Critique my Swing, first time swing poster...

[Reft]

Hi there,

 

Here's my swing for some critique from a DL viewpoint: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e4BNZOwhL4

 

I have trouble with early extension, I feel like my butt does not say on the "tush line" and comes off it. Also my top position might be a little iffy? This is with an 8 iron.

[tfish]

can we get a face on view? obviously the early extension is the biggest issue....there's a lot of good stuff going on though. i think your position at the top is pretty decent....some would say laid off, but if you rotate hard enough left with arms that are connected it shouldn't be an issue.

i'm assuming that baskets there to force you to swing in-to-out? i'd get rid of that immediately. the club needs to go left after impact, that's what it does on a correct plane. particularly with a short iron when the angle of attack is descending so much. if you put that bucket there for tigers' swing, it'd be 180 yards down the fairway in a million pieces.
examples: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaZwJ4FV6cc"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=EaZwJ4FV6cc[/url]
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WZ4dq_N6d8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WZ4dq_N6d8[/url]
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRqyXLpX2qQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRqyXLpX2qQ[/url]
(just watch how quick the club goes left after impact)

trying hard to swing in to out is probably going a long ways towards causing that early extension. basically you put yourself in a solid position at the top, and your mind knows you gotta miss the basket and swing in to out.....so it's gonna do whatever it takes to accomplish that. in this case what happens is that in order to get the club flatter and start swinging out to right field you drop the right shoulder way behind you. when you drop the right shoulder back and under, the only way to not hit the ball 5" fat is to thrust your hips up and towards the target instead of pivoting deeply, and correctly.

if you're coming over the top and hitting pulls and slices from that top of your backswing position (i assume you have the bucket there and are practicing in-to-out to get rid of a big fade)....it's probably some type of spine tilt or lateral hip/weight transfer issue, which shouldn't be too difficult to correct. so i say don't worry about swinging out, think about getting that left hip deep in the downswing, and then take another video DTL and face on.

[Reft]

tfish,

thanks for the excellent response. I'll get rid of the bucket, it was originally there to get me to swing in to out because I thought as I went through impact, that my hands were too close to my body. It was an optical illusion though, as my "humping the goat" motion of my lower body makes it appear that my hands were closer to the body when it in fact was just, early extension.

I've read a bunch on early extension and I'm not too sure how to fix it. Everytime I swing my lower body just naturally moves forward and my upper body doesn't rotate around my lower body like I think it should. I have a lesson with a guy I go to regularly, so I'll ask him for what he thinks are some good ways to fix it. I realize strength and conditioning of my gluts could be a contributing factor as well.

Thanks for the solid advice, I will post a new video DTL and FO when I get the chance to practice what you have commented on.

[Reft]

Hello, here are some new swing videos;

DTL: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr0gBeYZOuo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr0gBeYZOuo[/url]

FO: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rihCnyWbAB0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rihCnyWbAB0[/url]

These are with a 3 Wood.

This is the first day where I began to work on rotating more around my body, and have the club go immediately left after impact - much like Hunter Mahans swing. These videos are taken with only about 15 minutes of practicing it. I believe if I just work on body rotation and not dropping my shoulder down way behind me, my early extension may just go away on its own. Got rid of the buckets too tfish.

[ronstars]

In your FO vid, put your mouse cursor on your left hip (real left not left side in video) and look at how much it moves during your swing... Now put your cursor on your head.



Your left hip is caving in and dropping your left shoulder soo much that it is causing your head to go with it. Lose the shoulder drop and the hip sway and it's a good looking swing.

[tfish]

agreed with the above about your left hip and head sliding to your right in the backswing.

and you still have a pretty substantial early extension problem which is why you still look all squashed up at impact and your hands are right next to your body as opposed to way off it. not trying to drop the club inside and swing in-to-out will help some....but there's probably gonna need to be a lot of dedication to getting that left hip/butt to go deep behind you before it comes naturally.

attached two pictures to exhibit the point...
green lines represent butt line and approximate spine angle at address. notice mahan's broken 1-2 inches through the line. and you're 3-4 inches off it in the other direction.

that's 4-6 inches difference....which is a lot, changes the spine angle a lot, and means your arms lack a lot of room to come through. and fwiw, trying to change a movement in an established swing by 4+ inches is going to feel completely alien. you're gonna have to exaggerate the hell out of it, which will likely mean some really crappy shots to start, to get near the position you need to be. and then if you look at the video, you still probably won't be there.

two good videos to watch on early extension...
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUQmjdywsio%3Cbr%20/%3E"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUQmjdywsio[/url]
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K6c7LCh0Uo"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=1K6c7LCh0Uo[/url]

don't be afraid to stand in your living room and practice the positions a lot, and then on the range try to replicate the feelings and exaggerate that left hip going deep behind you, right shoulder coming over more, with weight hard on the left heel.

[Reft]

holy s*** great responses. I will practice these moves in my living room and on the range. I'll work hard to make sure my butt sticks to the line or even goes through it like Mahan. I really admire his swing.

Thanks for the videos and the youtube links.


Tfish, are you an instructor somewhere or do you just have a superb understanding of the golf swing?

[tfish]

just a golf addict, that's gone through most trials & errors and swing thoughts etc myself.