Instruction
What golfers should see in swing videos with proper camera alignment
In my last article, you learned how to properly set up your camera to record video of your golf swing. Before we talk about what you will see from each angle, I want to briefly discuss the exact position of the camera for the “down the line” view if you position the camera at the target line, hand line or body line.
I want you to imagine a line drawn from the hosel of the club next to the ball, up the shaft and through the body. The camera will move up and down this line based on whether you are looking at the target line, hand line, or body line. For example, the camera will be on the ground at the target line, at hand height for the hand line position and just above hip height for the body line camera.
For the target line camera position, we are trying to see the club’s path in relation to the start line of the golf ball. If we do not have the camera set up in the proper position, then the angle the club is coming into the ball will be skewed and viewed improperly.
Ideally, you should be with a PGA Professional to look at path so they can use their technology such as Flightscope in order to properly see the path of the club. Flightscope is a great tool that I use with most of my lessons because it tells me the exact degree in which your club is traveling in to out or out to in and if the clubface is open or closed. It also shows the exact start line of the golf ball, peak height, spin rate, D Plane, etc.
With a camera on the ground down the target line, you can still see if the club is traveling too much out to in or in to out, but it will be near impossible to see exactly how much as well as the exact position of the clubface. For this reason, I recommend seeing a teaching professional if you want to know your path numbers, and that is also why I almost always use the hand height position camera when analyzing golf swings.
Now let’s discuss different aspects of the swing that you can see from the two different camera angles we spoke about previously, the “down-the-line” and “face-on” camera positions.
The Down-The-Line Camera Position
From the “down the line” camera position, golfers can see some very important things that will affect ball flight and ultimately their performance.
- Posture (how golfers address the ball and the associated posture – i.e. “C” posture vs. “S” posture).
- Swing plane (the path the club travels throughout the swing).
- Grip (while you won’t get a great view of the grip, golfers can check the relationship of their hands and arms at setup).
- Pivot (how a golfer’s body moves throughout the swing).
There are other things golfers may see, but these are the things most golfers use the “down the line” camera position to evaluate. Maybe the most important thing to analyze is swing plane, which has a huge impact on the flight of the ball. For example, if the club face is closed (aiming to the left for a right-handed golfer) to the swing path, the ball will curve from right to left starting essentially where the club face is pointing.
The Face-On Camera Position
The “face-on” camera position is equally important. While it does not allow golfers to view their swing plane, there are some very important aspects of the swing that can be seen from this angle.
- Impact
- Weight transfer or lateral movement of the body
- Grip
- Shoulder tilt at address
- Ball position
- Shoulder and hip turn
Again, there are other things golfers may see from the face-on camera position, but these are the aspects that I work on with most of my students.
Now that you have a better understanding of what your instructor is looking at from each position, let’s talk about what you may see if you set up the camera incorrectly. There are plenty of examples, but I am going to focus on the most important ones (and obvious ones) that golfers will definitely see from each position. Please note that this article assumes that golfers are actually aimed correctly to their target and that their plane is correct as well.
From the down-the-line camera position, golfers will see a change in their appearance of their swing just by moving the camera position too far toward the target line or toward the body. If the camera is moved toward the target line, golfers will see the two important changes:
- The feet will appear more “closed” or aimed too far to the right.
- The club path will appear to travel more to the inside.
Conversely, with the camera too far to the inside or toward the body, you will see:
- The feet will appear more “open” or aimed too far to the left.
- The club path will appear to travel more “over the top” or to the outside
The appearance of the swing can also change due to a faulty setup of the camera in the face-on camera position, you will see changes as well.
- When the camera is positioned too far toward the lead foot, the ball will appear to far back in a golfer’s stance.
- When the camera is positioned too far toward the trail foot foot, the ball will appear to far forward in a golfer’s stance.
Note that both faulty camera placements will also change the appearance of a golfer’s impact position, and that I did not move my position. I just moved the camera.
As you can see, camera positioning is extremely important for golfers who are filming their swings. If golfers do not take the time to ensure a proper camera setup, it may lead to them trying to fix something in their swing that does not need to be fixed. That’s wasted time for not only you and your game, but also your instructor.
Again, make sure to consult with your local PGA Professional before making any changes in your golf swing and make sure to check out my future articles about golf instruction.
