My Swing (Hacker James)

[Hacker James]

Yes, that and similar drills years ago.(crush the can e.t.c.).  I really do not have much of a problem with impact and weight forward. I was only working on keeping it forward in lieu of shifting back on the back swing. What I need more of is flat/bowed left wrist. A drill that seems to work well for me is to take the longest iron I have (In my case that is the one iron), cup the right wrist on the take away which automatically will bow the left wrist. The idea is to hold it longer throughout the swing. My ball striking is pretty consistent. I just need to iron out a few small wrinkles. Prior to working on this lately, I relied on tempo and timing to be able to transfer weight forward, and on most days not too much of a problem. Recently, I have adopted more of a weight forward at set up and keeping it there and it is starting to feel very natural and automatic. I just happen to notice in my videos that the left arm was breaking down prematurely at impact or just after. Keeping a bowed wrist and maintaining narrow separation, elbow pockets up, help with the extension I need.

[Stretch]

James, you have a couple of things going on that are going to hurt you in different areas. The first and most obvious is the head movement on the backswing -- what Martin Hall calls the Mae West move (i.e. "Come up and see me sometime!")

You actually do a pretty good job of getting it back to where it needs to be around impact, but it's just real hard to pull that off all the time -- and that's going to be reflected in the consistency of your contact with the ball.

Second thing is the leftward club path. Again it's pretty clear when you look at how the sweet spot goes back way under the plane and comes back down way over it.

This is pretty much going to limit you to hitting pulls and cuts, you're going to tend to hit the ball low and you're also probably going to lose quite a bit of distance because you are not striking the ball solidly -- contact will tend to be more oblique.

OK, let's unpack those.

Why does your head move like that? Because you don't have enough side tilt. That is to say, your left shoulder does not go down enough towards the ground as you take the club back. In order to keep your head still, you have to do three things at the same time -- turn, side tilt and extend. You turn plenty and extend plenty, but don't tilt nearly enough. See the illustration below, this is the movement of your left shoulder socket from address to the top of the backswing compared to Ernie Els (who I just grabbed as a random pro example):

You can think of this however you like -- as getting that left shoulder down more, as turning your shoulders (in general) on a steeper angle (i.e. more vertically). Whatever works. But that's going to be a big piece of the puzzle for you. One thing you can do to get you started in the right direction is a small address change, less knee bend and more bend at the waist. For training, hold a golf club across your chest in the crooks of your elbows and turn like you're making a backswing. Now tilt to really point that grip down at the ground. Can you feel the compression in your left side and stretch in your right? That's the feeling you need (much) more of!

OK, second, the path issues. Or plane issues. Or plane issues that leads to path issues. Obviously to an extent this is related to the above. Everything is connected in the golf swing. But there are also some things you can profitably think about independently. Look at the picture below and notice the differences in the movement of the butt of the club from address (yellow) to this point in the backswing.

Your club head goes in (very quickly) but your hands never do, in fact they move out. And if your hands don't go in on the backswing, the only way you can create the depth (or width, if you prefer) that you need for power is to lift them up -- which is what you do. And once your hands get that high, the only way back to the ball is on such a steep path that it simply has to send the club head outside and left through the ball. So what you want, is the exact opposite. You want your hands to go in much more and your club head to stay out much more. This is the classic example everyone always uses -- Rickie Fowler -- just because it's so exaggerated.

You're never going to look like that, but that's how extreme you should try and feel when you are making practice swings etc. I have to warn you, this is a tough one. That move inside with the clubhead is the trigger of your whole swing and changing those triggers is really, really hard. But hey, if golf was easy, it wouldn't be interesting!

Hope that's some help to you, anyway. Good luck and tell your South African china I said howzit!

[Micah]

Also James, you should keep your right elbow tucked in closer to the body not out like a chicken wing but thanks for the video. I'll try to post a video of my swing later today.

[Hacker James]

Okay, thank you so much for the insight. I will work on the two major issues. The videos help now that I know a little more what to look for. I'll tell Arn you said howzit , bru.

[Hacker James]

Post note.......I have also been trying to swing the sweet spot diagonally in to out with some degree of success. This encourages my hands to go "in" on the backswing. As stated, tilting so that the  left shoulder points more towards the ground also helps with a more vertical arc. No surprise that each piece is connected. Execution will take a little more work.

[Stretch]

Relevant! Good teaching here.

