My Golf Swing Updated 7/10/13

7/10/12 Down the Line Driver

I'm still not really early extending here, so I'm ok with this move.  The part where I want to change is the next few frames where I don't straighten my left leg.  I believe that straightening the left leg in the downswing is going to help me with my early extension problem.  I will keep doing the "cross guard drill" featured in early extension.  

Face On Driver

 I'm good with this position here.  Louis shifts a little more to the right side, but

This is the key picture that I'm most concerned with because you can see that my left leg is significantly bowed out where Louis' is fairly straight.  I believe that if my leg was straightening on the downswing my swing at impact would look more similar to Louis' and more importantly I would eliminate that early extension problem that has plagued me.


7/6/13 Hunter Mahan vs. Me

Hunter is addressed to the ball (5 iron) with his arms hanging more down from his shoulders than me.  He also has a more bent over posture.  I don't believe that this difference is too significant though.  I am using a 3 hybrid.

The club is going slightly outside the hands for Hunter and his cluface is oriented slightly closed.  You can't tell where my clubface is on this picture, unfortunately the camera blurred it, but it appears the the club is brought back a bit too far to the inside here.

Here my clubshaft is pointed almost at the ball just like Hunter.  The clubshaft is slightly above the elbow plane for me and below the elbow plane for Hunter.  Not too much of a significant difference here.  I'm ok with my position here

I would like to see my shoulder turn to be more to the ground, like Hunter's (See green lines).  I seemed to have stayed pretty connected at the top of the backswing, we have similar positions with the body pivot, although his left arm, hands, and right elbow are slightly higher than mine due to his steeper shoulder plane.  Our clubfaces are neutral though.

My club goes to parallel in this swing--I've been working on a more efficient action that Hunter Mahan and Justin Rose have, because they do not get the club to parallel (besides Hunter in his driver swing) they do not have very acute angles (smaller than 90 degrees) between the clubshaft and left forearm, and they keep their left arm straight.  I keep noticing this in lots of pros and since these two guys carry their irons about 20-25 yards further (I carry my 7 iron about 150-154 yards), I suppose copying them isn't such a bad idea.    

My early extension problem has been causing a lot of heel strikes for me.  As you can see, I thrust a little bit forward on the downswing which causes my butt to come off of the tush line (the yellow line), while Hunter's butt has stayed right on that line.

Notice my really straight spine angle compared to Hunter at impact.  Again this is due to my early extension off that yellow line.  You may be able to notice that this strike was off the heel of the club.  Also take note that my clubshaft at impact is higher than Hunter's, which tells me that my clubpath is coming from in to out (due to the early extension).  Also note that my right shoulder is much lower than my left compared to Hunter's swing, another attribute/ cause of my in to out clubpath.

 Again you can clearly see that my spine angle is really straight up compared with Hunter who has "stayed in his posture."  Also notice that my clubshaft is above the right elbow plane, while Hunter's is well inside it.  This shows that I have swung much more in to out, while Hunter has swung slightly out to in (necessary when strike down on the ball with irons).  Hunter exits more to the left, while I exit more to the right.  I'll have to work on this.

My spine angle here is not very good, I'd like to see myself retaining my posture more, so I'll have to work on my early extension fault.  I also do not like how high my clubshaft exits the impact zone  (note that it is way above the right elbow plane where Hunter's clubshaft is slightly below his right elbow plane).

Conclusion: what I need to work on

• less wrist cock
• straighter left arm
• steeper shoulder plane
• early extension drills
• club exits more to the left around the body

7/5/13 Hunter Mahan vs. Me

To be on-plane in the golf swing, you want the butt end of the shaft to point at the ball.  To have a consistent swing, it may be noteworthy to realize that the clubshaft shifts planes throughout the swing (the three blue lines), and that consistent swings generally have less plane shift.

Notice that Hunter's shoulders are pointed much more to the ground (green line) than mine; this helps lead to striking down on the golf ball.

 My right elbow has really dropped and my hands are a little bit "stuck" behind me which will shift the path more in to out.

 Hunter is in a good position coming into impact, on a much more neutral clubpath than mine.  My clubhead is now far behind me and I am probably going to really hook it or push it badly.

 Hunter's arms are swinging much more around his body into the finish.

Justin Rose vs. Me

 I'm working on keeping my left arm straighter in the backswing so that my left arm feels like it compresses against the left pectoral more (a major power accumulator).

I think Justin is much more on plane (attacking the ball with a neutral path than me) because my wrist angle is still fairly much this late in the downswing