Hi,

Inconsistency in the long game has been holding me back this year, so I want to work on my swing over the winter to get it into shape.

When I hit the ball well, it goes very straight with little side spin. With the driver, I have a bad habit of hitting a low blocking hook, with a rare high super-wide slice. My long irons tend to end up short (Generally distance is okay up to 7 iron, but I have trouble hitting 4 to 6 iron pure enough to get it to carry over 150 yards).

Here's driver and 8-iron down the line and face on. Normal speed:


Slow motion:


I can see that my left arm is bending in backswing and that I'm over-extending clubhead at top of swing.

Any help appreciated. Thanks.

This snapshot from the dtl driver video, seems to demonstrate the block hook happening.

First, if you are serious about making drastic changes then I would start by googling "the correct grip" and there are good youtube videos that demonstrate it. No matter how weird it feels it will eventually feel natural.

Now, for the swing part.

Look how tall you are standing in that snapshot at impact. Your spine is almost vertical. Then look at the angle of your spine at address. As soon as you start your downswing your hips start to move towards the ball and your head starts to move away from the ball. That is making you pull your whole upper body away from the ball including your hands and arms which is why your shot starts left and curves even more left. You're basically standing straight up as you swing down. This is BAD. It's your subconscious trying to help lift the ball into the air and be more powerful. Its a false sense of power, it makes you lose power. It also causes you to have a steep angle of attack.

I'm not a "drill guy", I hate most drills. I'm a "feel guy", but you can put your rump against a wall and make swings at home without a club and your rear should never loose contact with the wall. Or set your bag up behind you at the range and push your rear against that and hit balls without losing contact with the bag. Also try to keep your head from moving up or back. Check yourself with video.

As far as the feel goes, I say try to feel like you are at bat playing baseball and you are trying to hit a looper to right field. Purposly swing the club to the right, even after impact, like you are trying to hit it as close to the right field line as possible while keeping the clubface square to your target or maybe slightly open (experiment with this, yes, I said open. It looks like you set up with the face closed slightly. Bad idea.). You want to feel like you're extending your arms straight out down that line after impact. Let your body turning be what pulls the club around you, not you using your arms to pull the club around you.

If you can put those two things together (maintain your spine angle & swing to the right), you'll have a good place to start I think.

And yes, I think you swing the club back WAY too far. With an iron I'd like to see you stop your backswing at :41 in the slow mo video. You will gain so much consistency in your ball striking as well as consistent distance.

awesome post, Suit.

what suit said

after you get your grip sorted the biggest thing you need to work on are the basics of a nice athletic set-up at address. Check out video link below.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Py9jNZxbiU


A swing like yours is in there...!! There are tons of these types of vids on you tube.

Grip looks fine to be honest. Strong is the way to go.

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

An instructor looked at my grip several years ago and said it was fine, so I didn't realize anything was wrong with it. Thanks for the heads up, I'll start youtubing.

This is one thing I've been actively wondering about. At times, I try pressing my hands forward toward the target to try and keep the clubface from closing too quickly, but I wondered if that was manipulating the clubface, and ultimately a bad idea. Sounds like that's what I should be trying to do.

I've been trying to keep my back straight, but, looking at that video, I can see I have lots of work still to do to get a decent posture. Thanks.

Thanks. Could anyone clarify on what they see wrong in my grip?

I can't post pics ATM, but as was said it is a bit strong. It really isn't "bad". It just isn't the ideal grip. By strong, we mean that your hands (right hand for sure) are rotated too far to the right side of the grip. You would need to rotate them counter-clockwise to get them more neutral. It looks to me like from your view looking down at your grip, your right thumb is right on top of the shaft at 12 o'clock. It should be on the left side of it, more like 10 o'clock. With your hands more on the right side of the shaft it makes it easier for you to close the clubface as you swing compared to being able to open it. With a neutral grip you can open or close it equally. A strong grip will tend to make you hit hooks more so.

Check this link out. has a pic of strong vs weak vs neutral grip. http://www.golfeneur.com/how-to-choo...e-of-golfgrip/
Just use that link for the pic. I didn't read anything it says so take it for what it's worth.

Pressing your hands forward as you say is important, not to keep from closing the face to fast, but to help get a better strike on the ball. A swing thought I use is to feel like my hands get to my lead thigh before or at the same time as the clubface gets to the ball. This is a good thought for you as you do have a little issue of flipping your wrists at impact, but that isn't near as big of a problem as the other stuff. Yet...

One thing I will note about what I said earlier about you standing up through the downswing is... Take a look at your slo mo video with an iron down the line looking towards the target. At the start of your swing put your mouse pointer or something over your hands. Then pause the video at impact. Notice where your hands are compared to where they were at address. They are a good 4 inches higher and maybe 6 inches more towards the ball. In effect you are steepening the plane or standing the clubshaft up. This is all caused by the standing up through the downswing. They should be very close to the same place at address and impact. I believe it goes along with this Check out that video. Its a great place to start. I think you start with your rear end too far back and you bend over too much to compensate. Try standing more upright to start and a little closer to the ball with a straight back. Not straight up and down, just straight as in not curved.

