Aimee,
The video is not coming through

Hi Laney,

Sorry I didn't see this video sooner. You are correct, slowing down your tempo will not alter anything in your swing.

If you and I were on a range I would have you work on two things.

1. You are taking the club back with your hands instead of starting with a a shoulder turn and making it one fluid motion. That's causing your arms to fly a little and makes it impossible to create a steady tempo. Set up to the ball and start your backswing with your left shoulder. It will become one piece immediately.

2. The reason for what everyone is calling a chicken wing in your follow through is because of your left leg. Because you are starting your swing with your arms, you are also "all arms" through the rest of your swing, which prohibits body momentum. Your left leg staightens out before impact blocking your follow through, causing your body to raise and your arms to collapse.

So here it is AGAIN.......#1. Start your backswing with your left shoulder and everything will stay on line in one fluid motion.

#2. When you start your downswing, drive your left knee toward the target instead of straightening it. Your knee will automatically straighten itself, at the right time, as you make your turn through the ball.

Don't think about tempo, arm position or anything........Just work on the two things outlined above the other stuff will automatically correct itself.

OK, fixed video so it can be viewed.

Aimee,

You have a great routine when you address the ball and you have the ability to stay behind the ball at impact.

BTW, not many people can do that.

Earlier, I asked if you often hit, or hang, your driver right and if you often hit your irons thin. Here's why I asked that question.

You're addressing the ball with your shoulders very open and because you are good at staying behind the ball, it's causing you to "come out" of the shot. Coming out of the shot means you are not accelerating through the ball, but turning away from it and sometimes falling back a little. That's why you seldom, if ever, take a divot. It's because of lack of acceleration through the ball.

The first thing I would have you work on is squaring up your shoulders at address. Now, when you do this it moves you an inch or two closer to the ball. That's why most people have a difficult time squaring up their shoulders. They don't realize they are moving themselves closer to the ball and it causes them to crowd the ball, which is not only uncomfortable, but it results in an outside to inside swing.
So...........when you square up your shoulders, you need to step one or two inches farther away from the ball at address.
Now you can swing out and through the ball, which will give you more acceleration and you'll hit the ball on line. The only problem you'll have is replacing all the divots you'll start taking.

thanks for the insight, Bill. I do fight the left shoulder open thing. The swing that was captured on this video wasn't optimal, since I did send the ball a little right (not a slice). The "rights" seem to be worse the faster I swing with driver.
I had a partial video (started halfway thru the swing) for a shot with a 5iron also, could you take a look at this also. I did make good contact with this shot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c1E_bxhWZA
I'm anxious now to try this standing further away thing...I've often been told with the irons that I needed to stand closer, maybe that is inhibiting my swing.

Aimee,
The iron video doesn't show you at address, but I would guess your address with irons is also open shouldered. That's one of the reasons you never take a divot. Your swing is more upright because of club lenghth so being out of position with your irons won't be as noticeable as with a driver.
Your swing is good it just needs a little adjustment. When you square up your shoulders, you don't have to stand too far away, just a little.
You probably didn't need to stand closer with your irons, you just needed to square your shoulders and you would automatically be closer.
If it feels good to you, practice what we're talking about. You'll hit it better.

Scott,
Though your swing looked very good, although I did notice the lateral move Bill mentioned, something I try had to keep at bay.
Nice easy tempo although I could not see the ball flight or did it go where it was intended to go. Nice outfit, without the sandals.
Fred

Aimee,
Saw both videos and I agree with Bill about falling back and not
swinging through the ball. You seem to make good contact but probally not as long as you should be. You outfit was a lot better than Scotts.
Fred

Ok. I figured you didn't answer because I said it was taken on a terrible swing day.

I have since had both of these things pointed out to me. I think I'm pretty consistent at taking it back with my body rather than my hands. I'm not so sure I work the left knee the way I want to.

Thanks, Bill!

Also, I just got a little Kodak zi6 pocket video cam, so I'll try to get a new swing posted soon. And write a review, when I get around to using it.

Aimee, I'm not at a PC that can show me your video right now, but I look forward to seeing it.

