Should you record your golf swing? I’ve seen a couple of people recently that say you shouldn’t or caution strongly against it.
- Jon Sherman from Practical Golf. In both his book, The Four Foundations of Golf, and on social media and his podcast, he suggests not recording your swing unless you’re working with an instructor.
- Matt Saternus from Plugged In Golf. He says that the only time you should record your swing is if you’re checking in with an instructor between lessons. Otherwise you shouldn’t film your swing.
I understand where these guys are coming from but ultimately disagree. If you’re serious about getting better at golf, then you need to record your swings periodically.
There are caveats, of course, as there is with all things.
Let’s start from the top.
Why You Should Record Your Golf Swing
- Feel is not real. You might think you’re doing a part of the swing right, like making a complete turn or taking your club back on plane. That’s not always the case, though. Film will tell you for sure.
- There are so many levers in the golf swing. If you’re slicing shots, what should you do to straighten your ball flight out? You can guess but you can find the answer faster by recording and reviewing your swing.
- Video can be similar to a mirror. I like practicing in front of a mirror for the same reasons as I like recording my swing—except you don’t have to set anything up. However, a mirror isn’t always available. Video can be a good substitute.
- You can use video to improve any aspect of your golf game, from your driver to your putter.
What to Avoid
- Trying to build a “pretty” swing. This isn’t about making your swing look good but instead about making it functional. Who cares how good your swing looks if you can’t keep your ball in play? Swing changes are hard, time consuming, and often frustrating. Don’t make things harder than needed by trying to build a “pretty” swing.
- Trying to copy someone else’s swing. All that about building a pretty swing applies here too. What’s more is that everyone is different, and has unique bodies and limitations. You should learn to swing your swing so long as it’s effective and allows you to play golf on the level you want.
- Trying to diagnose your swing if you don’t know what to look for. You don’t want to make your swing or game worse by fixing the wrong things. Learning what to look for, at least some simple things, isn’t tough. You can have an instructor show you. If you’re unwilling to do that, I’d only record your golf swing if you plan to send it to a coach for review.
- Ignoring ball flight. What matters at the end of your day is where your ball goes. Your ball flight can tell you a lot about what’s happening in your swing. Sometimes ball flight is all you need for feedback. I suggest starting there before worrying about video.
What You Need to Film Your Golf Swing
- Tripod. If you’re using your phone to record your swing, you’ll need some kind of stand, selfie stick, or rod that you can support with a tripod or shove into the ground. It needs to be tall enough so that your phone or camera sits at waist high.
- This is the tripod I use ($25 on Amazon). There are many others though — GPOD, iRange Sports, and Golfpod, to name a few.
- Camera or phone. You need something that can record videos. If your phone has a camera and can record in slow-mo, it’s good enough.
- Alignment sticks. You need at least two alignment sticks that will not only help keep you aligned, but also help to ensure the camera angle is correct.
- Enough space. There are some driving ranges that simply do not have enough space to setup a camera and get the whole swing into the frame. This is especially true for the face on view. I find that grass ranges or ranges that aren’t under cover are the easiest for filming golf swings.
- Objective. I don’t see much value in filming your swing for shits and giggles or to randomly share in forums. There should be some kind of objective i.e. you’re suddenly hitting the ball funky, want to make sure you’re not cupping your wrist (or whatever you’re working on), or are sending a video to your coach.
- Knowledge and/or a coach. You need to know what you’re looking for — what should you be doing in your swing and are you? If not, what do you need to do, feel, exaggerate, etc. to get there? If you don’t know, you need a coach to A) analyze your video for you and, hopefully, B) explain what they’re looking for so maybe you can start to self-coach a little.
How to Video Your Golf Swing
Videoing your swing is simple. Here are the steps you need to follow.
- You want to video your golf swing from two angles (if possible) — down the line and face on. Down the line will record you from your trail side, facing the target. The face on view will face your chest. If you can only get one angle, make it down the line. You can do a lot of your face on work in a mirror at home.
- Place an alignment stick on your toe line and another in the middle of your stance (for face on).
- Setup your camera and tripod. The camera lense should be about waist high, maybe a touch higher.
- You want the alignment stick on your toe line to run up the middle of your camera screen. It should sit in about the bottom one-third of the screen.
- The camera needs to be far enough back to meet both the alignment stick criteria above and so that you can see the full swing.
- The camera and your work station should be setup. Do a final check to make sure the camera isn’t tilted, everything is lined up right, etc.
- Start the camera. You can record your swing in normal mode and analyze it. I prefer slow-mo, though.
- Record a few clips as needed.
IMPORTANT! Make sure your camera is set up right. If you record from an awkward angle or if your camera is tilted, then you might see things in the video that aren’t true. For example, if you have the camera angled towards (behind) you, it might look like you’re severely laid off. Or if the camera is pointed towards outside the ball line, it might look like you’re much steeper than you are.
Final Thoughts on Recording Your Golf Swing
I’m a firm believer in the value of recording your golf swing. Obviously, if you don’t know what to do with the information (and don’t want to learn) or obsess over what your swing looks like, then you probably won’t get much if any value out of it.
However, if you know what to look for (even if only the one piece your coach showed you) and use the film purely as a means of feedback, then having your swing on video can help you on your way to becoming a better golfer.