Rexx

IMO... you have all the lag you need with the hinged wrist at the top of the backswing... you don't need to increase it. The issue is how to maintain it. I believe you can't actively hold it and be consistent. You need to develop a swing that naturally unhinges the wrists at the right moment. IMO, the wrists unhinge naturally when the clubhead moves outside the hands (from the front view) and gravity has a chance to pull down on it and force them open. For me, I delay that by dropping the hands vertically from the top of the backswing into the "slot". From there, the arcing swing path to the ball will move the clubhead outside the hands and cause wrists to unhinge fully at the right moment (when my hands are approximately directly above the ball). I like this approach because I can then relax my hands/wrists once the downswing starts (there is definitely tension in the wrists during the backswing to hinge the club and to keep it from flopping around). I get a fair amount of effortless power out of it as long as I can keep the body and arms in sync (which is a problem regardless). But, I'm sure there are other ways of achieving this same effect. Maybe the good golfers actively increase or hold the lag... it's just never worked for me. Good luck.

I haven't seen this one yet, and it's more of a pet peeve... Almost everyone I know that I golf with will pull the cart "off to the side" and into the grass around the tee boxes and greens, as if they're parking a car against the curb of the street. The result is dirt/mud tracks just off the cart path (obviously, they're not the only ones doing that). I've pointed it out to them, but to no avail. I always notice courses where they either put up a barrier (or gravel) at these areas. lol.

You know... after watching the video more, I probably need to retract my statement about dropping the hands, at least until we get a front view. It's just too hard to tell from the down-the-line view in silhouette. There are two things that I notice after looking at it more. You have a one-planish position at the top of the backswing, but your follow through ends in the higher finish of a two-plane swinger, which means you did something during your swing to change. I think in your quest to get more inside-to-outside swing, you drop your right shoulder vertically on the downswing AND your arms are outracing your body to the ball. Your top of backswing reminds me a lot of David Duval, so maybe you can see a bit more of what I'm talking about in this video (go to the 2:00 mark):

Nice changes from the first video. Head moves a little forward (toward the ball) at start of backswing -- watch the balance in your feet to make sure you're not shifting weight to your toes, possible reason for shanking. Also, need to get the right elbow closer to the body by the time the hands are at the mid-torso/waist in the downswing. This is done by sliding the left hip toward the target + dropping the hands vertically as the initial downswing move. A front view would be nice + more lighting. Is it possible to take video out in the open? Posted the above before I saw your post. No, you do not want to straighten the right arm early in the downswing. That would end up with a downswing that reverses the backswing, which is a big power loss. In other words, from the front view, you want a "steeper" downswing than the arc created in the backswing to help hold/create the power lag.

Your swing reminds me of those brawny Longest Drive guys. Take the club up real high with the hands and sort've throw everything at it on the downswing (not meant to be disparaging). Power is good, repeatability might be difficult. I think changing your swing to something more conventional would in some ways be like starting over -- it'll be a lot of different movements from what you are doing now. But, I guess if I was going to pick something right now, I would start with the setup. As a general rule, the hands should be ahead of the ball at address for irons and about even with the ball for the driver. In both cases, from the front view, there should be nearly a straight line formed by the left arm and club from shoulder to clubhead. This would mean that the driver would be played off the left foot approximately. As you go through the clubs down to the wedges, the ball is moved slightly farther back in the stance until about mid-stance for the shortest clubs. In each case, that straight line of the left arm and club should be a pre-swing check. Good luck.

Zeph, It's hard to say without seeing a swing video. But, I agree with you concerning whether the hands just "naturally" drop or not from the hip bump. I mean, I can keep my hands just where they are and shift my weight, so there must be some conscious move to lower them (even if that move is relaxation). For some people, the move happens easier, but for others, they need to unlearn some bad habits to make it work. Watch some slow motion videos of a pro's swing from the front view. Trace out the path of the hands in both the backswing and downswing. You will see that the swing path of the hands differ from the backswing. The wide arc made by the hands on the backswing is not duplicated on the downswing. They come down on a flattened vertical arc at least a few inches closer to the body. I think part of the reason for that is if they traced the original arc back down, the club head would move outside the hands, causing the wrists to release too early (because of the weight of the clubhead and physics). This golfer tends to be someone that is a sweeper of the golf ball. He can hit off the fairway okay (assuming he doesn't hit too fat), but will struggle in the rough or fairway bunker, because of getting too much grass or sand before contact. For me, it never felt like the hip bump itself was sufficient to cause this more vertical arc on the downswing. I would have the problem where I would bump the hip and drop the shoulder (maybe too much) without the club starting down -- I would just hold it there. This would cause some timing issues, so I have to help it along a bit... Now, your problem with turning the hips and shoulders to start the downswing is a whole other issue. You need to momentarily keep that from happening until you've completed the bump and drop (like you said in the last post). Then, the turning of the hips, followed by/causing the turning of the shoulders, which accelerates the arms, which releases the wrists, which delivers the power to the ball. Really, it all happens pretty fast. A little bit of hip/shoulder turn during the bump and drop probably isn't going to hurt anything. For me, the whole purpose of the initial part of the downswing is to get everything in position for the unwinding that I've built up. For you, it's probably going to feel like you're going to leave the clubface WAY open (like the back of your hand is pointing 90 degrees to the target and the butt end of the club is facing the target). But don't worry, if done right, everything will square up just before impact without any intentional wrist/forearm manipulation to square the clubface. I have never felt an intentional rolling of the wrists/forearms during the follow through (when done properly) -- the momentum of the clubhead takes care of that. This, obviously, is just my opinion and what has worked for me. There's many swings out there and the fun part is the experimentation. Oh, and the advice is probably only relevant to two-plane swingers, since the one-planers never really get their hands out of the slot. Good luck.

