My Swing (LL91)

[LL91]

I've been Playing Golf for: On and off for 12 years. Just had a break for a couple of years and am getting back into it.

My current handicap index or average score is: 16.4, shooting around 85-90 atm.

My typical ball flight is: Good shot is usually a high draw.

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: I'm trying to keep my misses to one side and eliminate the other. At the moment a snap hook, a pull slice or a straight push are all as likely to happen..

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Videos:

Hello all! Here's my driver swing. I'm sorry the camera isn't perfectly level. This particular shot was a high-ish draw, a pretty good shot for me. What I've been working on is trying to keep my arms connected to my body. I've had a pretty bad flying elbow problem which has led to an over the top swing, and the slices and pulls that come with it. From what I can tell my lower body doesn't really know what to do either. I'm typically hitting the ball better with shorter clubs, but the longer ones and especially the driver has been a real pain this summer. I would appreciate any insight and tips you guys can provide

[iacas]

Two quick comments.

1) Please get your camera angles like it says here: http://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/filming_your_swing

2) Please record face-on videos as well.

You'll get some great help if you can do those. This video isn't terribly useful. It LOOKS like a huge pull (if it draws, a pull-draw), but given the parallax error and stuff, nobody can really say. You probably swing left quite a bit, but this can't be demonstrated to you based on this video.

[mvmac]

Two quick comments.

1) Please get your camera angles like it says here: http://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/filming_your_swing

Agree with @iacas , getting some better views will really help us.

[LL91]

Thanks for the comments guys, I'll try to get the camera angles correct next time!

[14ledo81]

Welcome to TST.

Post some better video, and count yourself fortunate if Mike and/or Erik responds.  They are excellent instructors that really know their stuff.

[boogielicious]

@LL91 ,

When I set up, I take my stance then put an alignment stick or my club at my feet parallel to the target line.  Then I go set up the camera to that alignment stick.  It makes it much easier to set the camera up.  For face on, I use a club or alignment stick perpendicular to the target line aimed at the ball.

[Steven Joseph]

Three things spring out to me:

1) club taken too far inside on backswing creating very flat plane

2) swinging over the plane/'over the top' on the downswing (hardly surprising as your backswing is so flat)

3) early extension

other than that its a decent looking swing.

try feeling like your backswing is really outside the line on the backswing by pushing the club out along the target line as long as possible.

on the downswing feel like your right elbow is going to graze your right hip.

google early extension for a million drills.

[LL91]

Thanks again. I think I'll head out today and try to get the camera angles correct. About the deep backswing, I've had a severe over the top problem (and still do) that I've tried to fix by going deeper and deeper, to still be able to swing over the top but come straight at the ball. What I think I need to do is change the direction of the loop from under/over the plane to slightly over/under.

[mvmac]

Thanks again. I think I'll head out today and try to get the camera angles correct.

About the deep backswing, I've had a severe over the top problem (and still do) that I've tried to fix by going deeper and deeper, to still be able to swing over the top but come straight at the ball. What I think I need to do is change the direction of the loop from under/over the plane to slightly over/under.

I took a look at your video and if I had to guess I think your hips are sliding to the right on the backswing. This is going to make it much harder to swing outward on the downswing.

Check this out

[LL91]

New vids:

7 iron DTL and front

Driver DTL and front

I hope the camera angles are better this time. Irons were ok today but the driver was acting up. Strong fade to slice on pretty much every shot. I did notice I had been sliding my hips on the backswing and tried to concentrate not to today. Any comments are appreciated!

[Steven Joseph]

Look at the top of your backswing with your iron. See how you're leaning over to your left? Which causes you to collapse into your left side on downswing rather than rotate and power into it from right foot. You also scoop your hands through impact as your hands arent far enough in front of ball at impact. And as i said before you're swinging too much across your body on the backswing which causes you to cover over the top on the downswing, hence the slice.

From the front angle it looks like the ball is too far back in your stance, especially in the driver. The further back the ball is the more likely you are to slice as your hands dont have time to rotate back to target line and/or you're more likely to hit steeply down on it.

Try putting the ball further foward in your stance. This will encourage you to sweep at it more from the inside, give your hands time to return to neutral before impact and also encourage you throw your weight forward more.

As for your swing plane, try doing an exageratted Jim Furyk swing, whereby you swing the club way outside the line on backswing and drop it way back inside on downswing. Chances are you'll hit lots of low hooks and thin shots for the first few dozen balls, but you need to get used to the feeling.

Another good feeling to help fight a slice is to imaging you're trying to hit a topspin forehand in tennis, flipping the wrist through impact. Again, feel and real arent the same.

