My Swing (Steven001)

[Steven001]

I've been Playing Golf for: On and off for about 9 years. I haven't played consistently for about 5 years and not at all for the last two. I've got the bug again and I've played 4 rounds in the last month. 
My current handicap index or average score is: I would estimate around 20
My typical ball flight is: To the right/occasional pull
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Slice! With the occasional pull to the left. 

I think I struggle to "release" the club properly prior to impact and come slightly over the top. I can also see that my right elbow is fairly bent which I'm guessing is causing my club face to be open at impact? I'm hoping someone will be able to give me some tips or advice on how to correct my bad habit!

 

 

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Videos: 

 

 

 

[saevel25]

Not sure I would focus on releasing the club. A pull slice is hit with an open clubface to path, but a closed clubface to the target line. If you try to turn i over more you will hit big pulls left, or pull hooks. 

Honestly you have a lot of good stuff going for ya.  

You shift a lot away from the target line. Your weight never gets forward at impact. 

 

 

[Steven001]

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply with some advice. I read all of those articles and watched the centred pivot video. From the image you've drawn up I can see that I slide my hips on the backswing as well as dipping and sliding my head, can that be what's leading to my inconsistency and slices? The central pivot looks like a good guide to follow, are they any specific drills to try and implement the technique or is it just a case of swinging/filming until it's correct. 

 

I tried a few practice swings at home and I seem to find it very difficult to keep my head still during my  backswing. When you said "You shift a lot away from the target line. Your weight never gets forward at impact." I'm guessing they're both bad things? I do try to move most of my weight forward to my left leg on the downswing but obviously not enough it seems. 

Thanks again

Edited July 27, 2016 by Steven001

[JuiceMan]

Steven001,

I am no golf pro so take what I say and do with it as you please. I agree with Saevel25 that you move you weight too far back in your backswing. If I were you, I'd try to extend my arms more after the impact.

You have a really nice looking swing though! You have good extension on your left arm in your backswing, something that I struggle with.

JuiceMan

[Steven001]

Thanks Juiceman,

Looking at my swing I can definitely see that now, there's too much head movement away from the ball and I almost "slide" backwards. 

There is clearly something very wrong with it though that's causing me to slice 80% of my shots, pull 10% and only hit 10% on target. I'm sure if I'm coming over the top or what. 

[JuiceMan]

6 hours ago, Steven001 said:

Thanks Juiceman,

Looking at my swing I can definitely see that now, there's too much head movement away from the ball and I almost "slide" backwards. 

There is clearly something very wrong with it though that's causing me to slice 80% of my shots, pull 10% and only hit 10% on target. I'm sure if I'm coming over the top or what. 

Slicing has always been my issue with the driver too. I changed my grip and try to keep my lead arm straight through impact which seems to help me at least. 

[Steven001]

Hi folks,

I've been practising a few things over the last few weeks, mainly not allowing my hips to slide on the back swing and trying to fire more with my hips on the downswing. I'm still slicing my driver quite a lot and I can still see that I'm not properly "extending" on the follow through. Here's a few updated videos:
 

 

The first video was a straight shot and went very well, but the second shot was a wild slice! One thing I do notice is that my follow through seems quite violent! When I watch some slow motion pro swings, they control the club well at the end of the swing, but when I look at my swing the club swings violently against my upper back. Does that mean anything?

Edited August 19, 2016 by Steven001

[Slowcelica]

The thing I see is something I do too, your left elbow during impact and the follow through is bending. Which is making you swipe accross the ball and probably causing or at least not helping your slice.

[Snipehook16]

From the front view it looks like you are losing your spine angle by bending over a little. I was always told to feel tall on the backswing, but don't stand up and lose your angles. Also that right arm never gets extended after impact. Try extending the right arm after impact and rolling your arms up, while hitting the ball in the 4 o clock position. Your left arm is chicken wing-ing because you aren't releasing after impact. Hope that helps any!

Edited August 19, 2016 by Snipehook16

[iacas]

6 hours ago, Steven001 said:

The first video was a straight shot and went very well, but the second shot was a wild slice! One thing I do notice is that my follow through seems quite violent! When I watch some slow motion pro swings, they control the club well at the end of the swing, but when I look at my swing the club swings violently against my upper back. Does that mean anything?

You don't use your hips or arms properly. On the backswing or downswing, really. But let's focus on the downswing first.

Not a fan of the right-hand grip either.

Or the ball position.  Fortunately, ball position and right-hand grip are easy fixes. Setup. Non-dynamic.

[Steven001]

12 hours ago, Slowcelica said:

The thing I see is something I do too, your left elbow during impact and the follow through is bending. Which is making you swipe accross the ball and probably causing or at least not helping your slice.

Yep that's definitely something I am going to work on starting tomorrow. I need to "extend" more through impact and try to allow my arms to pass over each other after impact. Thanks for commenting.

9 hours ago, Snipehook16 said:

From the front view it looks like you are losing your spine angle by bending over a little. I was always told to feel tall on the backswing, but don't stand up and lose your angles. Also that right arm never gets extended after impact. Try extending the right arm after impact and rolling your arms up, while hitting the ball in the 4 o clock position. Your left arm is chicken wing-ing because you aren't releasing after impact. Hope that helps any!

I definitely do bend down towards the ball on my backswing, it's something I find very hard to control but I am working on it. You're right about my left arm, I think I'll make that my main focus point for my next practice session. Thanks for commenting and helping. 

6 hours ago, iacas said:

You don't use your hips or arms properly. On the backswing or downswing, really. But let's focus on the downswing first.

Not a fan of the right-hand grip either.

Or the ball position.  Fortunately, ball position and right-hand grip are easy fixes. Setup. Non-dynamic.

