Help (Golf Related)

[silverbear]

Yeah, I started to put the ball a little more forward in my stance and the results have been better....


I also have a huge gap between my 3 wood and Driver. I suspect a lot of that has to do with the technology difference between the two clubs though...

If your driver is a titanium and your 3 wood is persimmon, or laminated, then aside from the 20 yard difference between a driver and a 3 wood due to the greater loft of the latter, you're gonna be 15-20 yards shorter with the wood club...

I'd have to see the problem you're describing to diagnose it, but Hos is probably on the right track to suggest you're likely getting a bit more passive with your legs on the longer clubs... if this is the case, it's because you're not as confident of your ability to hit the longer clubs as straight as you do your lower ones, and you're essentially "guiding" the ball... the further away you are from the hole, the more conscious you become about direction, the more worried about it you become...

It's an easy enough theory to put to the test, go to the driving range with your middle and long irons, and hit a coupla buckets of balls, concentrating on just trying to KILL the thing... don't worry about the accuracy, just drive through every shot aggressively... even speed up your backswing, if yours is generally not that fast...

The idea is not to hit good golf shots, the idea is to get used to going after the ball the way you do with the shorter clubs, with aggression... once you do, you can go back to your normal rhythm and such, hopefully integrating some of the stronger leg action that you practiced...

If you're getting the distance that you previously lacked, then you're gonna have to work on getting your legs through the shot on the longer irons... you can't go around trying to kill every longer iron shot, you'll be all over the place, LOL...

 

[silverbear]

Depends.

Assuming I am striking the ball reasonably well....

Driver- 250 is probably the average. But if I am playing 18, on the back 9, I start banging them out further. Last round I played, I nutted one out in the 290 range. Playing 18, I usually have a couple of drives in the 280+ range...I am driving the ball better than I did last year (and more importantly, straighter)

3 Wood- Off the tee, 210.


Should be worth noting though, there is a stark difference between the two clubs. My driver is a Ping G5. My 3-Wood is a Nike T40 (Tour Edition) with extra stiff steel shaft. My Ping G5 is extra stiff too, but with graphite.

You're not hitting the ball far enough to be using an X flex, Vintage... get those things reshafted with an S flex, and watch yourself get an extra 10-15 yards out of each... you'll probably find yourself a bit straighter, too...

I still swing an X flex on my driver, but have never used an X on any of my other clubs... stiff is firm enough for me... and really, I'm thinking that it's about time to go to an S flex on the driver, too... for sure, I'm fixin' to cut that thing down from 45 inches to 42.5... I'm too short to be standing that far away from the ball, and I don't need the extra distance...

A lot of people play sticks that are too stiff for them... a lot of people also use the wrong ball; I always laugh when I see some guy walk into a pro shop on a 70 degree day and buy a sleeve of 100 compression balls... those are hot weather balls, even the really good players don't use 100 compression on cool or mild days... but some "gorillas", then think that playing a 100 compression ball is a macho thing...

I carry both in my bag, and wait for the hot weather to break out the high octane balls...

 

[silverbear]

Actually, yeah, I am playing them from the same stance.... but from the mid to front. I thought this would help get more loft on the ball, since you are striking the ball when the club head is coming on the way up....

You're on the right track there, when a player needs to hit a ball extra high, he moves it up in his stance, and when he needs to hit one low, the ol' knockdown, he moves it back in his stance...

I often advise my students that the best on-course adjustment you can make when you're struggling is ball position... if you're leaving shots out to the right, move the ball forward in your stance, and they should move more back to on-target... this is a lot easier than trying to fix your swing on the 15th hole, LOL...

 

[Vintage]

You're not hitting the ball far enough to be using an X flex, Vintage... get those things reshafted with an S flex, and watch yourself get an extra 10-15 yards out of each... you'll probably find yourself a bit straighter, too...

Really? I don't doubt I'd hit it farther... but straighter? I don't think its possible for my 3 Wood to go straighter. Unless I screw up royally, its dead center every time. I am not a great golfer by any means, but with my 3 Wood, I can pick a spot on the fairway, and as long as I line up properly, I can put it there....and its a stiff flex steel shaft.

In High School, I had a Deep Red Driver with a fat shaft and I shattered the shaft on impact. (Granted, my swing speed was higher then than it is now, but its something that is always in the back of my mind....and was why in H.S. I switched everything over to Steel).

My driver is the least accurate club (though, no surprise)....and its a graphite shaft. The irons I hit well and my 3 Wood though are straight and all steel shaft.

I still swing an X flex on my driver, but have never used an X on any of my other clubs... stiff is firm enough for me... and really, I'm thinking that it's about time to go to an S flex on the driver, too... for sure, I'm fixin' to cut that thing down from 45 inches to 42.5... I'm too short to be standing that far away from the ball, and I don't need the extra distance...

