fRzzy

I used to be very confused at the range when practicing on the mat, I don't know where I was aiming, it's feel like I'm not square to anything, when I'm aligning myself to the mat I felt like I was aiming way right. Then I watched YouTube and an instructor (Shawn Clement I think) have this video about keeping your focus on the target even when you are looking at the ball. This does work, or maybe it's coincidentally but sometimes I hit right on the target with a weird ball flight, then I checked and found out that my foot is aiming left (I tend to setup open if I'm not being careful, not sure why)

Hello again, it's been a while since I decided to learn how to properly swing a golf club, and this is currently where I'm at: I've been Playing Golf for: 10 months My current handicap index or average score is: 24 (I use oobgolf.com, not sure how they calculate my handicap index) My typical ball flight is: mid launch, start right then curve left, if everything is synced up, I hit slight draw all day, but... The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: blocks and hooks, my friends are telling me that I'm swinging way too flat and I'm working on steepen up my swing. From the video I think I'm moving my head too much toward the target at the start of the downswing, what do you think? PS: I'm trying to get my hands more ahead of the ball, but I usually hit a block fade doing that (can't square the clubhead properly) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdJ2IxI40aE

Tightening the grip is the reason why I am still hitting huge banana slice with all my clubs later in the round. I'm still working on it...

I hit a 913H 24* at Titleist demo day, I was so happy with it I almost made an order right there. But I'm cheap, so I looked around on Ebay and bought an used 910H with Diamana Kai'li 80, same loft, almost same shaft (I think so) and hit it no different from the demo club. Saved $200, and I can't see any different in feel, ball flights... etc... so I'm happy.

I tried hitting up before and it didn't work for me, switched back to hitting down on it, better... My best driving round I hit 11/14 fairways, 210-220 yards average (best one 242 yards, 95mph swingspeed) - with a steel shaft driver (TT Dynalite Gold R300, Nike VR_S 13* head) - one average, I hit maybe 8-9 fairways with this driver, distance seems consistent longer than 200 yards... I have always struggling with my driver, distance wise, I don't have much problem with hitting it relatively straight but somehow I just can hit it right on the sweetspot on a regular basis. This, I need to address with more practice, but hitting down, launching low, combine with spinning more works for me. The ball take off low, and keep flying, keep on flying, touch the ground with a shallow angle and roll some... I believe the key to get more roll is shallow landing angle... I now setup with the ball toward center of my stance, same position as my setup with 7 wood (I hit down with woods, too)

I don't understand the "towel under armpits" drill... what good does it do? Your arms are connected to your body at the shoulders, not the elbows.

Wow, you are exactly like me, I'm a beginner, and the most consistently club in my bag is the driver, as I said above, "most" is definitely not "all". I can get the ball about 40-50 yards from the green with par -2 most of the time, and if I didn't shank, or blade, or chunk my chip/pitch, of if I didn't putt way shorter than intended, I would have playing bogey game by now, I lost 2 balls in the last three rounds, all bladed into the water. Just like you, my short game is the worst.

I would leave out any club with a number lower than 6 if I were you. Irons: 6-P Wedges: 52* and 56* A driver and a putter. You don't even need a driver, but it's fun to hit so just get one, 11.5* or 13* in loft preferable. Here are the reasons: - A driver is hard to hit consistently, for most, and one of the easiest to hit with full swing is a pitching wedge or a 9 iron, you can hit it at least 1/2 distance of your driver, why not hitting 2 shots with either of them, better than a slice or a hook OB or into the water, save on balls, too. But I would still buy a driver, in my case, it's the easiest to hit wood type clubs, practice hitting driver helps on developing better club path (in-square-in), too. - On the irons, seriously hitting straight, pure shots with a 7 iron is hard enough at your (and my) skill level, I can hit it pure about 6 out of 10 times, mishits are not terrible, though. Have a 6 iron to have some challenge, I like some challenge. - Wedges, these are importance, unfortunately I didn't realize it sooner, mini shots like chipping or pitching are shortened full shot, with the most important part, impact. So buy a 52 with somewhat less bounce (8-10*) and a 56 with more bounce (14-16*) and spent 60% of your practice time on chipping and pitching, hitting out of the sand, distance control, getting good impact with forward shaft lean, make the ball spin enough not to roll uncontrollablely... etc... - Putter, well you will need one of these, if money is not a problem, get one of these better looking, milled putter. 5 other clubs you will decide on later, until then you will know what you need, don't worry. All the longer clubs are just penalty traps for a beginner. There is this guy I know who went on a business trip and stayed for the weekend so he brought a mini clubs set with him (8, P, 52, 56, putter) and he brought back with him 2 score cards, 12 and 16 over. I play with him all the time and the best he can managed is 26 with a full clubs set. He putts good, I don't remember seeing him making 3 putts, or 1 putt (lol)

This is what I do, I picture what the shot will look like, how the ball launch, land and roll and do some practice swing to pre set the swing, and then I setup and swing away... it's rarely happen the way I imagined, though :D

You are not having fun, apparently.

It depends, I think. I was coming over the top not too long ago, slice all the time, fixed that by starting the downswing with my lower body and let my arms passively dropping the club into the slot, now I'm fixing block shots caused by over active lower body, focus on initiating the downswing by pulling the club... it works, but I started hooking shots... I want to give up this game...

According to these documents over at Hireko: http://www.hirekogolf.com/dynamic-shaft-fitting-addendum , 1 swingweight change equal 1 cpm gain (or loss) if and only if those changes are caused by clublength or headweight changes. So, roundly 3cpm increased if you cut off the shaft by 1/2".

I'm gaming a set of Value Golf Pinhawk SL built at just less than 37". They works, really allow me to groove my swing, one setup for all irons. However, there are some drawbacks you need to pay attention to: 1. "Long" irons are shorter, the 4 hybrid only have 20* loft, so if you don't have decent swing speed, you might have trouble getting the balls up to travel far. 2. "Short" irons are longer, ball flights are higher, more backspin, I hit my P about 115 yards and it launch like missiles. Accuracy wise, they are pretty good, since "long" irons are shorter, I got less mishits, the set 9 iron loft is 45* and P's loft is 50*, so if you choke them down to conventional length of a wedge, they work like P and G, good for shots that need more control. I will game with them for few more months and if I still have problem hitting the 4 hybrid, I might have them reshafted with progressive tip trimming, may helps launching balls with lower lofted clubs and keep the balls down with higher lofted ones.

About the same as mine up to the 21*, except my drives are 210, with roll, max :(

Perhap some of you please post some videos showing what kind of shots are you talking about? Flop shots seem to me are the kind of shots that send the ball go straight up, barely move forward and stay where it drop, maybe back off a little?