Courty's swing

[Courty]

Have a laugh here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb2sVkQz9zw).

Man, this is the first time I've seen my own swing :shock:. It's not quite how I pictured it... :-s
I'd appreciate any constructive criticism.

[PeteyD]

Man those are some ugly pants.

[Courty]

Some thoughts:

• It looks to me like I'm not breaking my wrists early enough.

• I can now see that the club isn't quite where it should be at the top of the backswing. The scary thing is that I have consciously flattened it out recently.

• I like the straight spine, but it looks to me like I am bent down too far. Could be a side-effect of using clubs that are too short, and/or with incorrect lie angle.

• Something else I'm working on is maintaining spine angle through contact, which appears to be not quite there yet.

[Courty]

Man those are some ugly pants.

:smt019

What's wrong with my Target boardies? :(

[goughy]

It does seem like your really crouching to get the club down to the ball. Could be a club length issue, or maybe you have the ball too far away.

I don't think that breaking the wrists too late in the swing would be an issue. Some break them early, others have the club almost parallel to the ground before they break.

[Ducky]

Courty,

First thing I want to request is that you upload the original AVI/MPG file, as the YouTube player doesn't not allow frame-by-frame playback. Anyway, here is what I can see.

1) As you briefly mentioned above, your posture is quite athletic (i.e. straight spine with the hands hanging below the shoulders) but your knees are flexed too much.

This may be due to your clubs being too short (it appears as if it is a short iron anyway), but I can see at least one inch of vacant grip above your left hand.

Try bending more from the hips and relocating your hands further up your grip.

2) On your takeaway (and backswing in general) you are closing the clubface. As you reach the top of your backswing, you will notice the clubface is almost pointing directly at the sky (i.e. closed position). Ideally, you want the clubface to have an angle of 45 degrees in relation to the ground.

If you can square (when I say 'square' I mean marginally open) the clubface at impact, then its not too much of a concern. However, if you find yourself turning over shots, you may want to get into the habit of rolling your forearms clockwise during your takeaway.

In regards to the downswing, I would like to see it frame-by-frame before commenting.

You look like a unit. How tall are you? I am thinking 6'4?

[McMw]

clubface way too shut on the way back...do u hit ground balls with the driver and long irons, and blocks with the short irons???
my fren has the same problem...but he falls back on his follow thru - your follow thru looks sweet...wish I had that!!! :D

a good pre-shot routine to follow is Mike Weir's...take it back to waist height and make sure the toe is pointing up, instead of to the front...

as for the excessive knee bent at address, this could lead to you being cramped on the downswing or thru POI....prob rely on a lot of hand/eye coordination to flush it!!!

find a pro-golfer similar to your size/height and have a look at their setup... :D

[goughy]

I think you may find several pro who keep the clubface shut on the way back, justin leonard I think is one. This is infact something I have been working on to a degree, feeling as if I am hooding the clubface in that part of the backswing. You may find it is one of the things used to fight a slice.

[goughy]

OK, just looked at leonards swing again and yours is a bit more hooded.

[Keza_G]

Courtmeister,

I reckon Ducky has said most of the things I spoke about in chat... :)

[AndyP]

Man those are some ugly pants.
I believe he had constructive in bold. If you had of said "You need to buy some new pants", then it would have been okay.

[Courty]

First thing I want to request is that you upload the original AVI/MPG file.

I'll get to that later. Got a bunch of stuff to do this morning (setting up our new Mac Pro (http://www.apple.com/macpro/). :twisted:


As you briefly mentioned above, your posture is quite athletic (i.e. straight spine with the hands hanging below the shoulders) but your knees are flexed too much.

As it should, being that I am a fine specimen of an athlete. ;)


This may be due to your clubs being too short (it appears as if it is a short iron anyway), but I can see at least one inch of vacant grip above your left hand.

It is a 9-iron (what I always use when I go to the park to hit balls). They are standard lie & length, and I have always gripped down a little, not sure why, just always have.


Try bending more from the hips and relocating your hands further up your grip.

Will do.


If you can square (when I say 'square' I mean marginally open) the clubface at impact, then its not too much of a concern.

