Super slow motion golf swing drill

moosejaa

Mr. Inconsistent
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I started using a similar drill a couple months ago. I set the timer on my phone for 30 secs and take my swing so it finishes on the 30 sec mark.
 
I started using a similar drill a couple months ago. I set the timer on my phone for 30 secs and take my swing so it finishes on the 30 sec mark.

How has it been working for you? Any chances to test it out and see if you see improvement?
 
Wow, I tried to do it in my office and it's much harder to do than it sounds. Couldn't get the timing down. Definitely would take some getting used to!! Have no idea how effective it might be long term. I guess this is the opposite of Hank Haney that claims high handicapers should swing as hard as they can!
 
I started using a similar drill a couple months ago. I set the timer on my phone for 30 secs and take my swing so it finishes on the 30 sec mark.

Thanks Eric, I'm gonna give it a try. Seems like something you could do right in your living room.
 
How has it been working for you? Any chances to test it out and see if you see improvement?

The main things I have been working on are shorter backswing, using lower body to initiate downswing and trying to smooth out tempo. Since I haven't had much a chance to hit the range or play the drill has been one of the things I work on in the house along with mirror work. The one range session I had recently I felt like my irons swings were shorter than they have been...I have a tendency to get to the top and then keep going with my arms. The driver and long clubs I felt were still a little too long.

what I like about the 30 sec swing is you can see/feel when you may sway, take the club to far inside or start the swing with a push of the hands/arms away from the body and helps me feel when I reach the top of the swing where I stop when chin and shoulder meet. Helps me pause at the top (not as dramatic as Matsuyama) then start the downswing with the lower body. I did feel at the range when I paid attention to the pause and lower body it was working
 
Timely thread as this popped up yesterday in my YouTube subscriptions

 
I watched that exact same Peter Finch video last night as well

Might have to give it a try and see how it feels
 
A friend of mine who is an instructor is very big on this. He has told me he'd rather see someone do 5 minutes of this than beating balls one after another for 30 minutes on the range.

I have tried it and it does help you feel the syncing and timing of the downswing. But I think it would take a long period of a lot of reps to be able to translate it into a full speed swing. But what I feel it's best at is if you can find an instructor to show you the correct sequence, then you can at least practice it in slow motion and when you feel like your full swing is getting out of synch, at least you might have a better idea of when and where.
 
I think this is one of the drills Davis Love III's father had him do. Something I may look into doing as well since the weather has not been cooperative to playing lately.
 
I tried doing this yesterday for about 15 minutes. It felt kinda awkward and also confirmed just how impatient I am. I'm gonna keep at though.
 
I really like this idea.Especially with a ball.Sounds like if you can't do it at this speed than what good is it swinging Full
 
Thought I'd quote this from another thread, since it's appropriate:

http://www.thehackersparadise.com/f...ons-Who-with&p=4323118&viewfull=1#post4323118

Specifically, Jman's coach gave him these instructions:

We did a lot of swinging OVER a teed up ball (teed 2-3" up) with 8i, 5hy, and even driver where I had to make my swing, correctly, 5-10 times before hitting a ball. Its evident its all about rewiring my body and head at this point but they arent crazy changes, so right now if it feels wrong, its right. I hit some terrible shots as its all so foreign, but towards the end I hit some MASSIVE draws, genuine, true, honest, draws...talk about a eureka moment. After session we agreed to meet in 2 weeks and re-assess, until then I am to make 125 extremely exaggerated and slow swings per day on air and while at practice with the kids drop some and hit some focusing on the swing and not the results. Ingrain, ingrain, ingrain.

I could not be more excited, seriously, I just couldn't, no way. I found a teacher who I trust and believe in. Its expensive, but its worth every single penny.


I'm starting to see the benefits of doing this myself. Except - 125 a day!? I'm lucky to do ten lol! Hopefully other THPers will post their experiences here too.
 
I've started doing this as well as of my first post in the thread. I can't say how many I do per day total, but I spread them out. Waiting for the iron to heat up in the morning? Slow mo swings in front of the mirror. Got 15 mins free after dinner? Same. I'll take a couple of breaks during the day at work and do slow mo swings with an 8 iron I keep there.

