Spot the errors

Here's vids of my swing today from side and front.

http://www.mikejevans.com/Side.avi
http://www.mikejevans.com/Front.avi

I was using a 7 Iron and the quality isn't great coz I used a digital still camera with the 60secs video capability rather than a proper video camera. The grass is a bit long too but I was only hitting a tee being as I'm on my back yard.

From the side I don't see much wrong with my address but I see my club is way too far around at the top of my swing and that my head bobs up and down alot. Is the club going so far round caused by turning the shoulders too far?

From the front I see my hands aren't infront of the ball and my head isn't behind it.

What else is wrong and what should I do to fix it?

Thanks.

from your side view.

setup
Bending at your shoulders not your hips
reaching for the ball not letting your arms hang down from your shoulders.
to tence.

Takeaway
you start it with your arms only
you start on the outside path but come inside very quickly because of your arm movement only.

Top of swing
not much wrist cock
arms are way behind your body.
the club points way right of your target line

impact
your hips are cleared your shoulders are paralle to the target line but your arms hands and club are only halfway down.

On your front view you can see how far behind your body your hands are getting.

Things I suggest.
firstly I would work on your setup. If you are not in a good setup you will have tones of trouble doing a good swing. From there you can then work on a good takeaway.

Okay, thanks for the reply, lots of things there

I'm not sure what you mean by bending from the shoulders. If I lower my hands so that I'm not reaching as much the toe of the club comes off the ground.

So the shoulders and arms should move together to start the takeaway? I thought the arms started on their own and the shoulders followed because they were forced too in order to let the arms keep going.
The wrist cock I'm aware of since seeing myself swing and I plan on working on getting the club 90 degrees when my left arm is parallel to the ground. I remember the other year when I played I had worked on that.

I have looked at the vids today and Bruce has summed it up pretty well,


I think you need to work on your set-up first, You need to bend from the hips more and flex your knees. You are thinking opposite with the takeaway, the left shoulder starts the swing, taking the left arm with it, you actually swing quite near a good plane so it's not a lot of work to achieve a good consistant swing.

You just look really lazy at set-up your body is far to straight and you shoulders are slumped, you need to look more athletic with a much more purposefull posture.

Hope this helps.


Ian.

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

Ok, thanks. I have noticed that good players tend to look like they should be falling forward with their posture, is that what is meant by an athletic posture?

I do actually have my knees flexed, I have thin legs and those tracky bottoms are baggy.

As regards my swing plane, do I have what they call a one-plane swing? I've been for a round again today and I felt like I was picking the club up much steeper than normal but being on the course I just let it happen rather than try to fight it.

I think I might go take a lesson just on setting up. I feel if I can get that right and learn a routine for getting it right on the course then I can work the rest out for myself. I got myself a nice swing going when I played for a few months the other year but I'd had a couple of lessons so he'd probably got my address much better.

I've recorded new ones:

http://www.mikejevans.com/newfront.avi
http://www.mikejevans.com/newside.avi

My club points more at the target now rather than across the line at the top of the backswing. I feel my posture is better but still not great but I actually used my bro's club there which is shorter than mine by an inch. I don't know if that will affect much but I've been trying to feel that my hands are under my chin at address and may have reached further with the shorter club.

I'm still going too far with my shoulders/arms at the top with not enough wrist cock. If I practice more wrist cock would this prevent me from going so far round?

Good morning, this is the first time I'm analyzing someone elses swing, but here goes nothing. Your swing plane is looking pretty good, but like you said you still seem to have some over rotation. I think if you stop rotating your hips earlier, it will cause your shoulders to stop in a more natural position as well as build more torque to add power. The only other minor thing is your spine angle, you still have a tiny bit of shoulder bend, but nothing major. Downswing to follow-through looks good.

Hi Mike,

Spine angle looks alot better, just stick your bum out a little more at address to creat a more athletic posture and that should be fine.

Swing plane is spot on. perfect.

leg action is fine great through the hitting area, although it would be good to see a shot with a ball there the swing will be different.

You have a good wrist action, Tiger, goosen spring to mind who have very lille pronounced wrist action, watch them and yours..............say no more fine.

