Bulldog2k's swing

Video

Ok guys - fire away. I tried to include everything, but my bunker shots didn't include. Oh well. The driver shots come up first - 4 shots - first 3 went well, last one is a duffer. Following are 4 shots of driver from the side - similary, first 3 shots are good, last is a duffer.

Off the deck shots are with a 6I - first 3 shots good, last bad - and same from the side.

Following are pitches with SW, and then chips with 8I.

Last are putts.

In all cases, first 3 shots good, last bad.

Fire away guys. Want to hear everything everyone has to say. Shall I kick things off?

**** follow through and what IS my left knee doing?

__________________
~_~_~_~_~
Personal bests 2007;
Best 18: 78 (+12)
Best 9: 37 (+4)
Best Stableford: 45 pts
Best total putts: 28
Best total length sunk putts (ft): 54

Club tourney history this year: Captain's Day - 1st; Club foursomes - 2nd; Dimex Stableford - 2nd; Club Championship - 13/28 gross, joint 5/28 nett; Ferebee Shield - 2nd; Sept Medal 2nd; Autumn Stableford - 1st

how are your distances with your clubs, and how is your flight? Don't know about anyone else but looks like u need a lil more weight shift towards the left foot.

The way I see it, you get a nice backswing with a good turn--no worries with that left leg. But my impression is that you may be pulling up with your arms a bit, resulting in the low finish and abbreviated follow-through. I tend to do the same thing, but I don't have that nice backswing. With that backswing, I have the impression that if you worked on really swinging through and letting the club head follow the ball down the line as far as possible, then come up with good arm extension, you'd have a hell of a full swing. Your posture on the full swing shots is admirable too.

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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

What immediately jumped out at me was how far over you are bent which puts the weight out on the toes, probably what causes all the up/down head movement. Try to stand a little taller, to get your posture in a little better shape, think about stacking your body parts, vertical line from the balls of the feet, through the knee caps, then your arm pits, now that leaves your head and your butt, they balance each other out, one on each side of the line.

Putting, you are moving all over the place, lol...never seen anyone actual make a pivot and turn while putting...just kidding it wasn't that bad, but you do move allot, even you knees were moving in the putt. Need to stay a little more solid then that, just moving the arms/shoulders and putter, the rest of the body should not move.

hi dog
overall nice swing
only comments i would make is that you totally lose the flex in your right knee and the lower body is very active!
but what do i know

Bulldog2k, your right leg remains straight throughout. You don't use it for power that you could use otherwise so that's power lost. Instead of maintaining it straight throughout, maintain it bent on the backswing and push up with it for more power on the downswing. It will also help in weight transfer.

Hi Bulldog,

First I would like to congratulate you on the progress you are showing and the great positive attitude to your game..

Now, your swing:

You are not maintaining flex in your right knee through the backswing, this is lifting you up and affecting your balance and coil. Keep it flexed throughout.

You are leaking power and accuracy through impact into the follow through. You need to stay down longer and keep looking at the ball at impact and beyond. Your elbows are collapsing through impact while your right shoulder lifts early, this gives you this look of a restricted follow through. Allow your right shoulder to rotate down while your head stays back behind the ball. Your arms need to follow on down the target line longer so they become fully extended with the club pointing at the target when parallel to the ground, then let them pull up high over your left shoulder.

here are a few things for you to look at. The first video relates to collapsing the elbows, your problem is mainly on the forward swing though.

Golf Schools » Ritson-Sole Golf School » March 2006: Drills for increasing your power » Top 25 golf instruction

Next look Luke Donald frame by frame and in particular his position at impact and the follow through, see how is head is kept back and his right shoulder comes under then his arms extend right down the line and high over his left shoulder.

GOLFONLINE - Hot Swings

I hope this is of some help to you.

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Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!

Right-o chaps - thanks to all! Loads to think about and work on there!

What I'll try and do is work on these comments for a couple of weeks, then video again, and see where I am!

Fanofsaosin: My distances are comedy! 110 9I, 150 5I, probs 225ish driver. Ball flight - umm - regular I guess? I don't have a problem with ballooning it, and I don't send it problematically low... Thanks for your comments, and for taking the time to look!

Ubizmo - yeah, it does look like I snatch a little through impact, doesn't it? I've been concentrating on my left arm extension on the backswing, but haven't really concentrated on anything on the followthrough - time for that to change, I think!

Gonavy - I was astonished at how bent I seem, and how my head seems tucked down. I agree - and I didn't realise how much daylight there was between my hands/end of club and body at address, which I guess results from the same thing.

Putting - hmm! I know it sounds odd, but it came out of necessity. I found that, in locking my elbows a la Di Marco 'psycho grip', the best way to keep the putter face square in moving the shoulders was to start the stroke by pushing the left knee forwards. If I don't do this, because the putter is grounded at address, I struggle to keep my shoulders square in the takeaway. If I start with the left knee, the left shoulder dips, and I don't drag the club on the takeaway - that's how it works in my crazy mixed-up brain, anyway!

Slats and Martin Levac - thanks for looking and for your comments. How should I concentrate on maintaining the flex? Literally by concentrating on keeping it bent? Is this the same issue as turning my right foot in a little - would that help to keep it flexed? Or is that a separate issue?

