My Swing (Billy Meredith)

[Billy Meredith]

Playing Golf for: 3 Years

Average Score: 95

Ball Flight: High

The shot I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Lately a snap hook, occasionally a straight push that's not too hateful

I've recently started golfing again after not playing for the last three years.  I've decided this time around I would like to make a real effort to improve (previously I preferred to just duff around and drink a six-pack).  I recently purchased the 5sk DVDs, this is my second range trip since watching them and attempting to apply what they have to say about the golf swing.  When I played several years ago I was interested in S&T;, although I never really put any real effort in trying to learn and practice it.

Three videos below (probably best viewed @ 720p or higher), the first is a good strike on a 5i (5yard push/draw), second is two swings with my driver that both had good results (straight ball flight), third video is four misses (Snap Hook 5i, Topped Driver, Snap Hook Driver, Snap Hook 8i). Each swing is followed by a slo-mo @ 1/8 speed.  I'm going to try and get back to the range tomorrow and take some down the line videos and update my thread.  I neglected to do this today.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.  This forum as been a great tool since I've gotten back into golf, lots of good info and insight.

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Videos:

[Glenn676]

Hi,

Take a look at your footing, the spread apart from each other is good but your left foot is too far forward aka too close to the ball. With that foot anchored in that position you can't come around far enough and follow through properly. It works with the driver because it's a longer club.

Good Luck,

Glenn

[nevrino]

[Billy Meredith]

Glenn,

Thanks for the advice, my next trip to the range I'll be aware of the position of my feet and see how it affects my strike.

Nevrino,

Consistency!  This is what I need.  I figure more practice will at least help my confidence level when standing over the ball which I do believe I need.  Thanks for the compliments!

Billy

[nevrino]

Your body motions look really good imo, I just think you would need some finetuning on your backswing.

At this position A2 I would like to see a lower takeaway with the club almost in height with your scrotum and with your shoulders turning a bit more.

At this position A3 I would like to see that the club hinges a bit faster, but this could also be an effect of A2 being so high.

So try to fix this infront of a mirror and I hope it helps some.

[Beachcomber]

Add a down-the-line view.

[Beachcomber]

Agreed with nevrino.  Good information for sure.

Originally Posted by nevrino

Your body motions look really good imo, I just think you would need some finetuning on your backswing.

At this position A2 I would like to see a lower takeaway with the club almost in height with your scrotum and with your shoulders turning a bit more.

At this position A3 I would like to see that the club hinges a bit faster, but this could also be an effect of A2 being so high.

So try to fix this infront of a mirror and I hope it helps some.

[Billy Meredith]

nevrino,

Great stuff here!  I have a few questions for you.  As far as A2, is my shoulder turn too parallel to the ground?  Do I need to turn my left shoulder more towards my right knee to achieve a better position?  I watched some youtube videos of pros in their backswing, most seem to have their hands in the position your looking for at A2.  Second, for A3 I'm a little bit lost.  I was practicing backswings last night in my house with a 5i and always seem to neglect hinging the club, should i be making a conscience effort to hinge the club or is there a certain movement my arms should be doing in the back swing to hinge?  I feel if I open the club face through my backswing it causes the club to hinge earlier.

I will add DTL videos this week, just need to get back to the range.

Billy M.

[Beachcomber]

A2 (club shaft parallel to the ground) - looks like it could be an issue with your posture at address?  You may not have enough waist bend - thus your hands are much higher than the model as nevrino pointed out?  I won't be able to provide quantifiable evidence on this until I see a down the line camera angle.

A3 (left arm parallel to the ground) - and hitting the proper wrist cock... Check out this drill from Michael Breed on the Golf Fix.  It is simple but effective.

[Billy Meredith]

To add to my above post, what I'm trying to get at with A3 is whether there should be some "independent" movement of the wrists in takeway to hinge the club early rather then waiting until the top of my swing (or even the beginning of my transition).  Some Google searches seem to point out that there are two schools of thought of an early hinge and a late hinge.

One of things I've been focusing on at the range is letting my body control my backswing as opposed to using my arms to control it.  This is what is sort of confusing me about A3, nothing my "body" does seems to want to hinge my wrists, so I'm assuming this is something that is independently done.

FYI, can posts be edited on sandtrap.com?

[Billy Meredith]

Beachcomber,

Good looking drill for A3, thanks!

Your thoughts on A2 are (I think) probably right on.  I tend to setup with my hands away from my waist a fair amount.  A DTL will confirm this.  I'm actually at the range tonight but don't have my camera with me, I'll one of my friends to take a cell phone video for now.

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by Billy Meredith

To add to my above post, what I'm trying to get at with A3 is whether there should be some "independent" movement of the wrists in takeway to hinge the club early rather then waiting until the top of my swing (or even the beginning of my transition).  Some Google searches seem to point out that there are two schools of thought of an early hinge and a late hinge.

One of things I've been focusing on at the range is letting my body control my backswing as opposed to using my arms to control it.  This is what is sort of confusing me about A3, nothing my "body" does seems to want to hinge my wrists, so I'm assuming this is something that is independently done.

FYI, can posts be edited on sandtrap.com?

Your body won't set the wrist automatically.  You'll need to control that to an extent with your hands.  The key should be when the wrist hinge/unhinge.  Something that takes time to master.