I can, so it's not a huge issue for me at the moment.


You look like a unit. How tall are you? I am thinking 6'4?

I'll take that as a back-handed compliment. I am a 6'3" unit.


clubface way too shut on the way back...do u hit ground balls with the driver and long irons, and blocks with the short irons???

No I don't.


your follow thru looks sweet...wish I had that!!! :D

I find that the follow through is just a matter of balance. I always thought that I must be pretty close to on the right plane if I could hold the finish easily. Apparently I was wrong. :???:


I think you may find several pro who keep the clubface shut on the way back, justin leonard I think is one. This is infact something I have been working on to a degree, feeling as if I am hooding the clubface in that part of the backswing.

Interesting. I'll see if I can find a swing vid of his.


You may find it is one of the things used to fight a slice.

You're onto something here, Goughy. When I started playing again seriously( 6 or 7 years ago, I had a HUUUUUGE slice problem caused by flying right arm, and incorrect body rotation. Ever since then, I have had a phobia of even the gentlest fade.


I reckon Ducky has said most of the things I spoke about in chat... :)

No dramas, thanks for your input, Keza.


I believe he had constructive in bold. If you had of said "You need to buy some new pants", then it would have been okay.

I selected a neutral grey pair so as to not clash with any other part of my outfit. It could have been worse, I could have worn jeans! :razz:

[Jono]

Good athletic swing, Courty. I bet you get the ball out there. 8)

Just a quick 2 cents from me ...

Others have mentioned it already, but your address position looks too crouched. Your knee flex is a bit too much but your back is pretty straight. I would stand a bit taller with less knee bend. I think the club is a bit too short for you and the lie angle is also too flat. You might want to try 0.5 to 1 inch longer clubs and make the lie angle 1 to 2 degrees more upright. That way, you can stand a bit taller with the hands a bit higher.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/4374/addressji0.jpghttp://img83.imageshack.us/img83/963/impactas2.jpg

See how you stand up through impact? If you have less knee flex at address, your address and impact positon should match up a bit more.

The other thing you can work on is your swing plane. Have a look at your hand position at the top compared to followthrough.

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/4826/topfl0.jpghttp://img83.imageshack.us/img83/5543/thruwc3.jpg

Your hands are way higher on the throughswing than at the top. They should match up a bit more. I think your hands could be a little bit higher at the top. More on top of the right shoulder rather than behind it.

If you work on matching up the address position and impact position a bit more, and also matching up the hand positions at the top and through swing a bit more, I think you'll find that other things follow as a result. For example, you'll probably find that you don't need to hood the club as much going back.

All in all, a good athletic swing.

[Trung]

Coach Jono.. Hcp 9?
Pupil Courty.. Hcp 7?

At our golf hacking level, shouldn't the coach be lower than the pupil? :confused:

[Jono]

Coach Jono.. Hcp 9?
Pupil Courty.. Hcp 7?

At our golf hacking level, shouldn't the coach be lower than the pupil? :confused:

I'm sure Courty will use what he thinks is useful and filter out what he thinks is useless. ;)

BTW, it's 8. 8)

[BrisVegas]

you don't necessarily need to be a great golfer to understand good swing mechanics.

[Courty]

you don't necessarily need to be a great golfer to understand good swing mechanics.

You beat me to it, Dion.

I think I have a pretty decent understanding of the mechanics involved. The only problem was I couldn't see my own swing to apply what I know. I can now see the problems and agree with Ducky & Jono. I think some club-fitting might be in order too.

[McMw]

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/4826/topfl0.jpg

this is the only pic that looks "weird"...
it's like u're trying to fight the flying elbow or something along that line...
can't quite figure it out... :confused:

[BrisVegas]

yeah I'd be very surprised if you didn't need at least 1/2 inch long, probably an inch, in your irons. You're a little taller than me and that's the fitting I need.

Looking at your top-of-backswing position, I can't imagine my body ever getting there!!! Somewhere between you and me is "the slot".

[Courty]

yeah I'd be very surprised if you didn't need at least 1/2 inch long, probably an inch, in your irons. You're a little taller than me and that's the fitting I need.