[LL91]

@Steven Joseph thanks! I had not realized I was leaning to the left. And I've always thought having the ball too far forward in my stance would make it harder to swing in to out, but your explanation makes sense too. I'll definitely try it out next time. As for the swing plane fix, I really need to start working on it.

[mvmac]

I hope the camera angles are better this time. Irons were ok today but the driver was acting up. Strong fade to slice on pretty much every shot. I did notice I had been sliding my hips on the backswing and tried to concentrate not to today. Any comments are appreciated!

Nice job with the camera. Hips look ok, that's good that you spotted them sliding back.

I would continue to keep an eye on on the hips as well as this piece.

Club head loads too "shallow" on the backswing, causes the head to lower a little too much (it goes down more throughout the backswing). The shallow loading causes the shaft to steepen out (right pic) on the downswing. This is where the path and contact issues comes from.

You want to try and do the opposite, have the swing go from "steep to shallow". Just talking about the way the shaft loads, not the hand path. You'll feel more "Rickie Fowler" with how the club head and hands work on the takeaway.

Another good feeling to help fight a slice is to imaging you're trying to hit a topspin forehand in tennis, flipping the wrist through impact. Again, feel and real arent the same.

Hi, welcome to the site. If you do a little searching you'll see that we have a lot of good information on the site. Few good places to start.

http://thesandtrap.com/f/4088/swing-thoughts

One of the things you'll never hear us say is that you need to flip the wrists through impact to hit a draw That'll only make the slice worse.

[LL91]

Long time no see New season is around the corner and I've been trying to work on my swing. I'm actually hitting my irons very solid at the moment, but after seeing my swing on video for the first time since last September I noticed quite many things I need to work on. What I've been trying to do is eliminate the severe flipping/casting move I've always had that's made my swing very dependent on good timing. Now I feel like I'm not releasing the club at all, but the video shows the flip is still there, maybe slightly less than before though? (sorry for the messed up colors, sun was directly behind me and in the original footage I was just a big shadow with no details at all)

The flight I'm getting is high (sometimes maybe too high..) and straight to a very slight fade. And like I said, irons are very solid and consistent even. The longer clubs, especially driver are bad, with shots ranging from very bad contact to low draws to straight to high slices.. I've ordered a mini tripod and will be making a lot more videos when it arrives, but is there anything you guys can tell based on this swing? What I noticed was my hips are sliding which causes my spine to point up and to the right at the top of the backswing. Also, I'm bending my left arm:

What I think I need to work on is developing a centered hip turn and keeping my left arm straight, which should lead to a better impact position and maybe a more consistent ball flight with the longer clubs? Anything else? I'm trying hard to break 80 this coming season and appreciate any help I can get. Thanks!

Also, as a side note, my swing speed with a mid iron is around 90mph, and the shafts I have in my irons are True Temper Feather Flights with R flex (http://www.gigagolf.com/view_shaft_options.jhtml?id=8), which are said to be for a 5-iron swing speed up to 75mph. Do you think I'd benefit from stiffer shafts?

[LL91]

Ok, I was eager to get back to the range after seeing yesterdays footage. I wanted to work on a centered hip turn and see where it would take me. Surprisingly, results were pretty much immediate. Ball flight turned from a fade to a draw, which for me is nothing sort of a miracle since I've never been able to draw without manipulating face angle. Consistency was pretty good, too.

It seems trying not to slide my hips also prevented my head from lowering and moving forward as much:

And that lead to a much improved impact position:

The DTL view is still showing some flaws, i.e. I'm taking the club too deep which leads to it steepening during the down swing, but overall I'm quite pleased with the progress. Longer clubs are still a mess and I seem to have lost a bit of distance, but that might be due to the weather being so much colder today. Anyway, what do you guys think? Any comments are appreciated.

[mvmac]

It seems trying not to slide my hips also prevented my head from lowering and moving forward as much:

Yep keeping the hips centered can really help the weight/hips get forward on the downswing. Nice work with that!

The DTL view is still showing some flaws, i.e. I'm taking the club too deep which leads to it steepening during the down swing, but overall I'm quite pleased with the progress. Longer clubs are still a mess and I seem to have lost a bit of distance, but that might be due to the weather being so much colder today. Anyway, what do you guys think? Any comments are appreciated.

There's a few reasons you're seeing the club work inside the hands or too deep as you said. It's much better than it was in September!

- Camera is a little to the right.

- Hands work slightly away from you on the takeaway.

- Right knee releases too much flex too early.

[iacas]

I second what Mike ( @mvmac ) just said, but that's some nice work in the span of a day or so!

[LL91]

Thanks for support, @mvmac and @iacas . What really clicked with me about the centered hip turn is I realized I need to gain a lot more flex and in the left knee, and actually lose flex in the right one. Especially the latter is something I had never thought about. Anyway, I'll keep working on it and the other stuff as well!