shagbag541

I guess I'll just comment on what I want to attempt to do and try not to interpret what others mean with their comments. That way I can't become confused. I know that if I was able to duplicate a reliable fade or draw, then I could use the entire fairway. I agree, it's smart to set up and aim to the left side of the fairway if you can hit a consistent and reliable fade and the opposite if you could depend upon a reliable and consistent draw. I haven't been able to be consistent doing that. Sometimes that draw becomes a hook and the fade a wicked slice. I want to hit the ball dead straight...not necessarily "dead straight down the fairway"...but straight with respect to where I set up and wish to aim the ball. I don't want the ball to curve one way or the other. I don't know if I'll be able to accomplish this or not, but I'm going to try...because I know it's possible because Moe Norman was able to do it. As I stated before, I'm a pretty good athlete, so I think I'll be able to do this to some extent. I know trying to successfully repeat the traditional swing isn't working for me and also doesn't always work on a weekly basis for touring professionals. Ever notice even the best players lose consistency for weeks at a time? Or stay hot for weeks at a time, then lose it for a few weeks? Moe Norman never lost his swing or consistency....ever. So I'm going to seriously try this thing and see where it takes me.

Ok Denny, I'll be happy to report my progress. It'll probably take a little while to see any results one way or the other as I don't expect any overnight success or failure...but I'll be giving it a go and let you know what the results are as I go.

I guess what I'm going to try and accomplish by using the Moe Norman approach is to never unintentionally "work" the ball into trouble. Just want to see if I can hit it dead straight most every time. I've been very athletic my entire life, but the one thing I've never been able to master is the golf swing. I can't remember which video I watched where Moe was asked when was the last time he entirely missed a fairway. Moe replied "Seven years ago". That's my goal ;) And before everyone shakes their heads and chimes in...I know it's not attainable, but I'd settle for 12 fairways a round. lol And I also know that Moe said lots of stuff tongue in cheek.

Just read through all the posts, there are several posters who think you have to work the ball to play good golf.

I'm curious as to why all the posts on this subject stopped all of a sudden! I was interested to see if "pipergsm" continued to improve and if he progressed to incorporating the swing to his irons. I've spent countless hours practicing and have taken many professional lessons and my handicap has not moved much at all, especially downward! I practice more than I play because I have the facilities to do so. Not long ago a light went on in my head...I needed to create more lag in my swing. I consistently released the club too early, about midway. Some of the drills I used from various posters at YouTube were very similar to Moe's coin drill, which is a drill to maintain a hitting angle and keep the club square and on "ball level" approximately 2 feet before and after contact. In essence another way to create and maintain lag. I'm a big fan of Moe Norman but I never really tried to emulate his swing or even the single plane swing. Some posters here think you can't play good golf if you hit the ball straight every time. That makes me laugh...laugh very hard actually. I'm 62 now and in my younger day I could, at times, hit the ball 300+ yards off the tie, but more often than not, I wasn't in good position...at times not even in play! I could consistently hit the ball 260 to 270 often with the same results as the 300+ yard drives. I can still hit the ball 240 to 260 and occasionally hit a bomb 270+. I think there is a tremendous advantage to hitting the ball straight a very high percentage of the time. I was never able to work the ball consistently. I can hit a draw or a fade, but I am not able to control the amount of draw or fade very often. If I could not only hit fairways off the tee a high percentage of the time, with the ability to work the ball exactly how I wanted, I wouldn't ever need to tinker with my swing. But in more that 30 years of golf I've never been able to accomplish that. So I've been tinkering with some of Moe's fundamentals. I don't take as wide of a stance as he does, but I've been standing wider than the conventional golfer would. I think I understand what Moe meant by "vertical drop and horizontal tug" and I'm working on swing through the impact area like Moe did and finishing between the "rails", which is something I always noticed I did on my better shots. I'll be more than happy to report my progress here, if anyone is interested in the results. My goal will be to hit the ball straighter a very high percentage of the time and to sacrifice some distance in order to accomplish this. I'd be willing to hit the ball 230 to 250 off the tee and lose 8 to 10 yards off my irons so long as I was able to hit the ball dead straight 90% of the time. We'll see.

Iron hosel width is either .355 (taper) or .370 (parallel). Reamer bits which are specifically designed for reaming .355 to .370 are available at Golfworks and a few other companies that sell golf specific tools. Here is a link to reaming bits at Golfworks: http://www.golfworks.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_GW0115 I use a vise which is designed to hold the clubhead while reamining. I have fixed this vise to my drill press and lined it up so all I have to do is lower the reaming bit into the hosel. I have the depth preset on my drill press. Here is a link to the vise I use. http://www.golfworks.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_RBV

It's easy to ream a hosel to .370 with the proper tools. I'd recommend using a drill press, so you can set the depth, with a .370 reaming bit. I purchase my reaming bits from Golfworks. When using a reamer bit properly you will not increase the depth of the hosel; the hosel will only be "widened" to .370. If you use a regular drill, you could easily increase the depth of the hosel because regular bits are designed to "drill". Reamers have a blunt point and are designed to "widen". That said it's still possible to increase depth with a reamer IF you don't use a drill press with a "depth setting".