It probably doesn't help that I grip an inch or so down anyhow. I'll go back down & hit some more this afternoon, see if I can't fix some of these problems. I think tomorrow is a 4BBB again, so I'm not too worried if I screw my swing up a bit whilst trying to find 'the slot'.

[Trung]

Guys.. it was just a light jab at Jono... ;)

[Courty]

Good athletic swing, Courty. I bet you get the ball out there.

I definitely seem to hit the irons longer than most of the guys I play with regularly. I expect to hit a well-struck 7-iron about 155m on the fly.


The other thing you can work on is your swing plane. Have a look at your hand position at the top compared to followthrough.

Your hands are way higher on the throughswing than at the top. They should match up a bit more. I think your hands could be a little bit higher at the top. More on top of the right shoulder rather than behind it.

If you work on matching up the address position and impact position a bit more, and also matching up the hand positions at the top and through swing a bit more, I think you'll find that other things follow as a result. For example, you'll probably find that you don't need to hood the club as much going back.

This is something I hadn't noticed (height of hands at backswing vs. follow-through). Definitely something to work on.


I'm sure Courty will use what he thinks is useful and filter out what he thinks is useless. ;)

Damn straight. ;)

Some things I will be working on initially:

Address: less knee flex/ more bend at waist/ move hands higher up the grip

Backswing: break wrists a little earlier/ hands higher and above right shoulder/ flatten shaft angle at top/ find 'the slot'

Throughswing: pretty happy with this part at the moment. Will see if any of the other changes affect this area.

[Ducky]

So... hows it going?

[Courty]

Well, whaddaya know. Making an adjustment to my grip has inadvertently corrected the hooded clubface and caused my position at the top to correct itself.
Hogan's Five Fundamentals strikes again!

[Ducky]

Nothing can open up your clubface like a weak grip with excessive palm positioning.

:shock:

[Courty]

Calling AndyP/ Jarro/ Poidda...

How did you see my swing last week in comparison with the video at the start of this thread?

[AndyP]

I'm no swing analyst, but the one thing that stands out to me about your swing is how far you take the club back or more how far you don't take it back.

[Jarro]

looks about the same as it does in the video Courty.

[Courty]

I'm no swing analyst, but the one thing that stands out to me about your swing is how far you take the club back or more how far you don't take it back.

How's that? Is it a long way short of parallel?

[AndyP]

Yes, that's what I meant. And it wasn't a negative comment (or positive). Just something that stands out.

[Courty]

And it wasn't a negative comment (or positive). Just something that stands out.

That's how I understood it (an observation). It's a part of my swing I never really thought about I suppose.

[Jono]

So besides the grip adjustment, did you make any other changes?

[Jarro]

So besides the grip adjustment, did you make any other changes?


It seems he has developed a very pronounced pause :shock:

[Courty]

So besides the grip adjustment, did you make any other changes?

I tried a bunch of stuff to address the crouching issue, but all it does is destabilise me.

[Courty]

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc228/djweswill/OMG-HES-BACK.gif

[Ned]

Video ? :-k

[Courty]

Video ? :-k

It probably doesn't look much different to the old one. The adjustment I've made that has (seemingly) corrected my ball-striking woes was a minor one which isn't visible.

[haysey]

Hasn't really changed much. Just the bloke swinging the club weighs more now:mrgreen:

[Courty]

Hasn't really changed much. Just the bloke swinging the club weighs more now:mrgreen:
:-#

[haysey]

:smt056:smt039

[Ned]

What Haysey is really saying is that you now have the ability to set up a more stable and robust swing Courty!!!!!!!!!!!!!:wink:

[haysey]

What Haysey is really saying is that you now have the ability to set up a more stable and robust swing Courty!!!!!!!!!!!!!:wink:



What he said Chubby Courty:mrgreen:

[Courty]

Wankers. It's my way of lowering my centre of gravity. ;)

[Ned]

Wankers. It's my way of lowering my centre of gravity. ;)

Noice....................give some quality, genuine, unconditional feedback and look at how its received!!!!!


:lol:

[Courty]

http://www.ozgolf.net/showthread.php/19432-Courty-s-****ed-up-swing.-Help-needed!?p=495758#post495758 :roll: