Swing advice

Doggepe · May 3, 2015

Hello, i need some advice for my swing, if i'm doing anything particularly wrong or what needs to be changed for more consistent shots.

Here is a link to my swing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHjqoHXtWnE

I'am currently a 13 handicapper and want to get down to under 10 during this season. Usually i hit my shots pretty straight, but often i hit the ball at the heel of the club which feels really bad, any advice to stop doing this? Irons PW-7 is almost always straight, over that can be a bit trickier.

Reasonability · May 3, 2015

Dogg,

Can serve up things I would focus on a bit if it were me personally. A great pro would likely see other things and find the fastest/best plan of attack but I'm glad to share what I would do. Being built a little taller and leaner myself - there is for sure easy ways for guys like us to get a little bit out of whack from the setup itself. Once we do, things get a little tougher to manage than they need to be. Also there are those who tend to believe any filmed swing without a ball actually being struck is useless. I'm not entirely in that camp. There are a lot of mechanical/mental/emotional "things" that can enter a swing once a live golf ball is down there. Its very common to have one "practice" swing and another one that gets applied when the ball is down there. BUT - I also believe its possible to learn to put a smooth relaxed practice swing on the ball -- so abandoning "dry" swings or even studying them altogether is not a good plan either (at least for me - anyway).

Will compliment you on a few things. You stay in-posture deeply into your follow through. This gets the club to exit your body on a nice follow-through plane. There doesn't appear to be any oddly stand-out hitches in your motion. The arm structure you form at the top is very nice and the leading edge of the clubface lands parallel to your left forearm indicating a reasonable grip. You land that left wrist just above the right shoulder which says you are neither too flat or steep and that your shoulders turn right around your spine rather than rolling flat with the horizon. That enables your arm flow to work with rather than in conflict with your body and posture. All really good stuff --- compliments!

Here is what I would focus on were it me.

I believe you stand a touch close to the ball with the upper body a bit out over the toes AND a little less bend at the waist than you probably need.. The signal I see of this happening is a white yardage sign in the distance. One of them is located just under your chin at address. By the time you get to impact its under the bill of your cap. If you addressed the ball with a bit more bend at the hip sockets and backed up a touch - that would go away (I believe).

The clubhead passes a touch inside and of the hands a little early. Notice how halfway back (when the shaft reaches ground-parallel) how the shaft is pointing a little to right field? Ideally the shaft would be up over the toes and parallel to the target line. But because you stand a little close to the ball you have to route the club to the inside a little early.

As the club finishes the last half of the backswing the shaft points inside of the of the target line (through the ball and to the target). As the shaft goes up in the last half of the backswing it stands up a little vertically. Notice how at the top, the shaft is pointing a little to right field? Probably pointing at the target would be good, or even a little left of target is fine - but once its pointing right of the target you are forced to make unconscious corrections in the downswing to get the clubhead flowing through the shot well.

So I personally would back up a touch, bend a fraction more from the hips, and let that setup move the club to ground-parallel halfway back such that its over the toe-line and parallel to the target line. I would stick a tee in the butt end of the handle and use a cheap little closet mirror to flow the shaft through the last half of the backswing in a way that the shaft points a little more along the target line and see if all that lands the shaft at the top in a way that points at or even a fraction left of the target at the top.

Hope this is taken in the spirit its given. If there isn't a good instructor working with you (and your swing is good so there may well be) then these are things the two of you can review together and decide if I'm way off or at least have served up some usable things to consider. Best to you!

Doggepe · May 3, 2015

[quote name='Reasonability' timestamp='1430670159' post='11490281']
Dogg,

Can serve up things I would focus on a bit if it were me personally. A great pro would likely see other things and find the fastest/best plan of attack but I'm glad to share what I would do. Being built a little taller and leaner myself - there is for sure easy ways for guys like us to get a little bit out of whack from the setup itself. Once we do, things get a little tougher to manage than they need to be. Also there are those who tend to believe any filmed swing without a ball actually being struck is useless. I'm not entirely in that camp. There are a lot of mechanical/mental/emotional "things" that can enter a swing once a live golf ball is down there. Its very common to have one "practice" swing and another one that gets applied when the ball is down there. BUT - I also believe its possible to learn to put a smooth relaxed practice swing on the ball -- so abandoning "dry" swings or even studying them altogether is not a good plan either (at least for me - anyway).

Will compliment you on a few things. You stay in-posture deeply into your follow through. This gets the club to exit your body on a nice follow-through plane. There doesn't appear to be any oddly stand-out hitches in your motion. The arm structure you form at the top is very nice and the leading edge of the clubface lands parallel to your left forearm indicating a reasonable grip. You land that left wrist just above the right shoulder which says you are neither too flat or steep and that your shoulders turn right around your spine rather than rolling flat with the horizon. That enables your arm flow to work with rather than in conflict with your body and posture. All really good stuff --- compliments!

Here is what I would focus on were it me.

I believe you stand a touch close to the ball with the upper body a bit out over the toes AND a little less bend at the waist than you probably need.. The signal I see of this happening is a white yardage sign in the distance. One of them is located just under your chin at address. By the time you get to impact its under the bill of your cap. If you addressed the ball with a bit more bend at the hip sockets and backed up a touch - that would go away (I believe).

The clubhead passes a touch inside and of the hands a little early. Notice how halfway back (when the shaft reaches ground-parallel) how the shaft is pointing a little to right field? Ideally the shaft would be up over the toes and parallel to the target line. But because you stand a little close to the ball you have to route the club to the inside a little early.

As the club finishes the last half of the backswing the shaft points inside of the of the target line (through the ball and to the target). As the shaft goes up in the last half of the backswing it stands up a little vertically. Notice how at the top, the shaft is pointing a little to right field? Probably pointing at the target would be good, or even a little left of target is fine - but once its pointing right of the target you are forced to make unconscious corrections in the downswing to get the clubhead flowing through the shot well.

So I personally would back up a touch, bend a fraction more from the hips, and let that setup move the club to ground-parallel halfway back such that its over the toe-line and parallel to the target line. I would stick a tee in the butt end of the handle and use a cheap little closet mirror to flow the shaft through the last half of the backswing in a way that the shaft points a little more along the target line and see if all that lands the shaft at the top in a way that points at or even a fraction left of the target at the top.

Hope this is taken in the spirit its given. If there isn't a good instructor working with you (and your swing is good so there may well be) then these are things the two of you can review together and decide if I'm way off or at least have served up some usable things to consider. Best to you!
[/quote]

Thank you very much for your input. Hopefully i will try this at the range tomorrow and start improving my game further. Although, it is the putting and chipping that needs the most work. Happy to see that you put in the effort to write a long text like that.