Your Golf Swings

[NeilPlimmer25]

All

I do hope that my advice will help you all improve and enjoy your game more.

In my coaching I try to improve the all round performance of my pupils game which means understanding not only how the player swings the club. The technical side of the game has to be blended with a good short game, solid mental game, understanding of the facts/stats of your game, effective practice regimes and a lot more.
80% of the coaching that I do takes place on the golf course which means I get a good overview of my pupils whole game.

To help me understand your game a little more it would be useful if you could provide me with some extra info when you post your swings. Please take a look at the following questions and try and answer them as honestly as you can.

Do you have regular coaching at the moment? If yes, what have you specifically been working on?
What do you consider to be the strengths of your game?
Weaknesses?
How often do you play/practise?
What is your scoring average/handicap?
Do you keep stats?
What is your strike/shot/shape pattern for the following clubs
Driver/Tee shots
Fariway woods
Rescue Clubs
Long/medium irons
Short irons

I will try and keep my thoughts short and to the point. It could be very easy to confuse and this is the last thing I would want to happen.

If you are still struggling then I would certainly recommend seeing a PGA professional, but booking a on course session so that they can view your whole game in the environment in which you play

Things are particulary busy for me at the moment but I will endeavour to be on the forum as much as I can. Rest assured I will reply.

Good golfing

Neil Plimmer

 

[vig]

Where are you based Neil?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Neil this was my original swing and your comments

http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk140/mbedboro/?action=view&current=2009_0214Golf0010.flv

Thaks very much for posting all your info, it really helped me understand your game.

The one thing that I see staight away in your swing is the first part of the backswing.
The club moves away very much on an inside line.
This will certainly go along way to explaining the weaknesses you have in your game.

Try this
When practising place a club away from the middle of your right foot parallel to the ball to target line.
As you move the club away in the backswing make sure that your club does not cross this line. It should move over the top of and at halfway the club will start to move up over your right shoulder.

Ideally the club should be parallel to the ground and the ball to target line 4 times during the golf swing
Halfway in the backswing - Hip height
At the top of the swing
Halfway into the downswing - Hip heigh
Just past the ball the ball - hip height
Be aware of this and you will find you ball striking and direction will improve with all clubs and also should improve your pitching

Look forward to hearing how you get on

This is my latest offering after trying to implement the changes



Your comments please

 

[NeilPlimmer25]

Mid Sussex Golf Club, Ditchling, East Sussex
We are about 10 miles north of Brighton. Not far from Haywards Heath.

 

[vig]

A little far for a Yorkshireman to travel for lessons

 

[NeilPlimmer25]

Homer

Looks good.
What I said can be a great way to keep a check/control of your golf swing. If you keep the club swinging on plane around your body with the clubface square to the target at impact you have a great chance of the ball going quite close to your intended target!!

One thing I did notice when watching it again was when you swing the club through impacthow straight your spine angle is. This will hamper you ability to keep the club on plane around your body.

Try and maintain the posture that you set at address throughout the whole swing
Tip - hit balls from a ball below your feet lie. You then have to maintain your spine angle that you set at address

Let me know how you get on

Neil

 

[NeilPlimmer25]

Could make a day of it
Happy to put a package together that would then include some follow ups by email
I coach a number of players from distance. A number of the things I ask you to do are not swing related so it works after a day session you would have all the necassay info to develop a better understanding of your game

 

[vig]

i'll be in touch when I can work something out.

 

[CrapHacker]

Mid Sussex Golf Club, Ditchling, East Sussex
We are about 10 miles north of Brighton. Not far from Haywards Heath.

At the risk of being indelicate....

How much do you charge, and how far in advance does one have to book ?

 

[NeilPlimmer25]

Take a look at
http://www.the-golf-school.com/#/midsussex/4533295231
It has all my charges and packages on there
A one hour session costs £50 and I usually need a couple of weeks notice. Do have a little bit of availablity over the next few weeks

 

[birdieman]

Homer, interested to watch your swing.
The main thing that catches my eye is your head position changing.
When you initiate the swing relative to the trees on the horizon about the top third of your head is above the tree line. By the time you strike the ball three quarters of your head is above the tree line AND you have moved your head horizontally back almost a whole head width?
I am no coach but shouldn't you try to keep the head in roughly the same position through the swing?? Trying to get consistent striking with that much head movement must be hard?

Here is Adam Scott down the line with an iron and his head position at takeaway and then at impact is practically in the same place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&feature=related&v=vEkVbtECtBM

Just a thought!

Neil Plimmer - what do you think about this please?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

birdieman

Thanks for this. It's an old problem that has been with me from my teens. I was taught a very leggy action like Johnny Miller where a certain amount of lateral movement was fine. That in itself was fine and I was a tidy golfer but as time has gone on the lateral movement is still there but their is now this sway away from the ball too on the transition down and into impact so that I almost stand up (straight back) to hit it. Neil has given me an interesting tip about hitting from a downslope that I intend to try.

The silly thing is, I know I overswing a tad and that this already starts to lift the head as I get to the top. If I try and swing what feels like waist high (is actually just past shoulder height in reality) I'm in a pretty darn fine position and I don't move the head as much and the downswing become a more circular motion and the spine angle is much better.

I guess my point is, can I be bothered to work on really working on shortening the swing which has been ingrained for years, and the issues that will bring with timing and striking to ensure a better action. The answer is a definite yes if its the right way to go and if I can get it to stay short even under pressure.

