My Swing (El Mucho)

[El Mucho]

Here are a few recent videos, I'm not really sure what to make of any of them. I know I need to work on how much my head moves but when I focus on keeping it still I literally cannot hit the ball.

I think I am making some progress with the hips, I feel like they are getting forward through impact, and I try to focus on them starting the downswing. I think I have done a bit better of a job of not swaying backwards with my weight as well. We are also still on mats up north so it's hard to tell where my club is making impact with the ground, both of these shots were straight and felt good.

Anyway take a look and tell me what you think.

7i Side

7i DTL

Thanks again for all your help. The few simple tips I have gotten have improved my ball striking dramatically.

[Ben]

Originally Posted by El Mucho

Yeah sorry about the crappy video quality.

Quick question regarding the hips, I have a good visual in my mind of what I need to do, but not sure how it should feel. When I try to get more rotation in the hips should I feel a noticeable sway from back to front?

Also, would loading more of my weight on the front foot help with the feel in my hips? Right now I would say that I have my weight 50/50 split on both legs, as I am learning more about what my hips need to be doing, in my head it makes sense to put more weight forward, but I don't know if that is correct.

uttexas has posted some really helpful stuff! Anything you can learn from Ben Hogan will be beneficial. I just so happen to have an example from Hogan myself. Here is a good diagram to help you with a good feel move for that hip action. I don't know if you have his book Five Lessons , but its very helpful, and this diagram is from that book. The book describes you being attached to a wall with an elastic band. Your backswing extends the band. Your downswing is started by the feel of that elastic band snapping back to the original form. Fire them through.

In watching your videos I would also say you may want to loosen up a bit. You seem tense in your upperbody. I like to tell my people to relax their elbows. If the elbows are relaxed, the rest of your upperbody will follow. You look pretty young, I'd say take advantage of your natural flexibility, no need to be tight in the swing. Lanky flexible guys hit the ball far.

Well, after writing that I just noticed you have an updated swing video on here, and yes, your hip action looks much better, and like you mentioned that definitely helped with speed and power! Good job on that. Now time for some balance. Not entirely your fault in that video either. What is that crazy range you're at? Slippery rubber to swing on? Your foot totally slipped out! Head back to that indoor range! Work on your balance for a bit. I like to practice at 70% of my power sometimes. Its an easier way to get new moves down.

If you're planning on posting more videos, I'd suggest some longer editing. A few more seconds before the swing starts and after it finishes.

Keep practicing. It pays off.

(Now just noticed the third update. Looks better.)

[El Mucho]

Originally Posted by Ben

uttexas has posted some really helpful stuff! Anything you can learn from Ben Hogan will be beneficial. I just so happen to have an example from Hogan myself. Here is a good diagram to help you with a good feel move for that hip action. I don't know if you have his book Five Lessons, but its very helpful, and this diagram is from that book. The book describes you being attached to a wall with an elastic band. Your backswing extends the band. Your downswing is started by the feel of that elastic band snapping back to the original form. Fire them through.

In watching your videos I would also say you may want to loosen up a bit. You seem tense in your upperbody. I like to tell my people to relax their elbows. If the elbows are relaxed, the rest of your upperbody will follow. You look pretty young, I'd say take advantage of your natural flexibility, no need to be tight in the swing. Lanky flexible guys hit the ball far.

Well, after writing that I just noticed you have an updated swing video on here, and yes, your hip action looks much better, and like you mentioned that definitely helped with speed and power! Good job on that. Now time for some balance. Not entirely your fault in that video either. What is that crazy range you're at? Slippery rubber to swing on? Your foot totally slipped out! Head back to that indoor range! Work on your balance for a bit. I like to practice at 70% of my power sometimes. Its an easier way to get new moves down.

If you're planning on posting more videos, I'd suggest some longer editing. A few more seconds before the swing starts and after it finishes.

Keep practicing. It pays off.

(Now just noticed the third update. Looks better.)

Yeah the video were I slip is an outside range but, the grass up here isn't growing yet ( the temperature still drops below zero at night) so they have mats out, added to that it had just rained. Probably not the best time to be out at the range but I have the bug.

What do you think of the most recent videos? I was back at the indoor range, and I feel like I was hitting it much better than the previous videos.

