golfdude71

Thanks. But how about short game videos like those for chipping and putting ? Since chipping, putting are touch and feel games aren't those videos also useful ?

Hello, I am taking lessons from a golf instructor and overall he is quite good. I asked him about the usefulness of watching golf videos of youtube etc. He told me absolutely to stay away from watching generalized videos because he says each person is different and what you see in a video might not be applicable to you. What do you all think ? There are thousands of videos online and I thought some of them were quite good. Do the videos have to be so personalized ? I am not saying to stop taking lessons and substitute it with videos. But if you watch videos in parallel to taking lessons do they help you ? Thanks.

Folks, Being a high handicapper, many of my rounds are terrible. Since I play early mornings, I don't feel good after a bad round. For example I feel anxious during the day to go back and play a decent round. Other times I keep on imagining a good golf swing during the daytime and how I will execute it next time. Inspite of knowing the fact that I am a high handicapper, I still feel down and out after a bad round. I have heard many people say that enjoy the game even if you are not hitting well. But I am not able to do that. Is it normal to feel frustrated, depressed after a bad round ? Or do most people here enjoy the round no matter how they have played ? Should I go into the round with very low expectations ? Stopping playing on the course till I have reached a certain handicap or skill is not an option since now I have become addicted to going on the course at least 4 times a week for 9 hole rounds. Can't live with golf and cannot live without it !!! Thanks.

Hello folks, I am a RH golfer. I went to an instructor couple of weeks back. He corrected the following things in my swing: 1) Grip. My grip was totally incorrect. 2) During the backswing my left foot was coming way off the ground. Also my right knee was swaying too much to the right with my hip turn. He asked me to feel my left feet on the ground during the back swing and not move my right knee. 3) My stance was too wide. He asked me to narrow it. 4) I was looking at the ball spot for too long after hitting the ball. In trying to correct the above things, my game has totally collapsed. Earlier I was able to hit 50% good shots. But now when I try to correct the above things, I am hardly able to hit the ball. Is it normal to struggle like this initially when you are doing some corrections in your swing ? Should I be patient and continue to try and implement the above things in my swing ? Sometimes I feel like going back to my old swing which was incorrect in many ways, but I had reached a stable point where atleast I was able to play a game with someone. I am not able to do it now. Please advice. Thanks.

Folks, I am going to take a lesson from this instructor tomorrow and will write here how it goes. Meanwhile, I again read Ben Hogan's Five Lessons book yesterday and made some changes in my grip on the course today because I felt I was not gripping the club correctly after reading the book. And I noticed that with the change in my grip, I was hitting a higher % of balls decently. Now I am not sure if it was the result of changing my grip or if everything just fell in place today with my swing. Thanks.

Hello Friends, I am planning to take few more lessons and was talking to an instructor today at the range. He tells me that if the grip and stance are correct, 80% of the work is done. What happens during the swing is only 20% remaining and not very critical. Thus if your grip, stance and ball position are perfect, you can hit the ball well even if your swing is not perfect. I find this is too easy, too good to be true and thus hard to believe because I am still struggling with hitting the ball well after so many practice rounds and rounds on the course although I am not sure if my grip and stance are perfect. Any thoughts ? Thanks

Hello, I am a right hander and have been playing a round every alternate day for the past few weeks. As if I did not have enough problems with my swing, I have noticed one more issue. My right forearm is always sore after the round on that day. Is it normal for golfers to have a sore right forearm if they play everyday or every alternate day ? Or am I gripping the club too hard, swinging with my arms etc. ? Thanks a lot.

Does it mean if I keep my left arm straight (or not let it collapse) but my back swing is short, I will be still able to hit a good distance ? Thanks.

Hello, I have observed almost all decent golfers being able to slightly brush (or scrape) the ground during a practice swing on the range or on the course. I am not able to do that consistently. I have tried all kinds of the following things: 1) Keep my head still 2) Not raise my body 3) Take a shorter swing 4) Come down with my body on the downswing and not with my arms Inspite of that I scrape the ground only sometimes during the practice swing (2 or 3 times out of 10). On the course when I am playing with others, I take my 1st practice swing and I fail to scrape the ground. I take my 2nd and many times still repeat the same thing. Since I cannot keep others waiting, I decide to go ahead and hit the ball anyways, thinking I will correct it during the actual shot. As all of you must have guessed by now, I end up topping the ball or slicing it. So my question is, how do I consistently scrape or brush the ground during practice swings ? What am I doing or not doing which makes my club not touch the ground during the practice swing ? Secondly, when I am playing on the course and I do not brush the ground during my 1st practice swing, should I keep on trying till I brush the ground and then and only then hit my shot ? Because like I mentioned above most of the times if I hit the shot anyways, it does not go well. Thanks.

Hello, I am a right hander. I have noticed that if I try to lengthen my back swing, my left arm bends at the top of my back swing. And when my left arm is completely straight, I feel as if I am only at half swing. But with that straight left arm and supposedly half back swing, the ball goes a nice distance and feels like distance is same as compared to when I try to lengthen my back swing. That makes me think that keeping the left arm straight during the back swing is more important than the length of the back swing. Also length of the back swing is not that critical to achieve good distance. Am I correct ? Thanks.

Wow ! Thanks for all the tips. Reading them makes me quite hopeful.

I have my own business plus I work from home. A lethal combination and a certainty that I will spend a lot of time here

Thanks a lot friends !! Thats really encouraging !!

Yes, I am ready to do anything and everything repetitive. But my question was how much part does "skill" play in improving the swing. I read this article last week: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/14/sport/golf/tiger-woods-obama-harmon-golf I assume Obama is 48 years old and had never played golf before. But he had access to Butch Harmon which I don't. Is it why he reached a handicap of 18 in few months ? Or did he have some in built golf skill in him ? Because I can bet that with his job profile, he does not have time to do any repetitive things on the driving range week after week like we do. So how much of golf is skill and how much is hard work just to reach a handicap of 18 ? I cannot produce any skill but I can put in lot of hard work. Thanks.

Hello, I am learning golf for the last year and have reached a handicap of 28. But on some days my swing absolutely fails me on each and every hole on the course. My question is how much of improving the golf swing is pure "ability or skill" and how much is sheer brute force (I mean repetitive practice swings on the driving range to build muscle memory) ? If I assume, I do not have any in built skill in my genes etc, to lower my handicap below 28, can I switch over to hard work and try to build a good golf swing in my muscle memory ? My assumption here is that scratch golfers, single digit handicappers have some golfing ability or skill in them which makes them good in golf. Or is it that they have also reached this stage only with repetitive hard work (repetitive swings on the driving range) ? Just to put things in perspective, my goal is to reach a handicap of 18 and not something unattainable like a single digit handicap. I will be quite disappointed to find out that even to reach a handicap of 18 from 28 requires inbuilt skill and hard work will not get you there. Please advice. Thanks.