Beginner Needs a Critique

[arteci]

Whats up gents and ladies.

 

First and foremost, thank you for all the tips and laughs this forum has provided me with. Been a good time since I joined.

 

Here are two swings, my biggest problem is keeping my left arm in and firing down. Guys see any other problems?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSO4ufDlUHI

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkKCkDsLPvI

 

Cheers :fan_1:

[Reasonability]

Art,

Welcome! And thanks for sharing.

There are two key moments is your swing that catch my eye. I personally believe they both go hand-in-hand and working on one to the exclusion of the other is fine - but will prove frustrating until both are a little better managed. (Its kind of like working the legs of tripod.... fix one leg and the pictures are actually worse rather than better.... but get all the legs of the tripod where they belong and the pictures turn out well).

The first one I see - and this one really shows up in the second video - is evident just as you start your downswing. If you stop the video right at the top... and then again just after the club starts to move into your downswing....

Right there the club head initially moves vertically up and out of the picture. By the time the club completely disappears out of the camera's view up there the lead (left) arm has barely moved at all and is dropping just below your right shoulder AND the right wrist is bent. So that much right there is something I personally think is very telling.

The second issue is a little harder to detect without seeing your swing in a face-on view. But - there is every indication that during the backswing motion - that as your backswing flows from takeaway to the top of the backswing, that your right knee is wandering laterally over your right foot. So it appears to my eye your lower body (hips and knees) tend to wander away from the target going back and to compensate they glide back toward the target on the downswing.

Sometimes two-dimensional camera views play tricks on the eye - but that lower body slide APPEARS to be going on inside your swing and if I'm right the way to manage it may well start with a focus on your initial setup AND right knee during the backswing.

Having shared all of this - there comes the issue as to HOW to approach these two visible moments - and assuming I'm correct - what the plan of attack should be. This is where getting a local pro to agree or disagree would be of HUGE help. I've been playing golf for many many decades and I know what I personally need to stay focused on given my own tendencies. I only know that thanks to the help of some quality (live and in-person) assistance provided by some quality instructors. My best efforts to overcome my tendencies were moderate when trying to fix things on my own and very focused and productive in the hands of a good teaching pro. So I will share with you what I personally would do going forward were it me.

Here is a link I often share with other golfers. Its not perfect, and like anything it can even be confusing at times. I will say there are certain things written in here I don't 100% agree with. I believe the bottom portions of the text are a little bit of over-load for most golfers. BUT the overall idea of how to setup to the ball....there is some absolutely golden stuff inside this link. If you will try and apply the overall set guidelines inside this link - even practice getting into this brand of setup in front of a mirror (checking both face on and down-the-line).... and STICK WITH the discipline to get setup and in a posture the way this link describes it... I don't see how you can go wrong.

The greatest and easiest way to fix a golf swing is how to address that ball and how to grip the club. Its hard on your own to fix the address. This link comes about as close as anything I've read to doing that for you.

[url="http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/AddressSetup.htm"]http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/AddressSetup.htm[/url]

Now lets get back to those two moments I see inside your swing motion.

I believe the club moves the way it does for you from the top down - primarily because your shoulders turn too level with the horizon. When watching either of the videos you shared - notice how your left shoulder starts in one spot at address, and runs on a horizontal path to the right. Notice how your right shoulder swings around behind the shirt collar. I'm a big believer that a horizontal shoulder turn forces the hands and arms to work UP on their own. And then from the top down they (hands and arms) then have to work back DOWN on their own. When they work back down without the support and help of a proper shoulder turn - you see the club uncocking and casting from the top just the way we see it in you initial move from the top.... the club pops straight up (or casts) early in the downswing and the hands and arms move very little if any when this is occurring.

So - what I would do is start with the setup and posture "stuff" shared inside the link I shared above. From that starting point I would get the shoulders turning perpendicular to the address spine - as seen in a down-the-;line view. Your left shoulder will end up moving down and to the right - more under the chin compared to now while the right should will move more up and behind the head. In THIS way the arm flow is not working independently of the shoulder turn going to the top of the backswing - they will in-fact be working together. When that happens you will find that the plane is a little steeper -- not because you forced the hands and arms to do one thing differently - but more because they are going for the same ride to the top as always but with a shoulder turn that support the flow of the hands and arms to the top. If this is making any sense (hopefully) the glide of that club to the top is currently two independent operations - and what I'm suggesting gets it made simpler by making the club go back with one combined and therefore simpler operation - just by getting the shoulders to turn like the letter "T" around your address spine angle. That spine angle will improve thanks to the link I shared.

If there's one more doo-dad I would throw into this part of the setup and shoulder-turn focus.... it would be to let the right elbow wander about four to six inches away from the right shirt seam (along the rib cage) going back - BUT in doing so see if you can keep that "wandering" right straight out from the shirt seam. Your right elbow is traveling well behind you as you get to the top. With the improved setup and shoulder turn, this elbow thing should be MUCH easier to work into your practices and actually come rather naturally. Its important because in the downswing you would want that right elbow to work down in front of you as you transport that little bend in the back of the right wrist golfers have at the top of the backswing.... you want the bend to be transported all the way down to the ball and the trick to doing that is to manage the right elbow a little bit as described above. Ideally the lead (left) wrist is flattened at the top and the right wrist is bent (or cupped).

Once you are at the top in better shape - you will not need to cast the club with the hands as you start your downswing. You will be much more inclined to move the hands/arms/club as a "unit" lead by the right elbow - and to do that you need the address posture and correct shoulder turn to get you to the top in good shape to pull it off that way.

So getting back to the right knee and lower body work. This is why working on only ONE of the TWO issues that caught my eye could prove frustrating at first.

If you did everything mentioned well and the lower body is still gliding laterally too much - the ball would fly anywhere and everywhere. The reason being is the bottom of the swing would constantly be slipping way from and toward the target. Some would be fat, some thin, the club would sometime be squared up at impact, and other times not...and the brain has a way of making all sorts of hand-flip motions occur and flinching/tension stuff happen --- all of which are complicated, inconsistent, and frustrating.

From that improved address posture, if getting to the top involves letting the right hip drift back behind the right heel, AND keeping the right knee a fraction flexed but NOT wandering over the right foot... then most assuredly you are swing around that address spine and your swing has more rotation and less sway. THEN from the top down (the transition) you can much more smoothly and gently separate the knees by ever so gently moving the LEFT knee first then sort of swing the belly and that improved arm/hand/club "unit" can move down in front of you - and that little bend in the right wrist will transport down to the ball lead by the right elbow - and your swing will be on-plane and the whoosh of the clubhead will release not at but well beyond the ball (meaning you are accelerating to the finish of the swing versus casting from the top and "at" the ball.

Again working with a mirror is really helpful here as you can see right then and there during each swing what is happening versus swing some and studying video some -- back and forth. The mirror provides immediate feedback. A cheap little closet mirror from WalMart will do the trick.

So there is what I have for you. This is one golfer welcoming another. Hope this is taken in the spirit its given. I see two moments in your swing that indicate a level shoulder turn and excess lateral hip slide. I would go at both and use the mirror to work on the address, get to the top as described swinging around that address posture. I would keep an eye on the right elbow, coming down from the top and the right knee as an indicator of how the hip slide thing is improving.

If there comes a day when yourself and teaching pro could go over these things -- that would be ideal. He/she would no doubt spot other things and find easier/simpler ways of helping you out.

Good luck out there and again, WELCOME to wrx.