I’m finally investing some time to properly analyze my golf swing in an attempt to correct some fundamental swing flaws. After seeing my swing on video a few times now, I reckon I’ll need to invest a lot of time! I did come away from the range today with renewed optimism, having successfully applied a couple of swing changes…….all is not lost.

…..but this post isn’t about me, it’s about a bloke with a YouTube Channel featuring fantastic slow motion footage of tour professionals’ golf swings. This ‘bloke’ appears to prefer anonymity, so I know not his name. I do know that he has posted approx. 150 videos over the last year, all taken with his Casio EX F1 camera at golf tournaments that he actually attends.

I’m finding these slow motion videos really helpful to understand the key positions in the golf swing that I need to replicate….somehow, sometime. Check out the Rory McIlroy video below.

“I thought it was over, I thought I had won the tournament” were Jack Nicklaus’ words from the clubhouse when Tom Watson hit his 2-iron into the gnarly fescue grass to the left of Pebble Beach’s 17th green. It was the closing stages of the 1982 US Open and Watson was about to chip in for an improbable major victory.

I was reminded of Waton’s heroics while listening to a golf podcast recently. So I thought I’d go in search of some footage on YouTube. I found the clip below, which starts with Nicklaus’ birdie run on the front nine, and concludes with Watson’s incredible birdie, birdie finish to win.

I recently went looking for swing tips on YouTube to help me to hit both a draw and a fade with more success than I’ve been having of late.

What I found was the video below featuring Justin Rose with one of the most concise explanations of how to hit a draw and fade swing that I’ve seen (Rose makes it look much less complicated than I’m sure I’ll make it!)

Rose features in a number of other instructional videos produced by Golfalot.com. The other videos are pretty good too.

You can view all of the Justin Rose instruction videos at Golfalot’s YouTube site or through their website at Golfalot.com

Jack Nicklaus reckons Tiger will play in the Masters this year……let’s hope he’s right.

Here’s a reminder of what we’ve missed these last few months. I’ve seen this slow motion footage a few times, and haven’t tired of it yet.

Plenty of people have seen Vijay’s hole in one during Tuesday practice at the 2009 Masters, but just in case you missed it, here it is.

It’s apparently a long standing tradition for players to skip the ball across the water during practice on 16 after hitting their tee shots. No-one has executed quite like Vjiay. Here are a couple of views of the shot, none of them great, but worth seeing.

I was watching one of the PGA Tour’s ‘Outside the Ropes’ interviews the other day, this one with Justin Leonard. In it he mentions the 1999 Ryder Cup and 1997 British Open wins as his most memorable moments as a professional golfer, saying that he couldn’t choose one over the other.

It says a lot about Leonard, and the Ryder Cup, that he values the 1999 team success as much as his individual win in the British Open. Mind you, holing a 45 footer on the 17th to ultimately seal victory for the US would be hard to beat!

Anyway, I went in search of some footage from the 1999 Ryder Cup and found this great highlights package……could be a long time before there’s another Ryder Cup quite like it.

I read an interesting article over at Sandbox8.com recently about Shotlink, the system used by the PGA Tour to gather and analyze stats for all of the PGA Tour events.

I’ve wondered how the commentators know, for example, that Phil Mickelson has holed 156 out 165 putts inside 5 feet this year, or that Steve Stricker has holed 110 feet of putts during a tournament…..Shotlink is the system that tells them.

The video below does a good job of showing you how the system works. You can also visit the Shotlink website to see video examples of how the stats were used in television coverage during the 2009 season.

I read recently at Golfweek.com that Jean Van de Velde had failed to qualify for the 2010 Asia Tour, after recently moving to Asia for family reasons. It got me thinking about THAT 72nd hole at Carnoustie in 1999.

So, I went in search of some footage on YouTube to reminisce and came across this interview from 2007, in which Van de Velde maintains his philosophical perspective on letting the claret jug slip. You have to think he’s carrying some emotional scars from the events of that last hole, but maybe he really has put it all behind him.

If you want a reminder of how well Van de Velde played to give himself that 3 shot cushion on the last, check out this highlights reel……..he played some brilliant golf over the first 71 holes, and with flair.

I read about the death of Hunter Green, son of former professional golfer Ken Green, on the Golf Channel website the other day. This is the second tragedy to befall Green in the last 8 months, following the death of his brother and girlfriend in a motor vehicle accident in June last year. Green badly injured his right leg in the accident, and it was subsequently amputated below the knee.

The purpose of this post isn’t to regurgitate such sad events, but to share this inspiring Golf Channel video about Green’s determination to re-join the Champion’s Tour……on one leg.

If you’re interested in learning more about Green’s comeback, check-out www.kengreenscomeback.com. Green’s blog is very personal and frank.

EHM3ST72VA59 I recently read an article on Sam Snead over at ‘Armchair Golf Blog’, which prompted me to go in search of his swing on YouTube. I’m glad I did because I found this fantastic 5 min ’swing collection’.

Snead was considered by many to have the ‘perfect swing’…….hard to argue with that. This swing won Snead 82 PGA Tour events (more than anyone), 7 majors and a round of 60 at the age of 71!

[The picture's a bit grainy and there's no audio, but the swing quality is 100%]