My Swing (Nofoshova)

[Nofoshova]

Hello everyone! I am 41 years old, have been playing golf for 10ish years. At my best, I've consistently shot in the low to mid 80s, but for most of the last 3-5 years I've shot mid 80s to low 90s.

My goal (currently) is to be able to consistently shoot in high 70s-low 80s, with occasional rounds in mid 70s. I have shot a few rounds in the upper 70s (5 or so such rounds in total), but I cannot seem to ever get to the point where I do this consistently. 

My amateur analysis of the state of my game is this: I get off the tee ok. I do hit bad tee shots at times, but this doesn't seem to be a major issue holding me back. My iron play/approach shots are very inconsistent, and tend to be short, and off to the left and right. I leave myself quite a few 15-35 yards chips and pitches. I putt decently. Sand game is not good, but I can generally get out of the sand and up and onto the green. Course management is ok. 

I know my score will improve if I work on my short game to the point I can get up and down from beside the green more often. I am working on this aspect of my game. But, I'd really like to stop hitting my my irons so terribly. I have no confidence I'll get on the green from 130 yards from the middle of the fairway and that's a crappy feeling. 

I do own a skytrak launch monitor and have an area in my garage where I can hit balls. I only play an actual round about 2-3 times per month, but hit balls in the garage 4-6 hours per week. 

I'm not sure about carry distances exactly, but below would be typical total distances for my clubs (there's significant variability due to inconsistent ball striking.) Recently these numbers have been a little lower. Not sure why, but I think I'm flipping my irons and losing distances due to very high ball flights. 

Driver: 235-255

3W: 210-230

4 hybrid: 190-205

5i: 170-190

6i: 155-165

7i: 145-155

8i: 135-145

9i: 122-130

PW: 110-122

48 degree wedge: 95-105

I have 56 and 60 degree wedges but never hit them full swing. 

I've been Playing Golf for: 10ish years.

 

 

My current handicap index or average score is: I generally expect to shoot 85-92. Just played three days ago and shot 98 which is one reason I'm posting this. 
My typical ball flight is: I'm all over the place with ball flight. When I'm swing well, I tend to hit a mild straight pull, or a small draw. 
The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: I've been hitting very high, ballooning irons shots that fall short of what I'd expect. Im trying to develop iron shots with a lower launch angle. For example, I have a skytrak launch monitor and my 7 iron tends to launch at 24-26 degrees. That seems to high to me based on what I've read. 

 

Thanks in advance!

 

---

Videos: 

 

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by billchao
Embedded videos

[billchao]

You fan the club face wide open in the takeaway. Try to feel like your right palm stays pointed at the ball in the backswing and the club face is closer to your spine angle when the shaft is parallel to the ground in the backswing.

Toe up at that point in the swing is open and you’re tie up well before that.

[Pretzel]

To add to what @billchao mentioned, the position of the clubface at the top of your backswing is also very open. The toe of the club is pointed straight down, while a square clubface will be about halfway between vertical (as in your swing) and horizontal (if the toe pointed above your head).

That said, the biggest culprit for your high and weak iron shots is most likely the flip of your wrist through impact. Having an open clubface can make you feel the need to flip the club to square the face, but the flip itself is what is adding loft to your irons at impact and leading to a very high trajectory.

Inline impact is one of the fundamentals for a successful golf swing in addition to being the likely culprit of your current issue. This just means that the shaft of the club will reach the golf ball only after your left arm gets there first. This can be visualized as having a flat lead wrist, and on video it means that a line drawn from your elbow and through the lead wrist should be in-line with or ahead of your shaft at impact (ahead only if you want to de-loft the club for a lower trajectory).

A good drill that can help you learn the feeling of inline impact is to grip an alignment stick with your club such that about a foot is left sticking out. Make swings like this without letting the stick hit you in the midsection, which is only possible if the club is behind or inline with your lead arm. If you flip and the club passes your arm, you'll feel it bump against your ribs. Once you have that feeling you can remove the alignment stick and start hitting golf balls, working slowly up to a full swing, while still keeping that shaft inline with your lead arm at impact. Video is super helpful in this process to make sure you're not going back to flipping once you remove the alignment stick and add a ball.

[Nofoshova]

Thank you for taking the time! I've struggled with opening the club face on my backswing in the past, and obviously still don't have it down yet. 

I'll work on that drill using the alignment stick. I definitely need to eliminate my habit of flipping the club at the ball. Thanks again!