My Swing (dave67az)

[dave67az]

Hi everyone,

My name's Dave and I'm new here.  I've played golf off and on for about 30 years now.  I was self-taught, mostly learned by reading books and Golf Digest and watching a show called "The Name of the Game is Golf".  Ben Hogan's "Five Lessons" and Jack Nicklaus' "Golf My Way" were the first books I picked up and I just bought them for my wife.  Before I went into the Air Force in 1988, I was playing 2-3 times a week but still struggled to break 90.  Now that I'm retired from the military, and since my wife expressed an interest to learn to play, I'm getting back into the game.  With her just starting out, I decided it's time to find out what bad habits I've acquired and fix them.  I stumbled on this message board and hoped it might be a good place to improve, or at least document my progress along the way.

I always wanted to video my swing but I never did...until yesterday at the range.  I wished I had done this YEARS ago.  I already noticed a few things, and I'm sure you'll notice several more.  Hands are too high, right elbow is too high, I'm "standing up" during my downswing, the plane of my downswing is way too high...(I'll let you continue the list)

It's funny how watching yourself on video can be a HUGE wake-up call.

I'm happy with my distance on my irons.  I can hit a 5-iron about 175-180 and usually pretty straight, sometimes with a little unintentional fade though.  When I do mis-hit a shot, it's usually because it was fat.

My driver has good distance, but I slice a lot.  I do better with my old 1980s-era persimmon driver than this monster thing they call a driver these days and I can't figure that out.  I don't have any video of my drives, unfortunately.  I'll try to get some next time we go to the range.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can come up with.  Any tips on what I should tackle first?  I know I've played for 30 years, but luckily it's only been 1-2 rounds a year for a while now, so hopefully I can make some good progress now that I'm going to be playing more often.

I've been Playing Golf for: 30 years

My current handicap index or average score is: 25? (haven't played regularly in years)

My typical ball flight is: irons are usually straight with a little fade, driver sometimes has an ugly slice

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is:  inconsistent direction

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Videos: They're just 5-iron shots since I wasn't thinking about uploading them at the time.  I'll get more videos later this week if we go to the range again.

[mdl]

I'll let the pros and better players give a more informed list of what should be at the top of things you want to work on, but just to get things started...

In the face on view you can see that you're swaying back away from the target with your whole body (esp. hips) on the back swing.  Then you're behind the ball and sort of sway everything back and flip (meaning you throw the club head and hit the ball with the club head closer to the target than your hands) to try to catch up, makes it look like you're trying to scoop the ball and help it in the air, though I'd guess from the swing and from that you say one of your main misses is being fat that you're just trying to get the club head out there at the ball cause you've sway so far back that if you don't flip it you'll just hit behind the ball.

Maybe someone knows what thread(s) have that video about the drill hitting little half swings with your weight already transferred and never releasing the club and can post a link?

[Beachcomber]

(1.) I'd shorten your backswing to give you consistency in your swing.

Left frame is what you're current swing looks like at the top - way too big for my liking.  Bubba Watson and John Daly may be able to get away with that big of a swing... But the average golfer should be stopping their backswing closer to the frame on the right.  In order to get this - you'll probably feel like you're only swinging the club 3/4 of the way.  Trust me... You will not lose distance.  You will most likely gain distance as the quality of contact will improve.

Lastly, in order to really start nailing the swing on the right - you need to maintain pressure under your left and right armpits.  Watch this video for an example drill to try.  It will probably feel awful, but you if you really want to improve, I'd shorten your swing to ensure your club shaft stays on plane better by keeping those pressure points active throughout the swing... Maintaining connection (pressure points under your armpits).

Also, don't get too stuck on what goes first to start the swing... Keep it simple.

I think Sean Foley (Tiger, J. Rose and Mahan's instructor) does a pretty solid job of making the takeaway easy to understand with this video:

[dave67az]

Thank you, sirs!  :-)

I look forward to working on my swing this week and hope I can shoot some follow-up video this weekend.

- Dave

[dave67az]

Well, I've been working on shortening my back swing as suggested and keeping my right elbow from following Curiosity on its Mars mission.

Good news is, I've had some improvement in my elbow angle (though it's still not where I'd like it).

