My Swing (Mr Smell Good)

[Mr Smell Good]

I've been Playing Golf for: 10 years inconsistently. 6 months consistently

My current handicap index or average score is: bogey average

My typical ball flight is:  straight??

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: fade or hook w/ driver

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Videos: Driver - Rear View

[Mr Smell Good]

Just to give a little more info... Over the last few months I have drastically improved my short game and iron game.  Overall I have brought my average down from over 100 to even having a couple rounds in the high 80s, but I average in the 90s now.  My driver inconsistency is ruining my score on a lot of days. Some days I will be hitting it straight and some days I can't find the fairway to save my life.  I really need help. I have had 2 lessons, both about 3 months ago. I'm afraid my swing is not improving anymore and actually getting worse.

Thank you!

[Pretzel]

Your swing looks nicely on plane, at least in the ones in the video. The only thing I saw was that it looked like you stood up through impact on most of those swings. I used to do that myself and I know that lead to real problems with my consistency before.

[Mr Smell Good]

Thanks for the reply!  What did you do to fix that problem?  I think it could have to do with my follow through.. maybe bringing my head up to watch the ball a little early?

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by Mr Smell Good

... maybe bringing my head up to watch the ball a little early?

I promise you it's not that.

Please read this -- you don't have to go and buy another camera (yet), just get the angles right so we can have a half-decent look.

http://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/filming_your_swing

PS: What is the secret to smelling that good? Does it really drive the ladies crazy? Not that I ... want to, or anything. Just curious.

[Mr Smell Good]

Originally Posted by Stretch

I promise you it's not that.

Please read this -- you don't have to go and buy another camera (yet), just get the angles right so we can have a half-decent look.

http://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/filming_your_swing

PS: What is the secret to smelling that good? Does it really drive the ladies crazy? Not that I ... want to, or anything. Just curious.

Reading now.  I am actually considering getting another camera for golf swing analysis at some point.

The username is a reference to my cologne collection I recently sold off some of it to fund my Ping irons

Ok - after reading the article I know the angle isn't ideal.  All I had to work with was my golf bag and an iphone.  I will try my best to get a better view today.  I'm going to hit the range again in a couple hours

[Hacker James]

It is my understanding that lot of players here use I-phones to do their videos. I use a point and shoot Canon Power Shot and even at 30 fps it is good enough for my purposes although for a detailed swing analysis one at much higher speed would be better. Tripods are dirt cheap on ebay, or even places like Walmart you can get mini-tripods that clip onto your bag.  I got a very nice Ravelli on ebay for around $30.

[Mr Smell Good]

From today:

9 iron

3 wood

Driver

[SloverUT]

I am not an expert but I think you should try to get some face on views next time as well.  Your back swing seems pretty decent but you are doing something close to impact that is effecting you. It is hard to see post impact when doing a DTL view.

[Mr Smell Good]

Originally Posted by SloverUT

I am not an expert but I think you should try to get some face on views next time as well.  Your back swing seems pretty decent but you are doing something close to impact that is effecting you. It is hard to see post impact when doing a DTL view.

I'll try.  Won't be until tomorrow.  I really don't like my swing right now. It doesn't look good to me at all.

[SloverUT]

Originally Posted by Mr Smell Good

I'll try.  Won't be until tomorrow.  I really don't like my swing right now. It doesn't look good to me at all.

As said before, I am no expert.  Your swing post impact looks very similar to mine.  I have a bad habit of not bumping my hip and checken arming the follow through.  I suspect you may have similar tendencies that may be easier to see in the videos you are able to get tomorrow.

[Mr Smell Good]

Our handicaps are also similar.  I'm not sure what you mean by hip bumping and chicken arming.  Would the chicken arm be referring to not having my left arm straight at impact?

[SloverUT]

Basically, checken arming as I understand it is short arming the follow through and not getting good extension.

[Mr Smell Good]

OK bumping with side views as promised.  8 iron, 3 wood, then driver

[Stretch]

OK, there's a couple of things that jump out.

