jasongst

I will look into that, thanks. My most recent attempts have been to improve lag and increase the use of my lower body. Although I can feel differences emerging, I haven't really seen the distance yet.

Anyone have a story about gaining significant distance by altering your mechanics (rather than pumping iron)? I'm particularly interested in the lowish handicappers because there's no telling what kind of things a high handicapper might be doing to destroy distance. Here's my deal. I'm 6'2, 190 lbs, not chubby but not a gymnast, and I never work out. I consider myself to be of average strength. My drives are around 260-280 yards (roll and all) on average. My iron distances are like this: 4 - 180 5 - 170 6 - 160 7 - 150 ...and so on. At one time I was hitting my 7 iron closer to 160, although I feel my mechanics are much better now (better consistency). So I have the choice of focusing solely on accuracy, or I can also try to alter my mechanics even further to add distance. I refuse to work out. Any stories to inspire me?

Improvement requires having the guts to screw up your swing every once in a while. Sure you can take the easy road and never change anything, but then 20 years from now you'll be 20 years older with a goofy swing that "works for you" with lots of compromises. I say you should embrace the challenge of making changes. Not so much that you never settle into your swing, but enough that you can actually improve over time. So in answer to your question: All the time! And yeah, it stinks, but it feels great to come out on the other side being able to demonstrate real improvement.

If you go by his book, Hogan used an open stance for the shorter clubs, but a closed stance for the longer clubs. But yes, he flared his left foot.

Don't worry about it. They generally play nearly every day. The way to do this is to work out a schedule (helps to be on a golf team, etc.) and to sign up for a membership. I certainly hope people aren't paying full green fees when playing every day. Even if you are already playing every day and you aren't progressing as fast as someone else, again, don't sweat it. Practice and learning are organic things. Sometimes they can go faster for other people, but that doesn't mean your ceiling isn't as high as theirs. The sky is the limit, regardless of how you stack up to Joe Golf. The only golfer besides yourself that you should focus on is Tiger. The good news is that even if you don't have a way to play every day, you probably have access to some grass (back yard, etc.). You don't need to hit balls to get better at swinging the club. Use the tools you've been given.

How far apart are your feet, and how open/closed is your stance?

Weird! You have about 10 yards on me with the other clubs (except driver, which I seem to have plenty of distance with), but certainly not enough to justify the difference in our wedges. I can only dream of hitting my 56deg 103 yards, let alone a 58 or 60! What setup do you use for your full wedge shots?

How far do you hit your other clubs?

A little late to this party, but my goal is to break 75. Next year I'll try to break 70. My other goal is to make my approach shots my strength.

I seem to be using my lob wedge less and less. I don't know what the typical yardage is, but lately I'm preferring to hit a partial sand wedge. I think I fear the occasional blade or shank that, due to the full swing, sends the ball to some very undesirable spots. The lob wedge still comes in handy around the green though. What I don't understand is how pros can hit it 90 yards.

Don't you think LPGA players have more than enough access to English tutors? Encouragement from the Tour in the form of some program would therefore be a bit pointless. This is a weird situation, which is why I think we are seeing such a weird rule. They want the LPGA to remain popular in the USA, and their ruling makes perfect sense. They don't care where you come from, as long as you are able to communicate with your fans!

Here's one thing you definitely need to pay attention to: Make sure you aren't hitting the ball on the heel of the club. Hybrid clubs are going to have a slight gear effect, so heel hits will encourage a fade and toe hits will encourage a draw, etc. Try lining the ball up with the toe of the club and trying to deliberately hit some toe shots; see if that makes any kind of difference.

Is that the master key? Guiding your swing arc with your left shoulder? Because a couple days ago I started doing this, in order to remove the focus from my hands (I wanted more lag). It works really well! Of course, you could be talking about something entirely different.

Pitching is a little bit like putting in the sense that people figure out weird ways to accomplish it and they aren't always pretty. That said, the more similar it is to a normal swing the easier it will be. I've gone through zillions of revisions prior to getting good at short game shots. Here are some things that remained true that entire time: 1. Learn how to brush the grass in the same spot every time. If you are taking dirt chunks on every swing, your technique is not going to be very consistent. 2. Your hands need to be in front of the club head at impact, or you'll have difficulty doing step 1. 3. Make sure your swing arc is aligned with any upward/downward slope on the ground. Don't worry about loft; better to swing a tad down on the ball. If you hit it solid the ball will fly plenty high. 4. A shorter backswing with an accelerating downswing is better than a long backswing with a floaty, indecisive downswing. 5. Have confidence and allow yourself to use your instincts.

This little Sergio topic prompted me to take another look at my swing on video (first time in a while) and I was surprised at how poor my lag was looking. (It's amazing how tempting it can be to swing too much with your hands.) Now I'm going through another tweaking phase trying to add a nice lag to my shots, and although it feels weird it hasn't messed me up too terribly yet. Right now I'm trying to guide my downswing arc using my left shoulder, while more or less pretending my hands don't exist. It actually works pretty good. I'm not certain if I'm hitting it farther yet (some strong winds lately add confusion) but I'm definitely hitting it just as straight.