There may be no more painful affliction in golf than the “yips” – those uncontrollable and maddening little nervous twitches that prevent you from making a decent stroke on short putts. If you’ve never had them, consider yourself very fortunate (or possibly just very young). But I can assure you that when your most treacherous and feared golf shot is not the 195 yard approach over water with a quartering headwind…not the extra tight fairway with water left and sand right…not the soft bunker shot to a downhill pin with water on the other side…No, when your most feared shot is the remaining 2- 4-foot putt after hitting a great approach, recovery or lag putt, it makes the game almost painful.
And I’ve been fighting the yips (again) for a while now. It’s a recurring nightmare that has haunted me most of my adult life. I even had the yips when I was in my 20s, but I’ve beat them into submission off and on most of my adult life. But just recently, that nasty virus came to life once again. My lag putting has been very good, but when I get over one of those “you should make this” length putts, the entire nervous system seems to go haywire. I make great practice strokes, and then the most pitiful short-stroke or jab at the ball you can imagine. Sheesh.
But I’m a traditionalist, and do not look toward the long putter, belly putter, cross-hand, claw or other variation as the solution. My approach is to beat those damn yips into submission some other way. Here’s what I’m doing that is working pretty well, and I offer it to all of you who might have a similar affliction on the greens.
When you are over a short putt, forget the practice strokes…you want your natural eye-hand coordination to be unhindered by mechanics. Address your putt and take a good look at the hole, and back to the putter to ensure good alignment. Lighten your right hand grip on the putter and make sure that only the fingertips are in contact with the grip, to prevent you from getting to tight.
Then, take a long, long look at the hole to fill your entire mind and senses with the target. When you bring your head/eyes back to the ball, try to make a smooth, immediate move right into your backstroke — not even a second pause — and then let your hands and putter track right back together right back to where you were looking — the HOLE! Seeing the putter make contact with the ball, preferably even the forward edge of the ball – the side near the hole.
For me, this is working, but I am asking all of you to chime in with your own “home remedies” for the most aggravating and senseless of all golf maladies. It never hurts to have more to fall back on!
Over the last couple of decades, golf has become much more science-based. We measure swing speed, smash factor, angle of attack, strokes gained, and many other metrics that can really help golfers improve. But I often wonder if the advancement of golf’s “hard” sciences comes at the expense of the “soft” sciences.
Take, for example, golf instruction. Good golf instruction requires understanding swing mechanics and ball flight. But let’s take that as a given for PGA instructors. The other factors that make an instructor effective can be evaluated by social science, rather than launch monitors.
If you are a recreational golfer looking for a golf instructor, here are my top three points to consider.
1. Cultural mindset
What is “cultural mindset? To social scientists, it means whether a culture of genius or a culture of learning exists. In a golf instruction context, that may mean whether the teacher communicates a message that golf ability is something innate (you either have it or you don’t), or whether golf ability is something that can be learned. You want the latter!
It may sound obvious to suggest that you find a golf instructor who thinks you can improve, but my research suggests that it isn’t a given. In a large sample study of golf instructors, I found that when it came to recreational golfers, there was a wide range of belief systems. Some instructors strongly believed recreational golfers could improve through lessons. while others strongly believed they could not. And those beliefs manifested in the instructor’s feedback given to a student and the culture created for players.
2. Coping and self-modeling can beat role-modeling
Swing analysis technology is often preloaded with swings of PGA and LPGA Tour players. The swings of elite players are intended to be used for comparative purposes with golfers taking lessons. What social science tells us is that for novice and non-expert golfers, comparing swings to tour professionals can have the opposite effect of that intended. If you fit into the novice or non-expert category of golfer, you will learn more and be more motivated to change if you see yourself making a ‘better’ swing (self-modeling) or seeing your swing compared to a similar other (a coping model). Stay away from instructors who want to compare your swing with that of a tour player.
3. Learning theory basics
It is not a sexy selling point, but learning is a process, and that process is incremental – particularly for recreational adult players. Social science helps us understand this element of golf instruction. A good instructor will take learning slowly. He or she will give you just about enough information that challenges you, but is still manageable. The artful instructor will take time to decide what that one or two learning points are before jumping in to make full-scale swing changes. If the instructor moves too fast, you will probably leave the lesson with an arm’s length of swing thoughts and not really know which to focus on.
As an instructor, I develop a priority list of changes I want to make in a player’s technique. We then patiently and gradually work through that list. Beware of instructors who give you more than you can chew.
So if you are in the market for golf instruction, I encourage you to look beyond the X’s and O’s to find the right match!
Most pros take months, even years, to win their first tournament. Lottie Woad needed exactly four days.
