Setup and Address

[jtafuri]

Any comments on my setup and address? This shot was a solid hit, had a little right to left spin on it.

For some reason my setup looks "goofy" and my finish was off balance.

 

Do you guys think I'm standing too far away from the ball?

 

Thanks.

 

[Reasonability]

JT

Hope all things are well and welcome to wrx. I used to travel to upstate NY but its been a long time ago now. Looks like (from the video) the weather is hitting prime golf season up there.

For what its worth - I believe asking about the setup is a smart approach. Getting on the launch pad correctly is about the only way I know of to send things into motion well.

To my eye - I would look into the alignment of the feet, knees, hips, and shoulders. Ben Hogan wrote about having the right foot pulled back a bit from that brand of alignment for the driver and having that same foot a little forward for short irons. To each his own but I personally try getting all things squared up and practice with alignment sticks on the ground to get a sense of being squared up on all fronts. Your back foot, hips, and shoulders appear to be pointing to slightly varying targets.

There are a couple of things that catch my eye once you go into motion.

Your shoulder turn is very flat. Ideally they would turn perpendicular to your spine tilt(s). From down the line the shoulders would turn like a tilted letter "T" around the spine. As is, your spine is tilted forward well enough but the shoulders are turning level to the horizon.

I also notice by stopping video at just about the point where your hands are right above your right hip pocket....that your right palm is almost facing the sky and the shaft is laying down pretty flat. If it were me personally, I believe I would go after that issue in a couple of ways. I'd make sure my grip is strong enough - especially making sure that right hand is setup more clockwise on the handle so that the life line gets a little closer to being up atop the left thumb. (Lots is out there on the web about establishing a great grip). Then I would swing the elbows, forearms, hands, and handle like a "rolling triangle" - like they were all a one-piece unit, traveling right in front of the chest really deep into the backswing and even get them all moving back down and through as a single unit. The natural unhinging of the wrists through the shot will give you plenty of power that way without feeling like you have to knock the snot out of it by tensing up every muscle in your body. I would also stick a golf tee in the butt end of the handle and watch videos or work in front of a closet mirror.... and from down the line views I would be seeing if I could keep that tee point up and down the target line in the last half of the backswing.

As you do those kinds of things you might find that "cupping" in the back of the left wrist flattens out and your right elbow is a little less pinned to your rib cage going through the backswing. If so - that would (in my opinion) be a good thing to notice and feel.

What all of this would do for you is get you lined up well at address, get your grip a little tuned up, and get you swinging on plane. It would allow you to have more of that mythical "effortless power" for more swings, too.

This is all form one golfer reaching out to another. These are the things I would do personally if it were me. Golf swing talk is a strange language since we all think and feel things a little differently. Hopefully a good teaching professional is or soon will be able to look at things for you in a way that truly helps you out in faster/better fashion than I can.

Again, welcome - and enjoy the upstate NY weather now that mother nature has things all set for the golf season. Have fun out there!

[jtafuri]

[quote name='Reasonability' timestamp='1434298130' post='11749042']
JT

Hope all things are well and welcome to wrx. I used to travel to upstate NY but its been a long time ago now. Looks like (from the video) the weather is hitting prime golf season up there.

For what its worth - I believe asking about the setup is a smart approach. Getting on the launch pad correctly is about the only way I know of to send things into motion well.

To my eye - I would look into the alignment of the feet, knees, hips, and shoulders. Ben Hogan wrote about having the right foot pulled back a bit from that brand of alignment for the driver and having that same foot a little forward for short irons. To each his own but I personally try getting all things squared up and practice with alignment sticks on the ground to get a sense of being squared up on all fronts. Your back foot, hips, and shoulders appear to be pointing to slightly varying targets.

There are a couple of things that catch my eye once you go into motion.

Your shoulder turn is very flat. Ideally they would turn perpendicular to your spine tilt(s). From down the line the shoulders would turn like a tilted letter "T" around the spine. As is, your spine is tilted forward well enough but the shoulders are turning level to the horizon.

I also notice by stopping video at just about the point where your hands are right above your right hip pocket....that your right palm is almost facing the sky and the shaft is laying down pretty flat. If it were me personally, I believe I would go after that issue in a couple of ways. I'd make sure my grip is strong enough - especially making sure that right hand is setup more clockwise on the handle so that the life line gets a little closer to being up atop the left thumb. (Lots is out there on the web about establishing a great grip). Then I would swing the elbows, forearms, hands, and handle like a "rolling triangle" - like they were all a one-piece unit, traveling right in front of the chest really deep into the backswing and even get them all moving back down and through as a single unit. The natural unhinging of the wrists through the shot will give you plenty of power that way without feeling like you have to knock the snot out of it by tensing up every muscle in your body. I would also stick a golf tee in the butt end of the handle and watch videos or work in front of a closet mirror.... and from down the line views I would be seeing if I could keep that tee point up and down the target line in the last half of the backswing.

As you do those kinds of things you might find that "cupping" in the back of the left wrist flattens out and your right elbow is a little less pinned to your rib cage going through the backswing. If so - that would (in my opinion) be a good thing to notice and feel.

What all of this would do for you is get you lined up well at address, get your grip a little tuned up, and get you swinging on plane. It would allow you to have more of that mythical "effortless power" for more swings, too.

This is all form one golfer reaching out to another. These are the things I would do personally if it were me. Golf swing talk is a strange language since we all think and feel things a little differently. Hopefully a good teaching professional is or soon will be able to look at things for you in a way that truly helps you out in faster/better fashion than I can.

Again, welcome - and enjoy the upstate NY weather now that mother nature has things all set for the golf season. Have fun out there!
[/quote]

Thank you sir for your feedback. The video was on the driving range before a tournament. 4 man scramble at Wayne Hills Golf Course in Lyons, NY.
That swing in the video looked awful and the cupped wrist is something out of the ordinary. Typically I can get my wrist flat when I am at the top. I'm glad to say I hit the ball very well and our team got 3rd place out of 28 groups, we shot 11 under.

As far as the weather goes, it has been raining almost non stop up here. We got lucky yesterday but all the courses around here are a sloppy mess right now. Cart path only.