Keep It Simple

I don't think amateurs should be trying to copy the swing of any tour professional especially since tour professionals don't even copy the swings of other tour professionals. I believe every golfer has unique natural tendencies influencing body movement during their golf swing. A natural tendency tends (pardon the pun) to be more repeatable than a movement which requires learning and practice. Therefore a player should embrace natural tendencies that do not replace or impede the execution of a true fundamental. Much like this Paul Casey example there are many other cases of tour players favoring the presence of a natural tendency over a biomechanically superior movement. Repeatability trumps efficiency and a few extra yards of distance.

It would be cool to be able to take a video of your swing, change it to a transparent silouette, and lay it over the swing of another golfer (pga pro, a previous swing video you made, etc.).

Something worth noting: PGA players with longer backswings (John Daly, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Colin Montgomerie etc) tend to be "swingers" of the golf club as opposed to players with shorter backswings (J.B. Holmes, Camilo Villegas, Steve Stricker etc) tend to be "hitters".

Troy Matteson? Fred Couples? Those guys are Rory Sabbatini compared to Kenny Perry.

I think you are not far away from having a really good golf swing. But, you are mixing the fundamentals of a one plane swing with those of a two plane swing. I am not a student of Jim Hardy nor a conscious practicioner of his method but the differences in 1 and 2 plane swingers on the PGA tour are undeniably visible. Your set-up is that of a one plane golfer (bent over at address, wide stance, arms out away from body, club in the middle of stance) so if this is the swing method you are striving for, the following needs to be fixed. - cupped left wrist at top of backswing (needs to be flat or slightly bowed) - hips rotate too much away from target in backswing, you are losing coil (you may want to stretch to improve flexibility and/or practice with a heavy club) - club is over the line at top (needs to be parallel with target line, restricting hips and fixing wrist should solve) - your swing plane back to the ball is not perpendicular to your spine angle it is too steep. This is why you can't swing hard from the top. Again, fix the left wrist and you should be on a better plane. There is lots of info on 1 and 2 plane swings out there to further help you along.

If you slow the video down to around 21% it becomes obvious you are trying to help the ball into the air by swinging up. Your hips stop driving towards the target at impact and if you look at frame 30 you have lost the 90deg angle between your left arm and the club shaft (at this position you should still have 90 deg). You create lag, you can see it in frame 29, but you want to help the ball up and therefore release it too early. The fix is to hit down. Keep driving those hips toward the target and let the club do the work. I also noticed you setup for an upright swing (narrow stance, straight legs, upright spine angle) but you flatten the plane out by keeping your right elbow glued to your side. You may want to alter your setup if you prefer a flatter swing. After impact you have the classic "chicken wing" left elbow (see frame 34). I believe this would go away if you weren't trying to lift the ball into the air and you would get more arm extension (less bend in your right elbow). If that doesn't help, well at least I am cheaper than Leadbetter :)

This is where it is extra important to know the laws. It's one thing to aim your clubface at address and another to have it aimed at impact.

The in-studio state of the art analysis equipment he keeps gushing over should give him all the correct answers. This being said I like Michael Breed. He is the right host for this show. Golf swing instruction can get quite dry for some and he at least is interesting to watch.

Play lots of golf. The best players I know spend more time on the course then they do on the range. Playing is the best practice. My advice would be different for somebody who can't hit the ball at all but then being a low handicapper shouldn't be their immediate goal.

I am very conscious of my pre-shot routine and consider it one of the most important keys to my swing if not the most important. And my routine is short and very simple.

If someone is going to play golf with these kind of swing mechanics, they have to learn to time the release. Turn the clubhead over too soon and you get vicious hooks. But, it really isn't difficult to learn and keep the timing. For golfers with weaker core strength, there are a few extra yards in swinging this way. I don't have a problem with Michael Breed's advice. Luke Donald is a "releaser" who throws his right hand and so are a few other PGA pros.

Vijay Singh uses the Power Hitter. I watched him hit balls with it on the practice range at the 2007 Canadian Open. I have one to. After using it your driver will feel extremely light. So make sure you don't lose the form the Power Hitter is trying to promote after switching to your normal driver and it should help your driving.

