My Swing (Lanky Lefty)

[LankyLefty]

So i took a shot of my swing with my phone today. My phone takes really high quality but I think I set the camera to far away, I had to crop it alot. Ill be posting more videos hopefully of better quality later this week but take a look. Give me opinions on swing and Video taking.

Looks a lot better then a thought It would. Ive been tinkering alot lately and this swing has given me excellent results with Woods and Hybrids and mixed results with my Irons. I cant seem to find a good spot in the stance for my ball with Irons but I dont want to give up because this swing has produced distance with the Woods and Hybrids I was never capable of before and Id love to carry that over to my Irons.

Thanks!

[NEOHMark]

Tell you what.  There are two things that are really, really good about your swing that you should never change.  One - your hips 'fire' the downswing.  Two - your hands pretty much lead ahead of the clubhead at impact.  The sound of your shot is incredibly similar to a pro golfer for a 22 handicapper.   Get some lessons and 'tweak'.  You aren't far off from a really solid swing.

I'd tweak a couple things about your setup - but better to leave that to a real pro.......

[LankyLefty]

Heh I gotta credit those two things to this site honestly. I didn't hardly even think about either until I joined.

Yeah the Hips and Maintaining lag into impact are very new to me. I used to have a almost vertical swing local pro cut down my back swing and flattened me out some. That helped my ball striking a lot but I started losing distance. I swung in front of a mirror few times and saw that my hips and shoulders were moving kind of in the right direction but I had no real lag on the club at impact. So I started basically throwing my hips before I even started the downswing took me a few days to find something that didn't make my head bob but when I did I started generating so much club speed it was ridiculous. The sound and feel is amazing but my Irons are giving me trouble now. I either draw a divot before the ball hit it off the heel I cant seems to find the groove of hitting down on the ball.

[LankyLefty]

Well got some new video with higher FPS but unfortunately lower resolution. Also got some DTL shots this time.

Thing that really stuck out to me is that ive most certainly reverted back to my obscenely long backswing.

I don't think that can be good can it?

Other then that I am quite pleased. A lot of the markers of swing Issues I look for are not there and there are also a lot of good things.

Id like to hear some peoples thoughts.

My apologies for the quality although I must say for being taken on a phone they are not half bad.

[bunkerputt]

Not too bad.  At the setup, you want the ball back a tad and tuck and straighten your lead arm.  You want the lead arm pulled in a touch, hands meeting at about the crease in your zipper.  You should have a little cup in your wrists at the setup.  The trailing arm should be bent.  You are the opposite.  This change will help to square up your shoulders.  Other than that, swing away, just try and stick the landing every once in a while .

[LankyLefty]

My dang shoulders again! Always gets me, I don't know why I do it. That was the first thing my instructor said when he saw me swing.

He says to me "You must hit some big slices with that driver huh?"

[rossvanwyk]

I would say the backswing does look too long. I think it's making life a little hard for you. And it does seem like you could hit some tasty slices :)

Have you tried putting your backfoot slightly behind your front foot when addressing ball?

[LankyLefty]

I hit the occasional Slice but not as bad as I used to. Now they put me in the rough more then in the trees or deep stuff when I hit them and It is usually from an open club face not an outside in swing as it was before which as bunkerputt noted it something I can (and sometimes do) fix at address.

I find the elongated back swing a major detriment with my Irons. I have no need to hit an 8 iron 180 or 190 so im trying to way shorten the back swing on my short Irons but on my Woods and Hybrids I'm trying to shorten it a bit to just before parallel to the ground so that I don't bend my elbow so much.

Ive been doing It so long I cant help it. I feel like Im taking a baby swing when I use a normal back swing. I just gotta force it i guess.

[bunkerputt]

  LankyLefty said:

Originally Posted by LankyLefty

I hit the occasional Slice but not as bad as I used to. Now they put me in the rough more then in the trees or deep stuff when I hit them and It is usually from an open club face not an outside in swing as it was before which as bunkerputt noted it something I can (and sometimes do) fix at address.

