Master Your Game: The Power of Side-by-Side Golf Swing Comparison

A side by side golf swing comparison is the fastest way to see what changed. It is also the easiest way to fool yourself.

If the two clips were filmed from different distances, or the camera sat at a different height, the comparison is worthless. You will see differences that came from the camera, not from your swing.

Here is how to set up a comparison you can trust.

What two swings show you that one does not

A single video tells you what your swing looks like. It cannot tell you whether that is normal for you.

Put two side by side and the questions change. Is my backswing shorter than it was in April? Do I hold my spine angle better with a 7-iron than with a driver? Is the change I worked on last month still there?

Those questions have answers. One clip cannot give them.

Film both swings the same way

This is the step people skip, and it ruins everything after it.

The camera has to sit in the same place both times. Same spot, same height, same angle.

Say your phone sat at hip height in one clip and chest height in the next. Your shaft angle will look different even when the swing is identical.

Three things to keep fixed:

• Distance from the ball. Pace it out, or note a landmark you can find again. Two paces closer changes how much hip turn fits in the frame.

• Camera height. Hand height at address, both times.

• Angle. Down the line means directly behind the ball on the target line, not off to one side.
  

Film both clips at 60 frames per second if your phone allows it. Comparing a 30fps clip against a 60fps clip means one of them skips the frame you wanted to see.

More on camera setup: How to film your golf swing for analysis

Sync the swings before you judge anything

Two swings almost never take the same amount of time. Press play on both and they drift apart within half a second. By the top of your backswing you are watching your transition against someone else's downswing.

Anchor both clips to the same moment instead. Impact is the easiest one to find. Every swing has one.

Set an in point at the start of the takeaway and an out point just after impact, in each video. Both clips now start and end at the same part of the swing. Step through them together and the positions line up.

In SwingGrade this is what In and Out points do. You set them per video, then scrub both at once.

Nothing you conclude before this step is reliable.

Draw on both clips at once

A line on one video tells you where something is. The same line on both tells you whether it moved.

Draw a vertical line just behind your hips at address, in each clip. Step forward to impact. If your hips sit in a different place relative to that line in the two swings, early extension has either crept in or gone away.

The same trick works for spine angle, head position, and where the shaft points halfway back.

More on that fault: How to fix early extension in your golf swing

What to compare against

Yourself, a month ago. This is the one that pays. It answers whether a change held. Your memory will not.

Your practice swing against your real swing. The gap between them is usually wide and always tells you something.

A professional, carefully. Sequence and timing transfer between golfers. Static positions often do not, because a tour player's body is not your body.

The full workflow this fits into: How to analyze your golf swing

Three ways people waste a comparison

Filming the two swings differently. Different phone, different spot, different height. Covered above, and still the most common one.

Judging before syncing. If impact does not line up, you are comparing two different moments.

Changing several things between sessions. New grip and a new ball position in the same week means you learn nothing about either.

Frequently asked questions

Can I compare my swing to a pro?

Yes, and it helps most if you compare sequence rather than shape. Watch when their hips start to turn relative to their hands. Copying a position at the top rarely transfers, because it comes out of a body built differently from yours.

How do I line up two swings that have different tempos?

Match them at impact rather than at the start. Set your in and out points so both clips cover the same part of the swing, then step through frame by frame. Tempo differences stop mattering once both videos are anchored to the same moment.

How often should I compare swings?

Save one swing whenever you start working on a change, then compare against it a month later. Comparing every session shows you noise rather than progress.

Start comparing

Film one swing today and keep it. In a month it becomes the reference you cannot get any other way, because your memory of your old swing will have quietly rewritten itself.

SwingGrade does the comparison side of this on Android. Your first three videos are free, with no account and no expiry date.