Looking for Some Tips to Average Under 80

[Skruske]

Hello all! I am new to the forum and have been reading some threads today and wanted to start one myself to mainly introduce myself and hopefully get some advice/tips.

To start, I have been playing golf casually basically since I could walk, without any real instruction. I have accepted meritocracy for the better part of about 10 years and really havn't seen much improvement. I average in the low-mid 80s on my home course which has a slope of 133.

This year I am deciding to take things more seriously and really put some time in. I am getting out 3+ times per week, getting some practice time in and then playing a round. I have been averaging the same since I was a sophomore in High School and cannot seem to get past this plateau. To be fair after high school I really didn't put much time in. College and work seemed to force me to put golf on the backburner, even tho I wanted to pursue PGM after high school, my family wasn't in huge support of that and I felt almost forced into business school. Regardless, I have now been out of college for a few years and working the stereotypical 8-5 in IT. I have more time to dial in some practice to game I truly have a passion for.

My current situation is the following. My driver is the only club I am extremely consistent with and can really bomb a ball. I average close to 300 yards off the tee with a subtle draw, longest drive being 354, so this is definitely not the problem, and for someone that is able to get off the tee as well as I am, everyone I play with is absolutely shocked with how bad it is outside of that.

My Irons are sub par but go a LONG ways. I have tried to look up resources for what to do if your irons are going too far, but it seems no one else has this problem.. I have tried the 3/4 swing but still accelerate through the ball almost the same and generate just way too much club head speed on everything. For example, a full swing PW goes 160.. 7 iron goes 200.. etc. with this club head speed comes inaccuracies, with my main miss being a pull hook. For irons I am looking for some control drills or games I can do on the range to try and decrease my club head speed and get my yardages down to where a PW is a comfortable 140, but I cannot seem to do this. So this is my first cry for help!

Next are my wedges. I have worked insanely hard from 120 in, as these are all feel shots for me with my best distance being 86 yards where I can stick it to give myself at least a look from 15' and in. However, once we get within 50 yards I turn into what looks like someone who just picked up a golf club for the first time. Chunks, thin, pulls, push, anything and everything is possible. This includes chipping from right around the green as well. I will maybe get up and down once in an entire round... So if I am not hitting GIR's I am most likely taking a bogey. As an example, yesterday I had a 320 yard drive on the hardest handicap hole on the course, center of the fairway leaving me about 100 to the green. Hit it a little firm and was on the back side of the green in the rough. Chunked a chip, thinned the next one and two putted for a double! So my next cry for help is with my short game any fun drills that can help build my confidence around the green? I have tried many things but never can seem to stand over my shot with confidence once I am on the course.

Finally, my putting is decent and something I am not too worried about as I think I need to focus more time elsewhere with my main goal being getting under 80 consistently. 3 putts are almost never an issue, and can convert on 15' more than the average I would say.

This turned into a novel, but thank you ahead of time if you took the time to read, and hope to hear some tips and advice 🙂

[pganapathy]

Simplest way to reduce distance and increase accuracy is to reduce the shaft length.

To improve around the green, there is no right and wrong way.  Look at the pro's and you see various styles for posture and hitting a ball.  At the end of the day it comes down to what you are comfortable with and practice.

 

[golfonly]

You are definitely in a better spot than most by being proficient with the driver.  On the shots 120 yards in, I would look into Dave Pelz methods.  He takes a lot of the guesswork out of partial wedge shots.  Sounds like you are losing a ton of strokes in that range, which with your skill should be fairly easy to correct if you go about it the right way. 

[klineka]

1 hour ago, Skruske said:

My Irons are sub par but go a LONG ways. I have tried to look up resources for what to do if your irons are going too far, but it seems no one else has this problem.. I have tried the 3/4 swing but still accelerate through the ball almost the same and generate just way too much club head speed on everything. For example, a full swing PW goes 160.. 7 iron goes 200.. etc. with this club head speed comes inaccuracies, with my main miss being a pull hook. For irons I am looking for some control drills or games I can do on the range to try and decrease my club head speed and get my yardages down to where a PW is a comfortable 140, but I cannot seem to do this. So this is my first cry for help!

