bizman

I have never video taped my swing, but I am going to get a tripod tomorrow to test it out. The only time I have seen my swing is in still pictures, and with my driver it was past parallel. I just took a 6 iron in front of a big mirror at home and took it back what felt like 1/2 and it was beyond 3/4, so I see what you mean by feel is not real. I'll hopefully get some video tomorrow and really examine what my swing looks like.

In my short golf career I have pieced together my swing from watching videos, listening to my buddies (probably not the greatest idea), and hitting a lot of balls. At the beginning of the year I really worked on getting better with my wedges from 100 yards and in, and right now it is probably the best part of my game. The best thing I did was limit my backswing so the club was not parallel to the ground and focus on taking a divot after the ball. Since I have been hitting my wedges so well, I took this same swing to my short irons but not my long irons. Today at the range I messed around with limiting my backswing with my long irons and hybrids (not taking the club to parallel) and found that I hit more consistent shot. Now, I was hitting into a decent head wind, so I didn't hit everything as far, but the feel off the club was great. So my question, I always thought a bigger backswing would result in more clubhead speed and a farther shot, am I misguided? I think my distances are pretty average (160 w/7 iron) so I'm not thrilled about losing a lot of distance (stupid ego I know), but if I do gain some accuracy I wouldn't mind. Also, does anyone limit their driver backswing? Can it be beneficial? Sorry if these are silly questions, I just really liked the feedback on my last question so I figured I'd throw it out there. Thanks!

I just got back from practicing today. They had a big outing at the course so I couldn't get on so I got a bucket and took some of your advice. I hit my driver after a couple warm up wedge shots, just to get my body loose. Man, what a difference than the last couple days. I hit it about as good as I can expect, except for a couple shanks (can't all be perfect yet). I also hit my hybrids better than normal, then went to chip, putt, and work in the sand. Came back and hit some irons. It felt good until the end again. I think I know what is happening, I lose focus (something to work on) and I get lazy in my swing, I don't make a good rotation and then use my hands to try and kill the ball, I close the club face at impact and get those nasty low hooks. At this point, I think it is both mental and physical. Just have to tell myself to slow down and focus. Thanks again for all the advice.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm going to take your advice to the course today. Where I play is always open in the afternoon, and I can definitely practice on the course. I play alone about half the time I'm out there, so I won't be holding up anyone. While I have sometimes dropped another ball after hitting a bad shot, I have never tried to hit a variety of shots from the course, maybe because I didn't want to chase multiple balls, maybe because I am too focused on my score than learning new things on the course. Either way, I'll give it a go today.

After hitting a variety of irons, I went with the AP1's. I wouldnt trade them for the world.

Since I've been on my own schedule for the past couple months I usually do my cardio (anywhere from 20 min. to an hour) in the morning, then hit balls or play after lunch and lift 3 times a week after dinner. Typically, when I got this large bucket, I would chip and pitch about half and hit the rest. Of course, once I started hitting bad shots I cant stop trying to fix whats wrong, eventually getting so frustrated I feel like leaving the bag in the parking lot. I never thought of swinging the golf club as a real taxing activity until recently. Thanks for the input, I think I need to slow down and stop the rapid fire pace as well.

I'll try the driver earlier, I was always taught to work up to it, just kind of followed that blindly I guess. What worries me is that I am in very good shape, I lift weights a lot and do extensive cardio almost everyday. I don't feel like I should be getting tired from hitting golf balls, so I don't know if I'm just using the tired thing as an excuse, its just strange that I hit a wall and can't get it back. I feel myself getting fast with my arms and really flipping my wrists, anybody have tips for this?

Hello everyone! I'm in my mid twenties and just picked up the game last year. I'm a teacher, so I have summers off and the perfect opportunity to play a lot of golf. I'm pretty addicted and try to at least hit balls everyday. After playing some of the best golf of my life two weeks ago I developed a weird problem. When I go to the range I usually get a massive bucket (about 200 balls). I start with wedges and work my way up, usually hitting about 5-10 good shots per club. Lately when I get to my 19.5* hybrid I hit a couple good, then I hit some kind of wall. Every shot goes way left and low, embarrassing shots. I'll pull out the driver, same thing. I'll go down to a short iron, huge draw. Once I get to this point, I just can't get it back. My question is, can this be from hitting to much, or is this just a convenient excuse? Can fatigue start to cause chaos in your swing that much? How many balls should you realistically hit on the range? Thanks!

Last full round a 95 at Brown Deer in Milwaukee. On Tuesday I walked off the course with my lowest ever score... 10! Too bad it was after 2 holes and we had to walk off after being eaten alive by mosquitos after applying the bug spray twice in 45 minutes.

Hit a 5 iron from about 190 yards out to 10 feet of the hole, missed the birdie putt but made the tap in to start the round with a par, too bad the score just went up from there

Art teacher, summers off, perfect for golf