My Swing (adam3205)

[adam3205]

Here's my swing with a 7i.  I've battled pushes and slices (left handed) for years.  Since getting back into golf this year after playing about a handful of rounds during my 4 years college, I've managed to make some improvement.  I started thinking about trying to look under the ball as I make contact and that has helped some.

Also, most of my mis-hits are towards the heel of the clubface.

I've never calculated my handicap exactly but based on some rough estimation it's probably in the mid 20's.

I apologize that the DTL angle is a bit far away.  I'm going to shoot another video once I get a nice day and can make it out to the range.

[senorchipotle]

you make some really good moves with your body, but i'll list a couple things i think you could improve on, but it will take some practice to incorporate them.

1. i like your takeaway. you keep the clubhead outside the hands well and you're in a good position to load the club. however, you are drifting forward over the ball a little bit, and this is what is causing you to hit it off the heel like you said. try to keep your upper body steady and don't let your weight get out on your toes. you want to feel like your feet have suction cups in the middle of them and keep the weight centered thus.

2. you are suffering from a bit of a reverse "c," which is during the takeaway your right side is swaying back to the left. you want to feel like you have 75% of your weight on your front leg even when you're bringing the club back, such that if i were to sweep your right leg from under you you'd fall towards your target.

3. your backswing is way too long. try to feel as though you're bringing the club back only to shoulder level and remove about 25% of the length of your backswing.

there are a few more things i see that i would change, but if you can fix these three the others might just take care of themselves. also, you might want to weaken your grip just a bit.

[uttexas]

Beautiful driving range you've got there.  That downhill sidehill slope your hitting off of on the videos is very difficult.

Overall impression--I like your fluid tempo--did you play baseball?--I see a nice weight transition to the front foot on the downswing.  Very steep downswing resulting in out to in swing path=slice

Set up:  Your stance is a bit open--your feet and shoulders are aligned to the right--this will encourage a push and fade.  Ball is too far back in your stance.  Your rear shoulder is way too low and left arm bent at address.

Backswing--arms separate from body early and elbows separate.  Try turning your shoulders steeper while bringing hands in while keeping your elbows closer together--this will get your arms and clubface in a deeper positionm, which enables you to then strike the ball from an in to out path=draw

Downswing--Because your hands are between your rear shoulder and neck at the top of the backswing--unless you severely drop your arms (ala Steve Marino) to initiate the downswing, you will swing OTT and from out to in=slice

Search this forum for the "deep hands thread"

Going into impact-I like your athletic shift onto your front leg.  Your rear shoulder is really low compared to your front shoulder.

There's a lot of info above

What I'd work on first--getting your hands deeper at the top of the backswing.

[uttexas]

Pause Nick O'Hern's swing at the top of the backswing--see how his right arm is straight and runs through his shoulder and his elbows are close together--Getting to this position makes it easier to swing from the inside.

[adam3205]

Originally Posted by uttexas

Beautiful driving range you've got there.  That downhill sidehill slope your hitting off of on the videos is very difficult.

Overall impression--I like your fluid tempo--did you play baseball?--I see a nice weight transition to the front foot on the downswing.  Very steep downswing resulting in out to in swing path=slice

Set up:  Your stance is a bit open--your feet and shoulders are aligned to the right--this will encourage a push and fade.  Ball is too far back in your stance.  Your rear shoulder is way too low and left arm bent at address.

Backswing--arms separate from body early and elbows separate.  Try turning your shoulders steeper while bringing hands in while keeping your elbows closer together--this will get your arms and clubface in a deeper positionm, which enables you to then strike the ball from an in to out path=draw

Downswing--Because your hands are between your rear shoulder and neck at the top of the backswing--unless you severely drop your arms (ala Steve Marino) to initiate the downswing, you will swing OTT and from out to in=slice

Search this forum for the "deep hands thread"

Going into impact-I like your athletic shift onto your front leg.  Your rear shoulder is really low compared to your front shoulder.

There's a lot of info above

What I'd work on first--getting your hands deeper at the top of the backswing.

Thanks so much for all the help!  This forum has been an incredible resource, even though I haven't done much posting.

Yeah, I love living in the middle of nowhere!  On occasion I break out the driver and real balls and let em fly down the hill.  It's a pain to find them in the field at the bottom though haha.

I did play baseball for almost 10 years.

I've struggled and struggled with my address position...I just can't get comfortable.