I find the elongated back swing a major detriment with my Irons. I have no need to hit an 8 iron 180 or 190 so im trying to way shorten the back swing on my short Irons but on my Woods and Hybrids I'm trying to shorten it a bit to just before parallel to the ground so that I don't bend my elbow so much.

Ive been doing It so long I cant help it. I feel like Im taking a baby swing when I use a normal back swing. I just gotta force it i guess.

I still can't get over that house there with a 3W.  I would hit that thing every single time.  You've got some cajones there mate.

Your swing doesn't look like one that would slice much to me, just a little fade.  I wouldn't worry about that part.  When people say "long backswing", make sure they mean "artificially long".  Some people don't know the difference.  It's OK to have a long backswing as long as 1.  all of the segments are in sync, and 2.  all of the segments are in mild tension (emphasis on mild ).  I can create a lot of "length" in my backswing by reverse pivoting, making a huge hip turn, letting my left foot come off the ground (righty), and maybe spinning on the ground with my right foot a little.  I'm not going to hit a consistently high number of good golf shots that way.  Everything is out of sync and it will take a lot of timing to hit the ball.  You want the longest swing that you can comfortably make while keeping everything in sync.  Pay attention to the 'comfortable' part.  If you have too much stretch, your brain will say "No no", to keep your range of motion within parameters it's familiar with, robbing you of both speed and timing.  You just want a little stretch, not too much.  You also need to pay attention to the 'sync' part.  If it takes your feet spinning on the ground to make up a range of motion so that you don't blow a hip joint, something went wrong upstream.  For your swing, your slack is in 2 main places, your hips, and your spine angle.  If you simply work on 1.  not letting your left hip slide to your left, but rotate backwards, 2.  set your shoulders slightly into your left side at address, so you can make a pure turn and be in a good position at the top, and 3.  extend your arms in front of you, not behind you.  Things will get short and well controlled and you won't lose any distance.  Make sure you don't lose your leg action when you start monkeying with your spine tilt.  You will need that leg action to get the hips forward through the shot.  Also pay attention to why your spine leans one way or the other.  It may be a response to an incorrect pelvic tilt.  Aim to keep the spine relatively neutral throughout the swing relative to the hips.  This will allow efficient transfer of energy from the hips to the shoulders and prevent injury as well.

[Open-Faced Club Sandwedge]

Weight shift!  It seems to my eyes like the biggest problem you have.

You get too far over the outside of your left foot on the backswing, and you don't get the weight "posted" up on your right leg through impact.  All good players get up on that forward leg into impact.  When you're at setup, your weight is either biased toward your front foot (stack and tilt people especially), or at least centered.  It's never over the back foot, and thus you always have the feeling of being "inside" your back foot. Keep that feeling throughout the backswing.

If you stay on the inside of your back foot all the way through, it gives you a good platform to push off of at transition.  Many players, some of them great (Hogan, for one), identify pushing off the inside of the back foot as the trigger to start the downswing.  If you don't, you don't really have a way to get the weight forward, and you'll land awkward on that back foot at the finish (which you definitely do).  It robs you of power and promotes a slice.

If you do the above correctly, it will be more natural to transfer your weight through the ball and get up on that front leg.  You need to incorporate that; excellent golf swings do not get stuck on the back foot.

As a side effect, it should help with your overswinging, too.  Staying on the inside of the back foot will limit your rotation a little, but in a good way.  You'll still be able to make a proper turn, but you won't be able to overdo it.

-Andrew

[LankyLefty]

  Open-Faced Club Sandwedge said:

Originally Posted by Open-Faced Club Sandwedge

Weight shift!  It seems to my eyes like the biggest problem you have.

You get too far over the outside of your left foot on the backswing, and you don't get the weight "posted" up on your right leg through impact.  All good players get up on that forward leg into impact.  When you're at setup, your weight is either biased toward your front foot (stack and tilt people especially), or at least centered.  It's never over the back foot, and thus you always have the feeling of being "inside" your back foot.  Keep that feeling throughout the backswing.