Now this, I have thought about..... I've thought about cutting down my driver shaft for the improved accuracy... though, I think I just need to keep working on my driver to be honest...because when I do go to a driving range and straighten 'er out, she does well.

A lot of people play sticks that are too stiff for them... a lot of people also use the wrong ball; I always laugh when I see some guy walk into a pro shop on a 70 degree day and buy a sleeve of 100 compression balls... those are hot weather balls, even the really good players don't use 100 compression on cool or mild days... but some "gorillas", then think that playing a 100 compression ball is a macho thing...

I carry both in my bag, and wait for the hot weather to break out the high octane balls...

See....this is the kind of stuff I don't know anything about.

I am playing with the Taylor Made Burners right now.... the ones that are 27.99 (cant remember if thats the red or black).....

I don't know if that's the right kind of ball to use or not... but I like them.

 

[Yeagermeister]

I say just whack it a little harder next time. It works for me on the computer.

 

[silverbear]

Good luck - you need to alter where you you play your ball in stance or you will never have yardage consistency.

I'm with you on most of your attempts to help Vintage, and can tell by the way you talk that you really do have game, but you're dead wrong about this... I play most everything from left of center for the shorter irons to just off my left heel with my driver (unless I'm deliberately hitting a knockdown shot)... and I can assure you that I know what each club in my bag will carry, how far I can hit a 3/4 shot with any iron, that kind of thing...

Indeed, I have very, very good distance control on my irons, all from a left of center to off my left heel ball position... and I hit a VERY high, very soft shot... but what I don't do is spin a ball a lot... a little, I can back up a short iron a few feet, but not a lot...

This is because the course I was head pro at had the smallest greens you ever saw in your life, and they were hard as bricks... so I pretty much had to develop a high, soft shot to play it...

I also learned to chip pretty well...

 

[Vintage]

You're on the right track there, when a player needs to hit a ball extra high, he moves it up in his stance, and when he needs to hit one low, the ol' knockdown, he moves it back in his stance...

I often advise my students that the best on-course adjustment you can make when you're struggling is ball position... if you're leaving shots out to the right, move the ball forward in your stance, and they should move more back to on-target... this is a lot easier than trying to fix your swing on the 15th hole, LOL...

I'll remember that.

Like I said before: this kind of stuff, I don't know much about. I took up golf in middle school (and played, maybe once a week). It wasn't until High School when I joined the golf team that I really started to play.

And I was the first in my family to play golf (my dad took it up as a way to spend time with me; and then I got my youngest sister hooked into it too).... but the point is, I didn't grow up around golf or come from a golf family. What I know, mainly comes from trial and error.

 

[silverbear]

Wow. Dude, you have no idea how much I love you for this....

I did this today and got noticeable difference between my 5 iron and 7 iron. Additionally, I was hitting my 3 iron and getting a little better distance than my 5 iron........


I've never been able to hit my 3 iron either....


Thanks a ton!!!!!!!!!!

The best advice he gave you was to push your takeaway back low and long... this will force you to coil your upper body more fully, and as an added benefit, will give you a little more time to get your legs through the shot at impact...

 

[Vintage]

The best advice he gave you was to push your takeaway back low and long... this will force you to coil your upper body more fully, and as an added benefit, will give you a little more time to get your legs through the shot at impact...

I think one of my problems in regards to distance is that I am not coiling. In high school, I didn't know much about coiling but I did it naturally....now, most of my power is coming through my arms....

 

[silverbear]

Started altering it in my stance today....

At stance, when I am hitting my low irons, the weight is shifted a little more on my left foot than right. When I am hitting 7-PW, its more on the right foot. And 5 and 6 iron is about 50-50.

Is that correct?

Let me make this easy for you... at address, you want your head set slightly behind the ball... if you do that, that will put your right shoulder a little below your left, and a wee bit more weight on your right side... this will be a problem if you're not using your legs properly, but the solution then is to start getting your legs into the shot more...

This is for every club, except when you're playing a knockdown shot... I describe the feeling as "aiming high", and if you get that feeling, you'll be in proper balance to initiate your swing (assuming you're sitting at the ball and not standing too upright)...

The only time you want more weight on your left side at address is if you're deliberately trying to hit the ball low, like when you're playing into a stiff breeze... oh, I'll sometimes teach beginners to do that, stay on their left side, because this helps them stop the dreaded reverse pivot that every beginner gets to sooner or later... but you're way past that stage...

 

[silverbear]

No problem - now go practice and experiment - Once you have mastered hitting long irons...... We can talk next lesson. The art of hooking and slicing a shot - I spent a decade+ honing that and ironically the newer clubs are a hinderance to "shotmaking" skills.

