Videos of my swing - please critique

[Wegas]

Hi everyone, Im a longtime lurker, new member making my first post here.

I recorded my swing last summer, and would really appreciate some feedback from you guys and all the golf knowledge that exists here.

Here's my Story.. I live in Sweden and I have played golf for 14 years and Im at handicap 10. During the years I have taken several golf instructions, and studied the swing alot.

My biggest problem with my game is consistency, and I have problems playing on my handicap. I have been on the same handicap for 5 years. Some rounds I hit the ball really good, but I find it hard playing well during multiple rounds of golf. The problems with my game is:

1. Consistency

2. I play with a draw but I tend to hook the ball, sometimes really bad quickhooks

3. Sometimes I shank the ball.

4. I hit the ball high (maybe not a big problem, but i would like to hit it lower).

Things I noticed watching the videos:

I have a very strong left hand grip ?
My posture needs improvement ?
I move my head up and down during the swing ?
---------------------------------------------------------------

STREAM
Front view
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u...rent=Front.flv

Along the line
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ongtheline.flv

Download

Front view
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/25/820725/Front.wmv
(click right mouse button and save link as)

Along the line
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/...the%20line.wmv
(click right mouse button and save link as)

/Erik

[slater170]

Re: Videos of my swing - please critique

Hi everyone, Im a longtime lurker, new member making my first post here.

I recorded my swing last summer, and would really appreciate some feedback from you guys and all the golf knowledge that exists here.

Here's my Story.. I live in Sweden and I have played golf for 14 years and Im at handicap 10. During the years I have taken several golf instructions, and studied the swing alot.

My biggest problem with my game is consistency, and I have problems playing on my handicap. I have been on the same handicap for 5 years. Some rounds I hit the ball really good, but I find it hard playing well during multiple rounds of golf. The problems with my game is:

1. Consistency

2. I play with a draw but I tend to hook the ball, sometimes really bad quickhooks

3. Sometimes I shank the ball.

4. I hit the ball high (maybe not a big problem, but i would like to hit it lower).

Things I noticed watching the videos:

I have a very strong left hand grip ?
My posture needs improvement ?
I move my head up and down during the swing ?
---------------------------------------------------------------

STREAM
Front view
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u...rent=Front.flv

Along the line
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ongtheline.flv

Download

Front view
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/25/820725/Front.wmv
(click right mouse button and save link as)

Along the line
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/...the%20line.wmv
(click right mouse button and save link as)

/Erik

hi erik
let me start by stating im no expert!
you have diagnosed your faults well.
you really need to look at your fundamentals,
the grip is too strong and your posture is not good.
you have very little knee flex and you are not maintaining your spine angle.
check out the lessons section out on this site

[detonum]

Re: Videos of my swing - please critique

Most of your problems are caused by your bad posture. That's good news, because posture is easy to fix, although it might take some time to get used to a new posture.

First of all, your weight is on your heels. Try moving your weight from heels to toes, back and forth, then try to find the perfect balance point. That must be used. Nothing else.

You're slouching. It's very hard to do an athletic movement such as the golf swing from that posture. Think about tennis players in their alert position. They're not slouching, are they? The golf swing posture is quite similar.

Bend from the knees, push your butt out, keep your back straight, and find the perfect balance point. Let your arms hang loose.

I suggest you look for a tour player with a similar build as you and copy his setup.

Good luck!

[Jeff Mann]

Re: Videos of my swing - please critique

Erik - My swing analysis

See - http://jeffmann.net/E.jpg

Address setup (image 1 and 2)

You don't have enough bend in your knees. Your spine is too erect. Your head is bent-over too much which impedes your shoulder turn. You stand too centralised and you don't have a spine that is pre-tilted to the right (reverse K position). Your ball position is too far back. Your left hand grip is too strong and the left palm is facing the ground instead of facing the right palm across the grip.

Backswing (image 3 and 4)

You turn your shoulders too horizontally. Your left shoulder hits your chin (because your head is bent-over) and that knocks your upper body upwards causing your shoulders to become even more horizontal at the top of your swing. You allow your right knee to straighten. You don't have a proper backswing pivot (because you don't have enough angulation of your spine to the right) and you therfore don't get your left shoulder behind the ball enough during your backswing.

Downswing (image 5 and 6)

You start the downswing incorrectly with mainly a shoulder movement. Note that your hips are nearly square in those two images, but note that the shoulders have turned a lot from image 5 to image 6 and that your shoulders are catching up to your hips too soon. That causes you to lose your right wrist lag and cast the club. Note that your right elbow is floating high above your right hip, instead of dropping straight down to the right hip at the start of the downswing.

See - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/Faldo-BackView.jpg

Note that Nick Faldo starts his downswing with a hip squaring shift-rotation movement that drops his right elbow fast down towards the right hip. However, note that he keeps his right shoulder back and retains the right wrist and right elbow angles.

Image 7 - Face-on downswing view showing two faults. You allow your hips to slide too far to the left, so that your left hip is outside your left foot. You have casted your club and lost your right wrist lag because you start the downswing with primarily an upper body move, rather than a hip shift-rotation move.

I think that you need to read all the chapters in my review to improve your grip, address setup, backswing, and downswing.

See - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net

Jeff.

