swing help/advice wanted

[jdchelsea]

Hello all first post here. I'm just looking for any tips/thoughts on my swing. you can see it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeCjfg90vqI

My irons go straight or slight fade. occasional hook (1 in 20). the majority of my shots with woods/drivers will fade or slice. my wedges will draw bordering on a hook at times. . I know its not great quality (especially at impact) but i've done my best to slow it down and you can see both down the line and front on views in this clip.

I dont mind hitting slight fades )obviously not so keen on the slices) but just would like to see the occasional shot turn over as a draw. My driver/woods are my biggest problem with getting a decent position on the fairway a real struggle. As I said thoughts or comments welcome.

Thanks

JD

 

[bobmac]

Welcome to the forum JD.

Let me start by saying you have a very nice swing.
The only question is, is your on-course swing the same?
It's very easy to pose for the camera without hitting any balls and look good.
It would be a big help if we could see you actually hitting balls with your driver, then we could see if the swing changes at all.

One thing I did spot that would help you fade/slice the ball is your grip. It's a little weak.
By that I mean try and turn both hands a little to the right. That will help you square up the face at impact.

If you can get a chance, film your swing hitting balls on the course/range and post again but in the meantime, try that new grip

Hope this helps

 

[jdchelsea]

bobmac thanks for the reply. I'll try and see if i can get a few videos uploaded like you say and i'll try out the grip changes you suggest.

I've got a feeling that when I am actually hitting balls, especially with my driver/woods, that I get too fast in the downswing which throws me into more of an out to in swing creating my slice/fade. So i'm currently trying to concentrate on speed and tempo throughout the swing.

I had a couple of lessons recently and basically overhauled my swing so I thought I'd post what it currently looks like to get some feedback to see if I'm on the right track or progressing before I went back for more (expensive) lessons. so all feedback is appreciated.

The positions in my swing I worry about most or that I think could be better are:

1)the top of my backswing (club appears to low behind my head)
2)the top of my backswing (overswinging and losing connection as you said)
3)impact where my upper body appears to lean back away from my target.

thanks
JD

 

[Bazzab18]

Looks a good swing to me, what is your handicap?

 

[Piece]

Hello all first post here. I'm just looking for any tips/thoughts on my swing. you can see it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeCjfg90vqI

My irons go straight or slight fade. occasional hook (1 in 20). the majority of my shots with woods/drivers will fade or slice. my wedges will draw bordering on a hook at times. . I know its not great quality (especially at impact) but i've done my best to slow it down and you can see both down the line and front on views in this clip.

I dont mind hitting slight fades )obviously not so keen on the slices) but just would like to see the occasional shot turn over as a draw. My driver/woods are my biggest problem with getting a decent position on the fairway a real struggle. As I said thoughts or comments welcome.

Thanks

JD

Welcome & nice swing. I was thrown at first (didn't fully read your post!) as I thought that's a tough opening hole

Agree with Bob in that its difficult to suggest anything until you video hitting some balls. Could be beneficial to post a typical bad wood swing, rather than upload a good swing, if you know what I mean!

I think your swing is fairly solid though. It will need trained eyes though to correct such things as weight & grips issues and give you the right drills to sort.

Drawing a wedge?!?! Do you mean a pull?

 

[jdchelsea]

Bazzab18 unfortunately its 23 at the moment. As i said though I've recently overhauled my swing and would hope to see that drop to mid teens this year. As well as working on my full swing my short game also needs a lot of work. I've trying to split any practice time i can get evenly between the two at the moment. Once I figure out how I want my full swing to look and feel etc then i can put more emphasis on the short game.

 

[Bazzab18]

I would say the swing looks solid (but I am not a PGA qualified golf coach) but like the others have said it would be useful to see it with a ball in the way.

I would defo recommend short game practice, but also, tracking your scores each round. This way you can see how many shots you are taking and where you would like focus attention (ie if you are having 40 putts a round then obvious where work is needed).

I also would say practice from 120 and in, this where you can really drop that handicap.

Going back to swing, one point I noticed that I am throwing out there as a point of discussion rather than advice is the position of your left elbow at top of back swing. It seems quite far from body to me (chicken wing). I understand this can be a factor that influences swing plane etc.

I would be interested to see what others make of it.

Good luck

 

[Bazzab18]

Sorry I meant right elbow ( I am a lefty )

 

[Piece]

Bazzab18 unfortunately its 23 at the moment. As i said though I've recently overhauled my swing and would hope to see that drop to mid teens this year. As well as working on my full swing my short game also needs a lot of work. I've trying to split any practice time i can get evenly between the two at the moment. Once I figure out how I want my full swing to look and feel etc then i can put more emphasis on the short game.