Why do you want to decrease your iron distances? That seems about right to have a 40 yd gap from PW to 7 iron,10-15 yd gaps is pretty normal. (FWIW, Brooks Koepka has a 46 yd gap between his full PW (148) and his full 7 iron (194)

Based on your PW and 7 iron, your 8 and 9 should roughly fall like this:

PW 160

9 iron 175

8 iron 185

7 iron 200

Why would you want your normal PW distance to be 140? Then that would mean your 9 or 8 iron would be your 160 club. It'd harder to hit an 8 iron than it is a PW. Why make the game harder on yourself? The lower the loft is on the club, the harder it is to hit and the easier it is for the ball to go offline.

As long as the yardage with your current irons are consistent, meaning that you don't have random PWs that go 10 yds further than you expect on a normal strike, I see no reason to purposefully try and decrease the distance that each club goes. If you did have random "jumpers" from the center of the clubface, you could try switching to a less forgiving blade style club. They typically have weaker lofts so you'd probably hit it shorter.

 

For the part about your miss being a pull hook, and the weakness in your short game, I would recommend starting a "Member Swing" thread on the forum here where you can post videos of your swing and get feedback from people on here. Or take some lessons with a local pro, or online via Evolvr.com. 

It's hard to say why you deliver the club in a way that causes a pull hook without seeing video/launch monitor numbers, but the pull hook ball flight is caused by having an out to in path, and then the clubface being closed to that path. 

There are also a number of topics in this section that might help with the short game too

 

Edited May 30, 2019 by klineka

[hoselpalooza]

1 hour ago, Skruske said:

Hello all! I am new to the forum and have been reading some threads today and wanted to start one myself to mainly introduce myself and hopefully get some advice/tips.

To start, I have been playing golf casually basically since I could walk, without any real instruction. I have accepted meritocracy for the better part of about 10 years and really havn't seen much improvement. I average in the low-mid 80s on my home course which has a slope of 133.

This year I am deciding to take things more seriously and really put some time in. I am getting out 3+ times per week, getting some practice time in and then playing a round. I have been averaging the same since I was a sophomore in High School and cannot seem to get past this plateau. To be fair after high school I really didn't put much time in. College and work seemed to force me to put golf on the backburner, even tho I wanted to pursue PGM after high school, my family wasn't in huge support of that and I felt almost forced into business school. Regardless, I have now been out of college for a few years and working the stereotypical 8-5 in IT. I have more time to dial in some practice to game I truly have a passion for.

My current situation is the following. My driver is the only club I am extremely consistent with and can really bomb a ball. I average close to 300 yards off the tee with a subtle draw, longest drive being 354, so this is definitely not the problem, and for someone that is able to get off the tee as well as I am, everyone I play with is absolutely shocked with how bad it is outside of that.

My Irons are sub par but go a LONG ways. I have tried to look up resources for what to do if your irons are going too far, but it seems no one else has this problem.. I have tried the 3/4 swing but still accelerate through the ball almost the same and generate just way too much club head speed on everything. For example, a full swing PW goes 160.. 7 iron goes 200.. etc. with this club head speed comes inaccuracies, with my main miss being a pull hook. For irons I am looking for some control drills or games I can do on the range to try and decrease my club head speed and get my yardages down to where a PW is a comfortable 140, but I cannot seem to do this. So this is my first cry for help!

Next are my wedges. I have worked insanely hard from 120 in, as these are all feel shots for me with my best distance being 86 yards where I can stick it to give myself at least a look from 15' and in. However, once we get within 50 yards I turn into what looks like someone who just picked up a golf club for the first time. Chunks, thin, pulls, push, anything and everything is possible. This includes chipping from right around the green as well. I will maybe get up and down once in an entire round... So if I am not hitting GIR's I am most likely taking a bogey. As an example, yesterday I had a 320 yard drive on the hardest handicap hole on the course, center of the fairway leaving me about 100 to the green. Hit it a little firm and was on the back side of the green in the rough. Chunked a chip, thinned the next one and two putted for a double! So my next cry for help is with my short game any fun drills that can help build my confidence around the green? I have tried many things but never can seem to stand over my shot with confidence once I am on the course.