Should I set up a little closer to the ball to help keep my backswing mechanics closer to my body?  I've gone back and forth with that and ball position this year.

So I need to have my hands lower in my backswing and farther back around me instead of bringing them up to my neck at the top of my backswing?  I suppose bringing them up high is a product of my baseball habits.

Originally Posted by senorchipotle

you make some really good moves with your body, but i'll list a couple things i think you could improve on, but it will take some practice to incorporate them.

1. i like your takeaway. you keep the clubhead outside the hands well and you're in a good position to load the club. however, you are drifting forward over the ball a little bit, and this is what is causing you to hit it off the heel like you said. try to keep your upper body steady and don't let your weight get out on your toes. you want to feel like your feet have suction cups in the middle of them and keep the weight centered thus.

2. you are suffering from a bit of a reverse "c," which is during the takeaway your right side is swaying back to the left. you want to feel like you have 75% of your weight on your front leg even when you're bringing the club back, such that if i were to sweep your right leg from under you you'd fall towards your target.

3. your backswing is way too long. try to feel as though you're bringing the club back only to shoulder level and remove about 25% of the length of your backswing.

there are a few more things i see that i would change, but if you can fix these three the others might just take care of themselves. also, you might want to weaken your grip just a bit.

So I should keep my hips from moving back, only rotating them?

When I first started golfing I wanted to kill the ball so I'm sure the long back swing coming up to a baseball bat position stems from that mentality..."if I bring it back farther, I'll swing faster and hit longer."

I've actually found that a very strong grip works the best for me.  I watched a video, which I can't find now, that talked about the natural position of the hand when hanging at your side.  Thats the position your hand and wrist want, so taking that grip at address will help you get back to that square position at impact.  I've always been told the 2 knuckle rule and I always felt that it was contributing to my open clubface at impact.

But I'll give a weaker grip another shot as I work on these other suggestions.  Changing up my swing may just make a weaker grip more comfortable!

Thanks again for the detailed replies.

[uttexas]

The backswing--Here's a link to the "deep hands thread" http://thesandtrap.com/forum/thread/30325/deep-hands-explained

If your hands get into a deep position at the top of the backswing, it will be much easier to approach the ball from the inside.  In general, the clubface at impact determines where the ball starts and swing path determines the curve of the ball in flight.

What works for me

I think steep shoulder turn (turn front shoulder down/turn shoulders vertically (not around on a flat circle) and bring hands in.

When practicing your swing at the range (you have a wonderful home driving range) really focus on feeling pressure at these points throughout the swing.

Pressure Points in the Golf Swing
1: The heel of the bottom hand where it touches the top hand or grip
2: The last three fingers of the top hand
3: The first joint of the bottom hand index finger where it touches the grip
4: Lead armpit (or where the lead arm touches the chest)
5: Trailing armpit*

By focusing on these pressure points other good things happen--your elbows will be more connected and the club head won't get behind your hands early in the backswing (you do a good job currently of keeping the clubhead outside your hands until the club is parallel to the ground)

[senorchipotle]

Originally Posted by adam3205

So I should keep my hips from moving back, only rotating them?

yes, that's precisely the idea. moving your hips to your left in the backswing means you have to initiate the downswing by moving your hips back to the address point. even with an otherwise fundamentally sound golf swing this issue is enough to keep you from hitting the ball consistently.

if you are comfortable with a really strong grip, then by all means keep it. but the reason why i said you might consider weakening it is because your chest is slightly open at contact and only because of a really strong grip you are able to hit the ball fairly straight. this seems, imho to be a band-aid for the bigger problem. i think if you keep your elbows closer and start coming from the inside like ut is suggesting then the strong grip is gonna have you pull hooking balls to high heaven.

[adam3205]

Originally Posted by senorchipotle

yes, that's precisely the idea. moving your hips to your left in the backswing means you have to initiate the downswing by moving your hips back to the address point. even with an otherwise fundamentally sound golf swing this issue is enough to keep you from hitting the ball consistently.

if you are comfortable with a really strong grip, then by all means keep it. but the reason why i said you might consider weakening it is because your chest is slightly open at contact and only because of a really strong grip you are able to hit the ball fairly straight. this seems, imho to be a band-aid for the bigger problem. i think if you keep your elbows closer and start coming from the inside like ut is suggesting then the strong grip is gonna have you pull hooking balls to high heaven.

Okay you're probably right.  I'm sure that working on these suggestions is going to expose many more bad habits I've developed as a form of compensation.