André Rennes

1 Executive summary

2 Timing & tempo — measured from the video

30 frames per second, so each time is accurate to about ±0.03 s. Backswing starts at 12.10 s (frame 108), the top is at about 12.77 s, and impact is at about 13.03 s.

Tour figure: John Novosel, Tour Tempo. This swing counts as 20 frames back and 8 down, against the Tour's 24 and 8. The top was found by hand tracking as the last frame before the hands reverse direction, and checked by eye, so one frame either way moves the ratio between ~2.2:1 and ~2.9:1.

What it means: The downswing (0.27 s) matches the Tour figure exactly. The backswing is about 0.13 s shorter than the Tour's, which is the only gap to 3:1. It is a longer backswing than driver #1 with the same downswing speed, and that is what lifted the ratio to the best in the driver logbook and into the good band (2.5–3:1).

3 The reference frame — how this swing was measured

• Grid: each square is about 5 inches (scale 12.94 px per inch). Height wasn't given, so it is scaled from his body size in the frame. Treat distances as ±1 inch.
• Center lines: a vertical line through the center of his stance and a horizontal line through the ball line. They are the fixed references for sway, head movement and height changes.
• Corner diagonals: they cross at the frame's center and give a fixed perspective scaffold for depth.
• Depth rays: the mat edges extended to the horizon. Anything moving along them is moving toward the target (into the picture), not sideways. No alignment sticks were on the mat this time, and the mat's left edge is cut off by the frame, so the rays are approximate.
• Height references: the white cap line marks head height at address and the dashed waist line marks waist height. The red trail is the head path and the yellow trail is the hands' path.
• Tracking: body points were tracked on every frame (153 frames, 8.5–13.6 s) and checked by eye at each key position. The camera stayed still: the background moved less than 0.3 px (median). Shoulder and hip rotation are visual estimates (about ±10–15°).

4 Swing sequence

Nine key positions, filmed down-the-line from behind the hands. The target is straight into the picture.

Photos are numbered in the order they happen in the swing. The frames follow the standard swing positions.

5 Position-by-position biomechanics

Photo 1 — Address Good

• Tall, athletic posture: knees flexed, arms hanging, ball on a tee for the driver.
• No sticks or feet line on the mat, so alignment can't be checked against a line. The ball-line horizontal and the stance-center vertical are the references for everything below.

Photo 2 — Takeaway Good

• Hands, arms and club leave together. The hands are about 7.5 in from their address spot.
• The head has already moved about 2 in down and about 1.6 in toward the ball. It is the first sign of the pattern.

Photo 3 — Lead arm parallel Head moves early

• Head about 3.9 in lower and 5.0 in toward the ball. That is almost the full impact value, so the move happens in the backswing.
• Hips about 4 in away from the ball, turning behind it with no slide forward.
• Hands about 22 in from their address spot.

Photo 4 — Top Good turn

• Shoulders turned about 85° and hips about 40°, so the X-factor is about 45° (±10–15°).
• The hands left the left edge of the frame at the top, so the club position can't be judged. The top was found by hand tracking as the last frame before the hands reverse direction, and checked by eye.
• Head about 2.9 in lower and 4.6 in toward the ball, and the hips are about 3.7 in away with the waist height holding (0.7 in up).

Photo 5 — Arm parallel (down) Good

• The lower body leads: the hips come back about 0.6 in toward the ball while the waist height holds (~1 in up).
• The head stays steady from the top (about 0.5 in sideways change), and the hands drop about 6 in back toward the address spot.

Photo 6 — Delivery Waist starts to rise

• Hands about 12 in from the address spot and closing fast: about 7 in in three frames (0.1 s).
• The waist rises from ~1.0 in to ~2.4 in here, so the stand-up begins. Head about 4.3 in lower.
• Motion blur hides the club, so the club plane can't be judged.

Photo 7 — Impact Watch the head

• Hands back within about 0.9 in of the address spot.
• Head about 4.6 in lower and 5.2 in toward the ball (both Fix). Waist about 2.8 in higher (Watch).
• Hips about 0.9 in away from the ball, so no early extension. Hips about 35° open and shoulders about 10° open, so the hips clear well ahead of the chest.

Photo 8 — Release Head stays down

• The head is at its lowest here, about 5.5 in below address and 5.6 in toward the ball. It stays low through the strike instead of lifting early.
• Hands about 12.6 in from the address spot and moving out past impact.

Photo 9 — Finish Excellent

• Tall and balanced on the lead leg, trail foot up on its toe, chest and belt facing the target.
• The head is about 4.6 in above its address height and the hips have moved about 2.9 in toward the ball line, so he has stood up fully.

Overlay — head at address, top and impact

Depth note: from behind, the head's ~5 in shift toward the ball line mixes sideways movement with movement along the depth rays (toward the target), and one camera can't split the two. Report #2 (face-on, Oct 10) found the head moving ~5–7 in toward the target, so the two reports agree in direction. A fresh face-on clip will settle it (see next capture).

6 One pattern, the whole bag

The link: the head sinks about 5 in in both down-the-line driver reports, and the face-on report found a head move of a similar size toward the target. It looks like the same move seen from different angles. What is new in this report is the lower body and tempo: hips staying back, hands returning to the address spot, and a backswing long enough to reach 2.5:1. That is close to the 6-iron rhythm (~2.6:1, Oct 14) and well above the 3-wood's ~1.7:1 (Oct 24). Without ball data the head move can't be tied to a result yet, so a clip with the range screen would show what it costs in contact and flight.

7 Diagnosis

8 Next steps — keep it simple

9 Limitations & next capture

• One swing is a snapshot. There is no range screen in this clip, so ball flight, distance and club speed are not reported.
• At 30 frames per second the ball is gone between two frames right after impact, so start direction can't be tracked. Slow motion (120 or 240 fps) would fix that.
• Distances come from a grid scaled to his body in the frame. His real height would make the scale exact. No sticks were in view and the mat's left edge is cut off, so the depth rays are approximate.
• From behind, depth (toward the target) mixes with sideways motion. Rotation angles are visual estimates (about ±10–15°). The top was found by hand tracking as the last frame before the hands reverse direction, and checked by eye; the hands leave the frame at the top.

Next capture: to sharpen the reference frame: (1) the same down-the-line spot, a little wider so the hands stay in frame at the top and the whole mat is visible, ideally with two sticks on the ground for the depth rays; (2) the range screen right after each shot; (3) slow motion (120 or 240 fps) so the ball can be followed; (4) a face-on clip at chest height; (5) André's height, to lock the grid scale.