My Swing (Robersk)

[Robersk]

My swing has changed a lot in the last two years, constantly fighting a slice and huge inconsistency where my best rounds are 89-91, averaging 95ish but i can easily shoot 102 with a couple of blow out holes.

Current swing thoughts:

loose grip

try to bring club back inside on BS

keep head up on BS

start falling to front leg just before end of BS

keep head back on DS

whip club through impact

keep left elbow in on follow through

Would be very interested to hear your thoughts, thanks in advance. I've put both FO and DTL vids in one with relevant lines, hopes its not too nerdy . I think the camera angle on the DTL view might look outside plane due to the low position of the camera, parallax issue?? maybe its just outside lol

I've been Playing Golf for: 15 years, only last 2 years really concentrating on improving and reading ALL literature

My current handicap index or average score is: 22hcp

My typical ball flight is: Till very recently a fade, now draw

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: for the last few years a massive slice, now a push

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Videos:

[nevets88]

I would have guessed your scores would be lower given your swing vids, perhaps by 10 strokes. I defer to the pros on swing advice, but to me, in general, it looks pretty good. If I were to mention one thing - your head is translating back a little (something I do too), but you get your weight back forward nicely and based on those red lines, hip to feet, it looks like you're staying centered.

Here's some info on this site on filming your swing:

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

http://thesandtrap.com/t/54050/importance-of-camera-position-in-golf-swing-video-analysis

[Robersk]

Thanks! It does feel like I should be playing a lot better than I am, but I guess we all get that

[nevets88]

Thanks! It does feel like I should be playing a lot better than I am, but I guess we all get that

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

[Robersk]

Played twice this weekend with extremely varied results. Day one i shot 93, 43 out and 50 in. Again i was driving with my hybrid and on the front 9 hitting it solidly, my chipping was on so the puts weren't so hard. The back 9 I kinda lost it, duffed a few shots, and started pushing a lot. Overall i was very happy with myself, holes 1, 13 and 18 were anomalies (duffed a chip three times, 4 putted and had a ball go OB).

Today... different story. Pushed a lot and chipping/pitching was off. My swing felt odd, different, but I was going through the same setup routine (i thought) as yesterday. i scored 95 after 16 and we all walked off, nobody played well.

The positive: I have realised that my actual shot shape is very definitely a push draw which feels and looks amazing. An example today was a 170 par3 slightly uphill, 5 iron, the ball started 20 feet right of the flag (aiming at flag at setup) and landed dead, 4 foot from the flag. BOOM!... shame i had put one OB 15 seconds before that .

Questions : I can't seem to consistently reproduce the below...

My 'hip slide' before the top of my BS, sometimes i get too quick and swing first, simple concentration issue i think?

I don't always release enough, which leeds to my epic pushes. I'm trying to relax my arms/finger/hands/wrists more to help this but doesn't always work, any other ideas?

My pitching, i don't have a reliable pitch swing. ATM i put the ball in the middle of my stance, fully load my front leg and lean the shaft all the way to my left knee. I get a lovely low flight (I hear the ball 'wizz' off the face of the club) and the ball holds nicely on the green when hit correctly, when i dont get it right it just terrible (shanks & duffs). Is this a good method that I'm just not doing right or should i just be using a shortened version of my normal swing?

[Robersk]

I can't stop hooking! I had a lesson with a TGM masters qualified instructor a couple of months ago who made some changes. Now rather than a push draw, I just can't stop drawing/hooking. The ball starts at target. Got another lesson coming up with him but would appreciate any thoughts. [video]http://youtu.be/oeltEsu8egY[/video]

[Ernest Jones]

I can't stop hooking!

I had a lesson with a TGM masters qualified instructor a couple of months ago who made some changes. Now rather than a push draw, I just can't stop drawing/hooking. The ball starts at target. Got another lesson coming up with him but would appreciate any thoughts.

http://youtu.be/oeltEsu8egY

Are you consistently hitting it straight on line with the target and then hooking left of the target? If it's consistent then I would try setting up with your club face slightly open so the ball starts right of the target and has room to curve back. Experiment to find the right amount of open.

