My Swing (srjorion)

[srjorion]

I've always been a huge advocate for taking lessons and having a pro diagnose your swing. I have always thought that it's better to do that than try to fix things yourself. Well, I figured if I'm going to say that then I should try both. So, here's my swing:




I definitely learned a lot looking at my swing and saw a bunch of flaws right off the bat. I'll let you guys tell me what you think before I post what I think.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

SRJ

[uttexas]

Looking at your video, I really miss Utah (lived there for a year). Beautiful place, nice people.

Set up: try bending both knees a bit more. Your upper body leans away from the target significantly at address. Your torso should be more centered at set up. Because your knees are relatively straight, and your torso is off center, your weight starts on your right heel. Try to get your weight centered on the balls of your feet more at address.

Backswing: Looks great. There are some minor things (clubface gets a little closed at the top, could get the hands deeper)

Downswing: You kind of throw the club at the ball a bit as your first move. First move should be all lower body, hips forward. Then bring right elbow down.
I am terribly jealous of how well you extend your legs into impact.

[Soren]

I'm no expert, but you're doing a lot of things right. I like the way you bring the club up and back, but your wrists are too stiff on your way down. Try to hinge them a bit more on the top of your swing.

The most visible flaw I spotted were your right leg, which is extremely straight throughout most of the swing. Even though your posture looks good, make sure you keep it as bent as your left leg. Your hipwork looks fine.

[srjorion]

Thanks for the input. Great stuff so far!

  uttexas said:

Looking at your video, I really miss Utah (lived there for a year). Beautiful place, nice people.

I just moved here about four months ago from New Orleans. I really love it here so far. I'll miss playing through the winter, but I can live with that.

  uttexas said:

Set up: try bending both knees a bit more. Your upper body leans away from the target significantly at address. Your torso should be more centered at set up. Because your knees are relatively straight, and your torso is off center, your weight starts on your right heel. Try to get your weight centered on the balls of your feet more at address.

I was surprised how straight I was keeping my legs. I "feel" like they are bent more, but that's obviously not the case. Definitely something I'll be working on over the next few range sessions.

  uttexas said:

Backswing: Looks great. There are some minor things (clubface gets a little closed at the top, could get the hands deeper)

I noticed the closed clubface too, but didn't think about getting the hands deeper. Thanks, I'll work on that. Any suggestions or drills out there for fixing the closed clubface?

  uttexas said:

Downswing: You kind of throw the club at the ball a bit as your first move. First move should be all lower body, hips forward. Then bring right elbow down.

That's been something I have always fought. When I was taking lessons a few years ago that's the main thing we worked on. I've lost the feel on that one and need to get it back.

  uttexas said:

I am terribly jealous of how well you extend your legs into impact.

I wish I could say it was something I was doing on purpose!

  Soren said:

I'm no expert, but you're doing a lot of things right. I like the way you bring the club up and back, but your wrists are too stiff on your way down. Try to hinge them a bit more on the top of your swing.

Another area where I "feel" like I'm doing something but I'm not. I also realized after this how tense I was. I'm not sure if it was the cold or what, but I definitely need to relax the wrists.

Thanks again. I'm open to any other items people see.

[uttexas]

Nice thing about Salt Lake City--It can be snowing in the mountains 20 minutes out of town (good for skiing/snowboarding) and warm in the city/the valley. When I lived there, I was able to snowboard and golf in the same day February to April.

If it's too cold or snowy for golf in SLC, you can head south down the interstate toward St. George.

Here's a good drill to really stretch out that top of the backswing position (which I think will help get the hands deeper and open the face a bit)...also, the drill should also help you get your arms and club moving down (instead of out) as the first move on the downswing.

[srjorion]

Thanks uttexas. I'll give that a shot the next time I hit the range.

