My Swing Video (Driver)

[Dids]

[ QUOTE ]
Here are two more shots of my drives from different angles.
The backswing problem has seemed to improve and I didn't try to kill it either. My head didn't move as much and yet both of these shots turned out bad. I can't tell if I had the reverse pivot problem or not.

What wrong in these two cases?

Slice

Sky Ball


Thanks a bunch,
Dave

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm feeling nice, so I decided to embedd these in this post

1st:

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/F-MyQMyx3K0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/F-MyQMyx3K0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

2nd:

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z-fcv6dIeOU"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z-fcv6dIeOU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

[thisnamedoesntfi]

Your right hip moves up and to the right on the B/S. It should be turning.

Two things....
I don't like the setup angles there, with your hips so far inside your right foot. Imagine you jump off a five foot fence, how would you land? Hopefully you'd stack your joints a little better than you do in your golf address.

Also your clubface is shutting down quite a lot on the B/S as well. Try making a half B/S and check that you can see the clubface. As your swing is now you would be looking at the top of the driver, with the clubface pointing toward the ground. Shut clubface will give you skies and slices all day long.

[midfielderdave]

[ QUOTE ]
Also your clubface is shutting down quite a lot on the B/S as well. Try making a half B/S and check that you can see the clubface. As your swing is now you would be looking at the top of the driver, with the clubface pointing toward the ground. Shut clubface will give you skies and slices all day long.



[/ QUOTE ]

I would venture to guess that I'm not the first person to
think that a shut face would be ideal...
I can see what you're saying but it just seems counterintuitive.

So should I be turning my wrists during the backswing to open the face? It would seem that if you open the face it would be open on the downswing and that would result in the slices.

Sorry for the rambling...I just find it all fascinating and confusing.

I'll add

-Turn hips instead of moving up and down
and
-Open clubface on B/S

to my list

[thisnamedoesntfi]

[ QUOTE ]

I would venture to guess that I'm not the first person to
think that a shut face would be ideal...
I can see what you're saying but it just seems counterintuitive.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'll try to keep this from becoming an essay.

Think of open and shut as lofted and de-lofted, which is a big part of the equation to consider. My clubface can be pointing right of target and be shut down or de-lofted.

The ideal way to strike a ball with a 10 degree driver is to come into the ball with about 12 deg. of loft, strike it with 11 deg. and have about 10deg. as the ball leaves the face. That's not exact, and I haven't proven it with physics, but lets just say it paints the right picture.

Another image I can give you is if you were say going to bitch slap someone would your palm point down in the b/s or up?

[Mark1808]

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCMT5Uw1Ckc

Here's some video of the drills and my swing.

[/ QUOTE ]

I asked a friend of mine on the PGA Tour about the swing and advice received. He referred me to his teacher who had this to say:

Quote - I don't see the bucket drill helping anyone. The kid moves his spine more or less correctly for stack and tilt. He has the DNA double helix look. Looks like he could turn shoulders a little steeper. The right hip going back encourages this move--see Monty. I think the kid overdoes it by shifting weight to the right with the move. Where I would start. Get it under control. More weight left throughout the motion. It should feel very left for him and very on top of the ball. Actively sending weight into the left foot by moving/keeping the center of his shoulder turn over the ball (he may feel in front of ball at the top). To control arm swing. Put tees under armpits--high. Leave the big part that the ball sits on outside (to avoid injury). It is like the towel drill under the arms but better. Make body dominant 1/2 to 3/4 punch shots. Feel the weight continue to move forward through out the swing.

Review: Keep center of shoulder turn on top of ball. Feel weight move continuously into left foot. Tie armswing to body rotation. Let me know. - end quote.


I don't know if I completely agree, but the tee drill (or towel) under the arm pits will definately help get the arms and body moving together. When the arms and body move in synch and in proper sequence it is really impossible to swing too hard. The only way you can swing to hard is snatch the club back and then down (both out of sequence and not connected). I like the towel under both arm pits using 3/4 swings and feeling your body rotating left all the way to the 3/4 finish.

[RacersEdge]

[ QUOTE ]
So should I be turning my wrists during the backswing to open the face?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not to interupt your online lesson, but I would describe the correct motion to be "rolling your left forearm" on the backswing instead of turning your wrists. (You roll your right forearm on your follow-through.)

[thisnamedoesntfi]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCMT5Uw1Ckc

Here's some video of the drills and my swing.

[/ QUOTE ]

I asked a friend of mine on the PGA Tour about the swing and advice received. He referred me to his teacher who had this to say:

Quote - I don't see the bucket drill helping anyone. The kid moves his spine more or less correctly for stack and tilt. He has the DNA double helix look. Looks like he could turn shoulders a little steeper. The right hip going back encourages this move--see Monty. I think the kid overdoes it by shifting weight to the right with the move. Where I would start. Get it under control. More weight left throughout the motion. It should feel very left for him and very on top of the ball. Actively sending weight into the left foot by moving/keeping the center of his shoulder turn over the ball (he may feel in front of ball at the top). To control arm swing. Put tees under armpits--high. Leave the big part that the ball sits on outside (to avoid injury). It is like the towel drill under the arms but better. Make body dominant 1/2 to 3/4 punch shots. Feel the weight continue to move forward through out the swing.

Review: Keep center of shoulder turn on top of ball. Feel weight move continuously into left foot. Tie armswing to body rotation. Let me know. - end quote.


