Take a look at my swing...

[ju5tin99]

Quick background: Over the last two years I golfed a lot. I lived in San Diego, had a good job, no kids, and an understanding wife, so I went for it. I played or practiced several days a week, and took regular lessons. I was starting to get fairly decent. Last March we had our first kid, and in September I started dental school. I now have no time and no money, so I think I've been golfing about 3 times since September. Of course as you can imagine, my game is shot. I do, however, still get out in the backyard and smack some wiffle balls around as time permits, but I've noticed that I can't swing worth a pile of dog poo anymore. Anything longer than a 7 iron I can't get off the ground, and I don't even want to know what would happen if I picked up the driver. I'd been trying to think through all my lessons and figure out what was wrong, but I just couldn't feel where I was off, so I decided to video tape myself. I think I see some things, I want to see what you guys think and if you think you can help.

The first set of 6 swings is with a 9 iron, and the second set of 6 swings is with a 5 iron. You can see how they don't even get up over the roof of the house with the 5.

YouTube - Golf Swing 3/12

[ju5tin99]

I guess I can post what I see, and see whether you guys think I'm right or wrong, and if you have any ideas to fix it.



The first thing I see here is that I'm set up well. My head is behind the ball (vertical line), my hands are in front of it, and my right hip is lower than the left (horizontal line), which is how I want to be set up. I want to maintain those lines pretty much through impact. As you can see in the picture, I don't do that. My head is at least even with if not in front of the ball, and I have raised my right hip to the same level as the left by the top of the backswing. When watching the video I can see myself sway also as I reach the top of the backswing, losing the spine angle that I started with.




Looking from this view, what I notice is that I'm not taking the club back and bringing it down on the same plane. This looks like the classic "coming over the top" move. I think it's caused because I'm swaying my hips and leveling them off on the way back instead of turning them, and because I'm losing my spine angle and leaning forward. The only way I can get the club back even close to where it should be is to bring my hands down on a steeper plane.

Any thoughts? What should I concentrate on first to fix the other problems? Any drills?

[Wazmankg]

You make a nice pass at the ball to a solid finish, but that's one funky looking take-away. I'll leave any specific advice to those here who know a lot more about the swing than I.

[coralpro]

Not a golf pro or a teacher but your rolling the wrist over at takeaway and dropping the club back way behind you causing you to have to come over the top on the way down. You are allowing the weight to get out over your right knee on the backswing and you are definitely changing spine angle from the top of the backswing to impact. You have virtually no bend in the knees which probably is causing you to take it away flat and it also seems you are too worried about hip position. You should feel as though you are in an athletic stance similar to waiting for a ball to be hit your way in baseball and just turn back with the arms and shoulders and let the hips just follow around. The right side of the hips can't be lower than the left at the top of the backswing or you start allowing the arms to move the clubhead instead of the torso. Your spine angle changes because that is the only way you can get the club back to the ball from coming back flat and coming through steep. I would try just trying to turn and hand the club to an imaginary person directly to your right at your set up position then take the club up and around to the finish of the backswing then try and allow the right elbow to touch your side and start the downswing. This would allow you to keep on the correct plane coming down with a slight in to out. Easier said than done I know and I'm sure my swing has plenty of faults but I do hit all my shots pretty darn straight. Just on the course not sure whether they will be dead straight left, right, or in the middle.

[larryrsf]

Originally Posted by ju5tin99

Quick background: Over the last two years I golfed a lot. I lived in San Diego, had a good job, no kids, and an understanding wife, so I went for it. I played or practiced several days a week, and took regular lessons. I was starting to get fairly decent. Last March we had our first kid, and in September I started dental school. I now have no time and no money, so I think I've been golfing about 3 times since September. Of course as you can imagine, my game is shot. I do, however, still get out in the backyard and smack some wiffle balls around as time permits, but I've noticed that I can't swing worth a pile of dog poo anymore. Anything longer than a 7 iron I can't get off the ground, and I don't even want to know what would happen if I picked up the driver. I'd been trying to think through all my lessons and figure out what was wrong, but I just couldn't feel where I was off, so I decided to video tape myself. I think I see some things, I want to see what you guys think and if you think you can help.

