Golf Smart Academy Forum — Beginner swing feedback

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Beginner swing feedback ¶

By: Garrett O on June 1, 2020, 6:27 p.m.

Hi Tyler!

I'm a pretty beginner golfer - I've been learning for about a year and generally shoot ~115-125 on a course, so a lot of room for improvement. I 'self taught' myself for the first ~8mo (slow progress), took a handful of lessons, and then started with your book early this year. I found that plus your website to be super helpful for fundamentals and am eager to keep learning. My practice focus has been on the stock tour swing so far, but I'm just now starting to think more about short game. My goal is to score below 100 by the end of the year :)

I'd love to get some general feedback on my swing mechanics. I think my swing tends to look 'arm-y' or arm-powered, and I struggle with a fully body-driven swing. A common miss for me is throwing my arms and/or releasing wrists too early and hitting the ground behind the ball, especially when I'm trying to put in more power. One of your swing checkpoints talks about having your left arm horizontal approximately when thighs are parallel to target, but I often find my arms are past that. Any tips for getting the feeling for 'leaving my arms behind' so to speak?

My miss pattern tends to be push/push slice (ball flies right, sometimes with a pronounced curve). I think maybe either due to standing up near impact and/or not enough motorcycle move. The curve right tends to be stronger and more noticeable with a driver.

Finally, something about my follow through just looks a bit awkward and to me. I haven't been able to figure out what's going on here, but I can tell it's not the smooth movement that I see in your videos.

The two videos are with a 7i. Thanks so much for your feedback!

Garrett

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Re: Beginner swing feedback ¶

By: Tyler F on June 7, 2020, 8:38 a.m.

+Garrett O Thanks for the post. Welcome to the site!

Check out this video to give you a few things to focus on.
https://golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/hula-hoop-pivot-training/
https://golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/windmills/
https://golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/head-on-a-pillow/

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Re: Beginner swing feedback ¶

By: Garrett O on June 30, 2020, 10:29 p.m.

+Tyler F

Thanks so much for the personalized feedback! And thanks for the reassurance. I've been working on some of the drills you suggested along with some of your takeaway drills. I feel a lot more 'loaded' at the top of my backswing than before, but I still see some dip. It feels like I'm extending my spine and almost standing up now, but of course the video shows that I'm not. I'll keep working on this one.

I also noticed my hands turn over quite a bit at the end of release, is this too much rotation? It doesn't feel like I'm actively trying to turn them over this much, and it's seems to be more of a resultant of how my wrists are releasing the club and getting pulled in this direction. I'm sure there's a lot more to fix in there, but just something I noticed.

I just started practicing short game a few weeks ago (finesse wedge and putting) so that's definitely been a weak point. I struggle with finesse wedge distance control in the 8-20yard range, either I top the ball and sail it over the green or get too far under the ball and it falls really short. I still have a lot to practice here, but I can post a video to see if there are any checkpoints that I'm missing. I have trouble with feeling how much energy to put into the ball, and the balance between accelerating through the ball and 'letting gravity do the work'.

I also tend to lose balls by pushing/slicing drives and long irons far to the right, I think often because when I'm on the course I try to hit it really hard and lose fundamentals. When I make a conscious effort to swing 80% I tend to be a lot more successful.

I posted a practice swing along with a real swing on this one (6i). They look quite a bit different to me (the practice swing looking better), so it must be something mental once I'm over the ball. I think I had more movement towards the ball in the real swing. Thanks again, appreciate your feedback!

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Re: Beginner swing feedback ¶

By: Tyler F on July 12, 2020, 10 a.m.

Glad to hear the backswing is working. If it feels odd, trust the video over the feels :)

As far as the arms on the way through, I think you could benefit from trying to get more body and less active arms through impact. I agree that it doesn't look really "active" rotation down at the bottom. So it's more of just improving the timing/sequence of when the body stops. The idea that you lose them on the course when you swing harder also makes me think that the sequencing needs a little work. Losing it when swinging hard is a sign that the arms and pivot aren't quite matched up. In the meantime, stick to that 80% drill, or try a tempo ladder drill https://golfsmartacademy.com/golf-instruction/70-80-90-tempo/

As far as the finesse wedge, work on getting the club to hit the ground on every shot. The top shot happens when the club is coming up off the ground instead of staying down and sliding along the ground. Feel free to post a video of the wedge shot and we can look into it.