[spam]

I think I see that your body is set up a little open which will cause you to come over the top. try to turn your upper body  a little more closed.  if you look at your down the line swing you will see that your upper body is aimed left and lower is aimed left and your trying to hit it straight close up to the ball and you will come from the inside a little easier. also try not to set the driver right behind the ball. if you do that you instantly open up your upper body and will come over the top and slice.

[Hacker James]

Relevant! Good teaching here.

Thank you. I will try and get some video up soon. I have been a little busy past several days, but prior to that, I was working mainly on the last two things you pointed out. It might take me a little while to pick up where we left off.

[Hacker James]

prolly a dumb question, but exactly how does one get the lines and boxes in videos and play back to see for example if your head stays still, or you are over/under the original plane? Do you need special software?  I thought about using Windows Paint, but I don't have a clue how to do it with a video clip.

[Hacker James]

Originally Posted by spam

I think I see that your body is set up a little open which will cause you to come over the top. try to turn your upper body  a little more closed.  if you look at your down the line swing you will see that your upper body is aimed left and lower is aimed left and your trying to hit it straight close up to the ball and you will come from the inside a little easier. also try not to set the driver right behind the ball. if you do that you instantly open up your upper body and will come over the top and slice.

To which video clip are you referring? the one that "Stretch" was diagnosing was not the latest one.

[spam]

No I'm sorry I noticed after I posted my suggestions I was on your first swing post. Sorry for the confusion.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Hacker James

prolly a dumb question, but exactly how does one get the lines and boxes in videos and play back to see for example if your head stays still, or you are over/under the original plane? Do you need special software?  I thought about using Windows Paint, but I don't have a clue how to do it with a video clip.

On a Mac? http://analyzrgolf.com/student/

On Windows? They're all pretty bad. :)

[Hacker James]

Almost starting over.....trying to work on bringing hands more "in" while keeping head still. I think there is still a little out to in swing, but maybe better in number two. also note that I am not turning all the way through at the finish, but was not really concentrating on that. Trying to identify a priority piece.

[Hacker James]

Originally Posted by iacas

On a Mac? http://analyzrgolf.com/student/

On Windows? They're all pretty bad. :)

haha,,,okay   guess I'm screwed then.......its okay, I guess I can always resort to using dry erase marker on monitor screen

[Hacker James]

Originally Posted by spam

No I'm sorry I noticed after I posted my suggestions I was on your first swing post. Sorry for the confusion.

oh, okay...the first was only to get familiar with video equipment, did not even hit a ball.

[Strandly]

The left shoulder dip was really interesting, I don't think I do nearly enough of that.  I'm definitely going to mess with it tomorrow at the driving range.

Also, I'm curious how much turning you can do with your upper body on the backswing before it becomes too much?  That probably sounds kinda vague so I'll try to clarify.. when I do practice backswings I basically turn until my eyeballs start to get pulled off the ball and I assume that is too far.  Or is it?  Do I need to stop turning when 1 eye comes off, 2 eyes?  When I can only see the ball with peripheral vision?

[Hacker James]

Originally Posted by Strandly

The left shoulder dip was really interesting, I don't think I do nearly enough of that.  I'm definitely going to mess with it tomorrow at the driving range.

Also, I'm curious how much turning you can do with your upper body on the backswing before it becomes too much?  That probably sounds kinda vague so I'll try to clarify.. when I do practice backswings I basically turn until my eyeballs start to get pulled off the ball and I assume that is too far.  Or is it?  Do I need to stop turning when 1 eye comes off, 2 eyes?  When I can only see the ball with peripheral vision?

this would probably be better addressed in the "Instruction and Practice thread" rather than in Member Swings, but one thing that I think "Stretch" was trying to tell me was that if I tilted my left shoulder down more, I would be turning the upper body on a centered axis and that would combine with the hip turn and make the entire process much easier. Some have flexibility to turn even past 90 degrees. The idea is to create tension that can be released on the downswing. On mine, when I do it right, I try to keep head stationary and in so doing, I probably am looking at the ball with my left eye (or at least feel as though that is what I am doing). Jack Nicklaus is said to have even turned his head to the right on the backswing, but still able to see the ball. The main thing you do NOT want to do is to sway off the ball. The more you can get your back to the target on the back swing, the better.  Also, I don't think I would want to characterize the shoulder turn as a "dip", as that would imply you are "lowering" your body. Maybe a better term would be to "point" your left shoulder at the ground.

Oh,  also  I am assuming you are referring to my swing where I am dressed in all black?  That is the one that Stretch was giving me instruction on and I had posted a couple of swing videos after that.

[Strandly]

I was just referring to Stretch comments about the shoulder lowering or turning or whatever you want to call it.