The first set of 6 swings is with a 9 iron, and the second set of 6 swings is with a 5 iron. You can see how they don't even get up over the roof of the house with the 5.

YouTube - Golf Swing 3/12

Your backswing is miles off plane! The first check point is when the club is horizontal going back. Stop. The club shaft should be aligned with the target. (yours is way inside). Your hands should be over your back shoe toe. The toe of the club should be pointing up. I suggest you rehearse backswinging to that point by turning your shoulders and holding your arms and the club by keeping the "Y" of arms and clubshaft. Do it with eyes closed until you always get to the club horizontal check point with correct position.

From there the completion of the backswing is just more shoulder turn while allowing the wrists to cock. I suggest you stop when your arms are horizontal, club shaft pointing vertical. You gain nothing in clubhead speed by turning further-- BUT most amateurs turn and lift themselves into a position from which it is not automatic to start the downswing with hips--the weight shift to the front foot BEFORE the shoulders unwind. When you turn and lift too far, you will start with shoulders, OTT.



Larry

[pgonza2723]

As larry states you problem is def. stemming from the backswing. Could also help if you have mirror positioned right to get in front of it and work on your positions. Has helped me considerably in terms of getting the backswing on plane.

[ju5tin99]

Thanks for the replies guys. I had finals last week, so I was a little preoccupied and didn't really have much time to get out and work on anything. I thought about all the advice and it brought back something that my instructor had told me. He told me to hood the club on the takeaway, instead of opening the club face right away as I had been doing. That forced me to take it back upright instead of around my body. I tried that again, and it really helped. I also bent over a little more at the waist to help make my swing plane more vertical. I went to the range today and was hitting balls a lot better. I think it really helped the swing plane issue, which was leading to all the other issues that I pointed out in the frames that I captured.

I'll try and get some more video sometime this weekend so I can see if it really worked out as I think it has, and see if you can find anything else for me to work on.

[arroyotrabuco]

What are you doing with your head?

[straightshooter]

That is a great swing, given the poor backswing. Do put the work in to fix the backswing. Pay money to an instructor if you have to. You won't even believe how easy it will make the rest of the swing when you get it fixed. And it is clear that the rest of the swing is well worth it.

[ju5tin99]

Alright here's some video from today.

YouTube - Golf Swing 3/23

First swings with a 9 iron, second set with a 5 iron. Much better than before.

I made some freeze frames and drew swing planes like before:


You can see that it's much better, but still not perfect. At least now I know what I need to work on. I also notice that I still sway forward a little bit toward the top of the backswing. I need to work on getting a fuller turn. I see that my left shoulder isn't quite getting back to my chin. I need to focus on keeping my head back and bring the shoulder all the way around. It should help with the sway and the plane, because the sway forward (or left lean toward the ball if that's more clear) is what's making the swing more vertical on the way down.

All in all I'm glad I filmed myself. It helped a lot to see my swing without going and taking a lesson. It's good practice for me to see if I can figure out what's going wrong. I also filmed four swings in a row just to see the consistency. If you want to see it they're posted below. They all look pretty good and had almost identical flights.

YouTube - 4 Swings

[ju5tin99]

Originally Posted by arroyotrabuco

What are you doing with your head?

I want to keep my head behind the ball. Because I was swaying my hips and leaning toward the ball it was moving in front of the ball. It's just a landmark that I was looking at to help see what I was doing wrong.

[larryrsf]

Originally Posted by ju5tin99

Alright here's some video from today.

YouTube - Golf Swing 3/23

First swings with a 9 iron, second set with a 5 iron. Much better than before.

I made some freeze frames and drew swing planes like before:


You can see that it's much better, but still not perfect. At least now I know what I need to work on. I also notice that I still sway forward a little bit toward the top of the backswing. I need to work on getting a fuller turn. I see that my left shoulder isn't quite getting back to my chin. I need to focus on keeping my head back and bring the shoulder all the way around. It should help with the sway and the plane, because the sway forward (or left lean toward the ball if that's more clear) is what's making the swing more vertical on the way down.

