Video, the good the bad, and the ugly

I video taped my golf swing, and I was so mortified that I didn’t golf for over a month. I have just bought a digital camcorder, with a sports mode and shutter speed (1/8000) that I reckon will be fast enough for me to see my golf swing in slow motion. I have Leadbetter Interactive, and I am wondering about other golfers' experiences video taping their swings. Did it help, hurt, or make no difference…. Any pointers of course, would be most welcome!



Thanks,

James

Hi James,

There was quite a debate some months ago here about the validity of using a camcorder to see your swing and use it to improve.

I am a firm believer that it has helped me no end. But you need to balance it off against knowing what you're looking at.

If you're set on using it, find a good coach who uses one too so that you can use it the same way he/she does.

Use it to augment your lessons, not crate them .That could be dangerous.

NB: A shutter speed of 1/2000 is quick enough to see all the frames as stills rather than blury.

Have fun with it!

__________________
Luke: I don't believe it!
Yoda: That is why you fail.

what kind of camera is that? shutter speed is used for still cameras, FPS (frames per second) is used for camcorders. I have found that 90fps is great for the golf swing. the average digital camera is 30fps. some have a sports mode that has 90fps for 3 seconds or so. but generally unless you spend $1000+ you are getting 30fps full time.

Like Neil18 I find recording my swing extremely helpful. The Leadbetter Interactive you have should be helpful in determining where your errors are (at times I have thrown I own swing into Leadbetter Interactive to compare to Charles Howell and the bad golfer that the program uses for comparison). In addition you also have other options for free analysis, but with each of them you should take the advice given with a grain of salt. You could post your swing(s) on SwingAcademy.com , SandTrap's SwingCheck, the Golf Digest Challege's free Jim Mclean Golf School analysis, or post clips of your swing here on GolfTuitionOnline.

(Like I said before be careful whose advice you choose to follow. Someone on here (can't recall who off the top of my head ) may want you to copy Moe Norman, Richie3Jack on SwingAcademy may want you to copy Fred Couples, and someone else may tell you to copy Ben Hogan. Copying certain things (that only one in a thousand tour pros may have done) may not be in your best interest.)

Thanks for your posts! Video taping your golf swing isn’t for everyone. For some people it will be a bonus and for others it may hinder their performance. I am totally committed to video analysis. What you do in the golf swing and what you think you do are two different things, and ultimately, it is difficult to fix a problem you are unaware of.

Golfinguy28, as for the shutter speed of the camcorder, I hope it will be fast enough and when I am in sports mode, and manually set the shutter speed for video taping I see 1/8000. Leadbetter in his dvd series – Leadbetter Interactive talks about a shutter speed in a camcorder in the neighbourhood of 1/2000 for the golf swing to be captured properly on video. Perhaps there are different conventions in different places – my camcorder is a Panasonic; I paid around $600.00 for it – but I don’t want to suggest it just yet since I have not captured my swing with it yet!


Thanks for the referrals to the other sites I will be sure to use them!

For Leadbeter Interactive, I don’t think you can save the analysis of your swing. Is there a screen or print capture program that any of you are using to save the analysis….


Thanks,

Jamesh

thanks for the response i hope it works out for you. and if it does i would like to here what panasonic model you have. i am looking for a camera for that reason.