My Swing (MiniBlueDragon)

[MiniBlueDragon]

Well I finally remembered to bring my Gorillapod to the range with me to get some type of idea on where my follow-through is going wrong so I figured I'd post it to see what others have to suggest. Unfortunately the bays at the range are separated by high mesh barriers so a face on view is impossible to film; I'll have to try and get one next time I'm on the course or at an outside range. Also my apologies for the camera being so close; again the bays are limited size and have the mesh wall along the back of them so it's as far back as I can get at that range.

My predominant shot shape is a push or straight the majority of the time but the occasional push-hook or fade (not slice!) does creep in. Also I have an occasional shank with my 58 wedge but I think that's more to do with me standing too close to the ball so I'm not concerned there.

I started out as a Stacker but at various points have made tweaks to my swing. Then when I read The Plane Truth every single tweak I'd made was confirmed in the book so I've been using that as more of a basis for my swing now. EDIT: I'm not averse to any type of teaching as long as it helps my game, whether it be S&T;, Morad, Traditional, Plane Truth or Ungybungydingydangly.

All suggestions, criticisms very welcome!

[michaeljames92]

I'd like to see your hips move further forward, earlier. i.e. right foot rolls inward, then finish on the toe of the right foot. Also I'd like to see more extension of your arms into the follow through, looks to me like you bend your left arm too early after impact and flip at it. I do like your backswing though, pretty solid position there.

[saevel25]

Look at the black border on the right, you set up good, and your butt touches that black border. Look at impact, your butt is closer to the ball, and both your legs are straight. Concentrate on maintain that butt position, not letting it come towards the ball. Feel like your left hip joint is rotating around and up, and right hip joint should go around your spine and down.

[Stretch]

Agree with MJ92 that your backswing looks very solid and with saevel that you are "coming off the wall"* on the downswing. This is often caused by going into extension ("standing up") too early, which is in turn caused by a relative lack of linear movement of the hips and knees toward the target. If you don't get the hips and lower center of gravity forward, you don't get the secondary axis tilt that you need to maintain your inclination to the ground as you push up off it into impact. Everyone is going to have different keys, but one thing that is often recommended in this sort of general case is to try to feel like the lead knee stays flexed longer as you make the transition and is pushing outside of the lead ankle. This should feel notably "squatty", as Sam Snead demonstrates below.

(* Less delicately known in some circles as "humping the goat" due to the obvious pelvic implications. )

[MiniBlueDragon]

Well it's been a little while since my last post so I figured I'd take an up to date video today. I took several videos, each with different clubs (and each with slightly different issues)

Driver swing while working on loose wrists to retain lag. Swing felt a little too "loose" and although it looks fast it felt like an easy swing. End result was middle of the fairway.

3W swing while working on loose wrists to retain lag. Swing felt like i moved off the ball and didn't get back far enough a impact. Was also an easy swing. End result was middle of the fairway.

Approach shot after the other driver video. Again working on loose wrists to retain lag. Not a bad swing but ended up as a straight pull.

I think I still need a little more humping.

Also the move off the ball a little is intentional; it's the lack of move back again that is lacking. lol

[Gioguy21]

without a club, make a stance like the one shown below, then do it with a club. it seems as though your balance is off (your follow through is taking you off balance)

work on 'coiling' your body around your spine...other than that...work on your tempo, it seems a bit rushed which leads your club at the top of your swing to point right of your target line (again, could be due to your balance) remember, just b/c you're tempo's fast going back, doesn't equate to a fast swing down and through. hope this helps

[mvmac]

I really like you set-up, weight looks 50/50 maybe slightly forward, hands forward, hips forward.  But then the weight moves too far back and doesn't get forward enough on the downswing.  I'd recommend keeping the left from moving so far back and then flex it forward on the downswing.

[MiniBlueDragon]

Thanks for the tips guys.

At the moment I'm trying to emulate a Hogan-esque backswing where my hips rotate centrally but my shoulders do translate back slightly, e.g.

Of course that definitely means I have a harder time getting back to the ball when I rush my swing as per the videos above. It may also be that where I started off trying to feel like I've shifted my shoulders way back that I'm subconsciously trying to get that feeling still and so I'm moving too much weight back.

Time to work on less weight shift methinks.

mvmac, what did you mean by "keeping the left from moving so far back and then flex it forward"?

[MiniBlueDragon]

OK I had a couple of seconds to grab a video before this morning's lesson. Since the above posts I've been looking into what my left knee does during the swing and decided that a straight forward flex is more stable than the inward flex I've been doing. By going with mvmac's suggestion above I've managed to get far more consistent with my strikes and still retain the real lag and compression I've been working on:

The lesson after this video was on impact positioning and having my hips rotated a little more at impact using the 9 to 3 drill ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrYaFlTzqbs ). Quite eye-opening how much of a shot's distance can be produced with a short half-swing back and half swing through.