Brian - as ever, brilliantly thoughtful and insightful - thanks so much. I should concentrate on keeping my right shoulder down and turning through for longer, yes? Will keeping my right shoulder down force more extension in my follow through, or will concentrating on follow through assist keeping my right shoulder down? Does that make sense? Or are they separate and nothing to do with each other?

So if I've got this right - there's a moment pretty enar impact where my left arm is pretty much fully extended and my right arm very much not (thinking of that classic picture of Hogan) but there's a point in the followthrough where my right arm is fully extended (when the club is parallel to the ground - what I think Tiger calls 'shaking hands with the target') but presumably my left arm at that stage is starting to cock to allow that movement over the shoulder? [edit: actually, looknig at both videos, at that stage, it seems both arms are pretty straight but particularly the right one?)

Awesome guys - thanks so much for taking the time to look and help

__________________
~_~_~_~_~
Personal bests 2007;
Best 18: 78 (+12)
Best 9: 37 (+4)
Best Stableford: 45 pts
Best total putts: 28
Best total length sunk putts (ft): 54

Club tourney history this year: Captain's Day - 1st; Club foursomes - 2nd; Dimex Stableford - 2nd; Club Championship - 13/28 gross, joint 5/28 nett; Ferebee Shield - 2nd; Sept Medal 2nd; Autumn Stableford - 1st

hi dog
Once you’re set up in a good position, the next thing you need to do is make sure that you have a solid rotational base for your club to orbit around. The first key to remember is that the right knee must remain relatively stable from address to the top in order to tighten up the hip turn in the backswing. If the right knee changes flex or position on the way to the top of the backswing, then you’ll have a bigger hip turn as you take the club back. In addition, the rate at which your hips turn off the start of the backswing will also influence the overall amount you’ll rotate.

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cheers slats
"Golf can best be defined as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle"

Ian,

Keeping your right shoulder down and rotating will keep your swing on an inside path and assist in a square clubface. The extension is a matter of allowing the arms to continue on path and plane in the follow through, Like Hogan showed in his 5 lessons, imagine you have a rubber band at address that fits snugly around your upper arms (Biceps) and keeps the same distance between them throughout the swing. Look again at the two links, see how Luke does that.

You are correct that through impact the left arm and wrist should be straight and an extension from the shoulder to the clubface, the right arm will still have some bend as will the right wrist. The right arm will straighten at the quarter position, when the club is pointing at the target with the toe straight upwards both arms will be fully extended. from there the arms should continue to rotate high over the left shoulder where the right arm is straight and the left bent (Like in Mel Sole's video).

Phew! Hope that does not confuse too much.

__________________
Best Regards
Brian

________________________________
Funny o'l game!

It's like Slater said, it's about hip rotation. But for me it's about other things as well. Turning the right foot in a bit will help with that because the intent here is to promote pushing with the right foot and shifting weight. I keep it bent, coiled if you will, and when it's time to push, it straightens out normally.

Think of the amount of forces that the club goes through when it's about to strike the ball. The club is pulling me downward. If I want to strike the ball properly, I must push back up to balance things out. If my leg is fully extended at first, all I can do then is go lower. If I go lower than I was at address, I'll hit the ground before the ball. Some players push so hard that they go airborne or stand up on their toes. That tells us how fast they swing and how much forces the club goes through.

I don't think you can possibly imagine how happy this simple sentence made me Could I ask, if it's not a niusance, for clarification of me 'lifting my hands at the top of the backswing'? Where and how do I lift them (both?) and how do I prevent it?

I had my first go at rectifying things yesterday, and it wasn't easy and I suppose I didin't expect it to be!

I think there are three things for me to focus on (if I've got this right?)

1) Right leg not straightening
2) Right arm extending on follow through
3) Right shoulder turning 'under' more, rather than 'round'

Have I got that right?

I seemed to be 'better' with the right arm extenision, though without videoing it, it's almost impossible to tell. I sometimes seemed to lose control from a feeling of flining my right arm forwards as I swung through, and I think one thing I need to do is preserve a feeling of control and try to swing a little slower while I'm working on it.

BTW - I know, as always, the unavoidable answer is - "Go take a lesson" - and I absolutely will. But it's great to get you guys' opinion in the meantime

__________________
~_~_~_~_~
Personal bests 2007;
Best 18: 78 (+12)
Best 9: 37 (+4)
Best Stableford: 45 pts
Best total putts: 28
Best total length sunk putts (ft): 54

Club tourney history this year: Captain's Day - 1st; Club foursomes - 2nd; Dimex Stableford - 2nd; Club Championship - 13/28 gross, joint 5/28 nett; Ferebee Shield - 2nd; Sept Medal 2nd; Autumn Stableford - 1st

BDOG, Yes, that's about right.

Here is a drill to help you maintain arm extension through impact: Make your swing and stop and hold when your arms are fully extended and the club pointing to target and the toe of the clubface pointing straight upwards.

Nice work, Bulldog.
I'm thinking we ought to look at your
release. Anyone else agree?
I'd like to see the right arm
extended, with the hands high
and about 15-30 degrees left
of the target line at finish.

Hi Bulldog,

After a quick look (can't slow-mo the video much) I did notice on your right arm lift up (ie. your right armpit open up) & it did cause you upswing at that point to deviate from the swing plane you have on the address & takeaway position. Your swing plane is more upright than the address position. However looks like for most of the time, you slot back to the right swing plane on impact. Obviously you know variations to your swing plane from address to followthrough is what we all are trying to rid off.