Like Taking Video of Your Swing? Read This First

Video is a great tool for teaching and learning golf. It replaced the naked eye in golf instruction and is used by teachers worldwide. A video of a golf swing can show us a lot about what a player is doing, particularly with the body motion. But a word of caution is in order when relying on it exclusively to see the golf swing.

First, we have to consider something called parallax. Because of the design of my car’s speedometer, I can see that I’m driving a certain speed when I’m sitting in the driver’s seat. But the person riding shotgun looks at my speedometer and says: “Take it easy, you’re doing 70 in a 55-mph zone,” because that’s what it looks like from where that person is sitting. That’s a parallax: two different perspectives of the same picture. And we have to be really careful of this when looking at a golf swing on video. Just by moving the camera a few feet left or right, we can skew the picture of the swing we’re looking at. It also explains why the golf ball appears to go so far right every time a player on TV hits.

Secondly, video is ultimately a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional motion. Video cannot see the true path of the golf swing because path is a combination of the horizontal and vertical movement of the golf club into the ball. What we see on video is the horizontal plane we are swinging on. We see a base plane line, not a true swing path. The camera can see the left or right but not the up and down, and this can be misleading. A swing which can look well left on the camera may also have a very steep angle, actually requiring leftward movement of the club to zero it out. This means every degree we swing down on say a 6-iron, we have to swing a half-degree left to offset it. So a very steep angle, say seven or eight degrees down would need as much as four degrees left to get it to actually swing at the target. On video, we’d see on the left (the horizontal plane) it appears over the top, but in fact it is not — so be careful. James Lietz, the great teacher and fitter from Louisiana, does some wonderful work explaining this.

Third, at impact, the contact point on the club can twist the face open (toe hit) or closed (heel hit). This may appear to be the result of a movement the player is making (either over-pronation or over-supination) when in fact it is the result of twisting due to the off-center impact.

Lastly, when a model swing is being used for comparison, be very careful about what view is being shown and what shot the PGA Tour pro is hitting — this is critical. You may be seeing a top-level player deliberately swinging well right or left, (base plane line) to hit an intentional draw or fade. And when we select them randomly, we just never know what his intention was hitting that particular shot. The parallax issue I noted above is limiting here too. In fact, when I’m teaching, I very often use extremes. If I have someone swing well over the top, I may show them a video of a Tour pro hitting way from the inside, just to plant that image in their golf brain. I teach by using the most extreme opposite measure I can.

Now the good points of video analysis are obvious. Is there lifting or lowering of the body during the swing? A close-up of the grip is also very revealing. Sequencing is another motion visible on video; so is the club face in relation to the swing arc. And when the camera is positioned correctly, aim, ball position and width of stance can all be seen accurately. I also like to see the golf club in relation to the lead arm. Is it laid off, is it across the line, is the left wrist flat, is it cupped; where is the club pointed in transition? These are all things in which video is enormously helpful. I have a Casio camera and use it regularly. But of course, for accurate path, face-to-path or attack angle readings I rely on TrackMan or FlightScope.

Note about shooting video: I try to position the camera on the hand line directly behind the player, about belt high. From the face on view, I position it at the belt buckle, 90 degrees to the target line. This gives me the best view. Many times, students send me swings from a camera positioned anywhere but where I can see the swing. I also love an overhead camera which allows me to trace the shape of the arc of the swing. And of course the camera must be still. It cannot be hand-held or moving in any way to get a good look.

All in all, I use video, it is a great help, but the critical areas I mentioned have to be measured.

We hear so much about the “fundamentals” of golf. The first thing you need to ask is simply this: What fundamentals? What grip. What posture? What aim? What ball position? These are relevant questions for every single golfer simply because there is no ONE GRIP, POSTURE, BALL POSITION etc. They are all preferences - the many ways great players choose to get to solid impact. Let’s take a closer look.

As an example, let’s take one player who has developed a flat golf swing, and another who has an upright swing. They cannot have the same fundamentals, simple as that. It’s likely their grips, ball position and likely distance from the golf ball would have to be different. An upright swing very often produces an opening club face, a steep attack angle and a narrow arc. Therefore, slices, fat shots and toe hits are often the result of that swing arc. A flat swing arc, on the other hand, very often produces a closing club face, a shallow attack angle and often hits nearer the heel of the club. We get hooks, topped shots and shanks from a flatter arc. So you ask, why not correct the swing plane? Two reasons:  First, it is quite difficult to do so and secondly, we don’t have to. It’s obvious that there are flat swings with great games - in fact on the PGA Tour! And just as obvious with upright swings. One of the greatest players ever, Jack Nicklaus, had a very upright swing. Yet one of his toughest opponents, Lee Trevino, had a very flat motion. The point is this: you may very well not have to change your swing.

This is not to say that some aspects of the swing may need some work - they very well may. But one thing is certain: if you’re squaring the club face at impact, or you’re not reaching the bottom of the arc at the proper place, you WILL need a different address position. The point I’m making is this: very often, this is enough. You may have too weak of a grip for the swing you are currently making! Remember that grip may be perfectly fine for another player! The same goes for a grip that is too strong - fine for some, not all! The following is a classic case study:

A gentleman came to me just this past week; his grip was very weak. This caused him to hit BIG slices, which in turn, created an outside-in swing path and a very steep attack angle. The first thing we did was correct the grip. This immediately stopped the slice, which in turn, slowed the outside-in swing, which in turn, stopped the steep attack angle…etc. This is not an isolated example; I have seen it for almost 40-years of teaching!

So, remember, before you decide to make a full swing change and try to correct years of a poor motion, you may want to take a good look at how you are set up at the golf ball. Your grip, posture, alignment and ball position will need adjustment. That change just might be enough. And it will save you hours of trying to learn a completely new swing! I call this learning to “balance your equation.” Find the setup to match YOUR MOTION. It may be just enough!