I recently took a Titleist body-swing connection course and I wanted to share what I have learned about my swing. First, I want to take some slow motion pictures of my swing and interpret these through the big 12 swing faults according to Titleist. I started playing golf as a teenager, however as my family has grown I am not able to play as often. It’s not exactly ideal to be gone for 5 hours when you have 3 young kids that want to play with daddy.
My golf swing history within the last 5 years tends to be inconsistent with some pushes to the right or a larger draw. I used to fight a very bad shank and would try and correct it myself. One way I attempted to fix it was by planting my left leg more or taking the club back more on the inside. I found that at times this would fix my shank but was very inconsistent. Eventually I realized that if I rotated my pelvis more through my downswing, I could avoid the shank. If you watch the video below, you will see I may have fixed my shank but possibly left me more inconsistent with my swing, because I did not fix the real issue.
Below is what I believe to be the biggest swing issue causing my inconsistent golf game. This swing fault is called early extension, which is part of losing your posture in the golf swing. In the first picture, on the left, the line drawn is where my hips should stay during the downswing to make contact with the ball. On the right is where I am during the downswing. Don’t get me confused with Tiger Woods to the far right.
As you can see from the video, my hips do not stay back on the line from which they came. I am pushing my lower body into the ball and not allowing room for my arms. If you take a look at Tiger Woods, you can see he does a much better job keeping his hips back. Now, he hits billions of more balls than I ever have and plays every day but whose keeping track. Returning to our conversation, I learned that a shank is not off the toe of the club but off the inside of the club. This swing fault does just that. It moves my club forward and puts the heel of the club on the ball – not allowing my arms to get through the ball.
The other thing I didn’t realize is how far inside I took the club during my back swing. This is seen in the first picture below. The other fault I thought would be there is over the top. Over the top is a term used to describe when the club falls above the two parallel lines in the below picture. I think I corrected this fault by turning my hips really well to get through the ball. It appears the club stays in the slot made by the two lines in the below picture.
In a subsequent post, I will take a look at the body swing connection and possible reasons I drive my weight forward during the golf swing based on movement faults the Titleist class breaks down. I think it’s interesting what Titleist has done with their data and what I have learned.
Spine Physical Therapist 