Do these 6 things to record your golf swing perfectly every time

A great way to gain a new perspective on your golf swing (literally) is to get a few swings on video. If you haven’t been filmed before, or maybe if you have but it was with golf professional or club fitter and you haven’t done it yourself, we’ve got the skinny on how to record your swing. And by the way, among our favorite apps for reviewing your swing (that allows lines, circles and side-by-side comparisons) is the V1 app. It’s great.

Tip 1: Find a friend or use a tripod/stand

xPositioning your camera or smartphone on a bench or on your golf bag isn’t going to cut it. Have a friend help you film your swing. If that’s not possible, check your ego and use a tripod, or a use a smartphone accessory like this that attaches to a club shaft or alignment stick. We’re using a tripod here since it’s more stable, but do whatever works for you.

Tip 2: Use slow motion

Use the slowest slow motion setting you have on your video camera or smart phone (120 frames per second and up). Most golf swings happen in less than 2 seconds in real time, so slowing down your motion is a must-do if you really want to see what’s going on. Secondly, be aware of an effect called “rolling shutter” when shooting video and/or taking photos. Most smartphones and consumer-grade cameras that shoot in high speed have what’s called a rolling shutter that can distort how things look when shooting at very high speed. If it looks like the club shaft is flexing backwards and the club head is reaching the ball before the rest of the shaft does, that’s the rolling shutter distortion effect. It’s not actually happening.

Tip 3: Record two positions

Most of the time when golfers record their swings, they do it from down-the-line, which is positioning yourself somewhere between the target and the camera. Problem is, most golfers don’t know whether they should have the camera on the feet line or target line. The right answer? Neither. The camera position should bisect the feet and the target line and be positioned as close to where the hands are at address and at impact. For a full breakdown of exactly where to place your camera, check out our GOLF Teacher to Watch Rick Silva’s article about it:

Cheat Sheet: A foolproof guide to filming your golf swing perfectly every time

Tip 4: Hit a variety of shots with different clubs and keep tally of the good ones.

Don’t just bash the driver incessantly. Hit a variety of clubs to get the truest indication of what your swing looks like. Also, make an indication after each shot using some sort of audio “that was a good one” or visual cue such as a thumbs up or down.

Tip 5: Film your putter stroke, too.

Using the same camera angle guidelines, get some putts from down-the-line and face-on. You can even experiment with filming above your stroke, from the target, etc. The more angles you can review of your putting stroke, the better.

Tip 6: Join our Facebook Group

If you successfully film your swing but don’t know what you’re looking at or looking for, drop it in GOLF.com’s Instruction Group, “How To Hit Every Shot,” where GOLF Top 100 Teachers and more will help you out with some free swing advice.