My Swing (FundamentallyCommitted)

[FundamentallyCommitted]

Hey everyone on the Forum!

This is my first time posting on any golf forum, and below you will find a couple of videos I've taken over the past week that happen to be my first attempts at filming my swing.  I've spent years developing my swing based on feel and boy was I surprised at how un-fundamentally sound my swing is!  For someone who is big on understanding and respecting the fundamentals of any athletic move (I was a decent pitcher in high school), I was shocked at how awful my swing is.  I've never taken a lesson so it's no surprise I've been in the dark all these years. 

I love to watch videos of professionals swinging the club, and I can honestly say I think a fundamentally sound swing is a thing of beauty.  No joke, I can watch for hours!  You can imagine my horror at watching myself swing.  Hence my desire to reach out to a community of golfers for some tips on how to get started redesigning my swing from the ground up.  I'm tired of playing inconsistent golf and can't wait to start working on learning a few key moves that will help me strike the ball more consistently.

For what it's worth, there are two big things I need to do better in these videos that I noticed right away and have already started to work on.  They are: 1) limit my hip turn in the back swing to allow my upper body to coil correctly, and 2) allow my hips to lead the swing and turn my shoulders all the way through the shot (can you see how bunched up my shoulders are at impact?  So ugly!).  

Any and all advice on how I can work to develop a better swing would be much appreciated.  I love to practice (I hit the range 3 - 4 times a week lately) and am really eager to work some fundamentally-sound moves into my practice routine.  Here's to a better golf swing!  Can't wait to hear what some experienced ball strikers have to say.

Thanks

Walter

I've been Playing Golf for: 8 years
My current handicap index or average score is: 18.4
My typical ball flight is: Slice/Fade
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: High Slice/Unintended fade

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Videos: 

 

 

[mchepp]

Welcome to the forum. Usually we like members to post elsewhere in the forum to be a contributing member before posting their swing for help. The idea being you offer thoughts, opinions, and different viewpoints before taking advice from the forum. I will offer some thoughts but the real experts will want to see you contribute a bit more.

The first thing I notice is your set up. You need to keep the ball in your immediate frame of reference. Your gaze is the yellow line and above where the ball is. The idea would be you eye sockets would be on the green line. This could be a simple fix.

The other thing is your take away. You need to work on not letting the club get so inside. From this point in the picture below you are always going to be working to get the club in front of you to hit it properly. Your camera angle distorts this a little, but it is still under the plane.

You can start with these two things, post on the forum and offer your opinion on different subjects, and then post here again with your progress.

[FundamentallyCommitted]

Appreciate you pointing out a need to contribute first.  I didn't see that in any of the introductory literature about posting my swing.  Wish I had known first, as I certainly don't want to seem like I'm just here to reap info and get out.  Looking forward to contributing!

As for your thoughts on my swing, much appreciated.  Funny, I've never considered where my eye sockets are pointing, only the position of my spine/shoulders/hips and keeping them in line.  Already took some swings yesterday with your advice and I like the feel of it.  And yes, my takeaway was the first thing I noticed as being TOTALLY out of line.  I always knew I was swinging a bit around my body (one of the many tweaks I made that acted as a "quick fix" for one thing or another when I was building a swing all by myself) but it never occurred to me just how offline this was.  I've started doing this drill by Faldo and have started getting my hands in better positioning throughout my takeaway, although I'm still only getting my hands at about the level of my shoulders (maybe an inch or so higher - no video yet, sorry).  

Any advice on what drills might help me start to develop a solid takeaway/top of the backswing position?  This is the main thing I plan to start working on.

Thanks again!  Don't worry, I'm actively seeking for threads I can contribute some thoughts to. 

[mchepp]

Great to hear you plan to contribute @FundamentallyCommitted! I think you'll find this a great place to hang out and talk about golf.

Let's start with you Faldo drill. I don't love it. You can see from the freeze frame I took here that the position he recommends you stop your face is actually open. It is open to his swing arc. Once you open that face it is hell getting it closed again and you will/must make a compensation to fix it. Faldo falls into the category of professionals who think they are doing something but in reality they aren't doing it that way at all. 

There are numerous videos on keeping the club in front of you. I found this one, the guy who does this one often talks really fast but the drill he is doing with his student isn't half bad. It is an exaggeration but as you will learn the best way is to exaggerate something if you really want to change it.

Notice that the difference is the club is more "out" from the start (versus you) and the face is more square to his swing arc. You may notice when you start you begin by hitting some pulls and then your body will react to the face being square and then we can start with some other things.

[FundamentallyCommitted]

Great, thanks for the feedback on this.  I totally understand what you're saying about the Faldo drill.  As soon as I watched the video you posted I liked what I saw, and then started watching related videos by the same guy, George Gankas.  Love his style!  Watching him teach is completely changing the way I've looked at golf instruction.  This drill you posted in particular is something I'm looking forward to trying out later this evening at the range.

I also found this video that I thought was very helpful in terms of keeping the club in front of me.  

Also, good point about exaggeration.  I can already feel the difference when doing some mirror work just now.  I have so much that's improperly ingrained in my swing I feel like exaggeration is the only way I'm going to retrain myself.  

Stay tuned...