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.