The woods, yes... you cannot work a metal wood the way I could my old McGregor MTs... but the new sticks are much more effective from bad lies, so there's a tradeoff... and for the irons, that's not true... drawing and fading a ball is as easy with my new Pings as it was with my 72 model Pings, the difference being that today's clubs have 2 degrees less loft per club, so you can hit them further... same with flying the ball higher or lower than normal...

At least, I have no problems with turning a ball as I need... most of the time, though, I just try to keep it simple, I try to hit the ball as straight as I can... working the ball is for when I HAVE to, LOL...

 

[Vintage]

Let me make this easy for you... at address, you want your head set slightly behind the ball... if you do that, that will put your right shoulder a little below your left, and a wee bit more weight on your right side... this will be a problem if you're not using your legs properly, but the solution then is to start getting your legs into the shot more...

This is for every club, except when you're playing a knockdown shot... I describe the feeling as "aiming high", and if you get that feeling, you'll be in proper balance to initiate your swing (assuming you're sitting at the ball and not standing too upright)...

The only time you want more weight on your left side at address is if you're deliberately trying to hit the ball low, like when you're playing into a stiff breeze... oh, I'll sometimes teach beginners to do that, stay on their left side, because this helps them stop the dreaded reverse pivot that every beginner gets to sooner or later... but you're way past that stage...

I think I have been doing some of this naturally (without even knowing it)....\


My 3 iron, obviously is.... and my 5-6 iron, if you were to draw a line on the left side of my face (I am right handed) to the ball, the left side of my face is probably in line with the right side of the ball....

But when I put the ball back in my stance (for my 7 iron-SW), I don't think I am doing it...

I just got up in my cubicle and tested it out.....it seems like it will naturally help you coil? Is that correct?

 

[silverbear]

I'll remember that.

Like I said before: this kind of stuff, I don't know much about. I took up golf in middle school (and played, maybe once a week). It wasn't until High School when I joined the golf team that I really started to play.

And I was the first in my family to play golf (my dad took it up as a way to spend time with me; and then I got my youngest sister hooked into it too).... but the point is, I didn't grow up around golf or come from a golf family. What I know, mainly comes from trial and error.

You might profit immensely from finding a qualified, class A PGA professional, and take a lesson or two or three... even Tiger uses a pro to diagnose and fix his swing, if you find a good one, he can help you progress much more rapidly...

I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have in the interim, and I see that Nors has helped you too... good for him...

 

[silverbear]

I think I have been doing some of this naturally (without even knowing it)....

That's an excellent beginning... now, you want to make sure that your head remains still, slightly behind the ball, through impact... your head is the pivot point around which your swing revolves, and that pivot point remains fixed...


My 3 iron, obviously is.... and my 5-6 iron, if you were to draw a line on the left side of my face (I am right handed) to the ball, the left side of my face is probably in line with the right side of the ball....[/quote]

I think it would easier for you to focus on setting up with your right shoulder on a slightly lower plane than your left shoulder... this will make you feel as if you're "aiming high", and will get your head in just the right position behind the ball (which is about where you describe it above), and will get your weight slightly on your left side...

I just got up in my cubicle and tested it out.....it seems like it will naturally help you coil? Is that correct?

LOL... I can picture you doing that, and your coworkers looking at you like you've lost your mind...

Yes, setting up behind the ball will help you coil a bit more freely, and this is a good thing... but it also makes it a bit more likely that you'll stay on your left side through your downswing, and you want to guard against that... you want to be conscious of getting your weight over to your left side in the downswing, or you'll have the ol' reverse pivot on your hand, and then you'll hit some REALLY ugly shots...

Incidentally, Nors' advice about sweeping the club away low will also help you coil more fully... give it a try... there's a way you can practice this, tee a ball up at the range, then place a second tee behind the ball about two feet back, and SLIGHTLY inside your target line... then try to brush that tee with your clubhead in your backswing...

 

[Vintage]

You might profit immensely from finding a qualified, class A PGA professional, and take a lesson or two or three... even Tiger uses a pro to diagnose and fix his swing, if you find a good one, he can help you progress much more rapidly...

I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have in the interim, and I see that Nors has helped you too... good for him...

Funny you should mention that.....that was a conversation I had with my dad last night.

My dad wants to get my youngest sister to take lessons (she's picked up golf better than I did at her age, and she doesn't put any time into it whatsoever). But she refuses..... my dad is talking about signing us both up for lessons from someone like that.....he figures the only way she'll do it is if I do it, and since he's willing to pay for it, I'm game.

