Swing Tips?

[hughwags]

I recently built a net in the back yard to practice. I set a camera to film the swing from the front and side. Please give me your comments. Several of these shots hit the heel of the club. On the course I've been hitting a fade lately and have lost 30-40 yards on my drives. Thanks!

 

[Reasonability]

Hugh

Welcome.

There are things I will share from one golfer to another. If the opportunity presents itself soon to review what I have to share with a qualified teaching professional that would be great. What I see and what I would do is perhaps exactly correct - but since what I have to offer is based on my own experiences over the years - well a good pro might well chose to focus on other/better ideas.

There are lots of ways to move the golf club. What I have found is that some things are just found over and over again inside the swings of better players. Two of them actually starts something seen in your face on swings.

Especially with longer clubs like the driver - better swings are almost always marked with a little secondary spine tilt. Its called secondary because we all naturally bend/bow forward from the waist, But really good swings also exhibit a slight upper body bend (from the hips up) of tilt very slight away from the target. So from face on what we see is the knees are inside the insteps, the elbows are inside the knees and the hands are inside of the elbows.... BUT the lead target side of the golfer is marked with a little more vertical alignment of the lead (left) shoulder, hip, and instep will the trail (right) knee is a little bit more noticeably inside the instep and the right shoulder is a little lower than the right shoulder. The right hand is lower on the handle - so the way the body parts line up would mean the right shoulder is setup a bit lower. Basically the way to get there is do what you do but leave your head right about where it is and bump your right hip and knee a little more toward the target.

Now when we turn you to the down-the-line (DTL) view - its also important to get the right elbow a tiny fraction closer to the body by allowing it to have the tiniest bit of bend in that elbow at address. If you notice - once your club goes into motion - the clubhead has already moved well past your back foot before your shoulders square up to your hips and knees and feet. So the goal with this very slight right elbow bend at address would be to let your new secondary spine tilt as seen face on ALSO set you up with square shoulders - to which that right elbow will prove beneficial.

The next five things I would ask you to observe are all interrelated and flow from one right into the other.

First notice in the face-on swings (FO) very closely is how your clubhead makes it well past (by a couple of feet) your back foot hey your hands have hardly move at all. This is a very early setting of the wrists --- something that is usually blended into the entire backswing rather than being basically complete in the initial takeaway.

Next as that club goes into motion notice how your right elbow during the backswing wants to stay basically pinned to your right rib cage for almost all of the backswing motion.

Thirdly - as all of this continues to flow - back up to your address (and watch from both DTL and FO... and notice how the turning of your shoulders rotates VERY level. If a long broom handle were held across the chest and shoulder sockets - that stick would turn ALMOST level with the horizon as you will see.

Four - take a look at your spine at address from DTL - and stop video at the spine at impact. Notice you are tending to sort of standup a bit?

Then last watch the flow of the your arms through impact from the FO view - see how the right elbow is really slow to get in front of the right hip and the LEFT elbow is pinned to your side and bent even after impact? See you your left knee is really stiff at or near impact?

So here is what I would do if it were me personally. Once that new setup is in place I would envision a swing where the elbows, hands, handle, shaft and clubhead travel together in the takeaway. The line from behind and through the ball to the target (the target line) is something I would start being aware of AND in doing so I would keep the club and hands stable and moving as a unit right in front of and with the sternum. If there were a laser pointing out of the chest at the tip of the clubhead at address - then that light beam would travel WITH the clubhead well into the backswing. With that I would let the right elbow live up to about four to seven inches away from the body going back. THAT ELBOW CAN STILL REMAIN LOCATED NEAR THE RIGHT SHIRT SEAM - but you can use that right hand and elbow to add a little width of backswing arc - allowing that club to move along the targetline longer going back and closer to the ground before the clubhead starts to rise. This is will give you the needed width of backswing and the right elbow making it gradually out and from the right shirt seam will give you that width.

Then you can stop work on the takeaway now and then and start thinking about holding a club across the chest like that broom handle mentioned before.... and from DTL in a mirror you can practice turning the shoulders at 90 degrees to your address spine. In essence the left shoulder will start to work a little more under the chin and the right shoulder will work a little more behind your head getting to the top. This and the wider backswing will feel like crap for a while and the ball will probably fly all over the yard. BUT the goal is to get your arm flow to work WITH your address and spine tilts.

You will know its all starting to pay off when you can look FO and the clubhead isn't outracing the hands during the takeaway - the right elbow is not pinned to your rib cage getting to the top - and the shoulders are tuning less level to the horizon.

NOW - remember that secondary spine tilt you added at address - here is where that pays off. At the top as seen FO - what you will notice is your upper back and shoulders will be just a little farther from the target than you lower back and hips. WHY? because you setup that way at address and just turned around your address spine.

When you look at this same effect from DTL you will notice you are more easily staying in your address spine angle. NOW things are starting to stabilize. If you pause at the top you should notice how there is room in front of your right hip and belly for the right elbow to pass in front of your right hip and sort of lead the hands and handle into the strike. That's the sense of room down there and still being in your address spine angle - with that secondary tilt paying off you really want and need. Your chest will feel like its not pointing above the horizon at the top and the arm flow will feel wider and a touch more on a vertical plane.

Rather than transition with a movement of the arms and hands... let them more or less be reactive at first.... just think of slightly sending the left knee in a slight motion toward the target as the belly starts to gently turn through the shot. If it helps imagine sending your left hip pocket back behind the left heel -- there are any number of feels but the idea is to get the lower body to just quietly and initially start the downswing a let the arms initially just react and move as a units and THEN get that right elbow to pass in front of the right hip and let the wrists unhinge as you stay in posture longer. Those wrists should unhinge as the handle moves closer to the left thigh. The swing of the club itself will LET the wrists unhinge this way and there will be plenty of clubhead speed.

The best part is that all of these parts flow into each other. Your new address and secondary tilt feeds a better position at the top to transition from. By getting the takeaway working with the handle and hands and chest moving together - you will move the swing back a little wider and start things more on plane. And that motion will flow and continue once the right elbow is less pinned to your rib cage going all the way to the top. Your setup will have pre-built the position at the top needed to work your right elbow down in front of you for a better release and your lower body will touch off a nice flowing but powerful release through the shot. You will stay in your address posture so well that the bottom of the swing arc will be consistent - meaning the variability of the ball flight will settle down.

If you care to read all of this and more from the guy I would trust to explain it better - you might want to read Hogan's book - The Modern Fundamentals of Golf - Five Lessons. Written a good long time ago and is arguably the gold standard for amateurs willing to put in the reps on the road to consistently breaking 80.

There you go. Hope this helps. Again welcome and I hope yourself a great teaching pro get the chance one day to compare notes on all this.

Best to you.

[hughwags]

Reasonability,

Thank you for your response. There is a lot in there for me to digest. I have read Hogan's book, but it has been a couple of years. I will pick it up and go back to work. Thanks again for the tips!

Cheers-