I don't know if I completely agree, but the tee drill (or towel) under the arm pits will definately help get the arms and body moving together. When the arms and body move in synch and in proper sequence it is really impossible to swing too hard. The only way you can swing to hard is snatch the club back and then down (both out of sequence and not connected). I like the towel under both arm pits using 3/4 swings and feeling your body rotating left all the way to the 3/4 finish.

[/ QUOTE ]

I really don't care what your friend who is on the PGA Tour teacher had to say. I've played on the Australian/Asian/Japanese tours in the past. I am currently teaching, and some of my students get a great deal of benefit from my instruction. Everyone pretty much has their own ideas about what works and what doesn't, I use this drill for people who lack stability. I also get them to put a bucket under their right foot sometimes too, depending on their particular swing issue. It's not meant to mimic the golf swing exactly.

What's next from you? I'm trying to help this fella, you seem determined to "prove" me wrong.

One thing I "know" to be true, is that people who discount other peoples theories without trying and understanding them are not nearly as knowledgeable as they think they are.

[Mark1808]

[ QUOTE ]
I really don't care what your friend who is on the PGA Tour teacher had to say. I've played on the Australian/Asian/Japanese tours in the past. I am currently teaching, and some of my students get a great deal of benefit from my instruction. Everyone pretty much has their own ideas about what works and what doesn't, I use this drill for people who lack stability. I also get them to put a bucket under their right foot sometimes too, depending on their particular swing issue. It's not meant to mimic the golf swing exactly.

What's next from you? I'm trying to help this fella, you seem determined to "prove" me wrong.

One thing I "know" to be true, is that people who discount other peoples theories without trying and understanding them are not nearly as knowledgeable as they think they are.

[/ QUOTE ]

I said I have an extensive golf background, but I am no expert, that is why I decided to ask a few experts their opinion. The PGA Tour player is a past winner by the way, so I think his teacher is well qualified. I also asked another top teacher in my area what they thought of your bucket drill and both did not see much use in the drill. The drill promotes hitting off your right foot using mostly arms and little body rotation. A better drill for stability would be hitting balls with your feet together. The towel (or tee) drill will help him with his biggest problem; a disconnection of arms and body in the swing.

This is a forum to exchange ideas and having been involved in golf all my life and having seen a lot of bad advice over the years I felt like giving my opinion. I have never played or taught for a living but I have seen bad advice from those who have. If your drills are helping your students improve that is great as most students don't improve much as most don't put in the time and effort neccessary to get better. I have a couple of friends who teach some of the top juniors in the country and both readily admit their students success has more to do with their desire to practice then the teaching they recieve, although the right teaching can really improve the quality of practice.

[thisnamedoesntfi]

You still don't get it do you. Your posts still come across as you/your guy &gt; Me. What is an extensive golf background? I don't care. I wouldn't have brought up my own history if you hadn't dropped the friend of a friend who's an "expert".

Have a look at the video of my swing with my foot on the bucket. Tell me again that my B/S is all or mostly arms. So now that you have gone out of your way to ask these teachers, two of them now, about my drill....can I ask, have you tried the drill yourself? No? You don't understand the drill. Have they seen the video? Why don't you get them to post a comment about it?

[ QUOTE ]
The drill promotes hitting off your right foot using mostly arms and little body rotation. A better drill for stability would be hitting balls with your feet together. The towel (or tee) drill will help him with his biggest problem; a disconnection of arms and body in the swing.

[/ QUOTE ]

A disconnection of arms and body is directly attributable to a lack of stability. Disconnection most often comes from using the small muscles to generate speed independently of the core. All this fellas problems look like a lack of stability. Other than the fact that his balance is terrible, I think he has a really good action. Which is why I didn't want to fill his head with a lot of technical thought.

I don't see a problem with the tee drill or the feet together. I have a real problem with you though. Calling my advice bad has really upset me for some reason. I am done offering advice on this forum. You think you're exchanging ideas, but really you are just belittling other people who you think have worse friends than you.

[Mark1808]

[ QUOTE ]
You still don't get it do you. Your posts still come across as you/your guy &gt; Me. What is an extensive golf background? I don't care. I wouldn't have brought up my own history if you hadn't dropped the friend of a friend who's an "expert".

Have a look at the video of my swing with my foot on the bucket. Tell me again that my B/S is all or mostly arms. So now that you have gone out of your way to ask these teachers, two of them now, about my drill....can I ask, have you tried the drill yourself? No? You don't understand the drill. Have they seen the video? Why don't you get them to post a comment about it?

[ QUOTE ]
The drill promotes hitting off your right foot using mostly arms and little body rotation. A better drill for stability would be hitting balls with your feet together. The towel (or tee) drill will help him with his biggest problem; a disconnection of arms and body in the swing.

[/ QUOTE ]

A disconnection of arms and body is directly attributable to a lack of stability. Disconnection most often comes from using the small muscles to generate speed independently of the core. All this fellas problems look like a lack of stability. Other than the fact that his balance is terrible, I think he has a really good action. Which is why I didn't want to fill his head with a lot of technical thought.

I don't see a problem with the tee drill or the feet together. I have a real problem with you though. Calling my advice bad has really upset me for some reason. I am done offering advice on this forum. You think you're exchanging ideas, but really you are just belittling other people who you think have worse friends than you.

[/ QUOTE ]


Golf is a tough game for everybody. I don't mean to belittle you or your abilities and I apologize if I made you mad. You can kick my ass in golf and you can teach better. I just don't like the bucket drill. Peace.