Oh, boy! I can get Bill to look at my swing again!

Howdya like my bada** outfit??? Went to the range straight from the gym. Crux of the problem is that my iron length is short relative to my driver length since I make better contact off the tee because of the less-than-solid or inconsistent contact. When I work with my instructor I pick up 10 yards with the irons. I think I regressed over the winter.

"..Went to the range straight from the gym.." After a workout at the gym I can barely make it to the car let alone the range.

Ah, grasshopper, you must balance your workouts. I do 1/3 stretching, 1/3 cardio, 1/3 weights. Most guys don't do any stretching, that's a big mistake.

Hey, some of us stretch all the way down to pickup the weights...that counts!

Bill, I tried what you said. Takeaway with the body rather than the hands, and lead with the left knee. Well, I had already corrected the takeaway, and being conscious of the knee action didn't seem to work either. Made a nice practice swing, but could only occasionally get the right timing behind the ball.

However, eventually I managed to sense the tightness in my shoulders, which I had always thought were relaxed. So I really let them be passive. Felt like I was now turning just my spinal cord rather than turning the whole width of my back. Now my core was firing like crazy through the downswing, and my shoulders and lower body were just along for the ride. There was no need to think about what the lower body is doing, because the motion just happens. The only thing I'm aware of is the sense of my spine rotating like crazy, and the way the muscles of my trunk are firing all out to make it happen. And I'm not making them fire, I just notice it happen as I rotate my spine. I think this is the free flowing swing that has eluded me. I don't know what the clubhead speed was, but it was scary strong. Finally using my strength in the right way. Epiphany.

I understand why they say it's in the dirt. I don't know how I could have been taught this. It had to be discovered.

Thank you for the help! I'll try to get the video camera going so I can show everyone.

Good...
That sounds right and that's the way it should work.
It gets back to Lao Tzu.........."Stop thinking and your problems will disappear."

Glad to hear it sounds right to you.

But when I started out, just swinging my natural swing generated a bu*t ugly over the top move that was never going to give me this feel. The mental preparation seems to have been required.

Gee, I'm very interested in the metaphysical, and I've been wondering all along why I am so enamored with a game that is mostly played by fairly conventional guys, as far as I can tell. As you allude, it seems a good swing is a pretty fair ticket to a state of pure awareness.

Do you know Michael Murphy? I've just been rereading the Hogan bio where Dodson talks about how Murphy sensed his spiritual presence.

Well, Ron came by yesterday and had me smooth my swing out, and I was getting the same distance as earlier, but with no particular exertion on my part. Not as much as the day before when I was firing my core, though. Then he said, "now, if you want to add power, all you have to do is turn your hips, like this." He was showing me a move where the core stays soft, but there is great flex in the right hip and thigh, like pushing a car. I didn't get the timing of adding the hip drive, but I can tell it has the potential to generate at least as much distance as my move from the core. Probably more, stronger muscle group.

All of the experimentation has got me getting my weight through the ball better, though. The day before, I had softened up my knee to let it move back a little with the downswing, as well as toward the target. So, though I said consciously moving my left knee didn't work, freeing my knees up to let them move naturally did work. Naturally, you did good, Bill.

Here is my video --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxz2hZBE0WY

I tend to hit fades - in fact this video was a 7 iron about 160 yds that ended up the front right of the green. I would love to hit it straight. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. My handicap dropped to a 17.5 (from a 22 at the beginning of the year), so I am making progress, just need to hit it straighter...

Thanks for watching!

Ivan,

Thanks for posting your swing video. It looks like you have a pretty good base swing, Here's a couple thoughts I have

First off, the positives:
1) you have a pretty athletic stance which is good
2) I think you have good distance between your hands and your lower body. Some people have their hands to close to their body which makes it hard for the arms to come through properly on the downswing/follow-thru
3) It looks like your swing is nice and relaxed

Now some thoughts on things that might could be improved (and I ain't no expert...)
1) It looks like you get a lot of wrist cock very early in the take-away and the club head looks like it may be getting too far behind your body which could mean you have to bring the club back a bit over the top to get the clubhead back around.
2) It looks like your backswing is a bit abrreviated and you aren't making a full shoulder turn
3) Your beginning of your downswing "seems" to be a quick and sudden start rather than being at the same tempo
4) It doesn't look like you transfer your weight fully on your left side after your swing, and that you're keeping some weight more centered or on your right side.


