Hey all,

Never really posted in here but after 10 years or playing only a few times year, usually badly, I have the bug again and keen to improve.

I did play off mid to low single figures from junior and then carried on playing till mid 20's but then started travelling and my pretty good short game has suffered the most but my log game also is pretty inconsistent.

So when I was home in Scotland I bought new sticks and played a dozen or so times and really enjoyed it. Frustrating at times though. Actually really frustrating at times

So decided to video my swing at the range. Something I have ever done before. What a benefit it is having video footage to see the obvious mistakes.



Unfortunately my cameraman was pretty average But just about clear enough.

This was a few weeks ago now. So I knew I had a problem with my core/hips and was trying to keep it stronger there but didn't really get in my head that I was kind of collapsing my hips on the backswing thus my left knee bends and my right knee straightens and my head dips down and slightly forward.

Which as can see from the video makes me swing over the top and either pulling it or yahooing it right. Having said that I have been hitting the ball quite well and my timing seems there and most of my shots have been fades which I quite like. But this must surely be losing me distance and consistency so i'm trying to change it.

Oh and also I seem to be pushing out and up with my hands. I mean it's all linked really.

What I am wondering if anyone can advise me on drills that can get me to keep the angle of my hips and knees constant on the backswing and just focus my shoulder turn without dipping. Sounds easy and it is when just air swinging but diff story when I go to hit the ball. I guess I have been swinging like this when I do play for so long that hard to change.

Any advice/critique welcome

I may post some progress vids if can see any improvement. My golf season pretty much over but may go to the range sometimes if not too cold!

It looks like you might be chicken winging at impact. It's hard to tell from the down the line view. Also looks like you might be leaning forward at the top of your backswing as well.

Take a vid from the front as well. Camera seems fine, you just gotta angle it better, or go landscape with it next time.

This of course is just my opinion. YMMV. I see a pretty good swing. You have some good angles and some excellent flexibility which are great building blocks. The real issue/s I see revolves around your lower body not being active. In a nutshell you need to firm up your lower body to create some resistance against your upper body as the start of the downswing is initiated. Right now your right leg straightens at the top of the backswing allowing your weight to move to the outside of the foot. This creates a very upright position that nears an overswing and reverse pivot position at the top and relies on timing to hit the ball. If you simply focus on retaining a slight knee bend in the right knee and keeping your weight from moving to the outside of the right foot at the top of the backswing your swing should tighten up nicely and rely far less on timing to be consistant because the upper and lower bodies will now move in sync. The swing will feel short and more around your body at first but new the resistance between your upper and lower body will add both power and consistency once you have retimed the motion through repetition. It will also fix the spine angle issue the poster above noted which is being caused by the overswing.

Seems your takeaway is a bit inside then you lift a bit and guessing you don't get enough width in backswing. Looks kind of like your hips stall on backswing then shoulders but you are still going back with arms. Looks like you get way steep on downswing which you try to save by extending early. Need a face on to say for sure but I would guess there is some reverse pivot going on with a -AOA. Those kill distance with driver.

As far as the creating a bunch of resistance don't do that by restricting the hip turn on purpose.


I have no real teaching experience when it comes to golf so I might be totally wrong with all that.

To me it looks like you have good balance, which is great. I would recommend you spend most of your time hitting chips and build up from there.. First, short chips. Then, from there, 25%,, 50%, 75% and then 100% PW. Do something similar with the 9 iron, up until the 5 iron.. That's a better way to get back to your old form, in my opinion.

Good luck, and post some more vids.

Thanks all. Lots of good advice and much food for thought

I think pretty much everything you guys saying is correct. I will need to just focus on a couple of things and just hitting a few balls I am finding that if I focus on a good shoulder turn on the backswing while keeping my left shoulder level this stops me from dipping not straightening my right leg bending so much with my left. I actually have to have my left eye partially looking at my left shoulder to do this lol.