Lastly, post can be edited, but only for a certain time window... I believe 10 or 20 minutes following the initial submission before they timeout and no longer can be edited.  I'm not sure the exact time lapse before you can no longer edit??

[nevrino]

Originally Posted by Billy Meredith

nevrino,

Great stuff here!  I have a few questions for you.  As far as A2, is my shoulder turn too parallel to the ground?  Do I need to turn my left shoulder more towards my right knee to achieve a better position?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billy Meredith

I watched some youtube videos of pros in their backswing, most seem to have their hands in the position your looking for at A2.  Second, for A3 I'm a little bit lost.  I was practicing backswings last night in my house with a 5i and always seem to neglect hinging the club, should i be making a conscience effort to hinge the club or is there a certain movement my arms should be doing in the back swing to hinge?  I feel if I open the club face through my backswing it causes the club to hinge earlier.

I will add DTL videos this week, just need to get back to the range.

Billy M.

Instead of making an explanation I think you can watch the pictures and ask yourself these questions.

How does the hands move?

What happens with the right elbow?

What are the wrists doing to achieve this?

[Billy Meredith]

UPDATED -- DTL Video Below

Hey Folks,

Got some down the line shots this evening.  Now I see some issues, would love to hear your thoughts.  A few comments... first,  I was trying to hinge my wrist in takeaway most of this range session.  With my mind focusing on this I'm not sure what parts of my swing were inadvertantly affected.  Second, lot's of pull/draws (some hooks) tonight which is a bit different.  Also, with trying to hinge my wrist I feel like a caught more shots fat this evening.  Finally, I did include a shot of my driver, I couldn't find a tee with the proper height so I only hit 3 shots, ball was way to low for me.  The one decent shot I did include was struck pretty low on the face but turned out ok.

One thing to note, I got properly fitted for new irons on Saturday.  Right now I'm swinging a uniflex shaft, I was fitted (Mizuno System) for right inbetween a Stiff/XStiff.  I ordered a new set of clubs with XStiff Shafts 1x Soft Stepped.  Just want to let you know this, I'm not entirely sure what a weak flex will do to my swing and ball flight.

(different camera, sorry the quality isn't quite as good.  the memory card I had with me wasn't fast enough for HD video)

Billy

[nevrino]

It looks so good, best swing i've ever seen off a 20 hcp+.

However you open your wrists to much and get off plane between A2- A3. Try look in a mirror when you are at A3, the shaft should roughly aim at the ball from dtl view.

[Billy Meredith]

Nevrino,

This is immediately what I noticed after watching my first few swings, I think I sort of "limp-wrist" my takeaway.  I was reading a little bit last night about how your arms should basically hang straight downward at address.  i was messing around with this in front of a mirror and with my arms being a bit more relaxed, and the fact that having them straight done slightly hinged my wrist at address, my takeaway felt more natural and I appeared to keep the club on plane and came closer to achieving the correct club position at A3.  Now, this could be from watching myself doing it and consciously trying to fix this problem.  I'll probably hit the range twice this weekend if I can find the time, then maybe take another video in a week or two and see how I'm progressing.

Thanks again, you've given me a lot of valuable insight.

Billy

[Beachcomber]

I agree with nevrino - the shaft needs to get more vertical.  Your left wrist hinge is wonky because you are rolling that left arm/wrist... Once you fix that - you'll get the club on plane (more vertical) and have a lot better chance to return the club square at impact.

Another way to think of the left wrist hinge - is to think that if I was watching you on a Face-on view - the back of your left hand should be facing the camera at A1 to A3.  And an easy way to check that visually - is at A3 - I should be able to see the rear side of your left palm.  If you are wearing a golf glove - which you are - this visual check becomes easy as you should be able to see the branding of the golf glove even at A3.

Take the Michael Breed video as a quick reference and compare it to your Face On / Caddy View video.  When you go to A3 in the Breed video, we can see he is wearing a Titelist golf glove.  Then comparing your video, I can't see what type of golf glove you are wearing at A3.  The only way I know you are wearing a Footjoy golf glove is because I can see it at start-up.  But again, at A3 - your left arm/wrist has rolled so the back side of your left hand palm is facing skyward.  Therefore, in the face-on Caddy view - we can't tell what type of glove you are wearing.

By rolling the left arm - the back of your hand faces skyward - and the shaft gets very flat.  Fix this and the shaft will get vertical and back on plane.

[mdl]

The below plane take away with the wrists rolling over at A2 to A3 is something I've been fighting for a long time.  Word of caution.  My experience has been that as you try to fix that you fight big pulls or huge slices (depending on what you do with the face) because you're used to wrapping around really low with lots of horizontal body twist so then you have to sort of twist your upper body or hips near the start of your downswing to get back near to on plane.  Of course, if you go back on plane without that low wrist roll and excessive horizontal wrapping, then if you do that move to twist back on plane you end up coming out to in.

Also, and for me these are related, you're going back a little past parallel at A4.  I've found when I do that (and I still usually do, though I've been working hard lately to try to stop that, again), it cause all sorts of other problems and inconsistencies.  I do find it easier not to go so far past parallel at A4 when my back swing is on plane instead of below the plane.  But you might want to try shortening your swing a bit.  For me, a swing that stops at parallel at A4 feels like a 1/3 or 1/2 swing, but when I am able to achieve it I get more consistent aim and minimal loss in distance even though I feel like I'm doing a half swing at most.