If you stay on the inside of your back foot all the way through, it gives you a good platform to push off of at transition.  Many players, some of them great (Hogan, for one), identify pushing off the inside of the back foot as the trigger to start the downswing.  If you don't, you don't really have a way to get the weight forward, and you'll land awkward on that back foot at the finish (which you definitely do).  It robs you of power and promotes a slice.

If you do the above correctly, it will be more natural to transfer your weight through the ball and get up on that front leg.  You need to incorporate that; excellent golf swings do not get stuck on the back foot.

As a side effect, it should help with your overswinging, too.  Staying on the inside of the back foot will limit your rotation a little, but in a good way.  You'll still be able to make a proper turn, but you won't be able to overdo it.

-Andrew

That's a very good observation and explains very nicely why I hit my Irons like crap... I'm swinging UP at the ball instead of down and through it. My weight slides forward just at impact but never gets over the hill so I fall back on that foot.

  bunkerputt said:

Originally Posted by bunkerputt

I still can't get over that house there with a 3W.  I would hit that thing every single time.  You've got some cajones there mate.

Your swing doesn't look like one that would slice much to me, just a little fade.  I wouldn't worry about that part.  When people say "long backswing", make sure they mean "artificially long".  Some people don't know the difference.  It's OK to have a long backswing as long as 1.  all of the segments are in sync, and 2.  all of the segments are in mild tension (emphasis on mild).  I can create a lot of "length" in my backswing by reverse pivoting, making a huge hip turn, letting my left foot come off the ground (righty), and maybe spinning on the ground with my right foot a little.  I'm not going to hit a consistently high number of good golf shots that way.  Everything is out of sync and it will take a lot of timing to hit the ball.  You want the longest swing that you can comfortably make while keeping everything in sync.  Pay attention to the 'comfortable' part.  If you have too much stretch, your brain will say "No no", to keep your range of motion within parameters it's familiar with, robbing you of both speed and timing.  You just want a little stretch, not too much.  You also need to pay attention to the 'sync' part.  If it takes your feet spinning on the ground to make up a range of motion so that you don't blow a hip joint, something went wrong upstream.  For your swing, your slack is in 2 main places, your hips, and your spine angle.  If you simply work on 1.  not letting your left hip slide to your left, but rotate backwards, 2.  set your shoulders slightly into your left side at address, so you can make a pure turn and be in a good position at the top, and 3.  extend your arms in front of you, not behind you.  Things will get short and well controlled and you won't lose any distance.  Make sure you don't lose your leg action when you start monkeying with your spine tilt.  You will need that leg action to get the hips forward through the shot.  Also pay attention to why your spine leans one way or the other.  It may be a response to an incorrect pelvic tilt.  Aim to keep the spine relatively neutral throughout the swing relative to the hips.  This will allow efficient transfer of energy from the hips to the shoulders and prevent injury as well.

Yes this relates to the above I my hips come so far back that they never pull my weight forward as they should.

Oh and by the way Im hitting my handy dandy ball on a rope. So that's why I'm hitting it at my house without a care.

[LankyLefty]

So I played a round today at a very easy short local course and Id like to thank everyone who gave me advice. Whatever the hell you said must have worked because I shot an 82.

There are of course a few caveats. I didn't count at least 2 Penalty shots and I probably took a few mulligans but even an 84-86 is very good for me and My ball striking was amazing.

I also benefited from driving the green on two "Par 4s" that were under 250 yards. Neither were easy shots both required me to fade/slice the ball around some trees into a blind landing but none the less a 240 yard par 4 is real gimme.

However some of the highlights were reaching a 550 yard par5 green in two shots. A 25 yard chip shot over a tree that was at least 50 feet tall and landing 2 feet form the hole. Saving par on a par 3 with a 25 foot par putt. Hitting the fairway and GIR for 4 holes in a row. Shooting my lowest 9 hole score ever a 38 and last but not least the biggest highlight of all.... Hitting a BMW with my last tee shot of the day and thankfully not doing any damage and then making bogey even with the out of bounds penalty.