[phillyk]

I'd say its almost too loose.  On the swing from behind video, it looks like the hip turn is fine, but your arms swing out with your hips making an outside in swing path. You need to keep your hands in the same place as your hips begin the rotation, and have your right arm swipe your side.

[El Mucho]

I noticed my right elbow flared out a bit at the top of the backswing, are you saying I should keep it close to my side? Will this prevent the arms from taking over the swing?

[Ben]

Originally Posted by El Mucho

Yeah the video were I slip is an outside range but, the grass up here isn't growing yet ( the temperature still drops below zero at night) so they have mats out, added to that it had just rained. Probably not the best time to be out at the range but I have the bug.

What do you think of the most recent videos? I was back at the indoor range, and I feel like I was hitting it much better than the previous videos.

Compared to the videos you first posted, much better. What you have been working on shows.

From the last videos I think its time for you to work on swing plane. Again, I'll use Hogan as the perfect example. There are two common points of view on swing plane. One being that your club moves along the plane on the way back, and on the way through. In Hogan's book he talks about having the backswing along the plane pictured below, however the downswing and follow-through follow a slightly different plane. You hear people talking about swinging inside-out? That's inside that plane on the downswing which lead slightly outside the plane on the follow-through. There is another diagram that shows just that in Hogan's book, but for some reason I can't find that in a google image search.

Keep practicing!

[senorchipotle]

[El Mucho]

Is the chicken wing  causing me to go off plane or is it the lack of hinge in my back swing?

[sbasson]

Hey Bud!

Let me help...

Two things. The flight scope are pure estimation! if you know what that machine does you can manipulate some of the data that are being reflected. Secondly, nothing tells you more than true outside driving range flight of the ball.

Concerning your golf swing.

I did not read any of the comments any of the other guys wrote, but i don't need to! Your goal here is distance increase and bit of accuracy! so i am going to try and explain this as simple as possible and if anything is not clear please send me a mail and i will help you as far as i can OK! Now the only way you can generate more club head speed for distance is to create more width in your swing. So you would need to work on flexibility to help you with that. and the easiest way to do this to take a towel and through it over your shoulder and and stretch your hands together so they touch behind your back and try to do this both ways! Then this improved flexibility will help you to create more speed! Then i think your hands are very low on the back swing so this is what happens. Imagine you take a perfectly round circle and hold it horizontally to the ground, imagine this is a copy of your swing ARC. you will notice that you only have one point that is square at your target. So your swing plane will only have a tiny point that is pointing at flag. Now if you take the same circle and flip it vertically you will see that the plane is on target the whole time and the club pointing to the flag all the time, which is great for your accuracy.

So if you understand what i am trying to say is that i think you should get your hands higher on your back swing. This will free you up and get the club better on plane and if your get to work on that flexibility you will be on your way to more accurate and longer tee shots.

Regards

Steve

[senorchipotle]

the chicken wing is caused by a combination of you coming up out of your inclination to the ground and pushing your right hip toward the ball instead of toward the target and to the left, and you coming over the top and striking the ball from the outside. really look at the video i posted and see how he sequences the swing, particularly starting from the feet, knees, hips, shoulders, then finally arms. you are starting everything all at once. imagine you're swinging in a swingset and getting ready to jump out as far as you can. you use momentum and gravity, right? if you jerk your legs back and forth you're not going to go anywhere, cause you can't get any leverage.

but back to the chicken wing. if you swing from out to in you have to shorten your arc otherwise you'll dig the club into the ground and hurt your hands. if you've got your hip pushing toward the ball there's no room left for your arms to come from the inside so they must come from outside our you'll push the ball. so the combination of these two things is causing you to chicken wing. good news though, if you start clearing the left hip out of the way then it'll keep you from coming over the top.

also, your backswing looks incredibly uncomfortable. try lifting the arms a little instead of just tilting them with your shoulder turn. hell, i wouldn't play golf if it took being that uncomfortable to swing the club.