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by MiniBlueDragon

mvmac, what did you mean by "keeping the left from moving so far back and then flex it forward"?

Sorry just missed this.  Left knee moving back means the left knee is moving off that line I drew on your knee.  Makes it hard to stay centered and sequence the proper amount of tilt, extension and rotation.  Tend to lead to too much rotation and not enough tilt or extension.  Also makes it hard for the knee to get forward ENOUGH on the downswing.

Recent swing looks good,  good example for you to look at in terms of the left knee

Just put it on mute

[MiniBlueDragon]

Well it's been a couple of months since my last posting so here's an update. I've been working on lag, loose wrists and flexing the front knee forward more than inward and I seem to be making headway. Also tried to reduce the locked rear leg where I've over-straightened it on occasion. I get that it needs to straighten but not all the way.

Far more consistent striking now which is great although the dreaded shank has started creeping in on occasion lately which I have yet to figure out.

Any more thoughts would be much appreciated.

[iacas]

Time to start getting the pressure and weight forward on the downswing. Shoot a face-on video.

[bunkerputt]

Whoa.  Here's you:

No offense, but you're not going to create any real lag until you learn to pivot from the ground up.  When you get to the top, leave your shoulders turned and use your legs, knees and "belly button" to start them down.  Then once your hips have gone forward with a lot of pressure on your left foot (with your head back mind you), unwind the shoulders.  Throw the "stable lower body" thing out the window.  Just don't move your head all over the place.  Axis tilt, shoulder plane and arm action are what control the clubface so that you not only have forward shaft lean at impact and a shallow angle of attack, but also a clubface that hasn't rotated over too quickly on the follow-through.  Those are what matter.

[MiniBlueDragon]

Yeah I've been re-looking at the swing in slow motion (as slow as poss with a crap camera) and it seems that I'm pivoting everything at once rather than sequentially in most of my swings. My head stays stable and centered as it should and I do increase pressure on the left foot and slide my hips forward but it's all simultaneously.

If I put a marker on my rear pocket button in the video it's in exactly the same vertical position at address as it is at impact, it's just an inch or so higher. That also shows a distinct lack of rotation. The fact that from address to impact my shoulders are about the same level shows I'm not sliding enough too I reckon.

Thanks guys; back to the range. :)

[bunkerputt]

This is a great extra-curricular activity for analytical-type golfers IMO:

It's easy.  I broke par my first round ever.  Everyone knows how to do it.  It gives the golf muscles a break and trains the other side of the body to keep you in balance.  And it helps you to work on ground-up sequencing and athleticism.  Notice how the guys' legs use the ground to generate speed in the torso and ultimately the arms?

[MiniBlueDragon]

Yesterday I went out to the range and decided to try a few things:

Hips

I watched

over and over and over again, practicing in front of the mirror before I went to the range

Right Leg

I normally stand at address with my right leg perpendicular to the target. I do this because I have a decent amount of flexibility and I find I get more "torque" in the swing than if the foot is flared.

Recently I've had a couple of people tell me that I straighten it too much (almost to locked straight) so I started playing with ideas to keep a little more flex in the knee. I found that if I squat into address position and then feel like I'm trying to turn a corkscrew down into the ground the knee keeps more flex. Excellent news (I thought!)

Today my right knee feels like it will give way when I put weight on it and I'm hobbling all over the house like an idiot, HOWEVER...

When I now stand in front of the mirror and swing the club, my hip movement looks great, my right foot naturally flares at address (presumably because I know it will hurt if there's any pressure put on it) but I feel just as torqued as when it's perpendicular, my weight stays far more centered and I feel like I can swing far easier and more naturally than when I over-think my swing.

I'm hoping this silly injury will be a mental reminder for me to let my knees do as they need to rather than me forcing them to do what I think they should do.

[bunkerputt]

Yep.  Be careful with "ground torque" or screwing the feet into the ground, etc.  There's a lot of stuff out there about that, particularly from Mike Maves and on other sites.  The feet and knees aren't meant to take tons of torque.  They just don't bend that way.  Take a look at those shots of Sam Snead.  Does it look like he was screwing his feet into the dirt?  He was just as good a striker as Hogan and won more too, in spite of what the Hogan religion says.

[MiniBlueDragon]

Today my knee felt better so I decided to head out and practice. Unfortunately the course was packed with men's monthly stableford, women's stableford, juniors rollup and several juniors matches. I therefore decided to just hit into the nets for a while and work on the swing to fix the above "woah" problem.

For whatever reason I've never video'd my practice swings before now and they're drastically different to the actual swing. They're so different in fact that I'd give my left nut to be able to translate the practice into actual. Feels fluid, smooth, easy and correct. Then the ball makes everything break.