Your only real issue is you swing to much with the arms, by the time your arms reach waist height your shoulders have hardly moved, try starting the swing with the left shoulder first, also what will help is to concentrate on keeping the hands infront of your breast bone thoughout the swing. Also keep that right elbow from slipping around your back. The brest bone exercise will stop this also.

Ian.

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

I looked at them, and the 2nd set looks a lot better to me. In fact, the 2nd set looks great! You'll need to work on your alignment to hit the dog next time!

Since Ian mentioned this, I think it's worth bringing up as a general talking point. Ernie Els makes a big deal about posture in his book, especially this little move of releasing the butt. It's an easy detail to forget, but it has the effect of straightening the spine so the shoulders are less rounded, and when the shoulders are less rounded there's less tension in them and they turn better. I think many of us tend to keep the spine tucked under when we reach down for the club at setup, and unless we make a conscious release, it stays that way. I know it's that way for me. When you first try releasing the butt, it feels...odd, at first. But it helps, no question about it.

The feeling I try for when I setup is as if I'm doing a formal bow to the ball, and even then I have to remember consciously to release my butt. It is *so* easy to forget that detail, though.

__________________
Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

Great Point Todd,

To someone new this does feel very strange at first, but as you say it has a major impact on you posture.

Now try this lift your chin up off you chest.......................it is imposible to do this without feeling two mussels in your lower back straighten slightly...............this is of course how you straighten the other end of your back.

I suppose if you do both together your in the perfect posture for golf.


Ian.

Let's just say it doesn't feel very manly!

And since you mention this, maybe we need a special forum for Geezer Golf. Those of us who wear multifocal glasses (bifocals or progressives) will find that we tend to drop the head so we can see the ball out of the "distance" portion of the lens. The ball is blurry when we look down through the "reading" part. Not only that, progressive lenses make it virtually impossible to line up a putt, because horizontal lines in the lower part of the visual field appear curved.

I started wearing contact lenses again, just for golf, and they helped both posture and putting.

__________________
Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

Very True,

I wear glasses for golf always have, didn't hit a ball untill I was 29................I don't dip my head but I do have a prnounced lean to the right just before takeaway........I think this is due to glasses.

I do wear contacts but no for golf, don't know why just doesn't feel right.


Ian.

Geezer forum...............whatever next

Thanks for the input dudes. Maybe tomorrow I'll get my bro to record me hitting a ball at the range. I did these vids on my yard and wasn't hitting anything which probably means you swing different.

Sticking out my butt is something I do sometimes but I often forget. I usually remember to do it on the range when you're thinking more about everything.

After 5 or so weeks I thought I was doing pretty well but yesterday afternoon at the range I was allover the place I'm hoping it was because I'd been up since 5am to go to work after finishing at 8pm the night before and had the start of a cold. You ever have those days where your grip just doesn't feel right at all?

I'm going to the range again tomorrow to get some practice in as I'm going to play 18 on a full size course for the first time on Friday. I've only played a 10-holer twice and a par 3 several times so far.

You must of spent every spare minute trying to fix that. Your arms and shoulders still need to work as a team. And your bum does need to be poked out more. But I put your swings together on a spilt screen. And on the downswing when your shoulders are square and your hips have cleared your club was halfway down and now it is only a few inches from impact. I am sure you are getting more distance already.

I really appreciate you guys taking the time to check out my swing and give out advice

Fix what? All I've fixed is going across the line at the top to being straight/laid-off and posture. Getting laid-off at the top I fixed when I read the planes book and pronate my left forearm. Posture I fixed/improved by standing infront of a mirror, bending over to what I felt was right and then putting the club in my hands whilst they were relaxed and hanging freely. From there I looked how far away from me the ball was and now all I do is repeat that distance I stand from the ball and don't think about posture (other than to stick my bum out if I remember) coz if I'm always the same distance from the ball and my hands are always hanging down under my chin then the angle I'm bentover will be very similar.

As for distances, my distances have never altered no-matter what swing changes I've gone through so far this year. Every now and again I hit a shot that goes 30-40 yards further than normal with a 7-iron and 5-iron respectively.