I'm a cheap golfer, so most of the time I'm looking for coupons and other deals. As for the question, I would say $69 at this course (that was with $20 off). It's a nice course and was pretty tough (I think I shot 84 or 85). Most courses I play for $35-45 including discounts (usually play mornings) -- that's about as cheap as you can get around here unless you want to drive 45 minutes west. Some of the other nice courses I've played have been part of some golf vacation package, so I don't know the normal rates. I just remembered, I played in Hawaii when out there for work 7 years ago or so. It was about $125 (plus another $25 for club rental of some nice Callaways), but my boss picked up the tab. :) That course was one of the toughest I've ever played, but had some of the most gorgeous holes I've even seen. I just looked it up: here . Haha... googling a little more, this beast is rated as one of the toughest in the U.S (152 slope from the tips!). All I can remember was getting a par 5 on the ridiculously difficult 18th (two 200+ yard carries over this ravine) with 3 great shots and a 2-putt from 8 feet to shoot 99 (and I thought I was playing pretty well). So many lost balls... if you hit it in the rough, it seemed like a 50/50 chance that you'd actually find it (never mind hitting it in the jungle). Quite humbling...

This is exactly the point I try to make to a lot of struggling golfers. The downswing is not the backswing reversed. As someone else said, if you look at frame 30, you'll see that you are beginning to lose that angle between the left arm and club. IMO, this is caused by having a too-rounded arc on the downswing and it is near impossible to hold that angle if you do that. Also, if you look at frame 30, you'll see that there is some separation between your right elbow and body. At this point, they should be attached to each other and your hands will be nearly directly over the ball (from this view). For some people, the initial hip bump to the left that starts the downswing will be accompanied by a passive dropping of the hands. However, you may need to take a more active approach in order to unlearn the old habit of starting the club away from you. A few slow motion swings should help. Good luck.

I can't help but laugh that most beginner golfers first started to play they had it right all along. I remember hitting the ball to the right and thinking, "I must have the club face open". Then, I became 'educated' and learned that it was my swing path that was the problem. Then, as I was getting better and trying to learn an intentional draw or fade, I would make the 'appropriate' stance and club face setup, but just ended up knocking it into the tree I was trying to curve around. Eventually, I just gave up on the whole thing and just hit my stock straight/slight draw shot no matter the situation (taking my medicine if it wasn't available). Now that I'm armed with this new info, I'm curious to try it out (sometime after the couple of feet of snow melts).

Very good, I stand corrected. Golfers should maintain their spine inclination to the ground throughout the swing. The forward hip bend is not maintained (if that is your definition of spine angle), but moves to a side hip bend in order to maintain that initial inclination to the ground when the shoulders turn, with the reverse happening on the forward swing. Never thought of it that way. Thanks for the correction/clarification! I could make the argument that the change of hip bend from forward to side is the result of the shoulders turning around the tilted spine and not some conscious action to bend to the side. And while not clear, I never said that the hip bend does not change, only that you don't perform any side-to-side hip bend to increase or decrease the shoulder tilt. Nice backpedaling there...

Weaker grips can make it easier to be wristy at the top. I don't know if that's a problem or not, it will depend on what the front view shows. I don't think you're dipping your shoulders too much. I didn't draw lines, but I don't see any appreciable dip in your shoulders. You do a great job of maintaining form throughout your swing. But looking at your swing more, I'm more confident that you're laying the club off. However, I don't think the problem is with the grip. If you were to stop the video just before Zeph's third image above, you would see that your right forearm goes beyond vertical and leans behind you (and hence, so does the club). The right elbow, forearm, and hands need to all be in a vertical line for the last part of the backswing. You almost get there by the end of your backswing, but the path to that point isn't correct. Here's a slow motion of Adam Scott's swing (a.k.a. Tiger's old swing) and you can see how he gets to the top of backswing. He's probably taller than you, so he's going to have a bit more vertical swing, but I think you are going just a touch too much "around" your body. The club needs to get slightly more vertical by the midway point of your backswing and beyond, which should help in getting everything better aligned. The result is that your hands will be slightly higher and more over your right shoulder at the top of the backswing.