The 21-year-old from Surrey shot 21-under 267 at Dundonald Links to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three shots — in her very first event as a professional. She’s only the third player in LPGA history to accomplish this feat, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).
But here’s what caught my attention as a coach: Woad didn’t win through miraculous putting or bombing 300-yard drives. She won through relentless precision and unshakeable composure. After watching her performance unfold, I’m convinced every golfer — from weekend warriors to scratch players — can steal pages from her playbook.
Precision Beats Power (And It’s Not Even Close)
Forget the driving contests. Woad proved that finding greens matters more than finding distance.
What Woad did:
• Hit it straight, hit it solid, give yourself chances
• Aimed for the fat parts of greens instead of chasing pins
• Let her putting do the talking after hitting safe targets
• As she said, “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots”
Why most golfers mess this up:
• They see a pin tucked behind a bunker and grab one more club to “go right at it”
• Distance becomes more important than accuracy
• They try to be heroic instead of smart
ACTION ITEM: For your next 10 rounds, aim for the center of every green regardless of pin position. Track your greens in regulation and watch your scores drop before your swing changes.
The Putter That Stayed Cool Under Fire
Woad started the final round two shots clear and immediately applied pressure with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes. When South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim mounted a charge and reached 20-under with a birdie at the 14th, Woad didn’t panic.
How she responded to pressure:
• Fired back with consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th
• Watched Kim stumble with back-to-back bogeys
• Capped it with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th
• Stayed patient when others pressed, pressed when others cracked
What amateurs do wrong:
• Get conservative when they should be aggressive
• Try to force magic when steady play would win
• Panic when someone else makes a move
ACTION ITEM: Practice your 3-6 foot putts for 15 minutes after every range session. Woad’s putting wasn’t spectacular—it was reliable. Make the putts you should make.
Course Management 101: Play Your Game, Not the Course’s Game
Woad admitted she couldn’t see many scoreboards during the final round, but it didn’t matter. She stuck to her game plan regardless of what others were doing.
Her mental approach:
• Focused on her process, not the competition
• Drew on past pressure situations (Augusta National Women’s Amateur win)
• As she said, “That was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win. So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this”
Her physical execution:
• 270-yard drives (nothing flashy)
• Methodical iron play
• Steady putting
• Everything effective, nothing spectacular
ACTION ITEM: Create a yardage book for your home course. Know your distances to every pin, every hazard, every landing area. Stick to your plan no matter what your playing partners are doing.
Mental Toughness Isn’t Born, It’s Built
The most impressive part of Woad’s win? She genuinely didn’t expect it: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event as a pro, but I knew I was playing well, and I was hoping to contend.”
Her winning mindset:
• Didn’t put winning pressure on herself
• Focused on playing well and contending
• Made winning a byproduct of a good process
• Built confidence through recent experiences:
- Won the Women’s Irish Open as an amateur
- Missed a playoff by one shot at the Evian Championship
- Each experience prepared her for the next
What this means for you:
• Stop trying to shoot career rounds every time you tee up
• Focus on executing your pre-shot routine
• Commit to every shot
• Stay present in the moment
ACTION ITEM: Before each round, set process goals instead of score goals. Example: “I will take three practice swings before every shot” or “I will pick a specific target for every shot.” Let your score be the result, not the focus.
The Real Lesson
Woad collected $300,000 for her first professional victory, but the real prize was proving that fundamentals still work at golf’s highest level. She didn’t reinvent the game — she simply executed the basics better than everyone else that week.
The fundamentals that won:
• Hit more fairways
• Find more greens
• Make the putts you should make
• Stay patient under pressure
That’s something every golfer can do, regardless of handicap. Lottie Woad just showed us it’s still the winning formula.
FINAL ACTION ITEM: Pick one of the four action items above and commit to it for the next month. Master one fundamental before moving to the next. That’s how champions are built.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” on RG.org each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more Tips!
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Mike
Feb 25, 2014 at 9:57 am
Good article, well presented.
On a side note I have the same camera and find it struggles under artificial / indoor lighting.
Do you have this problem?
Michael Wheeler
Feb 25, 2014 at 11:49 am
Mike, yes. If you use the high speed setting it will use a different setting to get the appropriate picture, and this changes the shutter speed and other settings that will affect the brightness. If you switch back to standard recording (still 30 frames per second) the brightness should improve. You can also play around with your settings while in high speed to see if you can tweak it enough to get a decent view. It takes some work, but you can get it a little better with the settings. Shoot me an email or give me a call if you have any issues!