Background: Been playing about 15 months, progressed quickly now have hit a wall around a 10. I'm interested in any comments, thanks guys

http://files.filefront.com/MVI+1641A.../fileinfo.html

Not a fan of all the lateral head movement to start the backswing and especially the downswing. Camera is moving all over but look at your head relative to the white support post in the background. More movement = more compensations.

A steady camera would be nice, try a tripod next time.

cliche' but your right elbow is way up/out at the top, looks like there's a lot of tilt in your shoulders at the top, a level, more around swing could be beneficial

First of all, that's a pretty decent action, a lot of reall good things in the swing.

It looks to me like you overemphasize the low slow takeaway. This is pulling your chest and head down and to the right (left as we watch). This leads you to having to lift the club with your shoulders, which is not only likely sapping you of power but is functionally poor and could lead to injury in the future.

To work on this simply feel your low takeaway is working away from your sternum to create the width you are after, rather than away from the ball. If your chest and head follow your hands down and away, you are creating more width in relation to the ball, but you haven't created any width in your body, and you only succeed in moving the bottom of your swing.



^^You can see there how low your chest is, and how it appears you have no neck.



I have a similar build to you I guess. Just compare the chest and shoulder positions.

I'm sure if you work on this it will give you more power and control consistently, because you move the club really well imo. It will also eliminate most of the lateral movement of the head.

thanks a lot guys. thisname, are you saying that I lead the swing with my hands and then my body rotates instead of the other way around? also, i've always dragged the club along the ground, then up.....would moving my takeaway closer to the swing plane improve consistancy or should I just stick with what I've got.

I'm so tilted right now, made a long ass reply with pics and ****, and kjshdhasgdgasidg lost it due to some BS freeze in my connection to 2p2. Hyachachacha!!

In a nut shell what I suggest you work on is this.....

Take your normal address position without a club, put your hands behind your back and interlock them. Staying grounded (which you do quite well in your swing atm) allow your chest to reach up between your right ear and shoulder, while gently pushing your hands down behind you. This should give you 45 deg. of turn and is how you want to take the club back. You don't need to turn your shoulders at all, you have one on either side of your chest, simply allow the chest to spiral up and behind you, allowing the club to pull your shoulders. This keeps all the big muscles (chest/back/shoulders) working as a unit.

Pay particular attention to how your shoulders feel with this exercise and how much space you have between ribs and hips. This will help keep length in your spine.



Darren Clarke has a low takeaway yet his chest is nice and high here and his shoulders are passive to this point in the swing.

GL.

I'll be happy to answer any other questions you have on this, and other things.

Be good to see a down the line view also.

Sorry if I'm being dense, but what do you mean by passive shoulders? The muscles not being taut? I just don't grasp what you're trying to teach me. also, I'll get a down the line as soon as I can thanks again

You're not being dense, I probably explained it better in my first effort than I did in my rushed second attempt at posting.

By passive shoulders, I want you to not lift them up which squashes your Traps/ Neck, and is generally going to lead to a loss of power, and possibly rotator cuff injury if you were to play a lot of golf and practice a lot with that action.

The loss of power results from the fact that if your lifting your shoulders using the shoulder muscles, the you aren't using the big muscles in your back to support your chest, and likely getting all of your rotation in the upper spine, rather than the turn initiating in the lower spine as it should. Again this could give you back trouble down the line if you hit a lot of balls this way.

Your scapula should stay close together throughout the swing, and if they aren't close together at address (which it looks like they're not) you obviously wont be able to keep your chest up.

I hope that clarifies rather than further confuses. It's never easy trying to give advice in this or any forum, much easier face to face obviously.

I think I am beginning to understand what you are saying more now. Even screwing around in my office it seems to force a correct club set and swing path. And, although I'm only 25 I could feel stress on my left shoulder using my old move to generate power on the downswing. I'll hit balls tomorrow after work and let you know how it goes; I'm certainly looking foward to it.

25? You're a mere pup. :P

Yeah, a common misconception is that you need some kind of effort to get the club to the top of the backswing. The effort needs to be spent staying grounded and balanced using your core.

I occasionally teach some retired businessmen and when I show them that hands behind the back chest over the shoulder move they are surprised at how easily they can reach parallel.

One drill I forgot to mention to keep the shoulders passive is to stick a towel under both arms, but with it coming from the back. Make swings with your hands only getting to hip high. Allow the club head to set itself, without you feeling the need to lift it.

It's important that you don't death grip the towel under your arms and use just enough pressure to keep it there. The reason we only want to swing the hands to hip height is once above there, the clubhead would be above the shoulders. At that point we want our shoulders to follow the momentum of the club without restriction.

I often see people stick a towel over their chest and under their arms, which only succeeds in creating the opposite effect that we're after here, so please don't make that mistake.

GL with it.

wow, i just hit balls and that's all i can say, wow. i hope you make a good living. not only does the simple tip of keeping my shoulders down allow for a more full turn with the drivers; i never hit a bad iron shot. i assume that i started raising my shoulders to "hit down" and take a huge divot. easily the most consistant session i've ever had, i even continually flopped my 60 degree off of really tight lies just because i could. i'm going to hawaii saturday for my girlfriend's sister's wedding and i'm literally pissed that i won't get to play golf here. you did more good with three posts than the past three months worth of weekly lessons at $50 a pop. and i thought three years of lurking poker message boards would never amount to anything.

Thanks

I don't yet make a good living, but I hold no fear of the future in that regard.

I'm pleased to hear that. The best part is you now understand what it feels like to have the bottom of your swing be in a consistent position, which is why tight lies are no problem for your lob wedge now.

Why does every brag have a corresponding beat, have a good time in Hawaii.

You're very welcome. I would still say the lessons were probably worth it, looking at other parts of the action.

yeah i was going to say your swing looks better than a 10 and you have only been playing for 15 months. That is pretty good stuff. Also it sounds like you "have a job" and stuff, which makes it even better. GG.