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My Swing

couldbeu

couldbeu

THP or work? Hmmm...
Joined
Aug 18, 2009
Messages
1,704
Reaction score
1
Location
Binghamton, New York, United States
Handicap
3.2
This was the first time I ever put my swing on video...
I hit a few 8i and drivers, both down the line and face on.
(the time is 12 hours ahead)

People tell you things they think all the time and I wanted to see for myself.
I can see I take the club past parallel, and I want to work on my posture as well. I'm getting a little hunched over at address.

Any other constructive criticism is welcome. I know there are a lot of knowledgeable people here... and I don't pretend to be perfect or know it all...




For you Sligo fans...
McKenna Scriver / Slate Digitile Pants / White Grange Belt & Buckle / Slate Cadet Cap
 
wow you swing fast
on avg how far do you pop it?
 
Dude, I hate you. Not really, but that is a nice looking swing.
 
Couldbeu, think maybe you'll need to take this to Andy. Your swing looks pretty solid to me, out of my league, lol. Great job!
 
It is tough for me to say anything but positives about that swing. If you are a 4 handicap, you know better than I do.

But I will fish for something. I would say that you may be rounding your shoulders a little bit with your irons. Keep your posture more upright and strong. It will help engage the big muscles in the swing. Adding a little more distance and control. Also ,to be picky, you seem like to are very upright with your driver. Maybe a little more forward lean would allow for a shallower swing path and forgiveness.

How long can you hold your finish? I know that if I can't hold the pose, I was out of control on the swing.
 
Pretty swing. Fast too. SS?
 
blugold said:
It is tough for me to say anything but positives about that swing. If you are a 4 handicap, you know better than I do.

But I will fish for something. I would say that you may be rounding your shoulders a little bit with your irons. Keep your posture more upright and strong. It will help engage the big muscles in the swing. Adding a little more distance and control. Also ,to be picky, you seem like to are very upright with your driver. Maybe a little more forward lean would allow for a shallower swing path and forgiveness.

How long can you hold your finish? I know that if I can't hold the pose, I was out of control on the swing.
Click to expand...


This. Your posture gives you a tendency to bring it down to steep (outside to inside). I'd also like you to shorten things down a bit and make it more compact, but that's just me.
 
blugold said:
It is tough for me to say anything but positives about that swing. If you are a 4 handicap, you know better than I do.

But I will fish for something. I would say that you may be rounding your shoulders a little bit with your irons. Keep your posture more upright and strong. It will help engage the big muscles in the swing. Adding a little more distance and control. Also ,to be picky, you seem like to are very upright with your driver. Maybe a little more forward lean would allow for a shallower swing path and forgiveness.

How long can you hold your finish? I know that if I can't hold the pose, I was out of control on the swing.
Click to expand...

thepete said:
This. Your posture gives you a tendency to bring it down to steep (outside to inside). I'd also like you to shorten things down a bit and make it more compact, but that's just me.
Click to expand...

I agree... I think I need to sharpen the angles a little bit and stick my butt end out a bitt and get more forward lean... Good pick up Blu! I also noticed in slo-mo I dip my head more than I thought I did and I think it is a compensation from having lack of forward lean at address.
 
Overall it looks great! I should have a video up later today....should be interesting having not swung a golf club in 2 months.
 
One thing I noticed more on your iron shots than your driver is a forearm squeeze right before and as you are bringing your club back. A tip that has helped me a lot, especially with wedges and short irons as well as my driver, etc is to keep my forearms relaxed at takeaway which promotes a little more lag at the top and a smoother, slightly slower take away. It also helps to take out some "twitchy" movements during the backswing. I'd call your takeaway slightly quicker than average but that's not always a bad thing. You have consistent tempo which you probably get in part from an aggressive waggle.
Again, none of this is meant to be an insult or a shot at your swing or anything. It appears to be a pretty consistent and neutral swing that should allow you to control your ball (fade/draw) without too much effort.
Good luck with any changes you intend to make!
 
GopherNut said:
One thing I noticed more on your iron shots than your driver is a forearm squeeze right before and as you are bringing your club back. A tip that has helped me a lot, especially with wedges and short irons as well as my driver, etc is to keep my forearms relaxed at takeaway which promotes a little more lag at the top and a smoother, slightly slower take away. It also helps to take out some "twitchy" movements during the backswing. I'd call your takeaway slightly quicker than average but that's not always a bad thing. You have consistent tempo which you probably get in part from an aggressive waggle.
Again, none of this is meant to be an insult or a shot at your swing or anything. It appears to be a pretty consistent and neutral swing that should allow you to control your ball (fade/draw) without too much effort.
Good luck with any changes you intend to make!
Click to expand...

Thanks GN. The twitch is me attempting to get my left arm straight. It works for awhile but then bends at the top allowing me to go past parrallel, which I would like to go away from. I'm definitely going to try to keep it a little softer and see what happens. Usually if I get inconsistent, the first thing I do is slow down my takeaway and tempo, which falls in line with your advice.

I live in NY so I have 3 more months of working on a few things before I can take it to the course...
 
thepete said:
This. Your posture gives you a tendency to bring it down to steep (outside to inside). I'd also like you to shorten things down a bit and make it more compact, but that's just me.
Click to expand...

Pete - I 100% agree, my misses with the driver are usually to the right.

Do you know of any effective drills at trying to shorten the swing? and posture?
 
couldbeu said:
Pete - I 100% agree, my misses with the driver are usually to the right.

