Hey all, my buddy and myself made some videos and were helping you all can help out. One of us is a 9 handicap and the other is 14 and we are trying to get lower. Any advice would be really helpful!

Thanks all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVfeNlrZB4o (Blue Shirt Guy)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl0dZd8h-uM (Red Shirt Guy)

Both really respectable swings, thanks for posting. Difficult to tell with the wide angle lens where the setup and alignment, planes, etc. are


Suggest to work on alignment with a shaft or dowel. Point it at the target and make sure that your feet, knees and shoulders are perpendicular. Your ball should start where the stick is pointing. If not then look at clubhead path and clubface angle.

Recommend the 3 ball drill, gotta get the clubhead path right first. For us righties, it feels as though the clubhead is coming down to the inside of the ball at the 6:30 - 7 o'clock and on through the ball to the 12:30 - 1 o'clock position.

Watch the last 24 inches of clubhead path before impact in both videos. Looks to me like blueshirt is at 5 o'clock on downswing and 11 o'clock through the ball (over the top righty). Redshirt is at 7 o'clock on downswing and through the ball at 1 o'clock (over the top lefty).

Can you hit it straight with this path, yes absolutely. Unfortunately its very tweaky and inconsistent depending on the clubface angle. With an over the top swing redshirt most likely will slice or fade the ball because he is back on it and his hands haven't rotated, adding loft. Blueshirt is likely to pull hook the ball because he is well ahead of the ball at impact and flipped his hands over at the ball, closing and delofting the club.

If i am looking at the picture and this is the 3 ball drill, you are suppose to take the club back to the outside of the ball behind the ball your going to hit (backswing) and inside the ball to the left of the ball behind the ball you are going to hit on the downswing...?

I have gotten my swing to come from the inside, really worked on it last year. Now i never slice the ball but sometimes push it. I need to figure out how i am doing this since i read a push is from an over the top swing. But a slice is from an open clubface. Off the tee I will either hit slight draw, hit it straight, or snap hook it. Lately with my lower irons, 8-wedges, i have been pushing them off to the right a bit. I am thinking i am not finishing my swing to the inside but it feels like i definitely coming on the downswing from the inside. It doesnt slice just directly right maybe about 10 yards right of target. Writing this i guess first thing would be to check my alignment... any other ideas? not sure if this is useful but i use to hit a bananna left to right that i could somewhat control. I was coming over the top and must have had an open club face casue my shots use to go super high and now they are much lower since i started working on coming from the inside.

Banker85 wrote:

If i am looking at the picture and this is the 3 ball drill, you are suppose to take the club back to the outside of the ball behind the ball your going to hit (backswing) and inside the ball to the left of the ball behind the ball you are going to hit on the downswing...? I have gotten my swing to come from the inside, really worked on it last year. Now i never slice the ball but sometimes push it. I need to figure out how i am doing this since i read a push is from an over the top swing. But a slice is from an open clubface. Off the tee I will either hit slight draw, hit it straight, or snap hook it. Lately with my lower irons, 8-wedges, i have been pushing them off to the right a bit. I am thinking i am not finishing my swing to the inside but it feels like i definitely coming on the downswing from the inside. It doesnt slice just directly right maybe about 10 yards right of target. Writing this i guess first thing would be to check my alignment... any other ideas? not sure if this is useful but i use to hit a bananna left to right that i could somewhat control. I was coming over the top and must have had an open club face casue my shots use to go super high and now they are much lower since i started working on coming from the inside.

Yep, you got the drill right. Typical over the top swinger does exactly the opposite sequence. They start back too far inside and come down outside, or also called over the top. This drill really helps to reverse that incorrect sequence.

Clubface at impact determines 85% of the initial direction of the ball. Club path determines the shape of the ball in flight.

Pushes and pulls are almost completely caused by clubface angle and slices and hooks are caused by path. There has been a lot of robot testing to determine that 85% of the balls initial direction is caused by clubface angle.

If you are pushing the ball it means that your path is probably good, meaning that the club is coming from the inside where it should be for a draw or straight ball. Your clubface is likely a few degrees open at impact which pushes the ball to the right.

Checking alignment is the easiest fix for a push. also make sure that the club head is trailing your hands at impact, it will allow more time for the club face to close just a bit more.

Thanks, you have a good understanding of the mechanics of the golf swing. Are you an instructor? I think I do a good job of lagging the club behind my hands but I will focus on it with the clubs that i have been pushing lately. I was thinking maybe i am not fully releasing the club at impact therefore leaving the face open some.

Any tips or drills to make sure i am leading with my hands and getting a full release?

Thanks! I am not an instructor but I have taught a lot of folks at my club and in leagues.

I feel like the clubface angle is set in the address position by the grip and we shouldn't try to alter or think too much about it during the swing. About the closest I come to thinking about the release move is just that my hands ahead of the ball at impact. I visualize the position that I marked up in this shot of Woods.



If I am working on this I start at 1/10 speed with an intentionally delayed release then work up to full speed practice swings and hit a few shots. To me the release feels more like a timing exercise.