Yossarian

I took a lesson and the teacher focused on a more bent position at address (he also tried to change my grip, of course, but I am stubborn). The good thing is that it straightened the path, now on a good strike it creates a decent fade. The face on video shows all the problems I have with a different grip: face way always open at impact, and it finds the bottom before the ball. I am casting it and I am not sure why. Even when I manage (randomly) to have a good timing of the release and square the face , the second issue is still there, instead of hitting or compressing the ball, I am merely pushing it

Eh, I know. I will post a video one of the next few days of my heinous tests with a more neutral grip (spoiler: they all end with a face wide open at impact and other issues). However, I still struggle to see why it is so important. I get it for whoever practices this sport at a high competitive level, for what I understand a neutral (or at least not terribly strong) grip helps controlling the face and shaping the shots. But I have seen so many weekend players that have a grip like mine and manage to stay in the low 80s, and that's my ultimate goal. For instance, I found this picture in the forum: What the strong grip does for me is simplifying the release: basically I just have to get the right timing to get from Radial Deviation to a neutral position, like you to when you are hammering a nail. The more neutral the grip is, the more you add in to the equation Pronation and Supination.

as an high handicap player, I can tell you that the best tools to improve are a tripod and a phone that does slow motion videos (and the sand trap member swing section ☺️) I have Arccos and it gives you a feedback on the true distances of the clubs, but I don't think that is so important if you shoot >100 (at least not as getting a clean contact consistently); however it's a way to record your progresses and to identify the areas of your game where you can save more strokes

speaking of which... my avatar has been changed a few days ago from the default one, and not by me... is that something that the forum moderators do or should I change my password? (in any case whoever did it got it right 😉) ok, I read the pinned message, it was done by the moderators

Thanks for the answer I think a lot of high handicappers who like me did not receive proper "basic education" when they started playing (I took my first lesson 8-9 years after), they tend to have a strong/too strong grip. My opinion (but I'd like to hear from people more expert than me) is that a grip like this simplifies the swing, because it takes out of the equation the forearms rotation, so to square the face you only have to pay attention to time correctly the cocking/uncocking. So when I practice with a less strong grip (which usually results in a very open face at impact), it feels kind of counter intuitive that adding a new "degree of freedom" would help me have a more consistent face orientation or path at impact.

After posting, I went back looking at the video that @iacas analyzed, and I still see the over-under thing. Somehow now I get the face a bit open at impact, so if I am lucky the hook turns in to a draw; I saw your 5SK video but I still can't tell my brain to stay on plane... ... oh well, let's try with something different (?), the driver: distance wise, I am ok with it. (245-250 on a well struck ball). I would like to be more consistent in the direction: usually it's either straight/slight push (first down the line video), a draw, or an horrific low flying hook (second down the line video)

Hello there! Ok, I worked on it, let's see if it has improved. The grip: I know... The direction: on good days it's a nice draw, like in the 2 down the line videos, on bad days it's still hook city. Feeling at impact: it's great (especially on the mats 😉) I have been told that I don't have a good rotation of the hips, not very open at impact; however when I try to rotate more it hooks badly. There are 2 swings per video, in the second swings I try to keep my weight on the heels both on back and down swing, I don't see a lot of difference. What do you think?

thanks @iacas @billchao@SunkTheBirdie for the very informative comments, I really appreciate that someone finds the time to analyze my troubled swing. I am working on the suggestions and when I see some changes in the swing I will post an update. As far as the uber strong grip, there is a part of my brain that keep saying "if Paul Azinger could find a way around it, I can still use it", but probably I should not listen to it I would like to change topic a little. I know the "why my practice swing is different than the actual swing?" subject has been discussed many times. For what I understand, it has to do with the fact that when the ball is not present, you don't have to pay attention to square the face at impact. And in fact, if I record a slow motion practice swing, the face is wide open at impact. What I don't understand is why in a practice swing I find so much easier to transfer the weight on the right side. I've always thought and seen that a good downswing starts with a "bump" of the hips to the right side. In the first video, even with a bad backswing, without proper pivot rotation, I can move without effort the weight (even too much); in the second I never fully transfer it. Why?

I think automatic detection in Arccos works decently, with a few exceptions: - putts (other than the particular case I described before, I may have to add 2-3 tap in per round, but at least the app makes it easy to do it after finishing the hole) - those instances where you hit a shot close to the previous one (like 5yards), it will detect the first one as a practice swing For the rest of the shots I never had problems, unless the battery (in the original one) was close to die. I wish there was some sort of alert, or a way to check the status of the whole club set automatically before a round, instead of club by club

This Pro version, especially this quoted part, sounds very much like Arccos 360. I am surprised there is no patent fight ongoing... I am an original Arccos user, I love it, I don't have problems with the dimension or weight of the sensors (I am not good enough to notice the difference in the swing ), the only thing that slightly bothers me is that you can't set easily the pin location for putting stats; I wish there was the possibility of staying next to the flag and, for instance, hold for 2 seconds the putter sensor button to signal the position. I would be ok with the GPS inaccuracy, it would still be better than the algorithm guess game. What I noticed in Arccos is that a few times it misses very long putts (I don't know if it misinterprets them as accidental bumps). So I check at the end of the hole, I see that it recorded 2 putts instead of 3, I think that it missed the tap in and I add a gimme. Then at home I discover it missed the first putt, so the approach distance is off. But maybe it's just my sensor.

Ok, still working on a better rotation. It probably does not look right yet, but I think it's an improvement. The positive thing is, I have gained at least 7-8 yards, at least according to the Swing Caddie. I guess it's because additional speed comes from the rotation The bad thing is that I gained a Hook as well. What I don't understand is why I am hooking despite still having an evident OTT downswing. (see below: start straight, goes horribly right)

Thanks for your observation! I certainty agree. However, when I am not experimenting with the pivot trying to remove the sway and improve the weight transfer to the right (which is my focus now, I really would like to hit it solidly consistently), my usual swing trajectory somehow finds its balance: the OTT slice compensates the closed face at impact. I know, it's a precarious balance... but whenever I try to use a more neutral grip, the outcome is a huge slice, it feels like I have never played golf

@iacas thanks. I am trying. I even made a video of myself from behind, and see how it compares to the video in the thread that @mvmac suggested. First swing is my usual one, in the second one I try to do a proper turn. They look identical to me... but in any case I still don't understand if I am turning too much, or maybe with the wrong tempo. It's also visible the odd footwork In the front view the result, when I try to do a correct pivot, is this. It looks a little better than my usual swing (I think), but most of the time I end up hitting it fat (as in the video).

Thanks! I tried many times to do a "centered hip turn", but if I try to stay inside the red lines, what I get is the weird swing below. I think (but I am not sure) that in the effort of keeping my right hip in place, I put the weight on my right during the backswing, and so in the downswing I hang back even more than in my standard swing