So those are some observations. Others can comment more on what they see.

5) it's hard to tell since the recording was at a slight angle but your shoulders may be a little bit open at address. It wasn't clear if they were aligned with your lower body pointing down the target line or not.

I'm going to echo #5, we can't see the alignment relative to the target but it almost looks like you have a bit of an outside to in swing path, which would give you a fade...or the "hanging back" that Scott notes in #4 can give you that ball flight also. (I'm quite familiar with that problem!)
A good swing thought that my instructor uses for these type of short/mid iron shots is to keep the arms connected to the body.
I go to minute 0:09 and your arms are a bit disconnected.
You have good balance during the swing.
You do an excellent job of keeping your head down.

Scott and Aimee, thank you for your comments!

1) I need to watch the wrist cock thing. The other day at the range I tried a backswing with very little wrist cock in the takeaway and I was hitting nice straight drives. I need to practice it.
2) I am trying for an abbreviated backswing in an attempt for more control (i.e. straighter shots). I should get a straight on video as well to look at my shoulder turn).
3) I am sure I have issues with tempo. If I slow my swing down, then I tend to pull shots left. If I swing hard, I hit high fades/slices. What are good drills to work on for tempo?
4) I can definitely see that I am not shifting my weight on to my left side. On the course today, I tried Bill's tip from earlier in this thread of starting the downswing by driving my left knee towards the target. It seemed to help get me moved on to my left side. I think I am worried about sliding my hips through my swing, so maybe that is contributing to a lack of weight transfer.
5) I will watch my shoulders next time out.

I appreciate your comments! I am excited to get back out and try some things out.

I hope I am not overdoing it by posting these two additional videos from my round today.

Driver swing (I think this shot worked out good - it was straight but pulled left) --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p9695A5VcY

Good shot with a six iron on a par 3 --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd-ogEPwm2o

Thanks Ivan. Any chance you have one from the sort of a perpendicular angle to you?

From these, again a lot of the same things can be seen. With the driver it seems like you have a slightly more around your body/flat swing plane, which is fine. Just observation.


I think Bill could see more (Bill you around?) than I can but again, I'd work on not cocking your wrists so early and try to get your weight transfered to your left side.

Hi Ivan,

First of all, to go from a 22 hdcp. to a 17 in one season is very good. You obviously worked at it. You have a good golf swing, with decent fundamentals.

If I were to say anything to you, just from your posted videos, I would tell you to set all thought on the shelf and for now concentrate on your grip and the start of your swing.

I can tell from the angle of our hand, as you regrip at address, you are gripping the club in the palm of your hands as opposed to gripping it more in your fingers. By doing this, it makes it difficult to keep the club head square as you start your swing because "palming" your grip causes you to fan the club open when you start your swing. WHICH MEANS..... You're not breaking your wrists too soon on take away, you're fanning the club open. That's what causes your swing to be flat and "around your body" as opposed to staying on the swing plane.

Before trying anything else, pull your thumbs up a little (short thumbs instead of long thumbs) This will get the club more in your fingers and you will be able to take the club back without fanning it open at the beginning of your swing.

You never have to try breaking your wrists in your backswing, they will break at the right time automatically.

I hope I haven't confused the issue.

In short, all I wrote was.................Shorten up your thumbs and get the club more in your fingers. This will allow you to take the club back square, so your backswing will no longer be flat, and you will start hitting the ball on line.

Bill

Thanks for the suggestions Bill, I will give it a try! I have noticed that I have some wear in the palm of my glove, which is weird, because I try to grip the club in my fingers.

Also, working on moving to my left side has helped a bit. I hope fixing my grip will clean things up even more.

Scott, here are some straight on videos from a couple of weeks ago.

Driver - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGxSfzaSp4c
8 iron - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slSxkGfB5Tc