Ben's Swing

[BenM]

Complete with crappy iPhone video, with phone sitting on my bag.







Critique away. I'm currently off 13 (just - 12.5) and think my ball striking is a little above average for a player at that level, my short game is probably worse than average which cancels that out!

It has been an interesting exercise to watch it on video actually. The first thing I noticed is that I am hunching over a bit too much and my stance is a little wide. That's a 5 iron I'm hitting in the above videos....

[razaar]

Ben
If I'd seen your swing without knowing your h'cap, I would have guessed between 10 and 15 h'cap. I said guess because of your takeaway action - the clubface fans open. If you use a similar action in your short game (and most golfers do) then you will find it difficult to get below 10. The golf swing is an under and up action in the upswing (backswing) and a down and out action in the forward swing. When the clubface fans open prematurely in the backswing the hands and club are effectively working downwards while the arms are working upwards. In effect it is performing one motion and its opposite in the one action. An efficient action is not to fan the clubface but keep it looking at the ball until the roll of the forearms occur about waist high when the right elbow is forced to bend. The same hand action applies in the short game. There is a heck of alot more to it but that is a simple explanation.

[BenM]

Thanks for the feedback razaar - that's a good pickup. Our range isn't long enough to hit a driver but I would've liked to post some footage of my driver swing. I've probably been struggling with that the most, and when I have been hitting it well I've had the feeling I've been keeping the face squarer for longer in my takeaway, as a result my swing is straighter through the ball (rather than an inside-square-inside arc with the impact at square ideally) when I get it right. Just wish I could get it right more often, but I'll keep working on it.

I've been trying to maintain that feeling whereever I can with my driver, but haven't consciously tried to change anything with my iron swing. It's scary enough trying to do it with the driver, as my usual shape is a draw and my hands tend to be quick - it makes me feel like like I am risking turning it over and hitting a big hook.

[BenM]

Well here we are almost 2 years later and not long after the above videos were taken I managed to get my handicap down to 6 for a few months and play really well for a while. Then something broke and from sort of early-mid 2013 I had a very rough time of it and my handicap has now come back out to where I started, hovering around a playing handicap of 12-13. Which is really frustrating, I feel like I have a much better short game than what I did back then but my ball striking has got worse.

I am now so desperate I am going to have a lesson on Saturday, something I've never done in about 20 years of playing golf, on and off.

Anyway I bashed a heap of balls on the weekend and took some video - here is a bit of a mashup of heaps of swings, mostly driver and long irons and fairway woods.

My miss lately is a big pull or even snap hook left from coming over the top. You will probably see a few bad swings in the vid.... But it was a really interesting exercise. Couple of things I noticed:

- I am still tending to setup closed (even though I am very conscious of it!)
- My left arm tends to collapse at the top of my backswing
- Maybe my grip is a little weak, particularly left hand with driver

Basically, I am just all over the place. I need help!!!

[mrbluu]

Looks like your left wrist is bowed in the latest video. Also your arms look like the are a lot higher than what it used to be. It will be interesting to see what the pro says.

[Coldtopper]

Our range isn't long enough to hit a driver but I would've liked to post some footage of my driver swing.

It makes no difference what club you are swinging your swing will be the be same. A few little flaws in the swing in the set up being posture, grip position that impact on your rotation. Best advice is get a few lessons from a good pro and work on that only. The fundamentals of your swing are good so dont be afraid to spend a few $$ getting lessons that Im sure this will have you going better than a 6 handicap

[BenM]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Yeah I am going to be really interested to see what the lesson brings as well, the guy has had pretty good results with a mate of mine so I am hoping to achieve similar improvement - will post another video once some of the changes are taking effect.

It's amazing the difference it makes seeing the video. I KNOW I setup closed especially when I'm playing bad and was really trying to be conscious of it during the session, but still did it. And I never would've picked a weak left hand grip up without looking at it. What bad habits we pick up.

I've also been trying to keep my hands further forward at setup and it's screwed with my iron game, although it's coming good now. But with driver, I feel like I am getting them way too far forward but from the video I'm still not far enough - it's scary because I'm already hitting bit mishits left, and I feel like with my hands forward I'll pull it even further.

My pull has gotten much much worse since I changed to the X2 hot driver which now that I have looked at the specs makes sense, it has a draw bias which gets progressively bigger with higher loft. I have it set at 12.5 degrees and square at the moment - definitely going to adjust it and open the face before tomorrow's game. Obviously it won't fix the swing flaw that causes the big pull straight left but it should make it easier for me to not hit the high pull draw OB like I did (twice) on Saturday!

