My Swing (kpetrina)

[kpetrina]

 

I've been Playing Golf for: 1 year
My current handicap index or average score is: mid 90s avg score
My typical ball flight is: inconsistent (hooks and slices)
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: thin shots

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Videos: 

 

So here is the story. I've played golf for a little over a year now and am really struggling with consistency.  During a normal round I get a little bit of everything (fat, thin, hooks, slices, blocks)  I have noticed that my left arm does not stay straight through impact. I'm not really what is causing all of my inconsistencies in my golf game so I figured I would turn to some outside help! Any and all suggestions are helpful guys so let me know what you think.

 

 

Edited December 14, 2015 by kpetrina
Forgot to delete some text

[dkolo]

47 minutes ago, kpetrina said:

 

I've been Playing Golf for: 1 year
My current handicap index or average score is: mid 90s avg score
My typical ball flight is: inconsistent (hooks and slices)
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: thin shots

---

Videos: 

 

So here is the story. I've played golf for a little over a year now and am really struggling with consistency.  During a normal round I get a little bit of everything (fat, thin, hooks, slices, blocks)  I have noticed that my left arm does not stay straight through impact. I'm not really what is causing all of my inconsistencies in my golf game so I figured I would turn to some outside help! Any and all suggestions are helpful guys so let me know what you think.

 

 

I just started my own swing thread so don't take any of this as informed at all, but I'm struck that you have some similarities to my swing in that, and this is hard to tell for sure with the full speed video, it looks like you're a little bit behind the ball at impact with the irons, as if almost trying to launch the ball up in the air, what I describe in my own thread an uppercut swing. The consequence of this is the inconsistency of your strikes as you make compensations to avoid hitting the ground every time. This can manifest itself with hitting some thins, some fats, and of course some good ones when you get it right because you have a great swing speed. The goal should be to get the low point of the swing, with irons at least, past the ball. The way to do this is to make sure you get the weight forward at impact. As I said, I have this issue myself so I'm short on solutions right now but there's a lot of videos on this site that help drill "weight forward," so I'd suggest those as a jumping off point. There should be some in the Instruction and Swing Thoughts subforums that I'd link to if I weren't on my phone  

Also, welcome to the site!

[collapse]

The best thing you and dkolo could do while waiting for some member insight into your swings,is contemplate the cover of this book.

[dkolo]

14 minutes ago, collapse said:

The best thing you and dkolo could do while waiting for some member insight into your swings,is contemplate the cover of this book.

Ben Hogan is telling us he loves us from beyond the grave in sign language. 

[collapse]

Just now, dkolo said:

Ben Hogan is telling us he loves us from beyond the grave in sign language. 

There is a thread somewhere asking about the best teaching aides,..guess what!...it's our eyes......unfortunately we look but don't see.

[saevel25]

25 minutes ago, dkolo said:

Ben Hogan is telling us he loves us from beyond the grave in sign language. 

I had to look that one up. Good catch 

[collapse]

Kpetrina....before we get too far OT....what you should be focusing on in the Hogan picture are the two middle fingers of his right hand. 

[kpetrina]

47 minutes ago, collapse said:

Kpetrina....before we get too far OT....what you should be focusing on in the Hogan picture are the two middle fingers of his right hand. 

I've read that book a little while ago. I know that he says most of the grip pressure should be held by those two fingers, while the other two are just there for support.   

14 hours ago, dkolo said:

I just started my own swing thread so don't take any of this as informed at all, but I'm struck that you have some similarities to my swing in that, and this is hard to tell for sure with the full speed video, it looks like you're a little bit behind the ball at impact with the irons, as if almost trying to launch the ball up in the air, what I describe in my own thread an uppercut swing. The consequence of this is the inconsistency of your strikes as you make compensations to avoid hitting the ground every time. This can manifest itself with hitting some thins, some fats, and of course some good ones when you get it right because you have a great swing speed. The goal should be to get the low point of the swing, with irons at least, past the ball. The way to do this is to make sure you get the weight forward at impact. As I said, I have this issue myself so I'm short on solutions right now but there's a lot of videos on this site that help drill "weight forward," so I'd suggest those as a jumping off point. There should be some in the Instruction and Swing Thoughts subforums that I'd link to if I weren't on my phone  

Also, welcome to the site!

Thanks dkolo, I think the description of an "uppercut" swing is perfectly accurate. I'll try to upload a couple of slow mo swings to the thread here in a little while.

[collapse]

1 minute ago, kpetrina said:

I've read that book a little while ago. I know that he says most of the grip pressure should be held by those two fingers, while the other two are just there for support.   

Yes ,those two fingers are the one's that will go on squarely if done correctly....the other two and the thumb will screw you up if not aware they can.Important to note in the picture is the position of the club.

[jbishop15]

One thing that you're going to hear before long: flare those feet out 25-30 degrees. It'll help with turning correctly, though you do a pretty good job of it regardless. Also, hello from a fellow Georgian! 