Hi iacas, thanks for tearing my swing apart  When you say I don't use my arms and hips properly, what is it I'm doing wrong? From the images you've posted compared to the "pro", it doesn't look like I "slide" the hips towards the target on the downswing, or properly get my weight over to my left side. 

I know I have a big problem with dipping towards the ball on the backswing and not extending on the follow through, those are two things that I'm trying to correct. This is a snapshot from a wedge shot I filmed last week which I "think" looks more balanced 

 I'll also look at my grip tomorrow as well, it looks like I need to turn my right hand over more to the left. Thank you!

Edited August 20, 2016 by Steven001

[iacas]

16 hours ago, Steven001 said:

Hi iacas, thanks for tearing my swing apart  When you say I don't use my arms and hips properly, what is it I'm doing wrong? From the images you've posted compared to the "pro", it doesn't look like I "slide" the hips towards the target on the downswing, or properly get my weight over to my left side. 

Take a look at this topic:

I think you'll find it useful. I'd work on that first. And do a lot of this drill:

[Steven001]

22 hours ago, iacas said:

Take a look at this topic:

I think you'll find it useful. I'd work on that first. And do a lot of this drill:

 

Hi iacas, thanks again for commenting. Thanks a really good and useful threads, it's just a shame that all the pictures are no longer available. The video is also very helpful. I used to think that's what I was doing wrong; i.e trying to push the ball towards the target. I spent two hours tonight down at the range working on a few things. I turned my right hand over to the left more so that the V was point up to my right shoulder. I also tried to focus on hip rotation and tried to maintain my height in the backswing. My ball striking wasn't the best and I had a lot of inconsistent shots, but it "looks" to be a step in the right direction. 

Moving my right hand over more definitely seems to have helped with my "release" of the club and allowed me to cross my arms over more easily (or even naturally) after impact. I'm still finding it very hard to maintain my height in the backswing and definitely need more hip action on the downswing.

[iacas]

9 hours ago, Steven001 said:

Hi iacas, thanks again for commenting. Thanks a really good and useful threads, it's just a shame that all the pictures are no longer available.

The pictures are still there.

9 hours ago, Steven001 said:

 

Moving my right hand over more definitely seems to have helped with my "release" of the club and allowed me to cross my arms over more easily (or even naturally) after impact. I'm still finding it very hard to maintain my height in the backswing and definitely need more hip action on the downswing.

You don't need to "release" or roll your hands over each other on the follow through.

Look at me in the "hips pre-set" video.

Submit a video of you doing the drill. Let's see that.

[Steven001]

 

54 minutes ago, iacas said:

The pictures are still there.

You don't need to "release" or roll your hands over each other on the follow through.

Look at me in the "hips pre-set" video.

Submit a video of you doing the drill. Let's see that.

I'll try again on my laptop, they're not loading on my phone for some reason. I wouldn't say I was trying to rotate my arms over on the latest video, it just seemed more natural and looked more like what I've seen in the "pro" videos on V1. 

Your video does look very helpful, I will record me doing the drill this week. Thanks again for your help. 

[Steven001]

That's a video of me doing the hip preset drill. Will repeating this drill overtime help work it's way into the downswing transition?

I have played golf the last two days and become really frustrated. I've recorded myself and released I still have a massive "chicken wing" on my impact and follow through (I won't bore you with any more videos). I also seem to be shaking a lot of shots which I haven't really done before today. I played 15 holes today and got 5 pars, 2 bogeys, 5 > Double bogeys and 3 > Double Bogey's. It's frustrating because I think I have the ability to play well if I can sort my miss hits out and stop losing balls to the right. 

Edited August 25, 2016 by Steven001

[iacas]

5 hours ago, Steven001 said:

That's a video of me doing the hip preset drill. Will repeating this drill overtime help work it's way into the downswing transition?

Yes. But that was mostly to show you that you don't have to "release" or roll the hands at impact. Notice the differences.

5 hours ago, Steven001 said:

I have played golf the last two days and become really frustrated. I've recorded myself and released I still have a massive "chicken wing" on my impact and follow through (I won't bore you with any more videos). I also seem to be shaking a lot of shots which I haven't really done before today. I played 15 holes today and got 5 pars, 2 bogeys, 5 > Double bogeys and 3 > Double Bogey's. It's frustrating because I think I have the ability to play well if I can sort my miss hits out and stop losing balls to the right. 

The chicken wing is from something else: your wrists rolling over each other, the torso slowing a bit prematurely, etc. You even do it a little bit in the preset drill.

[Steven001]

14 minutes ago, iacas said:

Yes. But that was mostly to show you that you don't have to "release" or roll the hands at impact. Notice the differences.

The chicken wing is from something else: your wrists rolling over each other, the torso slowing a bit prematurely, etc. You even do it a little bit in the preset drill.

Thanks again, I really appreciate you taking the time to comment. I will keep working on the drill. 

Do you have a suggestions on what I can work on to sort out my chicken winging? I have a feeling it might be because I'm being too strong with my right hand with my downswing, but I'm not sure.

I payed for a lesson with the head pro at my local golf range two weeks ago. He asked why I was there and I explained I was inconsistent and lost too many balls off the tea. He got me to hit two 8 irons and I hit them both straight - he laughed asked said "why are you here?" He then gave me a driver and watched it bend over 100 yards off course. Because I generate quite a lot  of club head speed, if I leave the face open the ball moves massively to the right. His advise was simply to roll my wrists over because impact. I tried that and hit a few good drives right up the back of the range. But I feel that surely it can't be a very consistent way to strike the ball well? How can I possibly time the wrist roll just right so that I don't leave the club face open or closed?

I am willing to put the time in at the range to sort out my swing, I just need to know how to fix it. 

Thanks again