Finally, my putting is decent and something I am not too worried about as I think I need to focus more time elsewhere with my main goal being getting under 80 consistently. 3 putts are almost never an issue, and can convert on 15' more than the average I would say.

This turned into a novel, but thank you ahead of time if you took the time to read, and hope to hear some tips and advice 🙂

@Skruske, before taking a break from golf i used to consistently shoot in the low-/mid-80s on tough tracks, even breaking 80. my problem was usually putting up a big number or two. driver and 150y-in were strengths, at times i felt like a wizard on and around the green, and because of driver length i didn't spend much time working on long irons. 

this time around i'm doing some things differently that could be useful for you to try:

* completely ditched driver at first forcing me to get reliable length from elsewhere in the bag. long irons, then driving iron, and as of recently a 3-wood. 

* for better control, hit a 7-iron 100y by shortening the swing. then hit a 7-iron 100y with a full swing but slower tempo. try this with other distances and other clubs. try altering the trajectory of your shots to change carry distance. grip down 1" and then 2" and see how it affects your shots. also work on making easy one-handed swings, starting with chips, then pitches, 1/2, 3/4, and finally full shots. and if you get a chance to practice hitting directly into a strong wind, take it. hitting it harder will put more spin on the ball and kill your distance. "easy breezy" is the only way to get the ball to go farther in this situation.

separately, i feel like chipping is the easiest to get good at but i love chipping and could be biased. how is your form? weight forward a bit? hinge-and-hold like phil or putting stroke like others? do you use one club or many? i practice chipping with every club in my bag, even putter. get a dozen of the balls you play with and drop them in every lie* possible. perhaps you could spend an hour once a week hacking them out with different clubs and get a sense of how each club interacts with the grass/turf as well as how the ball responds to the green. really try to get a feel for the club head, and experiment with different shots depending on the lie. 

*e.g. clean lie, uphill, downhill, sidehill, thick rough, with the grain, against the grain, buried, stepped on, against the collar, wet grass, dry grass, wet ball, dry ball, etc...

2 more things:

- i was never into equipment before and played clubs with the wrong shaft flex, grip size, etc. i'm positive this previously cost me strokes but it won't this time. also, if you don't want to get fitted for clubs at least get on a launch monitor with a pro who can look at your swing and make some recommendations. and get your lofts and lies checked.

- i thought i knew about course management but i don't think i did. this time around course management will be a strength. e.g. make a game plan for each hole and practice executing on the range. then store those memories for use during rounds on the course. also work on alternate/backup plans for the occasional miss. and try developing new strategies during practice rounds.

good luck!

p.s. with all due respect, saying you hit your irons too long seems a bit misleading and could get you some weird reactions online. it seems like the real problem is you are inconsistent with your irons because you lack the discipline to dial it back a notch and get it under control.

[Skruske]

59 minutes ago, pganapathy said:

Simplest way to reduce distance and increase accuracy is to reduce the shaft length.

To improve around the green, there is no right and wrong way.  Look at the pro's and you see various styles for posture and hitting a ball.  At the end of the day it comes down to what you are comfortable with and practice.

 

Thanks for the reply! Don't really want to reduce shaft length to obtain the distance decrease. Although it is an option. And I am looking into drills to do to obtain confidence around the green right now!

 

51 minutes ago, golfonly said:

You are definitely in a better spot than most by being proficient with the driver.  On the shots 120 yards in, I would look into Dave Pelz methods.  He takes a lot of the guesswork out of partial wedge shots.  Sounds like you are losing a ton of strokes in that range, which with your skill should be fairly easy to correct if you go about it the right way. 

I will check out Dave Pelz method now and maybe incorporate it into my range practice today! Thanks 🙂

 

26 minutes ago, klineka said:

Why do you want to decrease your iron distances? That seems about right to have a 40 yd gap from PW to 7 iron,10-15 yd gaps is pretty normal. (FWIW, Brooks Koepka has a 46 yd gap between his full PW (148) and his full 7 iron (194)

Based on your PW and 7 iron, your 8 and 9 should roughly fall like this:

PW 160

9 iron 175

8 iron 185

7 iron 200

Why would you want your normal PW distance to be 140? Then that would mean your 9 or 8 iron would be your 160 club. It'd harder to hit an 8 iron than it is a PW. Why make the game harder on yourself? The lower the loft is on the club, the harder it is to hit and the easier it is for the ball to go offline.