Bad news is I broke some rules in that I'm using a different club than the first videos and I only have a down-the-line shot.

My swing is still too "armsy" and this day I was pulling my drives somewhat left but they were straight at least.  :-)

(sometimes we have to celebrate small victories)

Anyway, here's my tiny bit of progress so far.  Sorry for the lighting.  It gets a little bright in AZ sometimes.

- Dave

[daSeth]

I'd highly recommend Brian Manzella's Confessions of a Former Flipper.  Your clubface is very open at the top and you are flipping it very early as a natural instinct to attepmt to close it.  The issue is that it creates loss of power and inconsistency of contact and ball strike.  Work on a flat left wrist at the top along with a bent right wrist that stays bent throughout the downswing.  This will keep the club head square, allow you to hang on much longer and really hit down on the ball and strike it clean.  Your hands should be well in front of the ball at impact.  You also need to get your hips going forward to allow you to pivot on the front foot.  All stuff that the aforementioned video can help you with.  You have great speed and I think a lot of potential to play some great golf.

[Beachcomber]

Dave, the right elbow is looking much better in the latest video.  Try swinging with a towel or golf tee's under your armpits.  Even film those drills with the camera to ensure you are getting the connection of the arms to the body.  At first, you may find it difficult to make contact - but if you trust that it is solid instruction, I believe you will be able to incorporate the mechanics into your game quicker.  And get better contact.

[dave67az]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

Dave, the right elbow is looking much better in the latest video.  Try swinging with a towel or golf tee's under your armpits.  Even film those drills with the camera to ensure you are getting the connection of the arms to the body.  At first, you may find it difficult to make contact - but if you trust that it is solid instruction, I believe you will be able to incorporate the mechanics into your game quicker.  And get better contact.

I tried keeping my elbow close to my body with the towel drills, but I had trouble maintaining the approximate 90-degree bend in the right elbow at the top of the swing.  This, I felt, was a compromise but I still need to work on where my elbow is pointing (forearm should be pointing straight up and down, from what I've seen and read).  Was this not correct?

- Dave

[dave67az]

Originally Posted by daSeth

I'd highly recommend Brian Manzella's Confessions of a Former Flipper.  Your clubface is very open at the top and you are flipping it very early as a natural instinct to attepmt to close it.  The issue is that it creates loss of power and inconsistency of contact and ball strike.  Work on a flat left wrist at the top along with a bent right wrist that stays bent throughout the downswing.  This will keep the club head square, allow you to hang on much longer and really hit down on the ball and strike it clean.  Your hands should be well in front of the ball at impact.  You also need to get your hips going forward to allow you to pivot on the front foot.  All stuff that the aforementioned video can help you with.  You have great speed and I think a lot of potential to play some great golf.

This is something I played around with a few times but haven't tried in front of the camera yet.  I'll tell ya, after 30+ years of doing it with my wrist bent it's quite a different feeling to even set up with a flat wrist.  Next time I'm at the range I'm going to play around with changing the left wrist at setup and see what it looks like at the top on film.  One thing for sure, it certainly makes you set up with the hands quite a bit in front of the ball.

- Dave

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by dave67az

I tried keeping my elbow close to my body with the towel drills, but I had trouble maintaining the approximate 90-degree bend in the right elbow at the top of the swing.  This, I felt, was a compromise but I still need to work on where my elbow is pointing (forearm should be pointing straight up and down, from what I've seen and read).  Was this not correct?

- Dave

Think of it as your right tricep (back of your bicep) is pinned to your right side.  Your elbow can still bend and form a right angle with your forearm when your right tricep is on your side.  That right elbow should only have 4 to 6" of space at most on the backswing from your right side.  Keeping pressure under the right armpit - will help you keep that right tricep to your side.

It will also help you turn your left shoulder down to complete the back swing.

[dave67az]

I realized I haven't uploaded any videos since I started this project last year.  This one was last month, so I can't remember what club I was using, and it's just a DTL, but it HOPEFULLY shows a little improvement.

Still working on the left wrist and keeping my right elbow more forward and closer to the body.  No longer rocking back on the outside of my right foot (that looked really bad before on the head-on shots).

Need to work now on swing plane and sequence.  Any other tips?  Thanks in advance!

- Dave