Hey everyone fairly new to the game....been playing a few months, I have had a few lessons and I am hoping for some feedback on my swing. Here is the link to a youtube video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBan5avC7dA ). Any comments are welcome...even if you want to poke fun haha. Thanks!

Seems like a pretty solid start you got there. One thing I notice is that you take the club low and way back to the inside. Post some more video of down the line if you can.

Try decreasing the angle in your right elbow as turn in your backswing. It will almost feel like doing a bicep curl with your right arm when taking the club back. You will notice that this makes the club lift up, then all you gotta do is turn your body.

Also looks like your hands are ahead of the ball at impact. Remember that to get the "kick" of the shaft on the ball you have to release the club. This feels like the club is impacting the ball at or before your hands reach it.

What is your normal miss, left, right, slice?

Thanks so much for the tips. I am supposed to go play this afternoon and I will get a video from behind. I will also try the tip with the elbow, I'm hoping to hit a few on the range before I tee off. I typically slice and miss right. I recently started using an adjustable weight driver. I have 12g in the heel, 6 in the middle, and 2 on the toe. It seems to help some what but I am still getting adjusted. My old driver was like 11.5 degrees and this one is 10.5 so I don't always get much loft on the ball...although when I played a few days ago I had one of those swings where everything just felt right and I hit it 270 and straight so hopefully I can recreate that haha. Thanks for the tips again! Look forward to posting another video and seeing what ya think!
Brandon

Brandon

I did not review the swing but if you are slicing and pushing to the right, your swing is either an outside to end swing( if ball starts straight and curves right) or your club face is staying open at impact ( pushing right). I have recently learned to release the club properly and my ball now either goes straight or has slight draw. I focused on getting a more inside to out swing and releasing the club after impact. I believe your hands should be in front of the ball at impact, if not your are trying to swing with your hands and not your shoulders and legs. I noticed most beginners try to swing with hands and not use their legs or shoulders enough. Make sure that your hips clear so that your back elbow can drop and let the clubhead come from the inside instead of outside. All of this is my opinion and I have only been playing for two years but I do alot of research and I analize alot of swings. I just can't do it myself consistently. I hope this helps.

I had a quick look at your swing and here's what I like:
-- seems like a nice balanced setup.
-- I like your stance. Hands hang down pretty straight, which the pros recommend.
-- your left shoulder seems to be higher than your right which promotes a good upward stroke as you contact the ball
-- nice low takeaway in the first part of your swing
-- left arm straight during the swing
-- good weight transfer to your front foot at finish
-- pretty full follow through
-- belt buckle pointed to your target at finish

Things you might consider changing...
-- Your swing plane is super flat. At maximum backswing your hands don't go above your shoulders.
-- You have an abbreviated backswing. This probably helps in control/consistency, but you're giving up a lot of power. Of course it's easy to over do it like John Daly's swing, but I'd like to see your hands go above your right shoulder.
-- I'd suggest you even more complete your follow through. The speed of your swing should take the club all the way around your back.
-- It's hard to tell but it looked like your feet were pointed somewhat left of center, so you may want to check your alignment when you're on the range.
-- I don't much mind that your hands are in front of the ball. That's really important for irons, so it if leaks a little into your driver, so be it.
-- If you look at the swing of a tour pro, their upper body is much more open at impact compared to your upper body. I think it comes from aggressively rotating their core. Doing the same will get you a lot of distance.

You mention you slice. With such a low swing plane, it would be hard to swing outside-in (which is the typical slicer's tendency). So I'm guessing you have a draw biased swing path but an open club face at contact. If so, you need to make sure your hands rotate naturally to square the face at impact. Check your grip pressure, your arm & shoulder tension. Nice and relaxed will help the hands rotate easily. Try taking 10 swings gripping as tight as you can and watch the ball flight. Then take 10 swings with relaxed hands, arms & shoulders. If the ball flight goes more straight, then work on grip pressure, etc.

Hope that helps & good luck with your game!

p.s. if you can afford it, a lesson from a real golf pro is worth 100x compared to my ramblings above.

Comparison for hands.

Extra points for identifying the PGA pro in the image.

Thanks for the pointers! Good to see a few things you liked about the swing! I actually had a lesson yesterday with the pro at my golf club and much like you guessed he said my problem is with the release. I felt like I was starting to get it then I started getting tired and my back started tightening up...haha I think I hit like 160 balls. I have focused on making my swing plane to flat because I was sure that's why I was slicing but turns out it is probably the release so once I get that figured out I will work on trying to steepen the plane up a little. It's crazy how much you could tell from one video! Pretty awesome! I am hoping to make it to the range Sunday and I will see if I can get another video and post it. As far as what tour pro it is...I got nothing haha. Thanks again for the pointers! The club I play at has Thursday night scrambles and I want to play but want to get a little more consistent with hitting straight drives first.