As long as the yardage with your current irons are consistent, meaning that you don't have random PWs that go 10 yds further than you expect on a normal strike, I see no reason to purposefully try and decrease the distance that each club goes. If you did have random "jumpers" from the center of the clubface, you could try switching to a less forgiving blade style club. They typically have weaker lofts so you'd probably hit it shorter.

 

For the part about your miss being a pull hook, and the weakness in your short game, I would recommend starting a "Member Swing" thread on the forum here where you can post videos of your swing and get feedback from people on here. Or take some lessons with a local pro, or online via Evolvr.com. 

It's hard to say why you deliver the club in a way that causes a pull hook without seeing video/launch monitor numbers, but the pull hook ball flight is caused by having an out to in path, and then the clubface being closed to that path. 

There are also a number of topics in this section that might help with the short game too

 

Thanks for this reply! I would say the variance with my full pitching wedge swing is +/- 3-5 yards so it is relatively consistent. Good point as I may not need to shorten my irons as long as distances are consistent. I just feel like being so long off the tee, I run out of clubs really fast. And you are very close to my ranges with a 9 and 8 iron. I have never tried blades, always have intimidated me, but maybe I will try them out at a shop near me. The pull hook miss is I think simply an overswing where my wrists get ahead of my hips, but I do need to record my swing and do more analysis of that. I will look into posting into the swing forum. Thanks again!

[Skruske]

21 minutes ago, hoselpalooza said:

@Skruske, before taking a break from golf i used to consistently shoot in the low-/mid-80s on tough tracks, even breaking 80. my problem was usually putting up a big number or two. driver and 150y-in were strengths, at times i felt like a wizard on and around the green, and because of driver length i didn't spend much time working on long irons. 

this time around i'm doing some things differently that could be useful for you to try:

* completely ditched driver at first forcing me to get reliable length from elsewhere in the bag. long irons, then driving iron, and as of recently a 3-wood. 

* for better control, hit a 7-iron 100y by shortening the swing. then hit a 7-iron 100y with a full swing but slower tempo. try this with other distances and other clubs. try altering the trajectory of your shots to change carry distance. grip down 1" and then 2" and see how it affects your shots. also work on making easy one-handed swings, starting with chips, then pitches, 1/2, 3/4, and finally full shots. and if you get a chance to practice hitting directly into a strong wind, take it. hitting it harder will put more spin on the ball and kill your distance. "easy breezy" is the only way to get the ball to go farther in this situation.

separately, i feel like chipping is the easiest to get good at but i love chipping and could be biased. how is your form? weight forward a bit? hinge-and-hold like phil or putting stroke like others? do you use one club or many? i practice chipping with every club in my bag, even putter. get a dozen of the balls you play with and drop them in every lie* possible. perhaps you could spend an hour once a week hacking them out with different clubs and get a sense of how each club interacts with the grass/turf as well as how the ball responds to the green. really try to get a feel for the club head, and experiment with different shots depending on the lie. 

*e.g. clean lie, uphill, downhill, sidehill, thick rough, with the grain, against the grain, buried, stepped on, against the collar, wet grass, dry grass, wet ball, dry ball, etc...

2 more things:

- i was never into equipment before and played clubs with the wrong shaft flex, grip size, etc. i'm positive this previously cost me strokes but it won't this time. also, if you don't want to get fitted for clubs at least get on a launch monitor with a pro who can look at your swing and make some recommendations. and get your lofts and lies checked.

- i thought i knew about course management but i don't think i did. this time around course management will be a strength. e.g. make a game plan for each hole and practice executing on the range. then store those memories for use during rounds on the course. also work on alternate/backup plans for the occasional miss. and try developing new strategies during practice rounds.

good luck!

p.s. with all due respect, saying you hit your irons too long seems a bit misleading and could get you some weird reactions online. it seems like the real problem is you are inconsistent with your irons because you lack the discipline to dial it back a notch and get it under control.

