First Swing Video

I opened a giant can of orange slice! Check out the attached video of me hitting a brilliant banana right into the trees on the 11th hole at Schenley on June 6, 2011. It took me a while to post this because that is just plain embarrassing (and definitely representative).

Looking at that video here is a list of what I see wrong and want to improve:

• My back is not straight at initial address, gotta get those shoulders up
• I want to stand up a bit more and get my club pointing more up towards my belly-button
• Stand closer to the ball so my arms are hanging down more
• Grip is probably too weak at address
• Coming back I am straightening my back (standing up?) at the top of my back swing, more hip rotation may help with that and keep my head more steady
• The club-face is way open at impact, my wrist doesn’t look bent so it probably has more to do with all the flailing around I’m doing with my back and body
• I also hit with the toe of the club, no doubt causing even more slice

Since this video was shot I’ve been focusing on holding a two-knuckle grip, straightening my back and keeping my back straight through the swing.

Playing the ball closer to my feet has also improved my consistency in making strong contact through the ball. I try to play it so that my arms hang comfortably from my body with the club resting on the ground in a slightly toe up orientation. This initially felt way too close for some reason.

The biggest issue for me has been keeping balanced throughout my swing, more on that in the next post.

This season I will try to record my swing at least once a month so that I can track my progress and look at areas for improvement. Given that this was shot 4 weeks ago, I should record something this weekend at the range.