[Robersk]

So if I don't think about my swing I push fade it. Instructor measured my swing path was 15deg in to out. So he has me trying straighten that out but when I concentrate on that I hook it, starts at target then moves left. I'd rather fix the cause that work round it. What confuses me is that the vid shows me on plane on the way back and down, but after impact my hands keep pushing right a bit which could be the cause? I kept trying to swing left but couldn't, frustrating!

[Ernest Jones]

So if I don't think about my swing I push fade it. Instructor measured my swing path was 15deg in to out. So he has me trying straighten that out but when I concentrate on that I hook it, starts at target then moves left. I'd rather fix the cause that work round it. What confuses me is that the vid shows me on plane on the way back and down, but after impact my hands keep pushing right a bit which could be the cause? I kept trying to swing left but couldn't, frustrating!

15* is a ton of in-to-out. I would think that you definitely want to reign that in a bit as an end goal. If your face is anywhere near square to the target line you are, with out a doubt, gonna hook the ever livin' crap out of it. The quick fix would be to aim your clubface about 8* or so right of the target and then regrip (you'll want your grip to remain the same as usual just with face pointing right of the target).

As far as long term improvement, I'll defer to those who actually know what they are talking about but making your normal swing with the face opened up a bit (but still closed to the path) will at least get the ball started well right and working back to the target as opposed to constantly moving away from your target.

I would expect that a pro would encourage you to get your swingpath a little closer to neutral. I believe the tour average for those who draw the ball is around 6-8* max.

Good luck, and don't break any windows.

[Robersk]

Ha! At some of the courses I play that IS a worry. Thanks for the comments, I guess that's something I should consider doing on the course if it's a bad day rather than just being stubborn and having a crap round.

[Robersk]

Update: made some progress, had my best round ever yesterday 85, 13 over. My handicap has reduced from 22 to 18.5.

The pro measured my weight transition on a force plate. Previously i was transitioning from my right heel (on BS) to my left toe (on FT) which led to the in to out swing. Concentrating on moving my weight to my left heel seems to straighten out my swing. So happy .

[boogielicious]

Nice!

[Robersk]

Update: had a pretty slow winter season but been back at the range and seem to have made further progress in getting the impact position of the shaft close to the setup position and also having my follow through track the single plane more closely. From the video below I think I still have to hinge the club up earlier and keep my head up slightly on BS. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated as always. Really want to get my hcap down to 15 this year. [VIDEO]http://youtu.be/ifXrMOXAifY[/VIDEO]

[Robersk]

Would really appreciate some comments, critique welcome :)

[boogielicious]

Update: had a pretty slow winter season but been back at the range and seem to have made further progress in getting the impact position of the shaft close to the setup position and also having my follow through track the single plane more closely.

From the video below I think I still have to hinge the club up earlier and keep my head up slightly on BS.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated as always. Really want to get my hcap down to 15 this year.

One thing I would check is your right elbow. The image below is A4 and A5.  You can see that at A4, your right elbow is pretty high. That is not necessarily bad (see Jack Nicklaus).  But, as you go down, your right elbow can get trapped at your side.  It tough to tell with the dark shirt and shadows.  If it does get trapped, it can cause a bit of and outside in move at impact, causing hooks if your face is closed with respect to path.  My instructor has had me focus on getting my right elbow down and forward at A5, so it is below the left shoulder.  It is part of the equation, but not all.  Otherwise, you have a nice athletic swing.

The two threads below are excellent in describing this.

[Robersk]

Interesting I think I remember something about this in hogans 5 principles. So essentially my right elbow is disconnected at the top and I should lead the DS with the right elbow to keep it tucked? Checked a justin rose swing and his elbow positions are as u described so I'm on board with the advise. My concern is that this feels like it would bring my swing path back under the plane and 'in to out' which is something I've been battling.

[boogielicious]

Interesting I think I remember something about this in hogans 5 principles. So essentially my right elbow is disconnected at the top and I should lead the DS with the right elbow to keep it tucked? Checked a justin rose swing and his elbow positions are as u described so I'm on board with the advise.

My concern is that this feels like it would bring my swing path back under the plane and 'in to out' which is something I've been battling.

It is tough to tell in your video due to the darkness.  But I would refer back to the two threads I linked.  If you could post a video with more light, we could see what is happening better.