Give it to me straight

The Chicken Connoisseur · January 7, 2016

Always have been a low handicap (around 3-4). Don't have much time to practice or play. My swing is kind of funky now that I'm looking at it.

Takeaway is way inside, I've tried to work on this but it hasn't helped apparently, and I'm not sure it needs help? The downswing plane looks decent to me. Post impact, I jump forward a lot, not sure if that is bad.

My main problem is, even in high school when I was scratch, is I'm VERY inconsistent. First of all, I can never make pure contact. I can go hit 100 balls, go shoot a 72, and never feel like I caught one right out of the middle. This is very frustrating as pure shots are what makes golf fun.

The other thing is I feel like my swing drastically changes very often. Even in high school when I played every day. I can tell that my paths and stuff are changing all the time, and I feel like I can never get better, as it's just always different.

Also, my struggle is sometimes I can get flippy and hit the ball too high with irons and lose a lot of distance (1-2 clubs worth).

So, are the idiosyncrasies in my swing necesarrily "bad"? What should be changed to make my game more stable? So I can have a solid base to work from to go towards improvement? Because I am usually all over the place, and I really feel like my swing changes drastically quite often.

Sorry for the crap quality video

#fore · January 7, 2016

First off let me say you're a much better golfer than I, but I have studied golf quite a bit. In my humble opinion, "handsy" players often tend to rely on tremendous hand-eye coordination, but this can lead to inconsistency. I bet you love to hit flop shots around the green :) Your takeaway looks funky, but you seem to bring it back on plane and your downswing looks nice. The only thing I would say is try is to set up with your head not so far behind the ball. I think that might help some of your inconsistency, because it looks like your head is moving toward the target as you make contact. I know head movement is necessary in the swing, but maybe just position yourself a little more centered and see how it goes. Also, maybe just make time to practice more? I bet if you hit just 20 balls a day with some impact tape your inconsistencies would all but disappear. Good luck!

The Chicken Connoisseur · January 7, 2016

First off let me say you're a much better golfer than I, but I have studied golf quite a bit. In my humble opinion, "handsy" players often tend to rely on tremendous hand-eye coordination, but this can lead to inconsistency. I bet you love to hit flop shots around the green :) Your takeaway looks funky, but you seem to bring it back on plane and your downswing looks nice. The only thing I would say is try is to set up with your head not so far behind the ball. I think that might help some of your inconsistency, because it looks like your head is moving toward the target as you make contact. I know head movement is necessary in the swing, but maybe just position yourself a little more centered and see how it goes. Also, maybe just make time to practice more? I bet if you hit just 20 balls a day with some impact tape your inconsistencies would all but disappear. Good luck!

In high school I hit hundreds of balls a day and was still always just as inconsistent as I am now, and I was a scratch player

Trout14 · January 9, 2016

Swing looks good only thing I would suggest is on the backswing try to keep the club head outside of the hands

You could do backswing drills to get that feeling. I think it will feel really weird for you since you are so handsy and you pulled the club inside more with your wrists . You want to hinge up with your wrists not sideways.

Hope this helps

John L. · January 9, 2016

It almost looks identical to Raymond Floyd's swing.

The Chicken Connoisseur · January 12, 2016

Swing looks good only thing I would suggest is on the backswing try to keep the club head outside of the hands
You could do backswing drills to get that feeling. I think it will feel really weird for you since you are so handsy and you pulled the club inside more with your wrists . You want to hinge up with your wrists not sideways.
Hope this helps

Why is this better, besides being the norm? I feel like my position at the top will be the same won't it? Just taking a different path there? Because I don't come over the top even after my inside takeaway

Trout14 · January 12, 2016

If you are not so handsy and wrists on backswing I think that will improve your consistency which you talked about. This was just my observation. I am not a teaching pro but it was one of the things I changed in my swing that helped consistency and trajectory . I was very handsy and went to more of a shoulder turn keeping club more in front of my chest on backswing.

KingAce · January 14, 2016

Go Stangs!

k001k47 · January 22, 2016

Swing looks good. There are guys on tour who have succeeded with uglier swings. At the scratch level, it becomes a mental game. Here it is straight: master the art if scoring. Tiger had an uncanny knack for puring shots, but even he didn't come close to hitting everything pure. Also, invest in getting fit for sticks. You smash the s*** out of that ball, man.

Nevin · January 28, 2016

Inconsistencies are coming from your release. You do have a very handsy swing but do get back into a very good downsing position, however you release the club early and with your hands and arms leading the way. Try having your body lead through impact this should help you create a consistent impact position rather than rely on timing. You could try glove under armpit or feet together drills or buy a tour striker though ive never tried one, your release is why they were created.

Best of luck.