Love some advice and help please !

[toggaf]

So, been playing for about 5 years, love golf, totally into it (not so sure the wife appreciates my love of the game), but hey, shes a wonderful woman.

 

Anyways, took some lessons a couple of years ago, but stopped due to financial restraints. I do struggle with consistency, especially with my driver. Pulls, hooks and of course, the weak slice. I do get the ball out there, and don't really struggle with distance (prob carry 250-260). Critiquing myself, I see hip slide on the side on view with very low hands at the top of the back swing and my head moving all over the place. On the down line view(different swing), not bad angles, but a definite goat hump thrust towards impact, maybe due to a very minor over the top move at the start of the back swing and poor hip rotation.

 

Regardless, take a look and I welcome every bodies comments and suggestions.

 

Thanks so much.

 

Side on View

 

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Swing starts around 25sec

 

 

Down the line view

 

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[Reasonability]

Tog,

Welcome to Wrx, sir. I'd like to offer you a little boost to the best of my ability here. I am a guy who absolutely loves studying swing videos and have myself spent thousands of hours working in front of cameras and mirror getting my own swing pieced together for over 45 years. So I will share things I see and what I personally would do if that were my own swing. There are pro instructors here on WRX as you may know. It would be great if a couple of them happen along as well. Many of those folks offer videos, online lessons, and often provide a little interactions with those who post their videos. Fingers crossed you will strike up some interaction with those guys, too.

I'm going to sling around terms we use here on WRX a lot (dtl = down the line; fo = face on; bs = backswing; ds = downswing). If I float a term at you which is unfamiliar, please post a reply and I'll help make things clear. Some newer posters know more lingo than me and some are new to it....Its all good as they say to talk things through and help each other keep things clear.

I'm really taken by your face-on address posture. There's a nice secondary spine tilt (your head is behind the ball and the upper body has a hint of leaning away from target. This secondary tilt is particularly important for driver and the longer clubs. You have the width of feet set so that the insteps are at least as wide as the shoulder sockets (also good for driver) - this has your knees to be just inside and not over the insteps (good), the elbows inside the knees and there is no excessive forward pressing of the handle well toward the target.

When we look at your setup from DTL - There is where I begin to see things I believe I would look into. If you look at those mowing lines on the ground you will notice your feet are pointing along a line to the right of your ball flight - while the shoulders are aimed a touch left of ball flight. Notice during your takeaway that as the clubhead passes your back foot - that's the first time you're feet and shoulders are lined up with each other. This is a natural reaction to the right hand and shoulder being a little lower on the handle. I personally place a good bit of importance on being squared up at address.

The other thing I notice DTL is there is a little more "reach" with the hands and arms to the ball than I would apply. A line extending through the shaft into the body would normally run right through the golfer's belt line. Yours is a little higher than that. Especially with driver, the arms aren't hanging dead straight down to the ground. But somewhere between where you currently are, and that extreme would be good. A point of reference - if you could get the left pointer knuckle looking to your eye as though its more or less out and above the left big toe - you would be about right. You will need the rear end to be back behind the heels to be a counter balance. THIS ONE IS GOING TO COME UP AGAIN!!! You may also need the handle to run just a bit more toward the base knuckles of the left hand versus through the lifeline. This will place a little more of an angle between the shaft and the arms. For you, this will probably feel awkward at first. Its just that you have this great face on posture and you want the DTL to match it. Otherwise some things that occur during the swing (which is next) tend to wander a little off course.

Next, if you would watch your left should from the face on view going back... notice that it turns horizontally. Its heading is to route on an almost straight line to the right shoulder. Then if you looked at the DTL- you will see how at the completion of the BS clearly shows a very horizontal shoulder turn. The shoulders should turn at 90 degrees to the spine you setup with. You can practice this with a closet mirror... laying a driver shaft on your chest through the shoulder line and turn to the top. That shaft should be 90 degrees to the spine. It won't point down at the ball - but it won't point at the horizon either. So to make it even easier to get there, you need to LET the right hip drift back from the toe line during the BS. Remember that the issue of the rear end being a counter balance was something to discuss further? This is it. The tush line should be behind the heels at address a bit, and when you turn - you turn right around your spine. To do that well the shoulders need to turn at 90 degrees to the spine and the hips can just respond on their own as your shoulders and arms flow back -- BUT allow the right hip to drift back from the toe line. THIS KEEPS YOU IN POSTURE ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP.

As seen face on, at the top your upper spine will land a touch farther from target than the lower spine --- all because you had that secondary tilt at address and you just turned around your spine. (you already have that little secondary tilt so this is your chance to use it to your benefit).

So mirror work is a great way to see for yourself in real time how your doing and this will turn your practice time into faster and better results. (I use a couple of cheap closet mirrors - one FO and the other DTL.

Turning around your spine like this will get your arm flow up on plane. As is your backswing plane is coming in flat and you are standing a little out of posture at the top and back down through.

Then its a matter of transition and getting the right elbow to flow in front of the right hip as you STILL maintain that posture. We can talk more about that one when you're ready but it will be a matter of turning the hips a little bit open to start back down and letting the bend in the back of the right wrist swing down to the ball and unhinge freely while in-posture.

So there is a load of "stuff" I hurled your way. To summarize:

Grip - a touch more in the fingers versus the lifeline of the left hand
Stance - you look great FO but DTL - rear counterbalance, a shaft that extends through the belt line - less reaching for the ball
Squareness of stance - feet and shoulders not in conflict

Backswing - Mirror work will help you turn the shoulders perpendicular to the spine as the right hip rotates back from the toe line - this will get you into the right heel at the top and poised to make a more consistent move down through the ball

Transition - just start a small opening up of the hips and stay in posture until after the ball is struck - let the right elbow pass in front of the right hip and let the right wrist angle go for a ride and LET the wrists unhinge through the shot.

There you go fella -- this is about all I've got.

Hoping this is taken in the spirit its given. ENJOY and stay tuned. These would be my approaches and there are professionals here at WRX who have more and better advice as well.

[toggaf]

Reasonability.

Thanks for the great assessment. I really appreciate it. Plenty to work on, and that's why I love the game, you can always improve. Let me take a couple of days to process and and work on these things at the range. Just one quick question : [color=#282828] "A point of reference - if you could get the left pointer knuckle looking to your eye as though its more or less out and above the left big toe - you would be about right" Does this mean that as I look down from setup position, my left pointer knuckle is above the left big toe as I look down ??[/color]

[color=#282828]Thanks again.[/color]

[Reasonability]

You're welcome! There are professional instructors who can no doubt go better and deeper - I just share what I can and try and paint the picture for folks to get on the road a little.

And yes, as is... you would probably look down and see that knuckle out and over the toes a little more than need be. The idea is to get into that stance that doesn't get you leaning out over the toes at the top.