Advice for beginner

[Jcp907]

Something is seriously wrong with how much your delofting the club. No one I've ever heard of hits the 60 with a normal trajectory 110. You either hit your 60 1 foot off the ground, or your swing is horrible. You need to work on your consistency. And what is with the course management when you have to? You always should use course management!!!!!!!

About the only way I can hit a 60 with a full swing and get it anywhere near where I want it to go is to deloft it. By delofting and giving a 3/4 swing, I can carry it over 100 yds, with a lower trajectory...probably a similar overall height as a 7 or 8 iron if I were to guess. In order to do this, my right hand would be well in front of the ball at impact. I no longer use the 60, and favor my gap wedge for this sort of shot since I have learned how.

If The Natural has his hands like this as his normal impact position (which it must be for the 6 iron going that far), this might be the reason for the need of the overly strong grip. At least it was in my case. My changes have included a weakening of the grip to keep my left thumb at 12 oclock and the vee that my thumb and palm makes, points to between my chin and my right ear. The grip felt very awkward and still does on occassion. I address the ball in the middle of my stance (with a 9 iron and wedges, moving 1-1.5 balls forward for each lower loftedd club) and keeping my hands in line or slightly behind the ball, but not in front of, at address. I also want to add that I would also hit the ball fat frequently with my old grip and swing. I used to bend my knees a little much, and have straightened them (just a little bend in them now), and straightend my back (Some of my issues were caused by a curved back). On my backswing, I used to slide to my right. Now, I concentrate on shifting my weight onto the left side of my right foot as I coil, keeping my left arm as straight as I can, and keep my arms in front of my torso, and my elbows as close together as feasible. I try not to reverse pivot and put weight back on my left foot. I also do my best to point my back towards the target, while keeping my head looking at the ball. this should result in my clubhead pointing to the target. I have had a recent knee operation, and am doing this all in slow motion to get ready to get back out there! Prior to the operation, this straightened me out a good bit and I look forward to working on the downswing in the future. This is a LOT to remember. I practiced the grip first, then the grip and address, then the grip, address, and backswing. All building towards a routine, where my checklist will only be necessary when I run into an issue. At some point, (when I am ready) I will post a video of my before and after swing. I haven't done so yet because I don't want outside influence until it's a routine. Listening to 1 Pro that I have decided to pay money to is all I can handle at the moment! It's an education for me to just document it all...and if it can help anyone else at all, great! Thanks for reading through it! Jay

[ks8829]

1) practice more than you play.
2) play with scratch golfers
3) have fun
4) record the following:

a) fairways hit
b) greens on regulations
c) putts per round
d) up and down to save par or make birdies

5) focus on your short game 80 - 90% of your practice time and watch your scores drop.
6) practice from the hole back

[TheNatural]

Well I guess 110 is a little long, I use this club when I want to play safe. One of my old problems was that I would pitch too long with a PW even on a 3/4 swing. My adjustment was to use my fav club the 60* and since I am able to hit it the most consistent of all clubs, I would use it in the hopes to hit the approach and play safe. If I do happen to hit it long I know it will stick on the green and be pin high. It does get a decent trajectory. I usually practice 75 yards with my 60* at 75 swing. strangley i close down on the longer irons more often.