Swing Change

[road2ruin]

Having taken up Golf around 18 months ago and joined my first club at the beginning of the year I have been trying to improve my swing.

When I first started I was very much a cricketer playing golf so I had a hugely strong grip and 'drove' the ball which resulted in a lot of hooking etc. I had a few lessons right at the beginning and my grip is much better now (although still room for improvement).

My swing has always been quite flat and I have got away with it during good weather (and in the range) however in the wet I do catch a lot of shots heavy which results in a lot of mud movement but not a lot of ball. I am finding it quite hard to get my swing on plane as my muscle memory seems stronger than my efforts to ingrain the new swing in the range. Are they are tips to try and over come this?

I have posted below a couple of videos, the first swinging my 8 iron and the second is my driver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEiA4O4_pvY&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBjCsLl8fEM&feature=plcp

 

[JustOne]

In my opinon being a cricketter and having a cricket style swing is an advantage... apart from the rolling over of the bat.... or the laying back of the blade to get the cricket ball up in the air. The golf swing itself IS almost a step onto the front leg with the 'bat' leaning forwards... the only difference being that the golf club has LOFT and will get the ball airborne without having to assist it in any way.

Pretty good swing you have there.

 

[fundy]

Different interpretation to most I know who played cricket at a decent level then moved across to golf. Most cricketers have very stiff wrists, take the club outside the line, cast at the top then fight a slice (simplistic version i know). From your description Im guessing you were a "bottom hand" batter at cricket. The real conflict for me comes with how the wrists/arms react through impact, the 2 sports really contradict each other in this area (albeit cricketers are learning more of a golfers impact with the introduction and proliferation of T20)

Big hurt to my golf cricket caused is that I used to hit thousands of balls into a net or wall and this leads to my arms coming up after impact. Ok on full swings but the shorter the swing the more my arms want to lift after impact, I guess from the hours and hours of hitting balls and relevant muscle memory (almost a chicken wing position close after impact)

Wont comment on the actual swings, will leave that to the experts

 

[JustOne]

I am finding it quite hard to get my swing on plane as my muscle memory seems stronger than my efforts to ingrain the new swing in the range. Are they are tips to try and over come this?

Your swing is on a good plane.... that plane however is just slightly angled to the left of target (a faders plane).

 

[Jensen]

From what I can see the swing looks ok. I was expecting a real flat baseball swing, but its not that flat and not far off plane. Looks good to me as we'll.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Where do you practice. Looks a decent range

 

[SocketRocket]

Your driver plane is better than the iron. You came down steep with the iron and were forced to cut across the ball, the driver is more from the inside path. Just look at your arms at the top of the backswing against the top of the through swing, the plane has become much steeper, try to finish with more rotation and your arms at shoulder height.

 

[road2ruin]

Thank you for all the comments.

In terms of the cricket my biggest issue has been learning how to turn the club over as I had a tendency to block everything out to the right, I guess driving it over mid off!!

Homer - it's just at the range at my club which is Hersham Village GC.

SocketRocket - I think I have gone too far the other way to be honest. My swing was so flat that I have gone too steep and whilst my take away is just about OK I seem to come over the top and so am coming at the ball from the outside. I think that's what I have to eliminate and attack from the inside as you have suggested.

 

[Mattyboy]

Interesting as in the 8 iron vid your first move is to move the club head and your hands outside the line (put your computors curser against the outside of your hands on the vid). The clubhead is then inside (an attmpted correction I think) on the way back which results in the shaft pointing outside of the ball on the backswing. Try to get hands in and club head outside initially (though not outside the line of the shot). Perhaps feeling a connection between your right elbow and side might help.

Oddly, in the driver swing it dosnt appear.

 

[JustOne]

In terms of the cricket my biggest issue has been learning how to turn the club over as I had a tendency to block everything out to the right, I guess driving it over mid off!!

It's not so much the clubface as it is the path.... a little bit of both per se but turning the club over will just point the face more left and knock off all the loft that was on it.

 

[Mattyboy]

Look at your finish and see how high your a hands are and how verticle the club is. Compare it to this chap below.

 

[Foxholer]

In terms of the cricket my biggest issue has been learning how to turn the club over as I had a tendency to block everything out to the right, I guess driving it over mid off!!
.

Perhaps thinking of smacking it back over the (RH,OTW) bowler's head could help. Certainly has a couple of cricket swingers I know.

On the 8i, your head (well upper boy, therefore your head) moves up quite a bit - which can contribute to poor connections. Seems fine on the Driver though.

On both vids, you do start the takeaway slightly outside the line, then over-correct (with the wrists?) a bit. If you can find BobMac's favourite pic - Luke Donald halfway back - you will see that when club is parallel to the ground it is also parallel-left of the target line (butt is pointing just left of target). That's good checkpoint - but don't let that interfere with the nice (if pretty quick) flow of the pretty good swing.

I wouldn't worry too much about the finish. Cricket has probably ingrained the 'high and straight' and you will probably revert over time. Something you might like to consider though, is using the hips to start the back-swing, and to rotate them rather more than currently.. Again, not something 'natural' for a cricketer, but could help both the takeaway and the slight over-the-top action. I believe the pull back and around with the right hip (pocket) is the 'modern' way. They rotate well on the down-swing though.

Remember, that most of the scoring improvement opportunities are from 100yds in an on the putting green, so much better and time-efficient (imo) to acquire a good short game!