My Swing (ChiralClubs)

[ChiralClubs]

I've been Playing Golf for: ~10 years, though I've only recently started playing more than a few times a year

My current handicap index or average score is: Mid 90s

My typical ball flight is: slight draw, high

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: fat/thin shots; too high shots with long irons

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Greetings forum-go'ers,

I am trying to base my swing around S&T; principles.  One of my major problems right now is getting a the feel for the proper take away.  This is one aspect of the swing I think is neglected in the S&T; book.  Right now, my takeaway is different on every swing and it feels very awkward.  I am definitely looking for tips in this area.  I am attempting to go for something similar to what Jason Dufner does, tucking the right elbow beneath him.

Another area I am trying to fix, which seems to be universally true for amateurs, is moving the low point of my swing forward as much as possible, as well as driving the ball down.

Finally, my swing feels a bit fast (and looking at the video, it looks a bit ridiculous haha).

Any help would be appreciated on my swing and please let me know if you have any feedback regarding the videos themselves.

Videos:

Front view:

Down-the-line:

[Patrick57]

Hi CC, On the down swing you should try to maintain your weight over the left foot through impact. I advice my students to feel that the left buttock helps maintain the pressure on the left foot. I hope this makes sense!

[ChiralClubs]

I think I may have identified why I'm hitting a bit behind the ball and getting some high shots.  It looks like my head is moving backwards before impact.  I think part of what is causing this (other than the classic flipping instinct -- although I can hit my tourstriker well enough) is that my left leg has to do all of the work.  Notice how much my right foot slides forward into impact (and it goes even a bit farther in the follow thru).  I might be moving my head back to remain balanced or maybe just because it feels like I need to do so to stay centered.

[ChiralClubs]

Originally Posted by Patrick57

Hi CC,

On the down swing you should try to maintain your weight over the left foot through impact. I advice my students to feel that the left buttock helps maintain the pressure on the left foot.

I hope this makes sense!

Hey, this is definitely a priority for me as an avid S&T;'er.  However, I think I'm doing a decent job of this right now.  I'm just not fully balanced because of this weight transfer/hip slide, causing my head to move back and my right foot to skim the ground.

[VoidOfEnigmas]

Time your backswing on the driving range, take it back slow, practice 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 before you start your downswing. Practice getting to parallel and work on weight transfer. A good way to do this is take 3/4 shots with your back foot standing on its toe. Forces you to move your weight forward and keep your balance. Great tip for any new player / old player / ANYBODY lol

[ChiralClubs]

I've successfully made a few important changes to my swing the past few weeks.  The first is that my takeaway is a lot better.  It's much more on plane and it just feels more fluid.  The second big thing is that I've gotten my shoulders/hips tilting more in my backswing.  Before, I was way too flat.

My biggest miss is that most of my shots are slightly fat, so I'm not making great contact (you might be able to tell by the sound in the videos).  I think this is related to having a much too large angle between my club and right arm on the downswing.  I think I may just need to have stronger wrist angles.  However, I'm not sure if this is the base cause or just part of a chain of events.  If any of you see anything related to this that jumps out, let me know.

Anyway, the second thing I'm going to be working on is shortening my swing.  Right now, it's usually around parallel, sometimes just a bit past.  I think this generally makes consistency a bit harder to achieve.

[ChiralClubs]

I'm back after a long hiatus.  I'm not using the best golfing shoes here (they're actually running shoes, haha), but it was a beautiful day at the range.

Here's are my current priorities (roughly in order):

-Right hip stretch + avoid over extending left knee on backswing

-Add a bit more spinal extension on backswing

-Short swing

-Rotation slower so as to be in time w/ arm movement

Most common misses: hook/over-draw, block, thin/fat shots

Overall, I'm trying to get better balance in my swing and make consistent changes.

[ChiralClubs]

Here's are my current priorities (roughly in order):

-Right hip stretch + avoid over extending left knee on backswing

*I meant to say avoid over-flexing left knee.

[chspeed]

Nice swing. Need a down-the-line shot to see more, but the club, which stays on plane the whole way through the backswing, looks like it gets steeper on the downswing. Also, the camera angle is off. See this post .

[ChiralClubs]

Nice swing. Need a down-the-line shot to see more, but the club, which stays on plane the whole way through the backswing, looks like it gets steeper on the downswing. Also, the camera angle is off. See this post.

I have trouble getting a good FO view at my range b/c the stalls are so close together, but hopefully when I go to a different range at some point I can get a good one.  My swing is sometimes steep on the d/s but I would say it's more of a symptom of when I fail to keep my hips deep and/or swing short.

[chspeed]

I have trouble getting a good FO view at my range b/c the stalls are so close together, but hopefully when I go to a different range at some point I can get a good one.  My swing is sometimes steep on the d/s but I would say it's more of a symptom of when I fail to keep my hips deep and/or swing short.

Ah yes, Chelsea Piers. From one NYer to another, head over to Randall's Island if you can - much more room and a much better deal.

From what I can see, your swing looks very good. I think your best bet is having one of the pros on here help - if they haven't already.

[ChiralClubs]

Ah yes, Chelsea Piers. From one NYer to another, head over to Randall's Island if you can - much more room and a much better deal.

From what I can see, your swing looks very good. I think your best bet is having one of the pros on here help - if they haven't already.

Haha, yeah NYC isn't always the most hospitable environment for golfing in general, but I'll see what my options are for getting over there.

My swing may look decent, but I'm still pretty bad if you look at my consistency or actual scores on the course.

[ChiralClubs]

Working on keeping my hips deep by having pressure on my left heel and stretching my right hip.  I let a few other swing components, most notably shortening my swing, slip, but I think I'm slowly getting there.

[ChiralClubs]

Still working on hip movement and fore-aft balance:

-My hips were moving a bit too much backwards on backswing, so now I'm feeling as if my lower body is moving foward slightly on backswing (not pictured here).

-Feeling as if backing out of the swing a bit on the downswing

-Getting hips deep on backswing

[ChiralClubs]

I worked on sequencing the backswing a bit today.  I was trying to feel like I was initiating my swing with my arms and holding off rotating, because I was turning too fast before.  I think I did moderately well at achieving this goal.  My secondary aims were to keep my right arm straight and keep trying to add right hip extension, with mixed success.  Hopefully, I can execute all of these components at the same time with practice over the next few weeks.

On my downswing, I'm definitely flippy and my head moves back a bit.  Not sure if it is due to something earlier in the swing or a compensation/hold over from my prior swing.  I will probably work on this next, after the above pieces are in place.  In the third video below, I am experimenting with this a bit.  I am feeling myself "hold the angle" a bit longer.  In the future, I also want to try feeling my head translate down the line and maybe open up a bit faster at the end of the downswing and see if those things help at all.

Experiment: