My Swing (xrayvizhen)

[xrayvizhen]

I've been Playing Golf for: 53 Years
My current handicap index or average score is: 6.6 (although I have, up until this year, been pretty inconsistent)
My typical ball flight is: Straight & high (very high)
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Lack of distance with irons

---

As suggested by iacas and some others on a couple of other threads where I alluded to my recently discovered casting problem, here's what my swing looks like. Without re-hashing what I already wrote on these other threads I'll just briefly summarize: Having just completed the best golf season in many, many years I decided to make a video of my swing to see what I was doing right. Instead, when I saw this, I realized this is what has been causing me to have a lack of distance with my irons. Weirdly enough, I don't have this problem with my Driver, 3W or Hybrids. I get good distance with all of those, but with a 5-iron for example, I only hit 155 yards. The ball goes straight and my distances with all my clubs are consistent, thus the somewhat decent scores I've had, but the lack of distance with the irons has been aggravating me for about 7 years which is a year after I recovered from a herniated disc in my back.

I'll probably get a lesson or two in the spring, but I'm looking for drills or suggestions on what I can work on to help eliminate the problem. 

 

 

[Lihu]

Couldn’t see your videos, but you need to upload to YouTube then post a link here. It’s a pain, but if you want people to look at your Swing that would help them and the site.

Just talked to another same rough age low single digit player who had the same issue. One thing he’s been working on is making his Swing more compact. He is also coming more from the inside now than his old Swing, which is giving him more distance.

[xrayvizhen]

4 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Couldn’t see your videos, but you need to upload to YouTube then post a link here.

Hmm. I followed the instructions and compressed the files to about 1mb each before uploading. I'm a bit paranoid about privacy and not thrilled about posting on YouTube.

[Lihu]

1 minute ago, xrayvizhen said:

Hmm. I followed the instructions and compressed the files to about 1mb each before uploading. I'm a bit paranoid about privacy and not thrilled about posting on YouTube.

Same here, since some channels got jacked a few months ago. I don’t even remember my login.

Unfortunately, if you want help from the people on this site, that’s the preferred method. It’s worth it though even if you are getting instruction.

[iacas]

You can make the videos unlisted.

[xrayvizhen]

OK - here they are on YouTube. Note each clip is full motion with a slow-mo sequence behind it.

 

Edited December 4, 2017 by xrayvizhen

[Lihu]

Nice swing, except for the obvious early release.

[iacas]

Just curious… do you feel that you're using your arms at all?

Your arms just hang out and go with your pivot, never really coming down.

So your legs race out ahead, and your arms lag well behind. They have to flip or you'd miss the ball entirely.

I'd make some swings on video where you pre-set your hips only slightly forward, and feel the downswing purely as an arms motion, really karate chopping the left arm across your chest, increasing the angle between your clavicles and your left arm.

[xrayvizhen]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Just curious… do you feel that you're using your arms at all?

   Yeah, I think I do. There's not a whole lot of time to think much about what's happening, but I try to let my hips initiate the downswing. That, and trying to bring my hands back down close to the same position they were at address relative to the distance from my body.

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Your arms just hang out and go with your pivot, never really coming down.

   I'm not certain what you mean.

1 hour ago, iacas said:

So your legs race out ahead, and your arms lag well behind. They have to flip or you'd miss the ball entirely.

   I see that.

1 hour ago, iacas said:

I'd make some swings on video where you pre-set your hips only slightly forward, and feel the downswing purely as an arms motion, really karate chopping the left arm across your chest, increasing the angle between your clavicles and your left arm.

    Is this a "drill" or a full swing modification?

Edited December 4, 2017 by iacas
fixed quoting

[iacas]

Simply put: your lower body is outracing your arms. You need to begin to use your arms to "pull down" harder. The actual direction or whatever may feel different (it may not feel "down"), but you've gotta use your arms more.

The flipping is a result of how late and slow your arms are relative to the rest of your body.

[xrayvizhen]

6 hours ago, iacas said:

Simply put: your lower body is outracing your arms. You need to begin to use your arms to "pull down" harder. The actual direction or whatever may feel different (it may not feel "down"), but you've gotta use your arms more.

The flipping is a result of how late and slow your arms are relative to the rest of your body.

So you're saying I either have to slow down my legs (or reduce the leg action) or speed up my arms?

I'm also thinking that if I shorten my backswing, make the whole thing more compact, that will get the arms more in sync with my legs. Could that work?

I went to the range at lunch time (it was 42° - shows I'm dedicated) and tried that karate chop drill and all it produced were some violent shanks. Not worth posting the video. 

[iacas]

1 minute ago, xrayvizhen said:

So you're saying I either have to slow down my legs (or reduce the leg action) or speed up my arms?

No and yes.

1 minute ago, xrayvizhen said:

I'm also thinking that if I shorten my backswing, make the whole thing more compact, that will get the arms more in sync with my legs. Could that work?

No. You don't quite get 90° as it is. I wouldn't sacrifice even more turn.

1 minute ago, xrayvizhen said:

I went to the range at lunch time (it was 42° - shows I'm dedicated) and tried that karate chop drill and all it produced were some violent shanks. Not worth posting the video. 

You might hit some shanks for awhile. Change the picture. Make it look better.

You could also try this drill:

You may get shanks with that, too. But importantly, change the picture:

[xrayvizhen]

Here's my latest, but just with the driver. I thought my camera was working with the irons, but didn't find out until afterwards that it wasn't. This is after a few Golf Tec lessons plus lots and lots of indoor practice in my basement with small half-swings with a 7-iron. I don't consider this "good", just a little better.

 

[iacas]

Two or three quick things:

• I can see too much of your face and you're likely looking at the ball out of the "bottom" of your eyes. Let your neck soften and look directly at the golf ball.
• Your arms appear to be a little bit more in sync, but they're still lagging behind. Keep working on speeding those up.
• Part of the issue with the arms lagging behind is how early your lower body starts working forward, while the arms are still loading across your chest. This can help with speed (to a point) and be okay with the driver (ball teed up), but good luck with the irons: flip city, quite often.

Your lower body is not that early, though: I'd still mostly work on #2. Use your arms. It may even feel weaker at first because you're using your arms more, but it won't be.