My Swing (vanpooten)

[iacas]

Originally Posted by vanpooten

I'm confused on what you mean by my arms not getting down very quickly. What is the optimal secondary axis tilt at that position?

I mean this: your left arm moves across your chest during the backswing (the angle between your left arm and the shoulders decreases), and on the downswing it needs to increase again. You need to turn less and do more to get your arms down across your chest. From the top this could feel like your left hand karate chopping towards the ball, getting your arms "down" to where they need to be at impact more quickly.

[vanpooten]

Ok I think I understand, less body rotation on the down swing.

However I thought that S&T; taught let the bigger muscles do the most work, such as the core and shoulders, wouldn't chopping my arms make them too active?

Anyway, should my main two focuses be on keeping my head centered and moving my arms down more quickly?

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by vanpooten

However I thought that S&T; taught let the bigger muscles do the most work, such as the core and shoulders, wouldn't chopping my arms make them too active?

No, there has to be proper sequencing with the arms and body.  Just pushing you hips forward or turning won't necessarily lower the arms.  Some players like to feel things more with the hands/arms some like to feel it pivot driven.  There's no "one way".

Your reference to S&T;, in case you haven't seen we're "evolving" http://thesandtrap.com/t/55426/introducing-five-simple-keys

[vanpooten]

Ok I just read the post. Shall I refer to your method as the 5SK? Seems interesting, I look forward to seeing more about it.

In regards to my swing, would you say this latest iteration is an improvement, worse, or just different and not really progressive.

Thanks

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by vanpooten

Ok I just read the post. Shall I refer to your method as the 5SK? Seems interesting, I look forward to seeing more about it.

In regards to my swing, would you say this latest iteration is an improvement, worse, or just different and not really progressive.

Thanks

It looks good, def better than some earlier ones.  Stick with what Erik was talking about

[vanpooten]

Had a little delay in being able to get out and film my swing. Been focusing on keeping my head steady and not letting it go down and forward on the back swing. Think I've improved on that point in these videos.

Still trying to bring the arms down quicker, is there a drill to work on that feeling? I notice I don't maintain much lag on the downswing, perhaps this could help with that.

6 iron side view:

6 iron front view:

[iacas]

Originally Posted by iacas

I mean this: your left arm moves across your chest during the backswing (the angle between your left arm and the shoulders decreases), and on the downswing it needs to increase again. You need to turn less and do more to get your arms down across your chest. From the top this could feel like your left hand karate chopping towards the ball, getting your arms "down" to where they need to be at impact more quickly.

I got around to making this video. Hope it helps. It looks better in your recent videos, too.

[westcyderydin]

Nice improvements...that last video looks good.

one simple thing i notice is that you setup to the ball with your right hand first, then you put your other hand on the club.

That is causing you to set up with your shoulder line open instead of parallel to the target...you can see what i mean in the video.

Maybe grip the club with both hands before you get into your stance then take a couple of waggles and swing... That will help you line up straighter and the waggle will help you loosen up a little more before the swing.

[vanpooten]

Thanks Erik for making that video, that helped clear up what you were talking about. I'll be working on that and hopefully posting some improvements down the line.

And to westcyderydin, I keep experimenting with my pre-shot routine. I just recently started doing the above b/c I thought it helped me line the club face up better to the target.  Before just did as you describe, I would step up with both hands, waggle a bit, and then hit my shot (after 2 practice swings). But if it's throwing my alignment off I may have reconsider.

[vanpooten]

So I've pretty much phased out anything my old instructor taught me as I've recognized him as the type to avoid (based off the thread here about how to recognize a poor instructor, e.g. advising me to roll my wrists to square the club face and among other things telling me to have my weight behind the ball at impact!). I did this maybe two months ago since I started receiving advice here (still working on subscribing to golf evolution, need to find a better camera on the cheap).

My point is that I'm still using one piece of his advice, which was to stand up more (decrease spine angle at rest relative to the ground) with the driver and fairway woods. It makes to sense because it should help deliver the club on a more shallow swing plane, which is better for woods, correct? What is your all opinions' on that, is this advisable or natural to do (because the shaft length increases) or should I focus on having the same spin angle at rest with all my clubs. It hasn't been brought up in prior videos so I'm not sure if the change is noticeable.

[vanpooten]

buump

[vanpooten]

Shot an 85 today, best score I've had thus far. Definitely best ball striking day for my irons and wedges. Two drives in the woods cost me two triple bogeys, other than that I had 7 bogeys and 9 pars. Not to shabby! Hope to keep posting more scores in this range.

Btw any feedback on the above where I asked about the spine angle at rest with the driver?

[mvmac]

Congrats on the good round.  In terms of the set-up, you're going to stand a little taller with the driver because the shaft is longer.  But imo you should let the length of the club dictate the changes.

[vanpooten]

That was sort of my line of thinking as I posted the question, naturally it does make sense! Just looking for some reaffirmation.

[vanpooten]

Got my 'new' camera the other day. Purchased a used Kodak Zi6 from ebay for ~$60 (not including shipping). Got out to the range yesterday before the round to get some test footage! Hopefully this is an improvement over my old camera. Here is 720p with 60 fps in all its glory.

6 iron side and front view:

I also pulled out some stills from both swings:

Take away too inside and club face way too shut? Still need to get my arms down quicker via advice from iacas.

I think my footwork looks better at the very least.

Next step, sign up for evolvr!

[vanpooten]

Should mention I'm pulling half my shots, and my driver/3w has turned into an ugly pull slice when I really mishit it. If not its usually pull fade or straight fade.

[vanpooten]

Been quite some time since I posted here. Signed up with evolver for 3 months and made a ton of progress; but because of money I had to stop. After another two months I was offered some free lessons from an instructor at my course; I took him up on it because I really needed someone to give me immediate feedback for 45 minutes. Last one was a month ago. He didn't change too much, or at least I didn't allow him to. We mostly worked on set up and a few other things. The resulting swing is a mish mash of what I've learned from evolvr, the few lessons I took, and my own constant tinkering.

There are many things I dislike about the swing (fast tempo, overswing, little flippy at the bottom), but overall I think it's an improvement over the many previous iterations. What would be a good thing focus on right now?

Also my tripod broke so I'm setting the camera on the ground and the angles aren't the greatest, and it's pretty dark, but it is what it is!

[Beachcomber]

Video is set to private.