My biggest issue with my swing is weight transfer - I don't get enough of an upper body turn in the backswing, so there's really nothing to transfer on the downswing. So my focus is feeling my muscles slowly start to stretch as I make the turn and feel my weight shift into my upper right thigh and instep.
 
I've started doing this as well as of my first post in the thread. I can't say how many I do per day total, but I spread them out. Waiting for the iron to heat up in the morning? Slow mo swings in front of the mirror. Got 15 mins free after dinner? Same. I'll take a couple of breaks during the day at work and do slow mo swings with an 8 iron I keep there.

My biggest issue with my swing is weight transfer - I don't get enough of an upper body turn in the backswing, so there's really nothing to transfer on the downswing. So my focus is feeling my muscles slowly start to stretch as I make the turn and feel my weight shift into my upper right thigh and instep.

I'm trying to do likewise. Same here regarding weight transfer. Also an over the top move, So I'm working on making a 90 degree shoulder turn & NOT swaying over my back leg (keeping head relatively quiet). Then a hip bump as weight/pressure shifts to front foot. Allowing club & arms to drop down & thus come from slightly inside the target line. Then as my club comes parallel to ground I'm pushing off ground with my font foot & straightening my front leg as my front shoulder works up and back. This should shallow out my plane & shift the swing arc forward, & should allow the club to hit the bottom of the arc in front of the ball (hitting fat shots is another bad habit; that and not compressing the ball). Then let my head come up as my body turns left.

I won't know how effective this is until I can actually hit balls. It feels better though
 
This is all fine and dandy,but when one swings above this speed all changes.I could do this drill for eternity and still never make any improvements swinging full speed.
 
This is all fine and dandy,but when one swings above this speed all changes.I could do this drill for eternity and still never make any improvements swinging full speed.
You speaking from experience or just a skeptic? Ben Hogan thought it helped as do many others from the sounds of it. That's good enough for me to give it a try in the winter down time.

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I think this is one of the drills Davis Love III's father had him do. Something I may look into doing as well since the weather has not been cooperative to playing lately.

Yes, that's basically correct. His dad had him swing slow so that he only hit his driver 100 yards. Only when he mastered this was DL3 allowed to go to full swings.


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This is all fine and dandy,but when one swings above this speed all changes.I could do this drill for eternity and still never make any improvements swinging full speed.

I have the video version of Harvey Penick's Little Red book, and it shows both Tom Kite & Ben Crenshaw doing this drill. And both swear by it. So I'm not buying your premise. Almost all learning is done this way. Look at someone learning to play a musical instrument - say, the violin. The motions are done very slowly compared to full speed. It makes sense to me.


I think this is one of the drills Davis Love III's father had him do. Something I may look into doing as well since the weather has not been cooperative to playing lately.

Yes, that's basically correct. His dad had him swing slow so that he only hit his driver 100 yards. Only when he mastered this was DL3 allowed to go to full swings.


I think this Davis Love drill is another great drill to practice getting your form down, but I don't know if I'd call the DLIII drill a super-slow motion drill. He did take full swings with his driver & try to hit them 100 yards. Then 150, Then 200, then all out. But you still have to swing pretty fast compared the Penick drill.
 
I thought I'd post the actual excerpt from Harvey Penick's Little Red Book (pg 81):

The Slow-Motion Drill
“The slow motion drill is a drill you can do at home, and it takes much patience and many repetitions, but the time you spend at it will pay off on the golf course….As an all-purpose drill that is good for whatever ails your golf swing, this is probably the best. You can do it indoors, so you can do it in bad weather or at night.

When I say slow motion, I mean really slow, slow motion. If you think you are doing it in slow motion, do it even slower.

Swing the club very slowly to the top of the backswing. Always keep your eye on the blade of grass or the pattern in the carpet that represents the golf ball; watching the clubhead go back is a terrible habit you can accidentally pick up in this drill and take to the course with you.

As you reach the top of the backswing, replace your left heel solidly on the ground and at the same time bring your right elbow in close to your body. Very, very slowly.

