Fix Your Golf Swing with CoachView

By Adrien Asselineau

Technology has revolutionized the game of golf. In the last 20 years, alongside innovations in equipment, we’ve witnessed the appearance of golf simulators, launch monitors, golf GPS, wearable swing analyzers… and video analysis software. I still remember the first time I saw a swing video analysis in slow-motion; it was during a PGA Tour broadcast, where the commentators would break down how a player’s swing works with that memorable background music. Thanks to mobile apps like CoachView, anyone can analyze a swing like a pro with their smartphone!

Since I started giving golf lessons this year at Belas Clube de Campo in Lisbon (Portugal), I’ve been using CoachView for swing video analysis. The app has become an invaluable tool for all my golf lessons. In this article, I will share how I use it weekly for golf instruction.

After reading this, all you will need to analyze your swing is:

• your smartphone,
• the CoachView app,
• and a tripod (or a golf buddy with stable hands).

How I analyze golf swing videos with the CoachView app

Here are my go-to lines and circles for swing analysis. 

Club path

The first red line goes from the club head, along the shaft, and across the back below the shoulder blades (depending on your morphology). It helps me analyze the club path in the backswing.

Takeaway

Combined with the circle around the hands, I can check the takeaway, see if it’s steep or flat, and check whether the clubface is too open or too closed.

In my case (screenshot below), my takeaway is exceptionally flat, and my hands are too close. Ideally, when your club arrives at hip level, you want to see three things:

1. your hands are aligned with the circle,
2. the club shaft is parallel to the line of the feet,
3. The club face is parallel to the spine.

Your takeaway does not necessarily have to meet these three criteria, but you’ll have much less work to do in downswing to stay in the slot if that’s the case.

Downswing

Thanks to the circle around the hands, I can also check the middle of the downswing (= when the club head is at the level of the hands again, basically back to the level of the takeaway), including:

• If they move forward or backward during impact, the hand movements can lead to shanks. I’ve struggled with the dreaded shanks several times, and I keep a close eye on my hand position in the middle of the downswing. If I see that my hands start creeping out of that circle, I have some work to do. You want your hands to stay in that circle.

• the club path; ideally, you want your shaft parallel to the line of the feet at the middle of the downswing. There are a lot of funky things going on in my swing, but at least I get that part right. Most of the time, what I see with my students is that the club head isn’t aligned with the hands but in front, which means that the club path is out-to-in (where your slice is probably coming from).

The second line, which forms a V with the first one, helps me analyze the club path in the downswing. If the hands follow the line or stay beneath it, the club path is shallow or on-plane. You want to pass through that “red V” formed by both lines. 

Most golfers struggle with “over-the-top downswings,” where the hands and the shaft go ahead of the line. This translates into a steep downswing and an out-to-in club path and leads to right misses (slices, fades), except if the club face is more closed, which leads to pulls.

Amateur golfers struggle the most with the slice, and an out-to-in club path is almost always responsible for it. 

The second circle around the head lets me see if the player controls the head’s vertical movement (to check lateral movement, film in front of the player, not in line).

I often see beginner players bend the left arm at the top of the backswing instead of finishing their body rotation, increasing the distance between their hands and the ball. They consequently drop their heads to compensate and try to close the gap. This generally leads to irregularity in ball contact (fat, top…).

How to fix early extension

Finally, the line along the glutes is very practical for monitoring early extension: when the body moves forward and straightens instead of slightly squatting, it stays in contact with that line with the glutes to create enough space for the hands to pass.

In the example below, you can see my body lost contact with the glutes line. As I lacked space to let the hands and the club pass, I ended up missing the shot by hitting a push (straight to the right without a curve). When the golfer feels “blocked,” it’s also called a “blocked shot.”

Swing comparison

The swing comparison feature is my favorite because it allows you to evaluate progress during lessons and compare one lesson to another.

In the case below, I was working on removing the early extension mentioned above. The video on top of the screen is the more recent one, and the video below is the oldest one. In this example, in the latest video (white polo), we can see I managed to stay in contact with the red line during impact (thus got rid of early extension), compared to the older video (green polo), where my body moved forward, resulting in a blocked shot to the right of my target line.

With the video comparison feature combined with visual reference points (the lines and the circles), I can easily put A next to B and see if what my student (or myself) is working on has improved, remained the same, or worsened.

Why does it matter to use an app for swing analysis?

In my case, students really enjoy seeing their own swing on video while I break down what is going on and what they need to improve. Everything makes more sense when they can visualize what is going on and what they need to do to reach their goals rather than just listening to me talk about theoretical stuff.

Seeing your swing in slow motion with visual reference points on top gives you immediate feedback that you would not necessarily receive from a regular swing video without an app. You can monitor your progress by comparing videos before and after working on a specific aspect of your swing. If you work with an online coach or live far from your golf instructor, it’s a practical way to keep working together remotely.

About me

My name is Adrien Asselineau. I’m French, handicap 6, and a certified TPTD golf coach in Lisbon, Portugal. Aside from fixing swings, I’m also the co-founder and CMO of screengolfers.com, the #1 platform for finding, comparing, and booking the best indoor golf simulators near you in the USA and Canada. Golf has always been a passion of mine, and I believe that golf technology can make the game grow.

Check out my top 5 favorite golf apps (including CoachView) on the Screengolfers blog.

This article is not sponsored; I’m just sharing my personal experience as a golf instructor to help amateur players have access to easy-to-use tools and methods to improve their golf swings. I use the app’s premium version (one-time payment of $10 on iPhone 12).