Any chance of uploading your swing video to give a better chance of diagnosing (both down-the-line and front views if possible)? Thin golf shots can be the result of any number of things: pulling arms inward, lifting of head/body, scooping, etc. I like the idea of the club being slightly farther from you than a couple of inches. Wedges tend to be the closest at 3-4 inches, up to a driver at 4-6 inches away from you.

Your spine is tilted at address. You turn your shoulders perpendicular to your spine. The effect is that your left shoulder will 'drop' and your right shoulder will 'rise', but you don't perform any side-to-side bending of the waist to either increase or decrease the left shoulder drop. In other words, if you stood perfectly vertical and turn your shoulders, there is no change in shoulder elevation. But if you make this same motion with a tilted spine (like at address), it is only natural that the left shoulder will be lower and the right shoulder higher (when you turn clockwise 90 degrees). You are supposed to pretty much retain that spine angle throughout the swing. If you did that, I'm not sure why your shoulders would be blocking your view. The only way I can see it is if you are standing too vertical, then maybe...

Concur. Congrats to Stricker. One of my favorite players over the last couple of years. Not a lot of flash, but whenever I see him, he seems to hit 80% of fairways, greens, and putts. He could be one of the big benefactors to the new groove change.

Swing looks good... very good. 10 handicap? You look like half that. I've seen a lot worse swings from 10 handicaps. :) Anyways, my comments: 1. A front view would be helpful to look at different parts that aren't present in the DTL view (stance, grip, ball position, move through ball, etc). 2. The only thing I can see is that the club may be a little laid off at the top (left of target) and you might be going past parallel. The latter isn't necessarily a bad thing, but a front view might help with determining if it's a result of good flexibility and shoulder turn or if there is a breakdown in the left arm or wrists. 3. What are your typical misses?

A few more comments after watching the videos some more: 1. You should probably widen the stance on the driver a bit and open up your feet a bit on all clubs (i.e. point the toes out a bit). They're both pretty square at address. 2. For the backswing, keep the connected takeaway (see attached video). The triangle formed by the arms does not change for the first part of the takeaway and there is no forearm, wrist, or hand movement. The shoulders simply turn back for the first part of the swing. Note, the club will come off the ground because your spine is angled and your shoulders are turning on that axis. So, it's not like you're dragging the club on the ground for the first part of the takeaway. 3. Then, there will be a definite upward movement of the arms (in a two-plane swing) to get the hands and arms up to the shoulder plane (about 12-18" of vertical lift, I would guess). This movement is independent of the continuing shoulder turn. This is also when the wrists are set (vertical cocking of the wrists and the setting of the right wrist, plus little or no forearm rolling). Done properly, it's probably gonna feel like the club is quite vertical and not "on plane" for you, since you're used to rolling and setting your wrists early. But that's just a feeling that should go away. 4. FYI... Relative to your shoulders, your hands start somewhere just left of center at address and are approximately even with your right shoulder at the top of the backswing. That is about a foot or less of "left to right" movement in total during the backswing. Also, even though I talk about a vertical lifting of the hands, it's only about 12-18". The rest of the total vertical distance of the hands (say another 12" or so) is from the turn of the shoulders on the tilted axis of the spine.

Driver - B+ - Easily the best part of my game. Very few lost/OB shots. Irons - B - Prior to the hybrids for 3 & 4, I would have given this a C or C+. Short Game - F+ - Probably too hard on myself, but I stink compared to the full shots. Stink out of bunkers as well. Putter - C- - Again, I stink. 3-putt at least once per round (more like 2-3), miss short ones, whatever. And then, I'll roll a few in from out of nowhere. Good FIRs and GIRs, which keeps the scoring decent. I pretty much never practice. I golf 20-25 rounds a year and go to the range half a dozen times, but only because someone else is going and I'm usually there to screw around or help them with their full swings. Basically, I'm a good scramble player (always love the team tournaments). Lots of chances for birdies, but someone else is going to have to hole the putts. :) As a friend said, "You hit the ball like a scratch player, but chip and putt like an 18 handicapper". I don't know about the former, but sometimes I think the latter is about right.