[El Mucho]

Originally Posted by senorchipotle

the chicken wing is caused by a combination of you coming up out of your inclination to the ground and pushing your right hip toward the ball instead of toward the target and to the left, and you coming over the top and striking the ball from the outside. really look at the video i posted and see how he sequences the swing, particularly starting from the feet, knees, hips, shoulders, then finally arms. you are starting everything all at once. imagine you're swinging in a swingset and getting ready to jump out as far as you can. you use momentum and gravity, right? if you jerk your legs back and forth you're not going to go anywhere, cause you can't get any leverage.

but back to the chicken wing. if you swing from out to in you have to shorten your arc otherwise you'll dig the club into the ground and hurt your hands. if you've got your hip pushing toward the ball there's no room left for your arms to come from the inside so they must come from outside our you'll push the ball. so the combination of these two things is causing you to chicken wing. good news though, if you start clearing the left hip out of the way then it'll keep you from coming over the top.

also, your backswing looks incredibly uncomfortable. try lifting the arms a little instead of just tilting them with your shoulder turn. hell, i wouldn't play golf if it took being that uncomfortable to swing the club.

Sorry, can you explain pushing my right hip towards the ball? Do you mean that I am not getting enough rotation in my hips? Also, I am not sure what you mean by lift my arms instead of tilting. I can see that my arms are starting the back swing, but my shoulders should be doing that right, with my arms staying fairly quiet?

[Snowman80]

Thats a great swing sequence video....very informative

[senorchipotle]

Originally Posted by El Mucho

Sorry, can you explain pushing my right hip towards the ball? Do you mean that I am not getting enough rotation in my hips? Also, I am not sure what you mean by lift my arms instead of tilting. I can see that my arms are starting the back swing, but my shoulders should be doing that right, with my arms staying fairly quiet?

ok.... so imagine you're taking the club back to the top. the angle your back is forward is called your "inclination to the ground" or "spine angle," etc. your object is to keep this same angle from the beginning of the swing until after you hit the ball. what you are doing is coming out of this and decreasing this angle or inclination to the ground. i'll give you another video that can better explain this cause it's hard for me to tell you without showing you. but basically, your hips should never push toward the ball.

what you are doing now is tilting your arms with your shoulder turn, which is fine to a certain point,  but you should lift your arms up as well. cause as it is now, your hands are only going as high as your left shoulder is going down.

[El Mucho]

Thanks, for the videos. That last one is a complete revelation. I had no idea that I was supposed to be lifting my arms. I will practice this and hopefully get some more videos up. Thanks again for the pointers.

[senorchipotle]

Originally Posted by El Mucho

Thanks, for the videos. That last one is a complete revelation. I had no idea that I was supposed to be lifting my arms. I will practice this and hopefully get some more videos up. Thanks again for the pointers.

i could tell, you were making me uncomfortable with that backswing. now you should be able to sequence your swing more easily. cause i just tried to imitate your backswing and the first thing i wanted to do was unwind from the top to release the tension in my back. hopefully this will save you from a few trips to the chiropractor in the future.

[El Mucho]

Hey guys,

I have a couple more videos. I have been practicing a lot, my irons have improved they have become the most consistent part of my game. My driver is still a mess though and from these videos my swing is still really flat, I am having a really hard time with the proper hip motion and I feel like I am compensating a lot in my swing but I have no idea where. I have a wicked slice still with my driver, I have been practicing my driver and fairway woods with a tee in my armpit but it still looks like my swing is an in to out.

Take a look at these videos and let me know if there is any improvement from previous videos and what I am doing wrong.

Driver front

Driver DTL

7i front

Thanks guys for your help.

[El Mucho]

Been a while since I have posted, I have gotten a few rounds in this year and I am definitely noticing some positive changes. My irons are solid and I am creating proper divots, my putting is on averaging 2 putts per hole but my game is still  a long way from where I would like it to be. My long clubs (5w, 3w and driver) are the single biggest reason for my poor scores this year. I have a consistent slice, I am losing major strokes because I can't keep the ball in play off the tee. My ball always starts straight so I know my club face is OK. The videos I posted above are showing that I take the club back on the inside, and I have a horrible swirl at the top of my back swing. I know this is the reason for my out to in swing path but no matter what I have tried my ball always fades or slices.

I will try and get some newer videos as the ones above are a month old and I feel like my swing has evolved since then. If you can suggest any swing thoughts or drills that I can use to get me thinking about the proper motions that would be great.

Thanks.