 

[JustOne]

I guess my point is, can I be bothered to work on really working on shortening the swing which has been ingrained for years, and the issues that will bring with timing and striking to ensure a better action. The answer is a definite yes if its the right way to go and if I can get it to stay short even under pressure.

I saw my own video for the first time just a few days ago (and posted it) a couple I have are 'down the line' shots and I can see that I too was getting a bit deep with my hands on the backswing giving the appearance of overswing as the club came up round my neck and pointed to the right of the target line. If you take the club up on plane it's pretty impossible to overswing, in fact you feel like 3/4 is a struggle without your left arm collapsing. I tried it during my round today (my tip about having your child standing by your side) and boy it was SHOCKING! I felt like I was getting right round the back of the ball on the way down and was going to snap hook everything. Swing changes are HARD no matter what level of golf you get to. You really have to decide "Do I WANT to do this" and take it from there. I know for sure that when I stand on the tee I want to
a) look like a golfer
b) look like I can swing the club properly.
I never want to bounce around, sway all over the place, swing my club around my ankles and/or chip-slice my driver 120yards down into the right semi (or worse!)

At the moment for me the scores come second. I KNOW that with a consistant and PROPER swing the scores will come. I don't want a swing that is filled with fixes and compensations just because I'm trying to justify a score.
Double bogies hurt me as much as they hurt any golfer but I'm prepared to suffer them if I am working towards a proper more balanced, constistant and ultimately reliable swing. The key is of course to make sure your swing changes are proper ones.. no point in practicing the wrong thing for the next 6 months!

Homer, I'd love to see you post your BEST SWING that you can possibly make in SLOW MOTION. I'm going to predict that you won't be moving around all over the place thinking "this is about where I need to bob my head up"

I admire you for wanting to make progress, it hurts, it really hurts... I really suffered today, any 28 handicapper would have taken my tenner (and probably hit the ball better!). Am I going to go back to getting in too deep at the 9 o'clock position? NO! Especially now I got my camcorder working! hehe

Best Regards...

 

[bobmac]

Thats the beauty of golf, everyone has their own take on how to play.
Some constantly fiddle in the vain attempt to get a perfect swing This of course will never happen as long as you have one belly button. (apologies to those who have more or less than one)
Some except the swing they have and maybe try a tweak here and there.
Others dont give a dam and just carry on hacking oblivious to the reasons why.
As someone said once (AP) there's more than one way to play this game well. You play it your way, I'll play it mine and we'll both enjoy the journey that never ends

 

[JustOne]

I agree. There's no wrong way to play golf, you can just do it your own way and be happy if you want.

Generally those who post questions about their swing are the ones who WANT to make changes. It'd be silly to post otherwise

I like the guys that constantly fiddle with their swing, especially when they tell me all about the twenty new swing thoughts they are having... whilst still swinging the club round their ankles with their 4 nuckle grip and telling me how far they hit their drive last week

Exciting isn't it!

footnote: Bought some Srixon z*urs balls today... they're peachy!

 

[NeilPlimmer25]

The one thing you should notice on Adam Scott's swing is how he maintains his posture that he sets at address through his swing
His hips turn and the main thing is he retains his spine angle, therefore keeping his head fairly still.

I hear people all the time say about keeping the head level or still which I feel is near on impossible to acheive, but maintaining your soine angle is possible to improve on.

Hope that helps

Neil

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I will never have a textbook swing and I'm not searching for that. What I want is something that is a tad more reliable than what I have with less to go wrong. Don't get me wrong my ball striking is pretty good and its only been my short game thats stopped any real progression. I've been striking my irons well but miss a green or find a bunker and it was three shots everytime to get down. You can't score like that.

The plan is to make small adjustments to my swing but really go to town on the short game (under guidance) and work on the scoring zone. Once winter set in I'll make a decision about breaking my swing into something more compact and with a better tempo

 

[JustOne]

Mid Sussex Golf Club, Ditchling, East Sussex
We are about 10 miles north of Brighton. Not far from Haywards Heath.

Ah, good ol' Mid Sussex... 18 holes squeezed into 6 farmers fields!

I was a member there for a couple of years back in '96 & '97 after it had just opened. Martin Galway, John Newsome & Jamie Brough are a few names that spring to mind. Martin is on the Seniors Tour now (so I believe).

I'm guessing it has matured over the past 10 years, and the greens might have softened a bit? I nearly came down there Friday on a two-4-one offer... went to Gatton Manor instead and had a total nightmare! heh

 

[NeilPlimmer25]

You have got the right place
Looking a bit nicer now. It is now 14 years old and plays quite well
John is still around, doesn't play at all, he is county captain this year, so very busy
Still see a little bit of Martin, played last year on seniors tour but I don't think he is planning to play much this year, works for cleveland/srixon
Not heard from Jamie for ages, his Dad still plays there though
Give me a shout if you are down near us, you could demonstrate stack and tilt to me!!

 

[JustOne]

Yeh, I'm sure all the sapplings that were originally planted are 40 foot high by now. I'd love to come down and see the place...with a friend... AND have a free round <wink wink>

I actually really liked the course but the greens were like rock when it first opened and you could basically hit the ball in any direction and still get a shot at the flag. They did always have great coverage though and I'd recommend it to anyone visiting down that way