Five things to look for, face-on.

This is a starting list for a face-on camera, not a diagnosis of anyone's swing. There are five items, in this order: a stable and fluid spine, a power turn, lag, a compression line, and a straight-line release. That is the five-fundamentals frame these two guides were written against on October 14, 2026. If that priority list changes, read this page again before you trust the order.

None of the five is an automatic measurement, and none of them is a comparison against a professional norm. Each one is a visual check on video you filmed. Posture Check can draw a spine line, and Shaft Check can draw the shaft, when those views are on. Use a line to compare swings filmed the same way. It is not a score. A phone video cannot measure foot pressure, an exact face angle, or a joint in three dimensions, and it cannot see where the ball went.

Film a mid-iron, face-on, with the club in frame. Read one item. The linked guides hold the longer explanation.

Stable and fluid spine. At Address, look at the shoulder line and the torso. A little tilt from the lower trail hand is ordinary. A big lean of the whole torso is the picture to question. Through impact, look for the body staying with the shot instead of standing straight up or falling toward the ball. Good is a start you can turn from, and a strike that does not require a rescue of the spine. The miss is a setup lean you then have to undo, or a rise off the shot. Visual check. Read Setup tilt, Loss of posture, and Reverse spine.

Power turn. At the Top, look at how far the body turned and where the club arrived. Good is a turn that gives the club a way back to the ball. The miss is a slide off the ball instead of a turn, or a top so cramped the downswing has to be invented. Parallel is not the goal. Visual check. Read Sway and Short backswing.

Lag. From the Top into Pre-Impact, look at the angle between the shaft and the lead forearm. Good is a clubhead that is still trailing as the hands approach the ball. The miss is the angle spent early, so the clubhead passes the hands before the strike. Do not confuse that with a cupped wrist at the top, and do not confuse it with how much the club set on the way up. Visual check. Read Early loss of lag and Limited wrist set.

Compression line. At Address, see where the shaft points while the sole rests on the ground. At Impact, see whether the handle leads the clubhead into the ball. Those are different moments. Good address is a resting sole, not a copy of impact. The miss at impact is the handle leaning back so the club meets the ground first. Visual check. Shaft Check can draw the line. Read Shaft lean at address and No shaft lean.

Straight-line release. Through the strike and just after, look at whether the clubhead travels out along the shot instead of flipping past the hands or stalling. Good is the club still going, with the lead arm quiet enough that you are not saving the face. The miss is a cast before the ball, or a lead elbow that breaks down through the hit. Visual check. The ball's curve is not in this frame. Read Early loss of lag, Chicken wing, and Deceleration.

Film five full mid-iron swings, face-on, club in frame, camera near hand height and square to you. Pick one of the five items before you watch. Step through Address, Top, and Impact for that item only.

Write one sentence about what you see, and one sentence about the strike. If you cannot connect the picture to the strike, leave the swing alone and film another day. If you can, open the matching guide and use its exercise. Do not start a second item in the same session.

A good comparison is two of your own frames of the same club: one where the picture matches the description, and one where it does not. This page does not include a stock pair of model frames. Your swings are the pair.

Watch the five swings once for that single item. Note whether the picture and the contact moved together. If they did not, the item was the wrong one to chase. The down-the-line list is the same five ideas from the other camera, and several of them are easier to see over there. Come back to a second face-on item only after the first experiment has a result.