Jeez, 23?! Good swing for that h/c, unless you're a member at Augusta!

 

[19thagain]

I would agree that a practise swing and hitting the ball can be sooooo different!

A player at our club has three practise swings every shot, nice controlled acceleration BUT his ball hitting has him take the club back waist high and back, all done in a blur and a large body movement as if he were throwing the hammer at a Highland Games!

I would love to see Bob's analysis of that swing or should I say swings.

JD, has to be ball hitting I'm afraid.

 

[Losttheplot]

Welcome to the forum, I thought your swing was quite tidy to be honest.

I did spot something though which runs alongside what bob has said.

Here at address your grip looked ok, good positions generally.
But at the next picture is your impact position....

You haven't released your hands through the ball enough. Your grip is now weak at this point of impact. Which makes you lead with your hands and creates a cut across the ball.

I had the same problem actually. The cure for me was to not transfer so much weight across to the right hand side. Start 60-40 on left foot. On take away the club's weight and your body turn will move the weight across to the right without you having to move it yourself. It will feel like your still on your left side at top of backswing but you won't be. This will create the body to stay more stable and allow the hands to come down and turn more into the ball straightening out the ball flight.

(this was the cure for me and might not necessarily be a cure for you. Try it as it was a huge problem for me which I've cured through this method.)

Hope this helps and makes sense.

( oh and your right! The picture quality wasn't great )

 

[jdchelsea]

thanks for all the replies. next time im at the range or whatever i'll try to record some swings with me hitting balls.

losttheplot thats actually something i noticed myself and it looks like when i make contact with the ball my clubface would be open. im experimenting with a stronger grip and keeping my right hand in particular more secure on the club during the swing. At the moment it feels as if it turns on the club from back swing to downswing. my impact position has actually improved considerably. previously my right elbow stayed behind my body in a stuck position forcing me to push every shot to the right. Im now concentrating getting into the "slot" with my right elbow/arm in front of my hip. the problem i find now is that my backswing is becoming less upright and more behind my shoulders than i'd like.

The 3 things im concentrating on now our:
1. stronger grip to square club face at impact.
2. getting in the slot
3. complete my backswing fully

I think my main problem at the moment is that because i've changed my swing so much it's not grooved yet. Therefore i could make 20 swings and they'll all be different.

 

[Losttheplot]

If you look at your impact position again your head and hips tell a story.
Now look at your address position. They should be in back on the same line.

They start in the right place and at the top of the backswing you have 'turned the hips' correctly. But on the downswing you 'slide the hips' to the right creating a situation where you have got ahead of the ball and it's hard for you to catch up.
Imagine there is a pivot point in the base of your back and you turn on that pivot point. Don't slide. Turn.

The 60-40 weight on the left side will help as it takes the feeling off the hips and concentrates them more on the arms and shoulders.


I don't really want to advise much more as it's the sort of thing a pro should be seeing in person and changing.

If it makes you feel better, your swing has the exact faults mine did so the info I've passed on is from personal experience in curing them faults and they worked for me.

Good luck mate.

 

[jdchelsea]

Lost the plot I wondered about that myself as well because I thought my upper body looked tilted behind the ball but then I seen this article and I'm not so sure

www.thesandtrap.com/forum/thread/29616/the-biggest-secret-slide-your-hips

Let me know what you think.

I think my shoulder turn is a problem and I'm working on getting my right side through the shot more

 

[Losttheplot]

It's an interesting article yes

When you are a big slider of the hips you have to really work hard at squaring the club face at impact and getting the release of the hands through very quickly as your hands and club have to catch up with the body sliding towards the target.

I have tried it and could just about do it but normally my normal shot was a slight fade and a bad one was a big slice.
It's tougher than it sounds if you slide your hips through but it is possible to be excellent with that technique.

Personally I don't like that technique, only because I can't do it.
If you can have less moving parts then there's less chance of error so with a hip slide you have to increase the release speed of your hands and keep the timing the same, which for me is why you see sliders pull and push the ball more than pro's who don't slide. (my opinion, no stats to prove it)
Tiger is a good example. When he's on form he's the best ever as we all know, but when he's off he pushes and pulls everything because (I think) his timing is out.

Golf is such a unique sport. It doesn't matter how you manage to get the ball in the hole, it only matters if you can do it in less goes than your opponent.