Made it out to the course today and took a few new videos. Look forward to the feed back. All of the driver were either straight or had a fade but all of them played...2 out of three landed in the fairway and shortest was 240 and one went 297...somewhat downhill...I almost shat myself though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh6X2XsyEVI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6v4y5hLhnQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvcufeqYGNY

Lookin good, glad to hear the results are good also.

Ball position looks like its ahead of your left foot, notice the ball is inside the heel of these players. Club shaft angle is shown as a blue line. It could be the perspective of the video taken, not sure.

We can see the top of your glove and bottom of your right hand. Your hands haven't rotated enough at impact position. the 3 players shown have rotated their hands enough so that the logo on their gloves are facing the target.



In the lower image this player has rotated their hands through the impact area, hiding his glove. Your right forearm is still pointed to the sky and we can still see your glove. The palm of your right hand should face directly away from the camera in this position instead of to the sky.

You can also see this by looking at the gap between your arms, no gap in between the other players shot just after impact.


Suggestion: Move the ball back to the inside of your left heel and release the club 4-6 inches earlier. When you start hooking it you know you've got something. Just make sure that the club is coming down inside your target line.

I do a drill when I feel like my lines are out of funk.
-Set one ball along your target line just outside of your right foot and the other 2-3 inches inside of that.
-On the takeaway keep the club head to the outside of the first ball
-On the downswing keep the clubhead inside of the second ball.

This will force you to take the club away a bit higher and giving the feeling of a proper swing plane.

Comparison for the swing plane when you get to the point where you want to work on it.

Ernie's takeaway for the first few feet is to the outside and his downswing is on the inside. Below is your comparison image.

Some instructors mention this as "the figure 8". In over the top moves there is no figure 8 at all or it is done in the wrong direction.






A great drill to check if your takeaway is on plane:
Put a dowel, club shaft, or alignment aid in the ground next to you at waist height.
It should be behind you a few feet so that the club head, or last 6 inches of the shaft passes over the top of it on the takeaway.
I don't recommend hitting balls with this in place!!

sepfeiff, thanks so much for all the help! Your pictures and illustrations help a ton!! I feel like I don't understand all the terminology sometimes but having your images of my swing compared with others and having all the lines helps a ton! It especially helps with the figure 8...I have heard it before but your drill makes a lot of sense and I plan on using it! I feel like I have had a short swing since I started and then when I started flattening my swing plane to try and fix my slice it got even worse ha! The plan is to try and get comfortable with the release then I want to start working on my plane. I feel like working on these two will help tremendously. the past two rounds my slice has reduced a good amount. Distance seems to average from 230-245 and every once in a while I get one 265+. This game is so addicting...I played Monday and Tuesday and I am already trying to get at least to the range in the next couple days haha. Thanks again for all the help!!

No worries, like to do this, hope it helps.

Finally got out to the range today! Seemed to hit much better. Rotated my left hand to the right a little and moved my right to the left when gripping. Kept a very loose grip and had a space between my right index and middle finger....almost like a trigger finger. For the most part was the most consistent playable drives I've hit in a while. I would say out of 10 4-6 were straight 2 or 3 would draw 10-12 yards, 2-3 would face 10-12 yards...maybe 15. Had some issues teeing the ball up to high a few times and launched it straight up. I would say distance to first bounce was 215-240. Moved the ball back to the inside of my left instep, tried to swing more back and up as opposed to low and away if that makes sense. Tried the three ball drill where I took the club back and away and then came down through the inside to get the figure 8 motion but had a hard time and gave up...only had time for one bucket today and wanted to try and hit a few ha. Look forward to comments!
Also I have included a still from one of the videos...my shaft seems WAY flexed before the moment of impact...is this good or bad and should I consider a stiffer shaft? I have a Diablo Edge driver with a stock s shaft. Thanks!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpwitA77wKw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1_CLf8xSUo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OM806pGoZo

Your tempo and swing length looks much better. So does the release. It looks, from the down-the-line view that you've developed a more pronounced over the top move now than you had before. That will happen trying to take the club back inside. It could also be from the lack of lower body turn, but that's not as big a deal for you it looks like. It just takes a conscious effort to keep that club on an inside out or square path. Good progress overall though! 15 yards off the mark either way isn't awful.. FInd that plane and drive it right down the middle!


Keep workin!

Birdie, thanks for the encouraging words! An over the top move, does that mean on the downswing I am coming out to in across the ball?