Yeah, I always have my two thumbs pointed down at 12oclock. I'll try adjusting.

It's pretty obvious and dramatic now that you mention it, but looking at the video myself I didn't notice that at all.

I've already tried a few tips in that posture video. I can see I have plenty of things I need to work on.

Thanks Suit, fantastic advice. It's really going to help me out.

Fwiw I think he's standing up because he's set up way too close to the ball. His brain knows it won't work and is compensating. Weight appears to be totally in the heels and I think hands are a little too close to the body. Just very cramped overall.

Thanks, I guess that aligns with what some others are saying about posture.

With the driver he may be standing a little too close, but with the 8i I'd say he's fine. I'd suggest standing a little more upright rather than further away. And yes, not so much on the heels.

Won't get in the middle of this while you're working on tips you've received, but overall you have a pretty decent action for a 24 handicap. A few tweaks here and there and you could be shooting in the 70's I bet.

I agree about shortening your swing. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. I think if you work on hitting short chips for an extended period of time, you will improve your take away, and have an easier time with shortening your swing. Depends how dedicated you are.

Nice avatar, lok2thabrain, lol

It looks to me like you are getting too much weight outside of your right foot as opposed to keeping the power on the inside of it.

Hello, I have watched your swing vid a couple of times now and i think i can help you with your swing

Firstly your comment about hitting all your irons good up to the 7 iron is where you can solve your problem with your overall game, That is because with your 6,5,4,3 irons you cant generate enough spin to keep the ball in the air because of your club being so shut through the back/down swing

If you pause your videos at the top of every swing you will see the clubface pointing towards the sky, at this point of the swing you should have the clubface pointing at '4:30' (think of a clock face with 12:00 being directly up, which would be a shut clubface, 6:00 being directly down, and 3:00 being in between) when i say clubface i really mean where the toe of the club should be pointing.

with your current swing now the only way for you to get the club back to square is if you fire your hips open early in the downswing to compensate for your shut clubface at impact.

the comment about your grip being too strong is also true, i would recommend you to 'weaken' up your top hand to where your in the position to swing you can only see 2-3 knuckles on your top hand.

i think if you work on these tips you will be fine and will be able to drop shots in no time at all, if you need any more help dont hesitate to PM me

+1 to looking up information on proper grip. Until you have that fundamental piece fixed, everything else is literally just fighting against it. Problems in golf swings come in twos. There is the initial problem, and there is the "bandaid" that you've put on that initial problem to try to get the club to a good position at impact. Once you fix the real problem, then you have to get rid of the bandaid.

If you don't fix the root of the problem, you're going to end up with twenty seven bandaids and who knows what the result will be

Thanks guys. I've changed my grip and a few other things. Want to work a bit more on the current changes, then I'll video myself again and post it and see if I still have the problems mentioned by kryan and others later in the thread.

Okay, I've changed my grip and tried to implement most of what was suggested in this thread. I seem to be hitting the ball much better, so thanks for all the help so far.

What's the verdict on the new swing? Worthwhile improvement?

What do I have to work on next?

3 wood and 8-iron down the line and face on (quick shot of my grip at end). Normal speed:


Slow motion:

wow, that swing looks much much better.......... hadn't seen this thread before but the old swing seemed very very cramped.

i am not a huge fan of taking tons of lessons but one thing lessons pointed out to me that i never ever would have figured out on my own was set-up posture. your back looks nice and straight now.

i think your swing action/posture/etc. looks alot like my swing when i see it on tape. EDIT: ok, i asked a 3rd party. our swings aren't that similar but i thought they were.

Looks like quite the improvement from the first swing vids you posted. I bet you're hitting the ball a lot better.

1) Still standing up on the downswing. Not near as much as before though so keep woking on that. I think the key here for you may be to concentrate on 2 things. First, when you start your downswing you want that left hip to be turning and moving backwards. It looks like as you straighten your left leg it is pushing your left hip up rather than back. Second, you seem to stop turning your shoulders prior to impact. Mainly I look at your right shoulder in the slow mo vid and it seems to almost pause just before impact. That shoulder is your driving force and it gives you a lot of power in the shot. Keep that shoulder moving through impact. Keep it moving down towards the ball and let your arms straighten out after impact instead of at impact. It looks like the club is pulling your shoulders around after impact and i think that you mentally trying to keep that right shoulder powering through impact will fix that also.

2) On your takeaway you keep the clubface closed. I'm not sure what makes you do it or if it really even matters that much because you seem to get it back on track by the downswing. But I'd like to see you get "wider" on the takeaway. Pause the slow mo video at 0:54 when your hands are at 9 o'clock. Your left arm is bent and should be straight. You should be trying to keep your hands as far away from your body as bossible for as long as possible.

Good work. Keep it up and I think you'll keep improving fast. #1 is far more important than #2, but Those are the things I see that may help you the most for now.

Thanks for the responses. It seemed to me to be a good improvement, but glad to get the confirmation that I'm moving in the right direction.

Thanks, Suit, for guidance on what to work on next. Really clear instructions and I can see how they'll help my swing move to the next level.