Great reply and tips! Really appreciate this. Starting with your last p.s I did not mean to come off as conceited with my iron distances, I just have been told I hit them too far, this could be completely false, and you are totally right it is the inconsistency that is the problem. But I wanted to address that first before I got into a reply. Your tips are great. I should try playing without a driver a few rounds and really force my irons to work for me. The 7 iron 100 yards is actually one of my favorite ideas yet, do a full swing and just try and slow my tempo, I dont think there is a single chance I could do that at the moment so I will for sure do this at the range tonight. And to be completely honest with chipping I almost feel like I should always chip with one hand LOL there are too many things running through my head when I am chipping and I need to find just one swing thought to focus on. A lot of people tell me chipping is the easiest thing to get good at, but man... I for the life of me cant figure it out. I mainly just use a 56 or 60 from around the greens and then a PW or 7 for bumps. Finally, I have never had my swing assessed with a launch monitor, it is definitely on my to do list! I think after even one session with one of those I could fix a lot of things. Thank you again, and best of luck to you as well 🙂

[hoselpalooza]

you're very welcome -- glad you found some useful tidbits! 

WRT tempo, have faith and free yourself from the self-doubt. you'll get it. maybe find a couple of songs you like with a slower beat/tempo and listen with your earbuds or hum to yourself? or just try counting slowly? maybe incorporate a slight pause at the top of your backswing?

WRT chipping, i would add one thing: after i've hit a bunch of consecutive shots with each club from different lies i will usually take one ball, and for 15-20 minutes i'll literally throw it around the green and try to get it up and down from wherever it lands, putting out with whatever club i'm using to chip. this adds some pressure and is a lot of fun imo. slight possible downside is if you get good at putting with your wedges it takes some pressure off if you come up short or long, but the bright side is you will get very good at distance control for belly shots without even really thinking about it. or could be helpful if you do a 14-club challenge and someone takes your putter out of the bag 🙂 

[billchao]

2 hours ago, Skruske said:

My Irons are sub par but go a LONG ways. I have tried to look up resources for what to do if your irons are going too far, but it seems no one else has this problem.

I fail to see how this is a problem. Are you flying greens? Hit less club.

2 hours ago, Skruske said:

For example, a full swing PW goes 160.. 7 iron goes 200.. etc. with this club head speed comes inaccuracies, with my main miss being a pull hook. For irons I am looking for some control drills or games I can do on the range to try and decrease my club head speed and get my yardages down to where a PW is a comfortable 140, but I cannot seem to do this. So this is my first cry for help!

Practice hitting to different targets on the range. Alternate clubs and targets. Learn to swing with less than maximum effort (hit a 7i 160, PW 120, etc.) Your pull hook and your clubhead speed are not related.

Why would you want a slower swing anyway? Speed and distance is an advantage. You have something most people will never be able to achieve. You can learn to dial it back, whereas another golfer likely can never dial it up.

Figure out what you're doing in your swing that's causing your pulls and inconsistencies, and improve your swing.

2 hours ago, Skruske said:

Next are my wedges. I have worked insanely hard from 120 in, as these are all feel shots for me with my best distance being 86 yards where I can stick it to give myself at least a look from 15' and in.

Are you sure you're averaging 15' from 86 yards? That's top 30 on the PGA Tour.

Stat – Approaches from 75-100 yards

---

Strokes Gained | Greens in Regulation | Accuracy from...

 

2 hours ago, Skruske said:

However, once we get within 50 yards I turn into what looks like someone who just picked up a golf club for the first time. Chunks, thin, pulls, push, anything and everything is possible.

You don't need to build your confidence, you need to work on your technique. The confidence will come with the results.

---

It looks like you have a pretty good idea of where you're losing strokes, so just work on that stuff.

[Patch]

Not that I hit my clubs too far (wish I did), but when I found myself between clubs, in need of a full swing , shorter shot, I would take the longer club, and choke down on the grip a little. It would shorten the distance a little, but still be longer than a shorter club.. 