First, you are early extending (aka "standing up", aka "losing your spine angle") and flipping the club (left wrist is breaking down/bending through impact) as illustrated below. In the right picture, red shows positions at address, green positions at impact.

So, why are you early extending and flipping? Well, because you have to make these compensations in order to hit the golf ball. But what are you compensating for? In my opinion, the fact that your pivot (the rotation of your body, most importantly your hips) stalls well before impact. Once you stop turning, the only way to keep the club moving is to unhinge the wrists, straighten the right elbow and let the arms disconnect from the torso. The club head goes through and rolls over, left wrist and elbow must flex and you get the classic "chicken wing" follow through. All of these elements will also tend to make your club's sweet spot move more vertically and more to the left of your target line. The early extension is your subconscious's reaction to that -- allowing you to both shallow out and move your club path more (back) to the right.

So the most important question then is why are you stalling? Again, just my opinion, but I would say the simple answer is because you are not getting your weight forward enough. To get your weight forward, you have to move the hips laterally towards the target, and only once you have done that can the hips and the body and the arms all turn through the strike area together in proper synchronization. There is a lot of material on the site about this area, because it is so important. This is a good place to start:

http://thesandtrap.com/t/29616/the-biggest-secret-slide-your-hips

Also look for the rest of the "Key #2" stuff here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9wzVgBx_LuTuTZOu3-SVM2m-Je3tRfqS

The more complicated answer is illustrated below.

I've marked in red the position of your left leg at the top of the backswing, half way down and at impact. You can see that it remains flexed to the inside throughout the downswing, though the amount of that flex does decrease. That means your left hip is staying in what is termed "internal rotation" all the way into the ball, which is not a good thing. Make a practice backswing and pause at the top. You'll see your left knee has gained flex and come inside your left foot. Now keep the knee in that exact same position and try and turn your hips. You can't really, can you? There's physical resistance. And that's what is happening to you in the downswing, I think. To deal with it, you are going to have to really focus on pushing that left knee outside the left ankle as you make the transition from the top of the backswing. You're also probably going to want to feel like you are keeping it flexed more and for longer during the downswing. The more you can do that, the more you can slide the hips laterally and the more you'll be able to keep them turning.

[Mr Smell Good]

Wow, thank you very much for the in depth reply.  This website is so cool.  I'm very grateful to be getting analysis like that especially from a great player like yourself (4 handicap).

Everything you said makes sense.  I have never had more of an urge to go hit the driving range immediately!

I'm checking out the slide your hips thread.  I notice that even looking at the pictures of the pros in that thread their left knee is flexed to the inside at the top of their backswing and then it's outside the left foot at impact.  So I'm assuming it's OK that my left leg does what it does during my backswing, but once I come into the downswing I need to focus on pushing that out and as a result sliding my hips forward, transferring weight to the front, etc?

I'm seeing another trip to the driving range in my future today at lunch.  I will focus on doing this and even over-exaggerating it produce the desired effect and see what happens. I will record it again.

P.S. I really like your quote you have in your signature

[Stretch]

I am anything but a great player! Plenty of my own weird swing stuff going on -- it's just that as you learn to understand your particular tendencies, you learn to manage them too. It's a process.

Yes, your knee action is OK on the backswing. It's got to bend and come in a bit to allow a nice deep hip turn. But you (I mean you particularly) really need to push it back out as you start into the downswing.

Here's a (really) good player doing it well. See how turned-out his left foot is? That will help you too. Do that more at set up.

[Mr Smell Good]

Originally Posted by Stretch

I am anything but a great player! Plenty of my own weird swing stuff going on -- it's just that as you learn to understand your particular tendencies, you learn to manage them too. It's a process.

Yes, your knee action is OK on the backswing. It's got to bend and come in a bit to allow a nice deep hip turn. But you (I mean you particularly) really need to push it back out as you start into the downswing.

Here's a (really) good player doing it well. See how turned-out his left foot is? That will help you too. Do that more at set up.

Just stood up in my office and tried taking a couple fake practice swings and turned my foot out a little bit and it already feels much easier to slide my weight forward