my swing...

I have been struggling with my Woods for awhile now, every shot seems to be a pull hook when I hit them. Now my irons on the other hand I have no issues. After I reviewed the video it looks like I am too hunched over and this is compromising my spine angle. Please let me know what you think I might be doing to cause these horrible shots.

Thanks for your help!
-Jason

Putfile - 3woodDriver Swing

Is there a reason for you to go all out when you swing that club? It seems to me you apply so much force that you can barely control the club when you strike the ball. Try striking the ball properly first, then apply more force as needed. To strike the ball properly, you must be in control of the club. Now it seems you're out of control when you swing that club.

I must concur with Martin here. You seem very rushed and out of balance.

Your body is getting way ahead of your arms, you don't need to rotate it that fast to get good club head speed. Take the club back low and slow, make a steady controlled start into your downswing from the bottom up like you are steadily unwinding a spring, get your hips to lead and shoulders to follow, then as your hands get way down near your right thigh bring on the power through impact.

It could be your grip. I was hooking a lot of my shots and this was because of my grip which was causing me to come inside-out.

Thanks for the comments =)

Up until now I have been focused on arm/body/hand position and have not given tempo to much thought. I will try focusing more on that the next time I go to the range.

Thanks again,
-Jason

Hey Jay:

That's an unusual camera angle but clearly you are coming out of your posture on the backswing. You do set-up with a bit too much spine tilt forward or "hunched over "as you state. I can't tell by the video, if you establish side tilt (spine and head away from target) which you should have with a driver.

Anyway, you start the backswing ok as far as maintaining posture but towards the top you pull the right shoulder way back and up and you come out of your spine angle. This is typical with the driver because of the desire to hit it as far as possible. That little extra move up with the right shoulder is a real consistency killer.

Try setting up with a little less tilt forward with good posture. Feel as though your chin is well off your chest and your rear end pushed out with the back fairly straight. Slight knee flex. When you wind your torso into your backswing you want to feel that same address posture. Feel as though your rear end is closer to the target and your back is leaning away from the target at the same angle established with the forward tilt (30 degrees is good) at the top of the backswing. Resist the urge to turn too far which is probably the main reason you come out of posture in the video. You want to feel like your head and shoulders are really behind the ball. Because you will have rotated the hips at least 45 degrees you should be 45 degress behind the ball. This is a significant amount of turn behind the ball.

On the downswing, you can try a drill that is very effective to maintain your anlges that hopefully you established at set-up and into backswing. When you swing down you need to feel as though your rear end (sorry to keep referencing it but it's vital as it all is tied to the hip pivot) is still pushed out. The drill involves using a light plastic lawn chair or other object that you can place behind your torso touching your rear end (there I go again) and you maintain that contact with the rear during the entire swing. The drill forces you to keep the spine angle constant through out the entire swing.

What you display in your video is losing the spine angle (lifting up) during the backswing but what is just as prevalent and damaging is pushing the hips (rear goes with them) towards the ball on the downswing again causing lifting and loss of spine angle and with it power. The drill I mentioned corrects both problems and people I show it to are really amazed how quick it helps them. It keeps the hips and spine in the correct position throughout the swing wich is key. Most high handicaps can get the angles correct during portions of the swing but deystroy them at the worst possible time.