I know a golfer who does just the opposite of choking down on the club. He chokes up on a shorter club,  to get what he needs. His reasoning was he did not want to change his posture too much by bending over when using a choked down, longer club.

One's imagination can solve a lot of problems. . 

[hoselpalooza]

2 hours ago, billchao said:

Why would you want a slower swing anyway? Speed and distance is an advantage. You have something most people will never be able to achieve. You can learn to dial it back, whereas another golfer likely can never dial it up.

@billchao, i think you kind of answered your question: the issue is his stock shot seems to be a "max" shot, which can cause issues when (e.g.) something gets out of sorts/sequence, hitting into wind, or playing with adrenaline. driver is forgiving but misses with mid- and long-irons are more pronounced.

the idea would be to go from just one ("max") shot to something more like this:

[billchao]

3 minutes ago, hoselpalooza said:

@billchao, i think you kind of answered your question: the issue is his stock shot seems to be a "max" shot, which can cause issues when (e.g.) something gets out of sorts/sequence, hitting into wind, or playing with adrenaline. driver is forgiving but misses with mid- and long-irons are more pronounced.

the idea would be to go from just one ("max") shot to something more like this:

I think we're talking about the same thing. OP seems to have one speed, and it's eleven.

Misses are due to mechanics, not speed. Mechanics can change slightly from slowing down, but it's not like slowing down is going to make his pulls disappear. I can mis-hit my less than full swings, too.

[chspeed]

6 hours ago, Skruske said:

I have tried to look up resources for what to do if your irons are going too far, but it seems no one else has this problem.

Actually, I found another one for you. Are you, by chance, using Rogue-X irons? Maybe this is a budding epidemic and you guys can start a support group for golfers that are too long. One solution might be to try and convince golf course architects to design longer golf courses.

 

Edited May 31, 2019 by chspeed

[Skruske]

2 hours ago, hoselpalooza said:

you're very welcome -- glad you found some useful tidbits! 

WRT tempo, have faith and free yourself from the self-doubt. you'll get it. maybe find a couple of songs you like with a slower beat/tempo and listen with your earbuds or hum to yourself? or just try counting slowly? maybe incorporate a slight pause at the top of your backswing?

WRT chipping, i would add one thing: after i've hit a bunch of consecutive shots with each club from different lies i will usually take one ball, and for 15-20 minutes i'll literally throw it around the green and try to get it up and down from wherever it lands, putting out with whatever club i'm using to chip. this adds some pressure and is a lot of fun imo. slight possible downside is if you get good at putting with your wedges it takes some pressure off if you come up short or long, but the bright side is you will get very good at distance control for belly shots without even really thinking about it. or could be helpful if you do a 14-club challenge and someone takes your putter out of the bag 🙂 

All ideas I will take into consideration when practicing. Just chipped around the putting green for a few hours today so didnt get to do any range work. But these are all useful tips 🙂

2 hours ago, billchao said:

I fail to see how this is a problem. Are you flying greens? Hit less club.

Sorry if I deceived anyone with this statement. Not that I am flying greens (Although this does happen,usually due to a not clean hit) I just run out of full swing shots very quickly.

2 hours ago, billchao said:

Practice hitting to different targets on the range. Alternate clubs and targets. Learn to swing with less than maximum effort (hit a 7i 160, PW 120, etc.) Your pull hook and your clubhead speed are not related.

Why would you want a slower swing anyway? Speed and distance is an advantage. You have something most people will never be able to achieve. You can learn to dial it back, whereas another golfer likely can never dial it up.

Figure out what you're doing in your swing that's causing your pulls and inconsistencies, and improve your swing.

Next time I am at the range I will practice this the whole time. I do need to improve my swing, the pull hook comes when my hands get behind my hips and try to catch up and snap over. So I guess I meant the pull hook comes when I attempt to get more club head speed and my hands fall behind, bad tempo = my pull hook. (I think, need to record more of my swings)

2 hours ago, billchao said:

Are you sure you're averaging 15' from 86 yards? That's top 30 on the PGA Tour.