To me, it looks like you're rolling your forearms at the start of the swing combined with setting the right wrist early. You need to eliminate these early motions and swing a bit more around and then up on the backswing for a more seemless inside delivery on the downswing. For you, I suggest taking some practice backswings where you imagine you need to chop a block of wood that is to your right from your normal setup position. If this were the case, you would simply turn your shoulders 90 degrees and lift the club straight over your head. Do that a few times and then, instead of taking the club straight over your head, take it over your right shoulder. You don't have to actually go all the way, it's just the path upward you want to take. In reality, you should begin the lift of the arms about 1/3 of the way through the shoulder turn. It is about this time that a slight setting of the right wrist should occur (and vertical cocking of the wrists), but very little forearm rotation. Anyways, your top of backswing position is actually not bad (maybe a bit across the line with the driver, but that might be the camera angle). Your bigger problem is with the downswing. You have the traditional two plane swing... your hands and club are up on the shoulder plane at the top of the backswing, which is fine. They need to get down to mid-torso level at some point fairly early in the downswing, so that they can get whipped around the body. The downswing is not the backswing reversed. You don't move the butt end of the club away from you in a wide arc. Notice how on your downswing you can see a gap between your right elbow and your side (a no-no). This eventually leads to a fully extended right arm before impact (another no-no). Some might call this casting. You need to move the hands vertically downward after you have shifted/bumped/slid your hips to the left to make room. For some people, this downward movement happens passively, but I'm guessing you're going to need to unlearn the habit of downswinging in an arc. After you get the club down to the right plane, it's going to go on a nice ride as you turn the hips and shoulders. My two cents... good luck.

I think you got it. The wrists are fairly passive in the downswing and allow themselves to be manipulated by the different physical forces exerted on them during this time. The difficulty for most is that the wrists are active in the backswing (i.e. intentionally hinged), so it seems only natural to actively "undo" them in the downswing, but that is simply not the case. And I wouldn't worry about being "too inside" or "too steep", especially if you just transitioned to this new motion. Very few amateurs actually suffer from these swing faults (and not many professionals). For "too inside", you would have to loop the downswing behind you. However, you can trap your arms behind your hips if you turn your hips way ahead of the rest of the downswing. Again, this is a problem usually reserved for very good players. And "too steep" is basically only possible if you have a breakdown of the left arm, where you allow it to bend significantly on the downswing.

Yes, the hip bump does start the downswing, but it must be accompanied by minimal INTENTIONAL upper body and arm movement. The issue is that some people have initiated the downswing with the turning of the shoulders or moving the arms (with or without an arc) for years. They have TWO things to change: the hip bump + NOT performing their incorrect move. Adding a hip bump alone may not solve the problem. I still don't think there is an intentional holding of the wrists in a cocked position until just before impact and then an intentional release through and after impact as Al Geiberger states (yeah, yeah... he's Mr. 59, he's won tournaments... I get it). I believe the wrists are relatively relaxed throughout the swing, and it's the force of the clubhead coming down and around that releases them. It's a matter of delaying that release until the proper moment via the (slight) vertical drop of the hands and arms (whether it happens passively for you or you need to resist the urge to perform some other movement). Some people like to think of it as pulling the right elbow close to the body, but I think this can be a little misleading as well. But instead, the vertical drop from the top of the backswing will position it closer to the body than it was on the backswing when we were "creating width".

I never hear this very much, but from my experience, lag is created/maintained by the hands dropping on a steeper arc than the backswing arc. A lot of intermediate golfers understand the notion of coming from the inside on the downswing (which is great). They don't have the over-the-top move that higher handicappers do, and may even have the nice wide arc on the backswing. But, they tend to reverse that same arc on the downswing, which IMO, isn't correct. If you follow that same arc back down (regardless of the bump to the left), the club head will move "outside" of the hands too soon in the downswing, and your wrists will uncock early because it is near impossible to stop that centrifugal force being exerted on the wrists. You need to bring the hands down more vertically, so that physics can work for you. Then, the club head won't pass outside the hands until closer to the ground, when you're ready to deliver the power to the ball. For some, this motion is passive, but for others that have ingrained a more rounded arc to their downswing, a little retraining might be in order. IMO, the "bump" to the left is there to clear out room so that the hands can drop freely. Here's a video of Nick Faldo that might be helpful:

Some comments: 1. Look at your legs in the last video. The right leg and arm are more vertical than the left, with your whole right side being nearly vertical at address. This probably means you have more weight on your back foot, instead of a neutral stance. The comments about ball back in your stance is from this setup. Move to a more neutral setup and the ball will move up in your stance automatically. 2. Look at your first move away from the ball. You actually raise up an inch or so instead of remaining level. May be the result of #1. 3. FYI... The 6-iron flight looked more like an 8-iron, probably some scooping going on there, but it's hard to tell. Right now, you have a fairly up, down, up swing. Like someone said, you can play some respectable golf that way: accurate, average power, and a slight draw that will make a lot of people jealous. A bigger wrist cock is only going to lower accuracy (block rights or hook lefts) with little additional power. It just doesn't fit in with how you're currently swinging, which is a controlled, somewhat 3/4ish swing.