Need advice on what to work on with my swing

Stuwart · August 13, 2023

Hi, I'd like to know what is best to work on that would improve my consistency the most, what do I do well and what do I do horribly. All the videos were taken on the same day. My swing thoughts for the session were to over rotate on the back swing and keep my left shoulder forward in the back swing. This did help with consistent contact and extra distance. When I took this to the course it didn't work so well.

Valtiel · August 13, 2023

@Stuwart You're definitely accomplishing the "over rotating" part, which is a problem as i'd rate hip turn, shoulder turn, and arm swing at easily 150% of what they should be, and that combined with your setup all culminates in this image:

To end up finishing like this means you're VERY unbalanced in your setup/swing in ways that will ruin your consistency. Impressive late 80's Michael Jackson lean though. 😆

First, your setup has you leaning out towards the ball too much. Your center of gravity is too far out in front of your toes. Your lower half is arguably misaligned with the rest of your body here (common issue) in that your feet and hips are aiming further right than your shoulders and clubface. This all culminates in an important point; if you are misaligned and not properly balanced in setup, your body will seek to correct this during your swing, inevitably leading to your position in relation to the ball changing. Here is a visual for that:

Now it should be noted that mimicking another player's setup isn't generally recommend, but I just wanted to use this as a reference point. Your lines on the left marking hand/butt/head position moved over to Adam. We can see here how Adam is standing a little taller with his head noticeably further back than yours, and his arms are hanging more straight down whereas yours are more out towards the ball. All minor corrections you can make to better balance yourself at address, because when unbalanced:

I want to note the difference in head and butt position and how the hip actions influences a lot of this. On your side we see you standing up and getting closer to the ball. Looking at your hips we see that your "over rotation" feeling is presenting in the way it normally does; your left side swings out towards the ball. We can see this clearly when we note your pelvis in relation to the line behind you. With Adam (and virtually all pros) we see a version of the opposite; he is sitting down into his right, slightly *increasing* his pelvis' distance from the ball, causing his head to pull slightly down and back instead of up and towards the ball. Within this is the basics of proper pelvic/hip rotation covered here. Adam is in a position where if we stopped him at the top you could walk over and shake him pretty aggressively and he wouldn't wobble, he is balanced and loaded which is crucial for stability when it comes time to change direction and make the downswing. You on the other hand could be knocked over far more easily if we stopped you at the top. Now in transition we see how this all starts to create the real problems:

Since your rotation swung you out towards the ball in the backswing, you now continue with that momentum and start moving towards the ball again. Your right hip pushes forward towards the ball and we see your whole body move in that direction, meaning that compared to address you are now much closer to the ball than when you started. Adam meanwhile continue these incremental moves *away* from the ball. Per the AMG video linked above, his rotation is being created by pushing his hips backwards, away from the ball. Right hip back in the backswing, left hip back in the downswing. And to be clear this set of moves feels *weird*. It is not at all how our brain intuitively approachs creating rotation, it is a learned set of moves like doing a cartwheel. I made a post here illustrating this.

This all concludes in two very different impact positions. Everything I described above brings you to a position where you're WAY up on your toes miles closer to the ball, whereas Adam's position has basically stayed exactly the same. Because swinging a heavy stick out towards something in front of you creates centrifugal force pulling you in that direction, your lower body forces need to *oppose* this, not go with it as you're doing above. This is easily the most common swing fault you'll see in the average player, and why the AMG video I linked has over a million views now because it explains it in one of the better ways i've seen.

In summary then, the best things you can work on would be shorter/smaller swings combined with the setup adjustments I started with to best position you to work on the lower body fundamentals in the AMG video. Be prepared for it to be comfortable, feel wrong, and causes you to suck for awhile because it's a big change. As a final visual aid we'll use DJ's lower body as he creates a useful exaggeration of what you'll want to be feeling in per the AMG lesson and the overall concept of "pushing your hips back" to create rotation.

Stuwart · August 15, 2023

Thank you for the detailed response. So much good info here. 🙂

Stuwart · August 16, 2023

Been working on the setup and hip rotation as seen in the amg video. Couple of swings in the nets before a rounbd and a couple on the 15th tee.

I know I'm lifting up steep on the back swing still but sure didn't feel like that.

slytown · August 16, 2023

@Valtiel is right. Its mostly about your weight being so forward. It's only slightly better in the most recent video with the net.

It would help if you set up in your heels a little more, but the main problem is how you start the backswing. It's very vertical, which causes two things to happen the rest of the backswing. One, it keeps your weight on your toes, which we don't want. Two, it forces a flying elbow and very long swing across the line.

My advice is to work on a flatter and shorter backswing. If you look at this video it will give you the feeling of swinging more around your body. By doing so, you get the club more behind you and in a spot where your weight isn't so far forward. The arms weigh quite a bit. If the arms are over your head, weight will be on your toes. If your arms are behind you, weight will be more towards your heel and you will be more in balance.

You seem pretty athletic, so I would just work on backswing stuff before downswing stuff.

Stuwart · August 19, 2023

Thank you all for taking the time to comment on my swing videos. I have been working on making the backswing less steep (and not so far back). Today, I thought my backswing was too short, but upon reviewing the video, I realize that I still need to make it shorter. Additionally, getting the correct swing circle is proving to be quite challenging; what I'm feeling during the swing is not matching what I see in the videos, haha.