It feels rather alien so going to have to hit a bunch of balls and see how I get on. If that fails I will focus more on my legs like ntany has advised. Keeping that right knee flexed. But the way I am seeing it is that this and my pelvic over bend is a symptom of dipping my left shoulder. If I remember in my past playing when I feel like I have a good consistent shoulder turn that's when I`d play my best golf. Whether it be driver or wedge.

Looking at the vid again and has someone mentioned I get ridic steep half way up my backswing because of all this. No surprise I`m having problems. Although I was finding in the good rounds I played when my timing was there I was just hitting a nice fade which just starts of 10 yards or so left of target but as someone also said I will be losing distance and when timing goes slightly its a bloody disaster

@Simply I agree that starting off with low irons and building up the swing from there would be a good approach. When I was younger I was pretty small and skinny and as I didn't hit a long ball my short irons and short game was really good compared with other players of similar handicap. I have lost that mostly so starting off with short irons will not only help my swing but maybe get some of better accuracy again with pitching.

The hope and optimism of improving keeps a golfer going I guess

If I get to the range and practice all of this I`ll post some more vids.

Just one other thing I am thinking. I would not say I am over swinging. I think my arms/club position at the top is quite good but albeit that's the only thing about my backswing that's good atm. But because my head has moved forward and body dipped I am naturally trying to correct my body position on the downswing to hit the ball which makes me come over the top and fading the ball.

I'd quite like to keep the shape of my shots but if I fix things with my shoulder/head dip then I will probably draw the ball if anything as i'm swinging flatter when doing this. Which is ok as long as consistent. I can work on the shape of the shot once i'm swinging better.

Will see how it goes

I should also ad there are plenty of good players who straighten the right knee like that. I personally don't like it as it really isn't an athletic position and the bend has to comeback in to use the ground.

I am also a bit over the top, usually 1-3 degrees which in a perfect world isn't ideal but sometimes you just go with it. This big issue is getting steep when I am off then it goes bad fast.

You can still fade the ball without being over the top so don't worry about all that.

Have fun, I started golfing again 3 or 4 years ago after averaging 1 or 2 times a year for like 8 years, gets addicting fast.

Yeah defo agree about getting too steep. That's what happens to me when my timing is off. It's ugly lol. I will go ahead and try these swing changes which will hopefully help my worst shots not be so bad.

Yeah its funny, I fell out of luv for the game after playing so much as a junior but nice to have the golf bug again

Group of old school friends organised a trip to Portugual next year which is kinda spurred it on. Some nice courses there.

Sounds awesome. It's awesome that golf and travel really go together. Azores or mainland?

Nice take pictures.

I never played a ton as a kid in California, mostly tennis but moved to Ohio and can play good courses for like 25% the cost of San Diego.

This is the resort we have booked. The Faldo Oceanico course looks really nice.

http://www.amendoeiraresort.com/golf...-faldo-course/

Not till end of next August so lots of time to practice during net season before heading out

Hey guys,

Was a lovely day in Budapest yesterday so decided to go round the city course with gf. Seemed better idea than stressing myself playing poker

I should have been on the range but fancied seeing the course and has great views over the city. Basically a 9 hole pitch and putt with 3 short par 4's.

Anyway, I tried to work on what we were talking about. I didn't really focus on my head dipping and the increase in hip/pelvic angle as I've done that for so many years would probably have missed the ball lol. So focused on a better shoulder turn around my body as opposed to pushing out and up with my hands.

I saw a tip from Mark Crossfield about making sure to turn and clear the right shoulder also on the backswing which seems to have helped a lot as I think before as one of you mentioned my right arm/shoulder was getting a bit stuck.

Still getting over a neck injury that's probably going to take more physio and fitness so got to get motivated and quite the laziness to get it sorted during the winter as it's affecting me in general and defo isn't helping my golf :/

Anyway though would post a few vids if anyone interested. Let me know if you think improvement and what would be best to work on next thanks





for lols and view of city



I didn't make em all though.

your game looks sharp!

Thanks although I feel like I have a long way to go with fitness and consistency but I think defo made some improvements so quite happy about that.