In the DTL swing, your lower back has small curve in it; that can make the swing more difficult, and also lead to back problems later on (the second part of which I am very familiar with, lol). Check out this thread on golf posture.

Also in the DTL swing: your hands come away from your body. You want to keep that left arm tight to the chest going back; this "deep hands" explainer will show you what I mean. 

[SavvySwede]

11 hours ago, jbishop15 said:

One thing that you're going to hear before long: flare those feet out 25-30 degrees. It'll help with turning correctly, though you do a pretty good job of it regardless. Also, hello from a fellow Georgian! 

In the DTL swing, your lower back has small curve in it; that can make the swing more difficult, and also lead to back problems later on (the second part of which I am very familiar with, lol). Check out this thread on golf posture.

Also in the DTL swing: your hands come away from your body. You want to keep that left arm tight to the chest going back; this "deep hands" explainer will show you what I mean. 

+1 on all these points. Getting the curve out of the lower back was the first thing I noticed. I will also add that @kpetrina should  take a look at his head movement. It significantly drops down and away from target coming into impact, moving back about an entire head's width. Easy drill is to have someone hold a stick against the head for a point of reference while you work to maintain the head's address position throughout the swing.

[collapse]

Regarding the flared feet......IMO the feet should have some flare but not equally otherwise they neutralize the desired effect.IMO the lead foot should flare more than the back...although it is alright to do the opposite...but both can't be heading east and west at 25 or 30 *

Edited December 15, 2015 by collapse

[dkolo]

35 minutes ago, collapse said:

Regarding the flared feet......IMO the feet should have some flare but not equally otherwise they neutralize the desired effect.IMO the lead foot should flare more than the back...although it is alright to do the opposite...but both can't be heading east and west at 25 or 30 *

Yes they can.

http://thesandtrap.com/forums/topic/78207-why-flaring-your-feet-at-address-makes-golf-easier/

Good talk. 

[collapse]

42 minutes ago, dkolo said:

Yes they can.

http://thesandtrap.com/forums/topic/78207-why-flaring-your-feet-at-address-makes-golf-easier/

Good talk. 

Cheers dkolo....complicated biz this swing motion....I find it is much easier to make a 90* shoulder turn while maintaining a perfectly stable head position if one of the feet is flared more than the other.Having said that,we are told all body types are different so where does that leave us?

[No Mulligans]

19 hours ago, SavvySwede said:

+1 on all these points. Getting the curve out of the lower back was the first thing I noticed. I will also add that @kpetrina should  take a look at his head movement. It significantly drops down and away from target coming into impact, moving back about an entire head's width. Easy drill is to have someone hold a stick against the head for a point of reference while you work to maintain the head's address position throughout the swing.

I also have a tendency of having my head move away from the target on the downswing.  Per my instructor, this can lead to inconsistent contact resulting in thins and fats.  And the bottom of your swing will probably be too far back relative to the ball.  My evolvr instructor gave me a drill and a feel...

The drill: Facing a wall without a club, assume your address golf posture with your head touching the wall, with your hands together as though they are holding a club make slow motion 1/2 swings (9 o'clock to 3 o'clock) while keeping your head from moving horizontally along the wall.  (I made the modification of wearing a baseball cap with just the brim of the cap touching the wall, this is much more comfortable on the head.)

The Feel: When taking swings with a club, as you make your backswing and all the way through impact, feel as though the left side of your head is pushing against a wall.

Hope that helps.

[kpetrina]

19 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

I also have a tendency of having my head move away from the target on the downswing.  Per my instructor, this can lead to inconsistent contact resulting in thins and fats.  And the bottom of your swing will probably be too far back relative to the ball.  My evolvr instructor gave me a drill and a feel...

The drill: Facing a wall without a club, assume your address golf posture with your head touching the wall, with your hands together as though they are holding a club make slow motion 1/2 swings (9 o'clock to 3 o'clock) while keeping your head from moving horizontally along the wall.  (I made the modification of wearing a baseball cap with just the brim of the cap touching the wall, this is much more comfortable on the head.)

The Feel: When taking swings with a club, as you make your backswing and all the way through impact, feel as though the left side of your head is pushing against a wall.

Hope that helps.

That is an awesome drill and will definitely be giving that a try here real soon.  I knew that my head was dropping during my swing, but had no idea how far behind it was getting.  Thanks for the advice and Ill be sure to post some new videos of my progress here real soon.

[dkolo]

8 minutes ago, kpetrina said:

That is an awesome drill and will definitely be giving that a try here real soon.  I knew that my head was dropping during my swing, but had no idea how far behind it was getting.  Thanks for the advice and Ill be sure to post some new videos of my progress here real soon.

Dropping isn't necessarily bad, despite what people say about Tiger's swing, because it can be part of using the ground forces later on for a powerful swing as long as other parts of your swing are in order. It's the lateral movement that is the big issue for a golf swing.