Updated October 2026 for DeepSwing 3.3 on iPhone and 1.4 on Android.
To film your golf swing with a phone, put it on a small tripod about 2 to 3 meters (7 to 10 feet) away, at hip height, upright and level, with your whole body and the club in the frame from setup to finish. Then film from one of two spots: face-on, where the camera looks at your chest, or down-the-line, where it looks along the line from your hands to the target. Coaches and swing apps work with exactly these two views.
The details decide whether the video is any use. A phone that sits a little too high, too close or slightly off the line changes how the swing looks on screen, and a plane that looks too steep on video may only be a camera that was in the wrong place.
Below you get both views step by step, distance and height, frame rate and light, and how to record a whole range session without walking back to the phone after every ball.
What you need
A phone and a small tripod with a phone holder. That's it. Leaning the phone against your bag works in an emergency, but it slips and tilts, and a tilted camera makes every angle in the video wrong. A friend holding the phone is worse: the picture moves with them.
If you want an app to analyze the video for you, install it before you go. DeepSwing is on the App Store and Google Play, and its in-app guide shows the same camera spots described here.
Face-on: the camera looks at your chest
Set the tripod on the other side of the ball, square to you, so the phone looks straight at the middle of your stance. Keep it level with your chest along the target line and never forward of the ball toward the target, because that is exactly where a shank goes.
Face-on shows what happens side to side: whether your hips sway away from the target in the backswing, how much your head moves, whether your weight gets to the lead side by impact and how much the shaft leans at impact. It is also the only view from which DeepSwing measures clubhead and ball speed. More on what this view reveals on our face-on swing analysis page.
At a driving range the face-on spot usually points at the bay next to you. Say a quick word to your neighbor before you start filming.
Down-the-line: the camera looks along your target line
Put the phone behind you, on the line from your hands to the target, and let it look toward the target. The easiest way to get the line right is to lay a club or an alignment stick on the ground pointing at the target and set the tripod behind its end, a step or so back from where your hands will be.
Down-the-line shows the swing plane, your posture at setup, whether you keep your hip depth or move toward the ball (early extension) and how you rotate. It is also the view that suffers most from a badly placed camera. A phone set up off the line, or aimed a little left or right of the target, makes the plane look flatter or steeper than it really is. Our down-the-line page shows what to look for.
Distance, height and orientation
About 2 to 3 meters (7 to 10 feet) is the sweet spot. Closer, and the club leaves the frame at the top or in the finish. Farther, and you become so small that your joints and the clubhead get hard to follow, for you and for any app.
Keep the phone at hip height and level. A camera low on the ground or high above you distorts the angles of your spine and your arms. Film upright (portrait), because a single golfer is taller than wide, and use the normal 1x lens. Switch to 0.5x only when you can't step back far enough to fit the whole swing in.
Before you hit, make a practice swing and check the frame: head with some room above it in the finish, feet with some room below them, and the clubhead inside the picture at the top of the backswing.
Frame rate and light
Normal video at 30 frames per second smears the club into a blur around impact. Slow motion at 120 or 240 fps freezes it. If you only want to watch your body, 60 fps is fine. For the club around impact and for speed, film faster: DeepSwing needs at least 100 fps to measure clubhead and ball speed.
In DeepSwing on iPhone every capture mode records at 120 or 240 fps. On Android only Record with the rear camera reaches 120 or 240 fps (240 in good light, 120 when it gets too dark), and the other modes record at 60 fps. Our swing speed page explains the speed part, including the Speed button on Android.
High frame rates need light, because every frame gets a shorter exposure. Film in daylight or in a well-lit bay, and don't point the camera into a low sun or a bright window behind you. A calm background helps too: other golfers swinging behind you make your club harder to pick out.
Record hands-free
Walking to the phone, pressing record, walking back and doing it all again after the swing ruins a range session. Most of the time you don't need to touch the phone at all.
In DeepSwing, 1 Swing is the single-shot mode: tap it and walk to the ball. It recognizes whether you filmed face-on or down-the-line, arms itself when you stand still at the ball, records without a countdown, stops after the swing, trims the clip and starts the analysis. Multi Swing is the same idea for a whole block of balls: you pick the view and the club once, and every swing is recorded and saved on its own while you keep hitting.
On iPhone you can also start and stop recordings from an Apple Watch. On Android, the Speed button in Record is the hands-free way to film for speed: pick the club, tap Speed, walk to the ball, and once you stand still it records, stops after your finish and trims itself.
Get DeepSwing for iPhone or Android, set the phone up down-the-line and start a Multi Swing block with a 7-iron.
What to look at in the video
Watch one thing per session, not everything at once. Face-on: does your head stay roughly where it started, do your hips slide away from the target, is your weight on the lead side at impact? Down-the-line: do you keep your posture from setup into the downswing, and does the club come down on a similar plane to the one it went up on?
DeepSwing does this part for you. It finds the six phases from setup to finish, runs more than 20 checks (about 15 per view) and draws the clubhead trail: blue for the backswing, yellow for the downswing, violet for the follow-through. The analysis runs on your phone, and your swing videos are not uploaded for it. The full results come with DeepSwing Pro, whose yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers.
For a whole practice plan built around filming, see our article on the driving range and a 60-minute session. Still choosing an app? Our comparison of the best golf swing analyzer apps in 2026 puts them side by side.
FAQ
Should I film my golf swing in slow motion?
Yes, if your phone allows it. At 120 or 240 fps the club stays sharp around impact, and speed measurement from video needs at least 100 fps. Normal 30 fps video is enough to check your posture, not your club.
How far away should the camera be?
About 2 to 3 meters (7 to 10 feet), at hip height. Close enough that you fill most of the frame, far enough that the club stays in the picture at the top and in the finish.
Should I film upright or sideways?
Upright (portrait) for one golfer. You are taller than you are wide, so an upright picture keeps you bigger in the frame.
Which view is better, face-on or down-the-line?
Neither, they show different things. Face-on is for sway, head movement, weight shift and speed. Down-the-line is for plane, posture and rotation. Pick the one that shows the fault you are working on.