All in all I'm glad I filmed myself. It helped a lot to see my swing without going and taking a lesson. It's good practice for me to see if I can figure out what's going wrong. I also filmed four swings in a row just to see the consistency. If you want to see it they're posted below. They all look pretty good and had almost identical flights.

YouTube - 4 Swings

Better. But that backswing is still bogus. You are "doing something" with hands or wrists instead of just holding the club at the address position and letting your shoulder turn raise the club--holding the "Y" of arms and clubshaft. Whatever you "do" during the backswing you must undo during the downswing-- and it is impossible to time hand and wrist action-- hence good players don't do that. Keep it simple.

The golf swing is a dynamic action-- the downswing must be led by the lower body, the weight shifts to the front leg, the torso tilts away from the target and the hips are "cleared" to allow the back arm elbow to pass.

Actually the downswing starts almost as soon as the club is started back. Your mind should be already preparing to move your lower body forward to initiate the downswing-- and thus the club is so quickly reversed that it is "whipped" from backswing into downswing. Exactly as we do when we swing a baseball bat horizontally or pop a bull whip. The backswing is part of the downswing. Put another way, if you wait to start the downswing until your backswing is finished, you will be miles "late," stiking the ball fat and your clubhead decelerating before impact.

Watch Ben Hogan demonstrate "the most important thing in the golf swing: YouTube - Ben Hogan Golf Swing

Larry

[pgonza2723]

Originally Posted by larryrsf

Better. But that backswing is still bogus. You are "doing something" with hands or wrists instead of just holding the club at the address position and letting your shoulder turn raise the club--holding the "Y" of arms and clubshaft.
Larry

I think that something you are seeing his him opening the face (al la rotating his wrists open) during the take away. Also looks like you are way overswinging still which is pulling your upper body up and back. Watch your head in the video in relation to your house and you'll see the movement back then up. Very hard to be consistent that way and I would be willing to bet that you would actually gain distance and consistency if you shortened it to what will "feel" like a 3/4 swing to you. In fact take some vids of you performing 3/4 and 1/2 shots, should be a little more help.

[tachus]

my roommate has the same problem. i worked with him for a week on taking the club back on plane. the best thing to do is mirror work. let your hands come straight back and on the backswing hold the wrist angle you have at address. this seems wierd because you think that by doing this it will make you lose power and be a bit sloppy on the downswing. when i learned this, i thought it felt ridiculous but at that point, i had my best ballstriking ever, but in the transition to the downswing you will be setting your wrists just fine and achieveing lag which will give you more compression on the ball and you will achieve more distance. do this and just release the club down the line. if this sounds confusing, i'll pm you a more detailed description of what i mean.

[Nikeguy07]

Originally Posted by larryrsf

Better. But that backswing is still bogus. You are "doing something" with hands or wrists instead of just holding the club at the address position and letting your shoulder turn raise the club--holding the "Y" of arms and clubshaft. Whatever you "do" during the backswing you must undo during the downswing-- and it is impossible to time hand and wrist action-- hence good players don't do that. Keep it simple.

The golf swing is a dynamic action-- the downswing must be led by the lower body, the weight shifts to the front leg, the torso tilts away from the target and the hips are "cleared" to allow the back arm elbow to pass.

Actually the downswing starts almost as soon as the club is started back. Your mind should be already preparing to move your lower body forward to initiate the downswing-- and thus the club is so quickly reversed that it is "whipped" from backswing into downswing. Exactly as we do when we swing a baseball bat horizontally or pop a bull whip. The backswing is part of the downswing. Put another way, if you wait to start the downswing until your backswing is finished, you will be miles "late," stiking the ball fat and your clubhead decelerating before impact.

Watch Ben Hogan demonstrate "the most important thing in the golf swing: YouTube - Ben Hogan Golf Swing

Larry

Let me guess...He's LATE too