I went out yesterday and worked on my setup, knee flex, and getting the hands coming down more vs. throwing the club at the ball. It's definitely going to take some time to get those new feelings going, but I did se a little improvement on a few shots. If it stays warm enough over the next couple of weeks and I can make it out to the range enough I'll post some new video to see any improvements.

SRJ

[srjorion]

Update after a few trips to the range.



I'm still working on getting more knee flex into my setup. I'm also trying to keep that lag and having my hands forward at impact vs. throwing it away early in the swing. That one is kicking my butt at the moment if anyone has any suggestions.

One other thing I noticed and worked on some today was I wasn't getting my left shoulder down enough in the back swing. I worked on that today and that alone gave me some much better shots. If I can get my hands forward at address while working my shoulders properly I believe my ball striking will improve quite a bit.

I'm going to post some still shots later with a comparison of last week vs. this week.

As always, thanks in advance for any advice.

SRJ

[uttexas]

Looks like another beautiful day in SLC. Did you go to the Utah vs TCU game? If you get a chance, go to a Utes football game--really cool stadium in the mountains.

Definitely improved/more centered swing.
I had some trouble pausing the video (could be my computer).
Backswing--The clubhead gets a little bit behind your hands a little too early (at P2). try to keep your right elbow more connected to your torso (I do the same thing you do--my right shoulder externally rotates and my right elbow goes a little behind my torso on the backswing.
GREAT hip turn.
At the very end of the backsing, you lift up too much with the arms (you can see the club cross the plane line at the top)--this promotes the early throwing out of the club

Downswing--you just posted the main issue. Keep the elbow more connected, minimize the lifting at the end of the backswing, and you'll be in a better position for the forward swing. Hips/legs forward first, then right elbow down

Watch these videos over and over.

[srjorion]

  uttexas said:

Looks like another beautiful day in SLC. Did you go to the Utah vs TCU game? If you get a chance, go to a Utes football game--really cool stadium in the mountains.

It was very windy today but other than that it was pretty good. I'll definitely take as many warm days to play and practice before it gets cold. I didn't go to the game, but I actually work right next to the University of Utah at Ft. Douglas. Definitely an awesome looking stadium.

Thanks again for the tips and videos. I just realized this evening that in the very first video you posted the guy had a ten finger grip. Now that drill makes more sense and I'll give it a shot the right way. I've already watched that Hogan video about twenty times, that one is awesome. Great eye on the lifting. I didn't catch that. Something else I'm trying to do is shorten my swing just a touch. I definitely feel like it is shorter than it is and am surprised every time I see it on video to find I'm going back as far as I am with a 6 iron. SRJ

[sean_miller]

  uttexas said:

try to keep your right elbow more connected to your torso (I do the same thing you do--my right shoulder externally rotates and my right elbow goes a little behind my torso on the backswing.

I was thinking that was an improvement - getting his right elbow unwelded from his torso.

[uttexas]

It's OK to unweld the elbow from the torso, but it should be so that the arm is parallel to the torso (to keep the swing on plane), not angled off to the side or behind. The mental thought is to keep your right elbow pointing at your bellybutton

see how Hogan's right elbow points almost straight down keeping his right arm in front of his torso. Hogan's arm is "connected" to his torso, but not welded to it


Here's an example of elbow behind the torso--shoulder has externally rotated and rear arm is going behind the body (actually you could just look at my blogged swing videos)

[sean_miller]

  uttexas said:

It's OK to unweld the elbow from the torso, but it should be so that the arm is parallel to the torso (to keep the swing on plane), not angled off to the side or behind. The mental thought is to keep your right elbow pointing at your bellybutton

I'm not sure which element's of Ben Hogan's golf swing he's trying to incorporate, but I know what looks natural and powerful and what doesn't. There are many paths to the way but the BH golf swing (the destination of a small statured man who fought a snap hook) is not necessarily for everyone. Maybe he does need to lock his left elbow in tighter. Maybe he doesn't.

[HAVOC]

watch your front foot your weight is on your heel when you finish which causes you to fall slightly back