I have been helping my buddy Chris to a small degree analyzing his swing. He has been practicing daily for nearly 3 weeks. There is a video machine at the range that takes DTL and Side View video simultaneously. You can then save the swings to a memory stick and download to a PC. He sends me daily swings and I comment back what I see & possible things to work on. He is about a 5 so he is pretty good (much better than me). He has been working on maintaining a steady head and keeping his angles from start up through impact, keeping on plane, and coming into impact with good flying wedges thru the ball to low point. Here is his email to me today.
Hector,
I shot a 72 today (1 over par). I had 4 birdies and 2 lateral hazards. Hit the ball solid!......Yes, the laterals were with my driver….. they went left. I need to get my left shoulder higher through impact. I feel the need to straighten my back leg on the downswing to raise my left shoulder. I think Brian (Gay) does the same thing.
I focused today on making the deepest part of my divots 4 inches ahead of the ball. I crushed the ball.
It was the nicest ball striking day I have ever had. The practice is paying off.
Ok my expert buddies...he does drive his legs (rgt leg esp) maybe too much...to the point where he comes up and back a bit thru impact to maintain his balance. This has gotten better over the week. This upward body move would lead to inconsistency without lots of practice. I am not sure what to suggest ....his comment above about the need to straighten his back leg on the downswing to raise his left shoulder is something I need help understanding. Chris is long off the tee and usually misses left when he is off.
Without pictures it may be difficult to help ....but maybe my Machine buddies can "see" something.
Bracing the Pivot with the Right Leg at the Start of the downswing allows one to clear the Right Hip and Straightening the Right Leg moves the right Hip toward the Target and creates Tilt, which lowers the Right Shoulder and helps keep it On-Plane. As the Right Shoulder travels down, out and forward, the Left Shoulder travels up, in and back On-Plane.
When people talk about 'swinging from the feet' I've always thought of a line from the Right foot up through the Left Shoulder down the left arm to the Clubhead. Keeping pressure on the Right foot during the downswing especially on short shots will provide support for this theory.
Ask him to hit some chip and pitch shots while keeping pressure on the right leg. What are his comments?
Out of the right field a bit, but could lack of "left shoulder up" lead to sh*&ks? Or heel shots, especially on short pitches where the pivot tends to be less?
A Low Left Shoulder and a High Right Shoulder will lead to a long Right Arm (running out of Right Arm) at Impact and the inevitable Clubhead Throwaway .
The Right Shoulder Turn Thrust (6-B-4-A and 10-13-D) are vital to both Swingers and Hitters. The Right Shoulder per 2-H deals only with the Right Shoulder, the one that is on Plane. The Right Arm should still be bent at both Impact (per Fix) and Follow Through (the secret to 1-L-15). Compression anyone?
On the footage, can you see any break down of the left wrist on shots where he does straighten up the rear leg?
Does he ever tend to hit it a bit fat?
Tend to 'bob' at all?
Yes...he does have a slight bob up...happens in his backswing along with a straight right leg...then the leg drive forward ...at impact already on right toe...he isn't able to maintain a straight left arm on backswing...hard habit for him to break...it does straighten quickly on the downswing....his left wrist come in very flat at impact...he likes the level and bent right wrist concept. He's working on getting the right elbow to lead/return to the right hip on the downswing along with the right shoulder to return down the shoulder plane so he doesnt run out of right arm . I will try to post some pictures soon ...see what you guys think...thanks for the input from everyone
Chris is on the left...we were comparing to a young stud on the right. What do you guys think? I will follow up with a face on. Comments to either swing would be interesting
.
Linear Mode