Unfortunately yes. Even golf domes for the longer clubs don't show enough of your ball flight to determine how well you struck the ball. I also agree with trog2233 about driving ranges. I stopped going completely a few seasons ago because I found time on the course much more valuable. The range can promote a "machine gun" approach to hitting golf balls. On the course you need to be a sniper.

I agree with this 100%. When you see a Long Drive competitor tee the ball up to the point where the ball is almost completely above the head of the driver, it appears they are going to try and catch the ball on the up swing. But this does not happen. Instead, their hands are so far in front of their body at impact, the club head is well above the ground and the sweet spot is level with the ball. They may think and feel they are hitting up on the ball, but they are hitting it quite level.

I agree with uttexas. Nice unrushed transistion into the downswing. This move alone will keep alot of flaws from creeping into your swing. I also like how you lead the backswing with the clubhead (slight wrist break to start takeaway). My preference is a sightly slower/smoother takeaway (helps with consistency and preventing overswinging), but don't change if you are happy with your tempo. Good work !!

I watched Vijay Singh practice at Angus Glen for the 2007 Canadian Open and he was hitting golf balls with the Momentus Power Hitter (a very heavy weighted driver). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US2wb0f_Nbg (30 sec in, the commentary says it all).

I believe you should find the club you swing best and then carry this swing over to your other clubs. I do this. The club I swing best is my 3-iron. If my driver starts to misbehave, I choke down on the handle until it is closer in length to my 3-iron and then imagine swinging my 3-iron. This little trick works well for me. Fred Couples recently talked about this on the golf channel. I believe it was a special presentation of the Golf Fix in Las Vegas (Butch Harmon and Natalie Gulbis were also on the show). Fred gears his swing around his 8-iron. He imagines he is swinging his 8-iron (or was it his 7-iron??) with every club in the bag.

This "cramped" sensation means you have too much angle between your arms and club shaft at address. You either have to reduce your spine angle (stand up a little straighter), choke down on the handle somewhat, or a combination of both. This should make sense given the driver is much longer than the other clubs. I recommend both. Stand a little taller and choke down on the handle an extra inch. Maintain the same swing as your irons but use this little setup adjustment. It works beautifully .

My longest drive ever was with a Pinnacle Gold FX Long so this ball gets my vote.

That is the weakest right hand grip I have ever seen !! Are you fighting a hook or something? This is most likely why the top of your back swing feels weird. There have been successful tour players who use a weak grip (Johnny Miller, Colin Montgomerie...) and play a fade, but generally a neutral to strong grip is better and more widely used. All of the really long hitters use a stronger grip.

If S&T; was good enough for Ben Hogan......... I was using S&T; for a while with great results. Most notably was the distance I was getting. When I switched to a new driver, S&T; wasn't giving me the right spin rate anymore. I kept the stacked concept but now swing the club on a slightly steeper plane. I lost a little overall distance but gained some carry, draw the ball a little less and find the swing to be more comfortable. I carried this over to my irons with the same results.

This book is the real deal. I played several rounds of golf listening to the 24/8 tempo on a portable MP3 player and can sum up the experience with 2 words: Long & Straight. It had the most dramatic effect on my driving. It is amazing how many swing flaws go away when your tempo is good. Unfortunately as I got used to the tones, I started to anticipate them and my swing could get jerky. This would sometimes lead me to come "over the top" and spin the ball out to the right. I don't use the tones anymore but incorporated what I learned from them into my current swing. To prevent swinging "over the top" I transition into my downswing slower and smoother and then accelerate through impact. This has been working very well. My tempo feels slower now than 24/8 but the good results are still coming. The Tour Tempo book was worth the low price.

Hitting the ball too high means your hands are behind the ball at impact. This happens if you sway back out of position during your backswing and don't return to your address position during the downswing and/or you are trying to swing too hard from the top of the swing causing the club to unwind too soon. Try the following: 1. Stay centered throughout your swing. Loading your right side is good, but not by swaying off the ball. A good shoulder turn and getting your left hip turning back (and not sliding right) will do the trick. 2. Take a couple of half speed practice swings with the clubhead well above the ground (so you are not focused on hitting) feeling the clubhead release in front of the ball. You will notice this can't be done swinging at full force from the top, but only by smoothly accelerating the club after transistioning into the downswing. I also use these practice swings to establish swing plane and shaking hands with the target on my follow through. Good Luck !!