Video of my Swing for Critique

Got some new video. My ballstriking is getting much better though I need to work on accuracy.

Rear http://www.creativedirt.com/vid/dh5rear.mpg (right click and save target as)
Front http://www.creativedirt.com/vid/dh5front.mpg

Sorry no video a web design page came up twice at my end?

Dustan,

You have made some great progress with the things we talked about.............the hands are more infront with a great top position (hands are high) not low and across your chest as before.

I also noticed just the half way back position(as per photo) you are perfect here now.

Your ball striking sounds great, you also have great width in your swing, creating a wide swing arch and ultimately more power, you must have noticed more power from you old swing.

The dog looks great too and clearly very interested in golf.

I suggest to help a little more keep the left foot planted on the ground on the takeaway you will build up more tention in your midsection and more power.


Looking really good and powerfull, great work



Ian.

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

So does your dog return the balls to you?

should be working...my website servers seem to always be on the fritz so it's not uncommon.

Ian, thanks, I have to say you've helped this hack quite a bit...it seemed I instantly gained 20 yards with your earlier advice. I noticed that my bottom half had a lot of movement in it and I need to quiet it down. I've been reading Hogans 5 Lessons and am trying to model my swing on it(they're is stuff in there I never would have fully understood without your advice). I definately owe you.

The dog is a stray I picked up on the way from work the other night. She is wide open all the time and I have named her Elby(Little B*). I bought some tennis balls to hit with my driver in my yard and she will fetch them...quite a sight. She is a shepard/husky mix and has one light blue eye and one brown eye, seems very smart and gives my 80 pound pitbull hell(he's on the right of my avatar)...hence the name LB.

Not sure if I misunderstand Ian, but halfway back you look wrong and stiff.

From the outset it looks like your not breaking your wrists at all - halfway back your club should be pointing straight up to the sky.

It's almost as if your trying to swing the club with your body only and letting your arms follow the ride - the only time I have ever seen this is after reading that awful book 'The Swing Machine'

I have attached a photo comparison to Tiger woods as a sample.



#1 the first thing is that you don't seem to be behind the ball at all - I would drop your left shoulder a little. What club are you hitting?

#2 The biggie! Look at your angles - you have both gotten to exactly the same point in the swing, arms are at the same angle and at the same distance - but your wrist haven't broken at all. Tigers have naturally broken and the club is pointing past vertical, yours is nearly horizontal.

#3 Although you get to parallel - it's only due to excessive back turning, look how far your arms have traveled back compared to Tigers - he is one of the most flexible golfers who has ever graced this game and he only gets his arms to there.

The reason you get your arms so far back is because you seem to be bending your back backwards - almost a reverse pivot (I do the same thing)

If you broke your wrists this would fix this problem as your club will reach horizontal a lot quicker and your arms wouldn't have to travel so far back.

I guarantee it will start to feel a lot nicer hitting the ball if you do this.

All you need to do is make sure when your left forearm is parallel to the ground, your club is vertical.

Let us know how you get on.

Jon

Thanks Jon, very nice of you to take the time with the photo breakdown. I'm hitting a 5 iron. You mention dropping my shoulder do you mean left in the photo as in my right?

yeah sorry your right shoulder -becasue your right hand is lower than your left it shoudl automaticaly bring the right shoulder lower. If it's not you must be fighting it.

Nemo - LOL at the Swing Machine ref!

Durtman - you are getting some great advice in this thread. One other thing to really concentrate on is not letting your weight in the backswing drift to the outside of the right foot and therefore swaying (which you are doing and i used to do). Really concentrate on leaving the weight on the inside and keeping your right leg and knee bent and firm. This will help shorten your swing and get those wrists cocking sooner.

nick

Have you read Swing Machine Golf? Awful awful awful book.

certainly have - rubbish

are there any good books that you recommend? counted mine the other day - i have 50! I love reading them even though it probably does my swing more harm than good!

nick

I have about the same ammount

Love em! The best for me is Tigers book, 'How I play Golf' by Tiger woods. It's made by the Guys over at Golf Digest so is a very high quality publication - lots of great images etc.

Apart from that Ernie Els has a nice simple book - as much as i preffer Tigers Book, Ernie's book is better for talking about the simple swing.

He simply says start the swing with your hands & arms until your halfway back - then just turn the shoulders - and that is your backswing.

I have Tigers book but its not my favourite - I dont actually feels he tells you anything in the book. Also now he has changed his swing i feel the book is kind of redundent! I have just bought ernies book!! I am looking forward to reading it. If I have one book to recommend it would be Swing for Life by Faldo, as i have mentioned in other posts. Also for recent books Anika Sorenstam's new book is brilliant for males and females.

nick

My last two practise sessions have been somewhat frustrating. I'm having a hard time getting a feel for when the wrist should cock...I've always felt that the wrist cocked at the top of my swing and never gave much thought to it (any thought actually). I've stabilized my feet and feel much more stable with less swaying now. What do you recommend for getting the wrist cock down? I can hit 10 in a row to the same spot and follow it up with 10 that just don't go anywhere but I'll have the same feeling of swing. It's frustrating...I feel like I did six months ago, just now I know what I need to do...I think . I have a video of my friend as well...much uglier hack than mine...If anyone would like to give it a go let me know and I'll start another thread for it.

Durtman - if you have the correct grip pressure (not too tight) and are coiling properly (see my earlier post in this thread about weight going onto the outside of your right foot) then a wrist cock should happen naturally and isn't something you necessarily need to think of. In your backyard take a grip where the club is almost falling out of your hands and swing it - the wrists just have to cock! Just firm up your grip until you have a compromise of good hold but loose wrists.

Failing that you could always set your wrists as the first move in your swing (see Faldo or many Leadbetter pupils). A great image is to to set the wrists so that at halfway when your left arm is parallel to the ground your wrists are fully cocked and the butt of the club is pointing between the ball and your feet. Looking at your swing again it looks like you concentrate too much on body turn and turning the shoulders and not enough on swinging the arms (a problem i used to have 2 years ago)

hope that helps some and doesn't confuse, please let me know if you need further explanations.

nick