, so unless I schedule something and force myself to go, it's not going to happen.  Hence, those ensuing lessons were in reality just an expensive way to enforce practice time.  In fact, of those hour-long lessons, it consisted mostly of warming up and heading out to the course where he had me play a variety of holes and hit a variety of shots.  Other than that, there wasn't a heckuva lot of going over mechanics.  More so, he had me verbalize to him my strategy (to play the hole) and identify the targets for my shots.  From there, I swung away.

Fast forward to now.  The majority of rounds are in the 80s, some 90s (still too many, but I'm still very much a work in progress) and I recently broke 80 (79 on a par 72 course) for the first time.  The beauty of that round was that I had to shoot even on the back in order to break 80 which I did.  Oh, and aside from the lessons, I only went to the range 3 times for the remainder of that year.

IMO, there's a tremendous amount of good in your swing.  And, the bad doesn't seem that bad (but, it does need to be addressed).  The two areas that I would look into are the deep "squat" at address and the flip.  I'm not good enough to tell you what problems can occur with your address, but I can say that the flip (just because my own battles with it) can produce the worst struck shots/consistency you've even seen no matter how gorgeous and otherwise technically correct the rest of the swing may be.  Given where your swing is at now, your athletic ability and your dedication to practice, you should see a noticeable difference in just a single lesson.

[GaijinGolfer]

2-4 lessons are going to put you farther ahead than no lessons at all.  I recently started taking lessons and even after only 2 sessons Ive noticed a noticable difference in my swing.  Now I know what Im supposed to be doing, so when I hit a bad shot I know instantly what I did wrong and how to correct it.

[iacas]

One lesson with a good instructor should put you ahead.

One lesson with a poor instructor may very well put you behind.

No lesson with any instructor "sticks" without proper practice afterwards. Check to see whether your instructor offers a supervised practice time.

[JetFan1983]

One lesson with a great instructor + 3 days of range work afterwards and I'm playing by far the best golf I have ever played. There should be no waiting period to see if the tips you are getting are going to work for you. There is no "you must get worse in order to get better" period. At least, not for very long anyway. It just happens either right away or within a couple days of the lesson.

[newtogolf]

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

One lesson with a great instructor + 3 days of range work afterwards and I'm playing by far the best golf I have ever played. There should be no waiting period to see if the tips you are getting are going to work for you. There is no "you must get worse in order to get better" period. At least, not for very long anyway. It just happens either right away or within a couple days of the lesson.

I agree about the range work, that's key in learning anything.  If you don't do your homework and practice you're not going to see much improvement.

I'm not sure I agree with the no waiting period or not getting worse before you get better.  It took me a few weeks to break some of the bad habits I had, and to get my body used to the new swing which was much less arms and much more body than my previous one.   There were a few days at the range where I was in transition and my timing was making it difficult to hit the ball consistently.  Maybe I'm just a slow learner when it comes to golf.