Is the High Speed Camera ruining the golf swing?

This isn't an orginal thought, but one of Andrew Mowatts the Head Professional for our new Television show.
Andrew belives that now the swing is broken down to 36 frames that the average golfer is more confused instead of just swinging through the ball.
It is impossible to see the club head impact the ball, yet a lot of golfers have there head down at impact instead of following the ball flight which is possible to see.

i somewhat agree and disagree.... it can make the swing too mechanical as he says in one of his lessons, but it can also show a pro (who knows what they are talking about, such as cmays) and he can tell me why exactly i am in the posation that i am in at a certain point and what i can do to fix. so an untrained eye should no look at it and try to fix there swing by matching certain postions (as the golf swing happens so fast some postions are almost imposable to achieve and when still, but a pro can look and it and tell you what ou are doing that is causeing your swing to be in the inccorect postion and try to fix it. but it is good for telling you if you are swing out to in or releasing too early or somthing like that.

i think this site is a great use of HS camera http://www.inpractis.com/ too bad i don't live near CA or near any driving ranges with this technology

i don't believe high speed cameras ruining any thing, its the golfers mind that's ruining every thing. Andrew is right all you have to do is swing to a nice balanced finish, just let the ball get in the way, and the swing will take care of itself. the camera will help to find some technical flaws, some of witch can be fixed and some of what cant be, all depends on the person and what they want to get out of the game and how much time they want to spend working on it. as for keeping your eyes on the ball, yes till impact if you look up before impact you change spine angle and nothing but bad shots are gonna happen. most people just get to focused on the ball, and that's not good. i read some where where they asked a bunch of pro's what part of the ball they concentrated on and of all of them 1 said the front of the ball, the rest said they don't think about the ball at all.

if someone understands cause and effect of the golf swing then cameras are great

frame by frame still photos make the golf swing seem rigid, slow motion video shows how relaxed these professionals really are

hi
i do think looking at your swing does help you understand what your doing right and wrong, its the only way you can view yourself and some things you can sort out yourself but not all. i do think wildwilly makes a real good point in the point that the ball just gets in the way of the swing, i find since i thought that way my game got so much better, if i hit a low draw i think of my hands low at finnish, a high fade my hands to finnish high, and both i dont think about the ball it is just in the way of the club and it works.
bill

I think I worded my orginal post a little wrong.I was referring to breaking the swing down to 36 frames that is confusing players trying to imitate.
Video of your own playing lessons can be a great help.
I orginally got the idea for a golf TV show from meeting one of Andrew's clients who had 8 golf lessons from Andrew that were all videoed.
He was a 55yo Asian gent that had been playing golf for 15 years.His handicap was 25.
I was having a lesson with Andrew and as we were approaching the practise range he ran into Bill who he hadn't seen for 18 months and asked how his golf was going.
Bill reply was great he had his handicap down to 5, whereas his mates commented he was a burglar and it should be three.
Andrew was curious and asked where he was getting his coaching to which he replied, I have the best coach in the world and have two to three lessons every week.Before I play a game I sit down and watch one of the 8 lessons you videoed for me.
My own golf improved from watching my lessons before play.

I think we all understood that you were referring to a swing video broken down into a lot of frames, not to video taping a lessons (which is a great idea BTW).

I both agree and disagree with Andrew. For an experienced player with a solid foundation, these still images can be very beneficial to pinpoint subtle problems and issues that are impossible to see with the naked eye but still needs to be worked on.

The problem is when beginners and high-hcp'ers think they can learn the basics of golf by watching these movies and images. They can't. They don't understand what they see and they don't know how to use the information provided. For them it's the wrong tool at the wrong time.

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Regards, Peter

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Regards, Peter
(WITB)

I have to agree with Peter,

I am definatley a visual learner my best and most productive golf lessons have always been with the use of a video camera and software, putting your swing next to a pro of similar height and build gives you a great idea where you may be going wrong, also I have used it just to take notice how much faster they swing, running swings side by side in slow mo they can be hitting the ball before we reach the top.............amazing.


Ian.

No - what the camera is doing is standardizing the swing. Today with this technology everyone is able to view and analize the swing. It is the reason for the high majority of pro golfers all looking alike. Back in Nicklaus and Arnies day and before they had no video or high speed camera when they learned, hence all the different swing shapes. These players learned to put club to ball anyway they could. It is also the reason all these old timers refer to feel when they talk about the swing, whereas the new trainers talk mechnics, because they can with video and high speed photos. Today this process as been somewhat refined and wasted moves, removed. That was accomplished by the camera.

Hi Cmays,

I agree 100% with you comments, however there is one point I feel I would like to make:

With the exception of Furyk, Garcia, Daly and maybe a few more the golf swing today is far more of a "Standard" nature than years ago when player had no technology and simply relyed on feel and maybe in Faldo's day introduced mirror training.

The question are player better today than they were say 20-30 years ago I will post for another debate.

I posted to say that unless you are of single figure adaptable ability then as you say you should find a pro that works with what you have got not one that simply trys to make you look like someone on TV.


Ian.

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Once you learn the swing, your next step is mastering golf psychology................