Do you know of any effective drills at trying to shorten the swing? and posture?
Click to expand...

Amusingly enough I worked on all this myself today. Don't take this as gospel, I'm tournament pro, not a teaching pro. :)

Your leg flex looks good but straighten your back. A bit of curve is OK (I have it and I work on this a lot, it's one of the first things that I go to when my swing starts acting up) but now it's too much. Be wary of standing too close to the ball as it promotes a steeper plane. Arms hanging down in a relaxed fashion OR feeling a bit as if you're reaching for it. Rather that than too close in my book.

Shortening the swing is tough. I struggled with it for years before I "broke through" this year, which basically meant woodshedding it 6 hours a day for 2 weeks straight. The thing is that first off it'll feel like you're making halfswings, when in reality your club is probably parallell or over the top still. That's how awkward it is. The key for me was trying to get my arms as far away from my head as possible at the top of the swing, while focusing on rotating with my shoulders rather than swinging with my arms. From there...it's just repeating it over and over until you're at a position you like.
 
thepete said:
Amusingly enough I worked on all this myself today. Don't take this as gospel, I'm tournament pro, not a teaching pro. :)

Your leg flex looks good but straighten your back. A bit of curve is OK (I have it and I work on this a lot, it's one of the first things that I go to when my swing starts acting up) but now it's too much. Be wary of standing too close to the ball as it promotes a steeper plane. Arms hanging down in a relaxed fashion OR feeling a bit as if you're reaching for it. Rather that than too close in my book.

Shortening the swing is tough. I struggled with it for years before I "broke through" this year, which basically meant woodshedding it 6 hours a day for 2 weeks straight. The thing is that first off it'll feel like you're making halfswings, when in reality your club is probably parallell or over the top still. That's how awkward it is. The key for me was trying to get my arms as far away from my head as possible at the top of the swing, while focusing on rotating with my shoulders rather than swinging with my arms. From there...it's just repeating it over and over until you're at a position you like.
Click to expand...

Thanks! All sounds like good advice. My '3/4' is about parallel for me... irons I'd like to be even shorter... Like you said that something you have to grind on... I think if I could reduce the bend in my elbow at the top that would help a lot...
 
I used to have a very long swing. I realized that I was losing swing speed on the down swing. I shortened my swing by habit. I was able to accelerate through the ball better. I increased my average carry by 10 yards. I slowed my backswing down so I could focus on my mechanics.
 
I thought that place looked familiar! Greater Golf is a cool place. I don't know that much about the swing, but the one thing I did notice was your posture, and you already know about that.
 
jt2929 said:
I thought that place looked familiar! Greater Golf is a cool place. I don't know that much about the swing, but the one thing I did notice was your posture, and you already know about that.
Click to expand...

Craig knows me well... too well for my pocketbook.
I'm the current club champ @ Genny if you're ever out that way and there are a handful of others from our area on THP.
 
couldbeu said:
Craig knows me well... too well for my pocketbook.
I'm the current club champ @ Genny if you're ever out that way and there are a handful of others from our area on THP.
Click to expand...

Never played there, but sounds like we need to have a THP Southern Tier get together if this snow ever goes away.
 
jt2929 said:
Never played there, but sounds like we need to have a THP Southern Tier get together if this snow ever goes away.
Click to expand...

It's a fun course for all skill levels. Pretty open, not overly long and pretty flat, you can easily walk it. We can definitely set something up as it gets warmer.
 
Yeah, that's a nice swing, impact sounds great. What I love is that old habits are hard to break. You're hitting into a wall, yet, you look downrange 2 or 3 times before a shot. I do that too! Good job.

I'm wondering.. You reached a 4 handicap without prior use of video, what brought you to it at this point of your golf game?
 
Fat Free Golfer said:
Yeah, that's a nice swing, impact sounds great. What I love is that old habits are hard to break. You're hitting into a wall, yet, you look downrange 2 or 3 times before a shot. I do that too! Good job.

I'm wondering.. You reached a 4 handicap without prior use of video, what brought you to it at this point of your golf game?
Click to expand...

Yeah I've been working hard on pre-shot routine. Still trying to find a putter one that works better... haha.

As for the handicap... I've played baseball all my life and played Div 1 baseball in college. So I have the right 'swinging muscles' and can hit the ball pretty hard and I am pretty athletic. Although I haven't had my swing filmed, I have had several lessons and have been fitted for clubs. I like reading tips, watching DVDs, but many can be quite conflicting, so I just take in what makes sense to me. I've always been pretty competitive and work hard to excel in anything I do.

Why video tape now? I've heard that video taping your swing can be harmful when your swing is in shambles, because you're watching your poor swing over and over... I figured it was time and I wanted to have one of Golf Digest's top young teachers, Jeff Ritter, take a look at my swing and get some of his advice. He's in AZ, but you can upload your swing to him through his website.
 
couldbeu said:
Why video tape now? I've heard that video taping your swing can be harmful when your swing is in shambles, because you're watching your poor swing over and over..
Click to expand...

That is true...if you focus on the negatives and don't think "I can make improvements here!". To me the above sounds a bit like "don't take lessons because you'll get to hear that you're doing it wrong".

Just out of interest, do you know what's best for you in terms of learning? Auditive, visual, kinesthetic etc? I'm very kinesthetic, my coach and I talk about feelings (ha-ha), what kind of feeling I should be experiencing etc. It's always good to know what works best for you. A coach who teaches in the auditive or kinesthetic way is pretty useless if you're very visual and need to see what he means, for example.
 
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