Feedback on driver swing

[Simon Woo]

Hi guys I took another video of my swing, this time with the Ben Hogan driver I was demoing. Got some specific questions :

Screen 2 - I had no idea the head was so low at this point. It should be on the yellow plane line at this point, right? So is it a matter of picking the club higher earlier?

Screen 4 - (I know I need to work on the wrists, please ignore that for now ) Have I over-rotated my hips? I thinking of restricting the hip turn a lot more, would that be a correct thing to do?

Screen 5 - Is my left hand too far away from the body? Should my right forearm already be along the yellow plane line at this point and should the left hand be much lower by now?

Thanks! (In this shot I was only getting about 165yds )

[pnearn]

Re: Feedback on driver swing

I think you suffer from the same problem youve had for a while Simon. Frame 4, you come out of your posture, your right knee straightens and the left arm collapses bringing you across the line. You are almost stood up straight!

http://www.golf-tuition-online.com/v...3&postcount=15

Need to work on keeping that flex in the right knee and shortening the backswing. Also maybe getting a little more flex in the knees at address ans some sharper angles. Once you stop overswinging (and you would be helped in this if you coiled correctly) and had the club parallel or just short of at the top (would feel like a 3/4 swing to you but this is right) then you will really start improving I think. As Ian said back last year, you are not far away from a really good swing. It seems to me like its just the same couple faults that youve had for a wee while now

Screen 2 you are bang on - right on plane with a good wide arc. Screen 5 you have come a little OTT because of that overswing and the wrist breakdown

[Simon Woo]

Re: Feedback on driver swing

Thanks pnearn. I realised one big problem is that I am turning my hip at the same time or even before my shoulders and hands, and I think that is leading to a huge overswinging problem. I'm going to work on restricting my hip turn and I strongly suspect that will solve the posture issue.

How do you tell that I'm coming OTT on screen 5? I agree that screen doesn't look quite right but I'm not quite sure how to fix that.

[pnearn]

Re: Feedback on driver swing

Simon, IMHO the problem isnt your hips, working on forcing them not to move will lead to other problems. In a connected one piece takeway, everything moves together, inititated by the shoulders. The problem is making sure the hips can only turn so far into a properly flexed right knee. At that point they should then stop turning whilst the shoulders keep going, depending on how flexible and strong your core is this probably will only be to about 3/4 and you should feel that tension in the right hip and inside leg

Its also this flex in the knees that keeps you in your posture. Working on feeling a much shorter swing and better coil will help you

[Simon Woo]

Re: Feedback on driver swing

Hmm I'm not sure, I've tried it before where I "think" I'm keeping the hip totally still, but looking at the mirror, it does look like it has turned quite a fair bit nevertheless. I think I add those extra hand movements at the end of my backswing because I'm trying to get more power and because I'm quite flexible, so I can easily push my body to extremes (eg. I think I'm one of those people who can turn the shoulder more than 90*!)

I just read somewhere that I should stop the hands (and practically everything else) once the shoulders have stopped - think I'll need to work on that.

Thanks!

[pnearn]

Re: Feedback on driver swing

Simon

Try this. Stand up with straight legs, hands across your shoulders and turn the shoudlers. If youre like me you'll be able to turn then well through 90, more like 120-130. This is where you are ending up now (and why you think you are so flexible) thus why your swing is so long

Now do the same but bend from the hips, bend the knees and point them inwards a little. Turn the shoulders in that same spine angle keeping that knee bend. I now cant turn the shoulders much past 90 degress and even then I feel a lot of tension. This is where you want to get to. Tiger in this poisiton can still turn 120

I would do this a lot without a club and/or a ball to get the feeling. When you then add the club the swing will feel much more compact but this is a good thing and you always want to feel some of that tension at the top

[shootin4par]

Re: Feedback on driver swing

Thanks pnearn. I realised one big problem is that I am turning my hip at the same time or even before my shoulders and hands, and I think that is leading to a huge overswinging problem. I'm going to work on restricting my hip turn and I strongly suspect that will solve the posture issue.

How do you tell that I'm coming OTT on screen 5? I agree that screen doesn't look quite right but I'm not quite sure how to fix that.

incorrect, because you are standing straight up at the top of your back swing, meaning no spine angle, is why you over swing.

[pnearn]

Re: Feedback on driver swing

BTW Simon there is an excellent article somewhere on the Golf Channel boards called 'Forget the X Factor' which goes into detail about why trying to restrict the hip turn is a very bad thing to do. Even Mclean has come out and said so hence his new X-Factor which is all about the right principle of creating torque on the downswing not on the backswing (the backswing should just get you on plane with a wide arc and in a position to be able to then create torque as the distance between your hips and shoulders increases at transition )

[Simon Woo]

Re: Feedback on driver swing

Thanks Paul I can always rely on you to provide the latest link and updates and resources!

