RossOliver

Thanks for taking the time to do an analysis like that - very helpful! I can see exactly what you mean now - I didn't realise I lifted my head like that on the backswing and shallowed my shoulder turn. You're right about hitting off the ground, very seldom make a decent strike at the minute - when I catch the driver with that swing though (the odd time I get a straight one) it has quite a bit of distance in it mind... I have a pulled muscle at the minute so I'll take the weekend off and hopefully have a stab at the new backswing early next week and try and post a video. Thanks for your time, -Ross [edit] Just saw the two pictures of your students - the one on the right has his hips well forward at impact, which is something I would like to incorporate, however thrusting my hips forward like this tends to exacerbate two of my faults... it makes my weight stay backward (if my hips go forward my top half tips right and keeps me on my right side) and my shoulders don't unwind (my right shoulder goes directly down and toward my target instead of out and rotating). Do you have any tips to combat this? Cheers.

Thanks for all the replies - very helpful! Although I've read a bit on why you should straighten your rear leg, I've never really bought into that one... I find I swing worse if I forget to focus on keeping some right knee flex; my hip and shoulders end up turning a daft amount/out of sync and I feel slack. However, that is when I don't think about my right leg at all - I've never actively tried to straighten my read leg on the backswing - this strangely appears to restrict my hip turn somewhat... is that the intention? I do feel as though my upper body stalls on the downswing, but I don't understand why - is it because I haven't coiled up correctly in the backswing? I always thought if you unwind your hips and clear them well enough then your upper body should follow... my upper and lower body seem to have minds of their own! Phil, you say to feel like I move my head down and forwards and hip up and forward - by forward I take it you mean toward the target and not in the direction my head is pointing at address? Thanks again, -Ross

Thanks for the reply - I watched the video you linked to, but I don't see my hips/right knee swaying during my backswing? Are you referring to my upper body? Thanks, -Ross

Hello, I've returned to golf after a break for a few months and the swing has gone all to pot... I'm even shanking my chip shots. The full swing problems are a bit less dramatic though - I appear to have lost all my lag... before I took a break from the game I had a decent amount of angle retention in the downswing, however now I'm releasing it much earlier (wouldn't say it's a cast, but I'm certainly not hitting it as late as I was). I think it is down to a problem I've always had in rotating my upper body through with my lower body to smoothly release the club head after impact. I manage to clear my hips well (I think), but the upper body seems to have a mind of it's own and gets held back - not following my lower body and as a result I finish in a reverse C with a fugly chicken wingy follow through. Needless to say, by the time I took these videos I was somewhat frustrated and trying to take out my anger on the ball, thus swinging out of my shoes (almost literally!). If anyone has an opinion or any drills I can do to improve my upper body coordination on the downswing I would appreciate your input! Some insight into what exactly is wrong with my upper body movement (or any other of my movements for that matter) would also be useful - in my eyes, I'm just not clearing my upper body enough - but that may not be the main problem? :-/ Many thanks, -Ross

Thanks for the replies - I agree my hands do appear to go low and left after impact; I think this is due to trying to 'stay connected' - I'll try and let my left arm loose and more down the line after impact to get rid of my stuck/awkward follow through. I'm a bit hesitant to try a setup change as the last time I lost my posture my swing went all to hell, but I'll experiment with a more rounded back later today... Cheers, -Ross

From my understanding, slightly open shoulders is preferable - is this not always the case (perhaps this is only with longer irons)? As for the release, if I understand correctly, there are two types of release; down the line (like Els, Nicklaus etc) and left (Hogan, Garcia, McIlroy? etc). I would prefer a left-release much like Hogan and Garcia as it seems to protect against the snap-hook that I used to have when I was drastically under-plane - unless my swing is more suited to a down the line release style? Thanks, -Ross

Do you have any pointers on how to do this? I really struggle to get my shoulders to open by impact, no matter how hard I rotate my hips they never seem to turn enough to pull my shoulders around. Also, if I concentrate on just opening my shoulders independently they have a tendency to go very steep and my right shoulder goes down under plane - so I get into a reverse 'C' position when viewed from face-on at impact (hips well ahead, shoulders stuck back and left shoulder very high). Yeah I think you're right - ordered this earlier today: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item;=120687697876 Seems like a value range, but if it really is class 10 SDHC it should do the job I hope! Cheers, -Ross