Bring the club down in extreme slow motion about one third of the way toward the ball. Then stop a moment and hold it and feel it.
Now start from your holding position and do it again – swing slowly to the top, plant the left heel, bring the right elbow close to the body, and stop about one third of the way toward the ball.

Do this four times in a row. Don’t get impatient and speed up. Very slowly is the key.

After four repetitions, go ahead and make the full swing at last – still in very slow motion – into a high finish with the elbows out front and your head coming up slowly as if to watch a good shot. Hold the pose. Feel it.

Now do the whole thing again and again and again.

What is happening is that your golfing brain and your muscles are learning to start your downswing by planting your weight and moving your lower body to the left, and you are coming to the ball from inside with your hands quiet, trailing and still cocked, not leading and spending energy.
Your golfing brain and your muscles learn just as well from repeating the swing in slow motion as from whapping away on the range. In fact, it can be higher quality learning because no mistakes are being made in the slow motion swing.”


Like I said earlier, I have a video of Tom Kite & Ben Crenshaw doing this. The interesting thing to me was that each did it differently. Ben did it somewhat like described - he kept bringing back to the top & then started it back down; but he seemed to "back up" even past the 1/3 mark. He also moved a little faster than Kite.

Tom Kite moved painfully slow on this drill, and very smoothly - no jerkiness at all. I don't recall now if he went back to the top at all. Very, VERY slow and really smooth. You could see how much both of these guys had done this drill - it looked effortless & second nature to them.
 
I thought I'd post the actual excerpt from Harvey Penick's Little Red Book (pg 81):

The Slow-Motion Drill



Like I said earlier, I have a video of Tom Kite & Ben Crenshaw doing this. The interesting thing to me was that each did it differently. Ben did it somewhat like described - he kept bringing back to the top & then started it back down; but he seemed to "back up" even past the 1/3 mark. He also moved a little faster than Kite.

Tom Kite moved painfully slow on this drill, and very smoothly - no jerkiness at all. I don't recall now if he went back to the top at all. Very, VERY slow and really smooth. You could see how much both of these guys had done this drill - it looked effortless & second nature to them.
Thanks for posting, Grins. Very interesting and well explained for those skeptics out there.

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You speaking from experience or just a skeptic? Ben Hogan thought it helped as do many others from the sounds of it. That's good enough for me to give it a try in the winter down time.

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Did this for a whole winter with a whiffle ball and a heavy club.Once the snow melted I looked exactly the same before doing months of this.Was working on a better backswing and turn thru the ball.It was a great workout doing 50 or so of these a day.I would add this with my daily treadmill walk as well.Is a great exercise stretch drill,but for swing improvement I would say no.Would enjoy to follow how this does for you
 
Did this for a whole winter with a whiffle ball and a heavy club.Once the snow melted I looked exactly the same before doing months of this.Was working on a better backswing and turn thru the ball.It was a great workout doing 50 or so of these a day.I would add this with my daily treadmill walk as well.Is a great exercise stretch drill,but for swing improvement I would say no.Would enjoy to follow how this does for you
Thanks man, like any other practice drill, I'm sure it requires hundreds and hundreds of reps to see anything. I hope I can find the time to devote to it. If it helps even a little to stop me from snatching from the top and coming OTT it will be worth it.

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Did this for a whole winter with a whiffle ball and a heavy club.Once the snow melted I looked exactly the same before doing months of this.Was working on a better backswing and turn thru the ball.It was a great workout doing 50 or so of these a day.I would add this with my daily treadmill walk as well.Is a great exercise stretch drill,but for swing improvement I would say no.Would enjoy to follow how this does for you


Were you hitting the whiffle ball? Just curious. The Penick drill at least is done without a ball, and definitely not with a heavy club. Just saying that it's not an apples to apples comparison.


I'll post how I think this drill is helping or not helping. But since I'm doing a lot of other things to improve my game, I'm not sure if I do see any improvement, how much it will be due to the slow motion drills.
 
I do a bit of a variation on the Penick drill, probably closer to DL3-but I find it really does help with my tempo and ball striking. I don't do it often, but it is a staple for when I get out of rhythm.
 
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