[TheNuclearOne]

I'm no expert but i'm seeing steep and a bit laid off at the top, maybe a bit of a closed clubface too. I reckon he will get you swinging more around the body. He will very definitely change your iron setup.

[Daves]

Needs to be flatter at the top, OTT through impact. Welcome to our world!

[TheNuclearOne]

Backswing plane was good in the first vid of the thread, way different.

[BenM]

I'm sure I used to swing more round the body (esp with longer clubs) when I was playing well.

[Hux]

I'm no expert but i'm seeing steep and a bit laid off at the top, maybe a bit of a closed clubface too. I reckon he will get you swinging more around the body. He will very definitely change your iron setup.

That's what it looked like to me too.

In the side on shots I can't quite tell if the left arm is breaking down or not. Overswing trying to make up for lack of rotation?
Only saying cause it looks like video of my own swing when I start to go back to my old habits.

[LarryLong]

I think you need to try to hit it harder. Get angry.

[TheNuclearOne]

I'm sure I used to swing more round the body (esp with longer clubs) when I was playing well.

Look at the first video at the top of the page, then look at the now. You were flatter with an iron back then than you actually are with a driver now. You're having to set up closed with the ball well back with irons to compensate. At right angles to the mat the ball is all but off your right heel, but right angles to your closed stance it'd be more mid i reckon. Bloody nice tempo, i reckon you'll be killing it after a good lesson and plenty of practise to get flatter.

Be interesting to see what Virge reckons. Can't see why a guy like yourself couldn't get comfortably into single figures barring short game yips or something.

[TheNuclearOne]

Very interested to see how the lesson goes mate.

[Scifisicko]

Nice tempo and some other good things, you must have bloody good hand eye to have got to 6 with so much vertical movement. You stand up through the back swing and hips move towards the ball on the downswing. Spine angle is all over the place and lower spine nearly vertical at impact, nothing like it was at address. You need to start the downswing by turning your hips while maintaining your spine angle, not thrusting your hips at the ball. By impact your hips are still pretty much square to the target, they should be way open (and not have moved closer to the ball). I have the same faults. How hard can we make it!?

[BenM]

Well, the lesson was interesting.

I told him I have alignment issues and often inadvertently setup closed. Then he watched me hit some balls, with feet pointed about 60m right of target but shoulders closer to square to it. Even when conscious of it I still don't get it right. Great start.

So we are fixing my setup first of all... It feels very strange - like my feet are way open and shoulders open again to the target but they are actually square. I'm tending to hit it straighter with that setup which is a good sign.

Have changed my take away a bit too so that it is a bit more inside/round my body, and trying to attack the ball from the inside more too. With the changes swing and that setup it's very hard to come over the top and hit the pull / smother hook I've been hitting.

It's only a small change right now but once I'm striking the ball a bit more consistently we might change it a bit more I think.

Couple of other points he made, I have almost no shoulder turn, so my swing is very armsy and that's probably why my left arm is tending to break down.

My hands are very high and angle of attack into the ball is too steep - which is one reason for my lower ball flight but also the inconsistency.

I do need a little posture change, just a little more angle towards the ball so my hands can hang a bit more freely and to help get a bit more shoulder turn but it's not too bad at the moment - one thing at the time.

While the position of the club at the top might not look textbook I don't think we're going to change that for the medium term - ultimately it doesn't matter that much, what matters is whether the club face is square at impact.

It was really good to see it on an iPad with a few pretty lines on it to show line of shoulders, feet, plane, angles etc. It really doesn't need radical change - just tweaks. I was convinced enough to buy a pack of lessons and make sure I go back.

Going out tomorrow for a pre-pennant practice hit with some of the other pennant teams so will be really interesting to see if l can work on those little changes and hit it a bit straighter.

[BenM]

Instant results too. Played a practice round today (started off 10) - http://bit.ly/Q2JUoQ - shot 82 off the beater with 3 doubles, a triple, and 2 birdies. Was 2 over through 10 after the birdie on 1 then kinda fell apart a bit, but finished strongly and drained a nice 20 footer for bird on 9.

The ugly lefts came back a bit on 3/5/6 (old habits die hard) but I hit more fairways than I have in ages. Irons were a bit off and had a couple of silly 3 jags.

Just gotta keep working on the setup until it feels natural again.

[TheNuclearOne]

Great stuff. Looks like you're very much on the right track.