Hello, It's been a while since I've posted anything - I've been working hard to get back on plane on my downswing after suffering from being too much from the inside. The video below I took today - only a down the line view I'm afraid, hopefully get a face-on video tomorrow. Current shot is generally between straight and up to a 5-yard pull fade that ends on-target. In improving my downswing with more hip unwind I've gone from barely being able to get over the top to struggling to get confidently to the inside. I believe this is partly due to my alignment being slightly open and by backswing marginally too shallow - I've just recovered from being rather laid-off and open at the top. If anyone has any input on how to shallow my downswing and improve my release (head has always been a bit stuck looking at the ball after impact), which appears to go hard-left (slight chicken-wing action!), I would appreciate your input! Also, are my shoulders too closed relative to my hips at impact? Finally, my head appears to drop quite significantly in the downswing - I've read mixed things about this, is it a good thing? If it makes any odds I have a late, snap release into the back of the ball (which I can hopefully illustrate with another video tomorrow). Sorry the video is a wee bit jumpy - I don't think my SD card can keep up with my camera Thanks for your time/input, -Ross

I bet Fred Couples hits the occasional (if not quite frequent?) 300+ drive and he must be over 50 now? Technique trumps youth, in my opinion.

I would focus more on ball speed - club head speed is less valuable than a high "smash factor", resulting from correct, efficient impact. For example, take a slow swinger of the club that has efficient impact and compare them to someone who swings much faster but has poorer impact. If we look at how smash factor transfers into ball speed, it's clear that you should focus on your impact to improve distance (improving the smash factor will also tend to give you a faster, more efficient swing overall anyway): 80mph swing with 1.45 smash factor = 116mph ball speed 90mph swing with 1.3 smash factor = 117mph ball speed From this, you can see that improving impact effectively adds speed to your swing (well, the ball anyway!). Similarly, say you are actually swinging about as fast as a tour pro - the difference of impact efficiency can have dramatic effects on the overall speed and therefore distance: 90mph swing with 1.45 smash factor = 130.5mph ball speed Hope that makes sense, -Ross

You're "flashing" your wrists on the way back - the club is far too flat... also, your hands get very high at the top, which isn't a bad thing - but you need to drop the club back onto plane by initiating the downswing with your hips instead of pulling the club down with your hands. -Ross

Here in the UK I get lessons at St Andrews Links golf academy - price depends on amount purchased, for me it's £60 a go for a single one hour lesson and £45 if a set of 10 are purchased. I think the rate here is pretty high though given it's the home of golf - I've had lessons at a driving range in my home town for £40 a lesson or £30 if you buy a set of 10. There should be a driving range/golf club or golf academy somewhere in your area where you can get lessons for a reasonable price...

I try and get frequent lessons - it's all well and good getting the odd tip from a website like this, but I find it is anti-productive more often than not, you can easily read too much and try and change too many things at once. Focus on one thing and get it down to a tee before moving on to the next thing... there's no substitute for lessons though, I would recommend them if you aren't getting any already... Some people are just naturally hunched I guess, I have it a bit thanks to a Computer Science degree - just raising your head up should help improve your posture a bit... -Ross

Hands look to get a bit higher at the top of your backswing in this one which is good - back foot is still not square though... hands are fine from this view at setup, however you appear a bit hunched over. Your backswing is generally quite solid - you appear to take the club away on plane and get to a decent position at the top. The downswing needs a bit of work though - you come at the ball from the outside... try flattening your downswing plane, so when your hands are hip-height on the downswing the club should trace your right forearm and from then on to impact the clubhead should be delivered to the ball directly down your right forearm. You should be able to see that your club is well above your right forearm at this position, which shows how you come across the ball from the outside, creating a fade or slice... -Ross

For the feet, it is normal to have the back foot perpendicular to the target line and the front foot open (slightly pointing your toe to the target) by about 30* or so. Reaching for the ball just means that your hands are quite a ways from your body - this might not be the case though, difficult to tell from a face-on view. To get your hands higher, I would say keep them more in front of your body - I suspect you're bringing them in behind yourself a little too much... I wouldn't like to say without a down-the-line view though... your feet are maybe a fraction wide as well - if that's a mid-iron I would maybe bring your back foot in closer to your right foot by a few inches... Hope that helps, -Ross