My Swing (rgar7)

[rgar7]

I've been Playing Golf for: 3 years

My current handicap index or average score is: 18-ish

My typical ball flight is: Slice. Most of the time my ball will start straight and then curve very badly to the right.  On a typical drive I'll end up about 150 yards out and 1-2 fairways over.  This happens on my driver and woods all the way up to a 6 iron.  I can hit 7 and shorter pretty well for some reason.

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Slices and badly chunked iron shots.

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Videos:

Driver, caddie view.  I didn't do it here but lately I've been driving the ball straight into the ground about a foot in front of my tee, and then it rolls forward to the ladies tees.  Awkward, right?

Driver, slow motion, down the line.  Sorry I wasn't at a nicer range so you can't see ball flight, but just trust me that after about 100 yards it will slice sharp to the right.

And then a few wedge shots so you can see what a non-driver swing looks like.

Looking forward to your thoughts/comments.  I signed up for my first lesson next week and I'm sure that will help, but thought I'd reach out here and see what everyone has to offer.

[mvmac]

Hi, welcome to the site. First thing I would do is look at the weight location in your set-up. You're sitting back into your heels and this is causing you to have too much flex in your knees and your eyes looking too far "up". Problem with these things is that it makes a functional pivot much harder to accomplish.

Notice the golfer in the right pic, eyes down, looking at the ball with the center of his vision and the weight distribution is even between the heel and toes. If someone was to lightly push you from the front, you would lose your balance.

So for you it's going to feel like the weight is more on your toes and like your eyes and chin are "down".

More info and drills on posture

[rgar7]

Thanks for the advice! The posture thread was a great read.  I worked on the posture drill you mentioned and was amazed at how different it felt, and especially to see how far I was previously sticking my butt out.  I've just done the drill at home and haven't hit with my new posture yet, but is that something that could have been affecting my slice?  I know there are a plethora of things wrong with my swing, but I figure if I can get as many of the wrinkles ironed out before I meet with the instructor next week I'll be able to really get my money's worth.

[mvmac]

I've just done the drill at home and haven't hit with my new posture yet, but is that something that could have been affecting my slice?

Yeah for sure, it makes it harder for you to turn and get the weight forward at impact. You're now in a better position to do this stuff.

[rgar7]

Went out and played 18 yesterday at Tecolote Canyon. I tried to implement the things you said on all my shots and in general my shots were a lot cleaner.  I had a few shots just dead on, including a drive that carried 305 to the green! (It was off a small cliff, but my drives usually go 200 yards and slice 100 to the right).  I'll get to the range a few times this week and try to make my posture and weight balance a habit on my swing.

I'll post a new swing next week to see what other fixes need to be made.  Thanks for all the help!

[islandgolfer82]

Hi there bud!  Another thing to think about when I look at your swing is that you could turn your left hand a little in.  Just enough where you can see 2 or 3 knuckles and yes I agree with the other tip that you should stand up a little more but don't put your weight on your toes.  It should be a solid flat stance until your turning through.  Hope that helps a bit.

[rgar7]

Thanks again for all of the advice everyone. I've been going to the range and working on my swing a lot and have seen dramatic improvement. I went to the range today and recorded my distances. Here they are: Dr - 200 3w - 130 4i - 170 5i - 155 6i - 175 7i - 165 8i - 150 9i - 135 Pw - 125 Aw - 120 54 - 100 60 - 70 As you can see I'm still having some trouble with my long irons, and my 3w is just ridiculous. I never use that club on the course. I still chunk a fair number of shots, but overall I'm hitting more clean shots and seeing improvement in my scores. Here are the videos I took today hitting my driver and 8 iron. Sorry for the bad cinematography, I was by myself and had to set my phone on my bag. As always, comments are very much appreciated and incorporated. [URL]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vMOgG2Ad2Ks&feature;=em-upload_owner[/URL] [URL]http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=em-upload_owner&v;=LSLjWFE9kC8[/URL] Sorry if the videos don't embed properly, I'm on my phone and will fix it when I get home.

[rgar7]

Here they are embedded:

[14ledo81]

Looks like you still need some work on posture.  I can still see a pretty distinct S curve to your lower back.

[mvmac]

Agree, get that posture better, will really help with the pivot stuff and keep the lower back healthy.

Make it look more like the right pic, tuck the tailbone under you, will allow the shoulders and head to "hang".