Rough estimate. 86 is just my favorite yardage. 75-100 in general it is not as close on average. 80-90 is kinda my sweet spot. But we can just say the majority of the time I have a 'makeable' putt from that distance.

2 hours ago, billchao said:

You don't need to build your confidence, you need to work on your technique. The confidence will come with the results.

---

It looks like you have a pretty good idea of where you're losing strokes, so just work on that stuff.

Will do! Thanks for your reply 🙂

15 minutes ago, Patch said:

Not that I hit my clubs too far (wish I did), but when I found myself between clubs, in need of a full swing , shorter shot, I would take the longer club, and choke down on the grip a little. It would shorten the distance a little, but still be longer than a shorter club.. 

I know a golfer who does just the opposite of choking down on the club. He chokes up on a shorter club,  to get what he needs. His reasoning was he did not want to change his posture too much by bending over when using a choked down, longer club.

One's imagination can solve a lot of problems. .

Choking down takes some yardage off but I never really find myself doing it other than more feel shots. Taking a full swing choked down has always felt weird for me.

[hoselpalooza]

13 minutes ago, billchao said:

I think we're talking about the same thing. OP seems to have one speed, and it's eleven.

Misses are due to mechanics, not speed. Mechanics can change slightly from slowing down, but it's not like slowing down is going to make his pulls disappear. I can mis-hit my less than full swings, too.

@billchao, you're right, we're talking about the same thing. 🙂

about speed though, i agree mechanics are probably the root cause but some athletic golfers can get away with mechanical flaws by (e.g.) manipulating the club on the downswing. if timing or feel is off one day, or they get an adrenaline boost, that max speed swing might be difficult or impossible to control and could cause misses. however, slowing down could help regain control despite those mechanical flaws, if that makes sense.

[Skruske]

10 minutes ago, chspeed said:

Actually, I found another one for you. Are you, by chance, using Rogue-X irons? Maybe this is a budding epidemic and you guys can start a support group for golfers that are too long. One solution might be to try and convince golf course architects to design longer golf courses.

 

@chspeed I really did not mean for this iron distance comment to lead to flaming. But I have realized the mistake I have made now. Dont interpret my statement as conceited please. The statement was purely to say I run out of full swings very quickly, not that I am going to start cutting all of my clubs lol

[billchao]

32 minutes ago, Skruske said:

I just run out of full swing shots very quickly.

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

32 minutes ago, Skruske said:

Next time I am at the range I will practice this the whole time.

It's a lot easier than you think. I bet you get it on your second attempt. Just pick a target and hit a longer club than you normally would take to that target, feel the distance out a little.

If you were playing catch with 2 guys, one 100' from you and one 60' from you, you don't throw the ball 100' when you throw it to the second guy. Or you don't use 30' putt weight when you're standing over a 6' putt. It's kind of the same thing.

26 minutes ago, Skruske said:

@chspeed I really did not mean for this iron distance comment to lead to flaming. But I have realized the mistake I have made now. Dont interpret my statement as conceited please. The statement was purely to say I run out of full swings very quickly, not that I am going to start cutting all of my clubs lol

Don't mind @chspeed, he's a New Yorker. He gets stuck in 30 minutes of traffic just to get to his bathroom in the morning 😜

[Skruske]

3 minutes ago, billchao said:

If you were playing catch with 2 guys, one 100' from you and one 60' from you, you don't throw the ball 100' when you throw it to the second guy. Or you don't use 30' putt weight when you're standing over a 6' putt. It's kind of the same thing.

This is a perfect example to what I actually mean when I say I run out of full swings too quickly. I have a hard time dialing down my swing if I am between clubs, for example lets say I have a 148yd par 3. My PW will go 155-160 on a full swing. My 52 I can string out to 135-140. I cant get a 52 to this and if I try to take something off my PW I will still go too long. So I think the drill of hitting different clubs to different distances is just something I need to spend more time on. 🙂

4 minutes ago, billchao said:

Don't mind @chspeed, he's a New Yorker. He gets stuck in 30 minutes of traffic just to get to his bathroom in the morning

Lol all good, I should have phrased my initial post in a better way.