[jambalaya]

Re: Videos of my swing - please critique

You do an amazing job of breaking down a swing Jeff. I like to go back and look at the videos after to see what I missed. Really helpful. I just don't see things unless they are really obvious.

[jambalaya]

Re: Videos of my swing - please critique

By the way Wegas while you have a very strong left hand you seem to have a very weak right hand. Your left arm and shoulder are in complete charge of your swing. You are going to have to change a lot of things about your swing if you change that grip but I think you should. Jeff's suggestions should help a lot.

[jbrunk]

Re: Videos of my swing - please critique

It is nice to meet myself. I had your symptoms for years albeit with better posture.

1. Clubface is too open. When you get is closed you hook. When you really get it closed, you quickhook. When you don't get it closed, you shank it.

To fix this you need a flat left wrist/cupped right wrist at the top. Do not let your right wrist cock up with the left. It is not supposed to cock but it must cup. Once you have a FLW at the top you will need to hold that position into impact.

2. Like Jeff said, you cast, or lose your wrist angle prior to impact. Some might say you flip the clubhead through impact as a way to try and square your open clubface.

3. Posture is also very important, and you do need to get in a more athletic position. The previous replies addressed that well.

[Wegas]

Re: Videos of my swing - please critique

First of I want to thank you all for your in depth analysis of my swing. I Apreciate it

Erik - My swing analysis

See - http://jeffmann.net/E.jpg

Address setup (image 1 and 2)

You don't have enough bend in your knees. Your spine is too erect. Your head is bent-over too much which impedes your shoulder turn. You stand too centralised and you don't have a spine that is pre-tilted to the right (reverse K position). Your ball position is too far back. Your left hand grip is too strong and the left palm is facing the ground instead of facing the right palm across the grip.

I agree with all this. Regarding the lack of reverse K- position. Last summer i took a golf lesson and the pro told me my right hand was to much under the grip causing my right shoulder to be to low at adress. I changed my right hand grip to be more on top of the shaft to get my right shoulder higher at adress.

Backswing (image 3 and 4)

You turn your shoulders too horizontally. Your left shoulder hits your chin (because your head is bent-over) and that knocks your upper body upwards causing your shoulders to become even more horizontal at the top of your swing. You allow your right knee to straighten. You don't have a proper backswing pivot (because you don't have enough angulation of your spine to the right) and you therfore don't get your left shoulder behind the ball enough during your backswing.

Ok, makes perfect sense.

Downswing (image 5 and 6)

You start the downswing incorrectly with mainly a shoulder movement. Note that your hips are nearly square in those two images, but note that the shoulders have turned a lot from image 5 to image 6 and that your shoulders are catching up to your hips too soon. That causes you to lose your right wrist lag and cast the club. Note that your right elbow is floating high above your right hip, instead of dropping straight down to the right hip at the start of the downswing.

See - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/Faldo-BackView.jpg

Note that Nick Faldo starts his downswing with a hip squaring shift-rotation movement that drops his right elbow fast down towards the right hip. However, note that he keeps his right shoulder back and retains the right wrist and right elbow angles.

I will practice the pump exercise to correct this.

Image 7 - Face-on downswing view showing two faults. You allow your hips to slide too far to the left, so that your left hip is outside your left foot. You have casted your club and lost your right wrist lag because you start the downswing with primarily an upper body move, rather than a hip shift-rotation move.

I have always suspected that I slide my hips in the downswing, and this is something I have tried to correct with negative results. Do you know any good drill for this ?

I think that you need to read all the chapters in my review to improve your grip, address setup, backswing, and downswing.

Yes I will do that. Nice page btw.


See - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net

Jeff.

[Wegas]

Re: Videos of my swing - please critique

It is nice to meet myself. I had your symptoms for years albeit with better posture.

1. Clubface is too open. When you get is closed you hook. When you really get it closed, you quickhook. When you don't get it closed, you shank it.

To fix this you need a flat left wrist/cupped right wrist at the top. Do not let your right wrist cock up with the left. It is not supposed to cock but it must cup. Once you have a FLW at the top you will need to hold that position into impact.

Isnt the cupped left wrist on the top a result of my very strong left hand grip, With a weaker left hand grip the left wrist will automaticly be more flat at the top ?

I have tried keeping my left wrist flat at the top of the backswing, but it feels really forced and I just want to start the downswing as fast as possible.

[Jeff Mann]

Re: Videos of my swing - please critique

To those of you who believe that a cupped left wrist at the end-backswing position is primarily dependent on grip, try the following experiment.

Start with a neutral grip. Then take the left arm back to 10:30 o'clock, and allow the left wrist to only hinge 90 degrees so that the clubshaft is at right angles to the left arm. The left wrist will probably be flat at the end-backswing position. Now, go further back and also allow the clubshaft to cross the line. You will note that cupping occurs despite a neutral grip. I think that left wrist cupping (and the degree of cupping) is highly dependent on the degree of left wrist hinging AND the degree to which the clubshaft angulates across the line - even with a perfectly neutral grip.

Jeff.

[jbrunk]

Re: Videos of my swing - please critique

IMO, you can get your left wrist flat even with a strong grip. It is more difficult but can be done. I have a slightly stronger than nuetral grip and can get very flat at the top. I just prefer FLW at the top and letting the bigger muscles dictate the downswing.