Rush Reviews

Author: Rush Reviews

  • 7 Golf Swing Faults Your Phone Camera Can Reveal

    Feel is a terrible witness. Golfers are routinely convinced their backswing is three-quarters when video shows it past parallel. A short, well-filmed clip exposes the faults that feel never reports. These seven are the most common — and the camera view that catches each one.

    1. Sway (face-on)

    The hips slide away from the target in the backswing instead of rotating. You must then slide back, and timing becomes a coin flip. Watch the trail hip against the background in face-on video: it should rotate, not travel.

    2. Over-the-top (down-the-line)

    The classic slice-maker: the club swings out-to-in across the ball at impact. From behind, watch the club move outside the hands halfway down and cut across the target line.

    3. Early extension (face-on)

    Hips and pelvis push toward the ball in the downswing, the spine loses its angle and the arms run out of room. It shows up as a big shift of the hip line toward the ball, usually paired with thin or blocked shots.

    4. Casting the club (down-the-line)

    The wrist angles release too early, throwing the clubhead at the ball before the body arrives. From behind, the clubhead overtakes the hands well before impact — a massive loss of lag and speed.

    5. Reverse pivot (face-on)

    Weight tilts toward the target in the backswing instead of loading the trail side. The upper body leans toward the target while the lower body hangs back. Power disappears and fat shots follow.

    6. Overswing (face-on or down-the-line)

    The club passes parallel at the top, usually because the arms keep running after the body stops. Video is the only honest measure: the shaft’s angle at the top tells the truth instantly.

    7. Poor tempo (face-on, 60fps+)

    Jerky transitions and a rushed downswing are invisible in real time but obvious at 60 or 120 frames per second. A video review with measured swing events shows exactly where the transition happens and how it relates to the rest of the sequence.

    See it to fix it

    Film ten seconds, watch it back in slow motion, and pick one fault — not all seven. One fix at a time is how swings actually change.

  • Down-the-Line vs Face-On: Which Golf Swing View to Use

    Ask a swing coach what the two standard video angles are and you will always get the same answer: down-the-line and face-on. What most golfers miss is that each view answers a different set of questions. Film the wrong one and the fault you care about stays invisible.

    What down-the-line reveals

    Shot from behind the ball on the target line, this view shows the geometry of the swing:

    • Club path: in-to-out, out-to-in, or neutral — the difference between a draw and a slice.
    • Swing plane: how the club tracks relative to your setup angles at the top and halfway down.
    • Clubface at impact: open, closed or square to the target line.
    • Where the club exits: high and left, or low and around.

    If your misses are a slice, a pull or a dead push, this is the view that shows the cause. The club’s movement is what the camera can see clearly from behind.

    What face-on reveals

    Shot from chest height, level with the ball, this view shows the body’s sequence:

    • Weight shift: are you loading the trail side and moving through, or hanging back?
    • Sway vs. rotation: a slide away from the target is visible in a single frame.
    • Early extension: hips moving toward the ball in the downswing, the classic power leak.
    • Tempo and rhythm: the timing of the backswing, transition and finish.
    • Posture: where your spine and head sit from address through impact.

    Thin shots, fat shots, loss of balance and inconsistent tempo all show up face-on.

    The practical rule

    Working on path or face? Film down-the-line. Working on contact, balance or sequence? Film face-on. Truly stuck? Film both — a video review that measures what each angle shows ties the two views together, so a body move in one angle explains a club move in the other. Two 10-second clips, filmed well, give you a complete picture.

  • How to Film Your Golf Swing for Analysis

    Almost every golfer already owns the best swing-analysis camera they will ever buy: their phone. What separates a useful swing video from a blurry guessing game is setup. Get the setup right and one short clip can show you more than an afternoon of “feel” practice.

    Down-the-line: the view that shows your path

    For the down-the-line view, place the phone directly behind the ball on the target line, about 10–15 feet back. The camera lens should sit at roughly belt height. Frame the shot so your whole body and the clubhead stay visible from address through finish.

    This angle reveals the club path, swing plane and where the club exits after impact. It is the view to use when you are fighting pulls, pushes or slices.

    Face-on: the view that shows your sequence

    For face-on, stand the phone perpendicular to the target line, level with the ball, about 12 feet away at chest height. Your body should fill about two-thirds of the frame, with room above your head and below the ball.

    Face-on video shows posture, weight shift, sway, early extension and swing tempo. If your strike feels thin or your finish is off balance, this is the view that catches it.

    Settings that matter more than resolution

    • Frame rate first: 60 frames per second (or 120/240 fps slow motion) matters far more than 4K. Swing events last a few hundredths of a second.
    • Lock the exposure: bright sky behind a golfer fools auto-exposure and turns the body into a silhouette. Tap and hold to lock exposure on the golfer.
    • Shoot horizontal: landscape framing keeps the entire swing in frame through the follow-through.
    • Steady it: a $15 phone tripod beats a friend’s hands. Nobody holds a phone still for a full swing.

    Good lighting beats good cameras

    Direct sunlight from behind the camera is ideal. Light from directly behind the golfer creates a silhouette. On a range, move to the side where the sun works for you — or shoot in open shade, which is consistent and readable.

    Then what?

    One well-filmed swing is enough for a full video-based swing review — movement findings, video evidence and a practice priority, all from a short phone clip. Follow the filming guide, record two or three swings, and let the video do what feel never can.