 

[Vintage]

Yes, setting up behind the ball will help you coil a bit more freely, and this is a good thing... but it also makes it a bit more likely that you'll stay on your left side through your downswing, and you want to guard against that... you want to be conscious of getting your weight over to your left side in the downswing, or you'll have the ol' reverse pivot on your hand, and then you'll hit some REALLY ugly shots...

Incidentally, Nors' advice about sweeping the club away low will also help you coil more fully... give it a try... there's a way you can practice this, tee a ball up at the range, then place a second tee behind the ball about two feet back, and SLIGHTLY inside your target line... then try to brush that tee with your clubhead in your backswing...

You mean right side right? The tendency will be to keep my weight on the right side, correct?

Because I just did it (the head placement stuff) and the weight was shifted more on the right side, and then when I did the impact + follow through, I shifted to the left.

Or do I have something wrong here?

 

[silverbear]

I think one of my problems in regards to distance is that I am not coiling. In high school, I didn't know much about coiling but I did it naturally....now, most of my power is coming through my arms....

But if that's the case, we'd be seeing it in the shorter clubs too, and you're hitting them a good distance... I mean, anything you can do to take a bigger turn is helpful, but I think it's more likely that you're too target conscious on the longer shots, thus trying to "steer" the ball a little, and as a result not using your legs as aggressively as you do with the shorter sticks...

As long as you're getting your left shoulder under your chin at the top of your backswing, you're probably coiling sufficiently... if most of your power is coming through your arms, then the remedy is to learn to use your legs more... but coiling completely is necessary to have the time needed in your downswing to get your legs thought the shot too... so by all means, practice the things you need to ensure that you're making a full turn away from the ball...

Tell me something (and I'm gonna have to head to bed here pretty quick, so it may be late tonight before I respond), do you take a good divot on your iron shots?? Or do you kind of scoop the ball off the ground?? Believe it or not, there ARE good players out there who "pick" the ball, but it's harder to play that way... if you're not really getting a divot, that's another indicator that you're not using your legs quite right...

 

[silverbear]

Funny you should mention that.....that was a conversation I had with my dad last night.

My dad wants to get my youngest sister to take lessons (she's picked up golf better than I did at her age, and she doesn't put any time into it whatsoever). But she refuses..... my dad is talking about signing us both up for lessons from someone like that.....he figures the only way she'll do it is if I do it, and since he's willing to pay for it, I'm game.

Go for it...

But be aware that there are lots of people out there calling themselves golf pros who don't have a flippin' clue... make absolutely sure that you book with a class A PGA professional... that's not a guarantee that the guy will be a good teacher, since much of teaching is communication, but it will guarantee that the guy will have an education in the fundamentals...

Here's a suggestion, see if you can find a local club that has a strong junior program, since they'll likely have a head pro who's good at teaching kids, at making it fun for them... your sister seems to be reluctant, but the right teaching pro could make her have fun...

 

[silverbear]

You mean right side right? The tendency will be to keep my weight on the right side, correct?

Because I just did it (the head placement stuff) and the weight was shifted more on the right side, and then when I did the impact + follow through, I shifted to the left.

Or do I have something wrong here?

Naw, I'm gettin' punchy... I meant the right side... sorry about that, I 'bout to FUBAR'ed ya... LOL...

 

[Vintage]

But if that's the case, we'd be seeing it in the shorter clubs too, and you're hitting them a good distance... I mean, anything you can do to take a bigger turn is helpful, but I think it's more likely that you're too target conscious on the longer shots, thus trying to "steer" the ball a little, and as a result not using your legs as aggressively as you do with the shorter sticks...

Ok.....so my shorter irons are ok distance wise, but my longer stuff isn't...

As long as you're getting your left shoulder under your chin at the top of your backswing, you're probably coiling sufficiently...

Oops. I don't think this is happening. At all. I don't think I even do this with my shorter irons.

I just went through the motions (with people staring at me).... I am def. not doing this with my lower irons, driver, or 3 wood. I think I start to do this around my 8 iron. Without actually having the clubs with me, I cannot check...but that's my guess.

if most of your power is coming through your arms, then the remedy is to learn to use your legs more... but coiling completely is necessary to have the time needed in your downswing to get your legs thought the shot too... so by all means, practice the things you need to ensure that you're making a full turn away from the ball...

Yeah, I am def. getting more power from my arms than anything....

Tell me something (and I'm gonna have to head to bed here pretty quick, so it may be late tonight before I respond), do you take a good divot on your iron shots?? Or do you kind of scoop the ball off the ground?? Believe it or not, there ARE good players out there who "pick" the ball, but it's harder to play that way... if you're not really getting a divot, that's another indicator that you're not using your legs quite right...

No divot, most of the time. And when I do take a divot, its pretty minimal.


(BTW: thanks a bunch for this: it really helps me out)