Damn, I am still reading McLean's old old book on the 8 step swing! Do I need to discard some of those info? :P But anyway, restricting the hip turn was kinda my own idea after viewing my own videos, and realising how much they seem to turn, and how restricting them (feeling like I'm not moving them at all) seems to have them turn just the right amount and I get the feeling of coil at the top. For the woods, this feeling definitely allowed me to hit my longest shots so far. So I need to know if I'm feeling the wrong thing but doing it right by "restricting" hip turn. I'm not sure if you can find any answer to that in my swing sequence, but would really appreciate any confirmation on this to ensure I'm making a correct change.

I've been trying to work on my left wrist. Finally developed a new feel which I think might put me on the right path to getting a good position at the top, but I'll need to verify that on the range rather than in my room :P

If I can just fix the spine angle and left wrist, I think I might finally be getting somewhere! :P

[pnearn]

Re: Feedback on driver swing

How you feel things will be purely subjective, but IMHO the keys for you are

- Getting a better posture at setup with more knee flex and sharper angles
- Making sure the right knee stays flexed in your backswing keeping that spine angle
-Shortening the backswing and stopping the collapsing left wrist (which the first 2 should help avoid)

How you feel those is up to you, but those are the things to keep checking on your camera!

[shootin4par]

Re: Feedback on driver swing

agree with pnearm about set up. I dont restrict my hip turn, on the back swing I dont turn them but rather have the shoulders PULL them. this way I always have tension between the two.

[msklar92]

Re: Feedback on driver swing

simon spine tilt should be about 35 degrees with butt out and solid legs about shoulder length apart. your tilt is probably about 10-15 degrees. You will feel like your head is very close to the ball. from their just turn back and through. don't bail out and elevate your spine angle on the downswing.

[LowPost42]

Re: Feedback on driver swing

Hi guys I took another video of my swing, this time with the Ben Hogan driver I was demoing. Got some specific questions :

Screen 2 - I had no idea the head was so low at this point. It should be on the yellow plane line at this point, right? So is it a matter of picking the club higher earlier?

I wouldn't sweat it. It means you set your wrists later in your swing - they're fine by Screen 4.

Screen 4 - (I know I need to work on the wrists, please ignore that for now ) Have I over-rotated my hips? I thinking of restricting the hip turn a lot more, would that be a correct thing to do?

The thing that generates power in the OPS is the differential between your hips and shoulders. But yes, I think you're hips are way, way too open.

Screen 5 - Is my left hand too far away from the body? Should my right forearm already be along the yellow plane line at this point and should the left hand be much lower by now?

Thanks! (In this shot I was only getting about 165yds )

You're swinging one plane, Simon.

Here's a couple of key swing thoughts.

Load your left arm on your chest during the back swing. This is most easily accomplished by imagining you're pulling a lawnmower start cord with your right hand.

Once you're at the top of your swing, relax your arms (dead arms) and turn your shoulders around your spine as fast as you can. I can tell you're hitting with your arms, due to the seperation.

At impact, your hips could be more open.

For a one plane swing, you're very, very upright. Bend more at the waist. Here's the check (compliments of Jim Hardy).

Mark a spot 48" on the other side of your ball. Hold your club across your chest (so that it indicates your shoulder plane). As you turn, your club should point to this zone between your ball and the 48" mark. Outside the zone past the 48" marker, you're too upright. Outside the zone (between you and the ball) and you're too bent over.

[Simon Woo]

Re: Feedback on driver swing

Thanks for all your replies guys! I think I've finally worked out the left wrist problem. Swing feels very very different now. A couple of observations.

1) Basically after takeaway position, I set my wrists and then just rotate my shoulders to get to the top (trying to keep the hands dead from thereon).

2) Now I realise the shoulder rotation I've felt previously was kinda like on a horizontal plane, but now I can definitely feel the rotation more in line with my spine angle.

3) Swing feels much more effortless (both ways) to get the same distances.

4) I'm pretty sure I'm not standing up so much, but I'll only confirm that after taking some videos of this new swing :P

But oh my gosh, am I really a one-plane swinger? I always thought I was a two-plane swinger! But do correct me if I wrong on this, I used to raise my hands high, but somehow I'm now keeping them lower (probably while trying to keep the swing more connected). I notice my hands are only around my ear level at the top (and suspect that encourages the wrists to get active). I would like to change this. I definitely feel more comfortable if I could raise the hands higher to above the head level.

I'll come back with some new video shots in the next few days!