Chunk. Whack. Noob Tips?

[Travtex]

Just an update with some insights and inquiries.

1.) It's kind of bizarre being the only lefty on the range.

2.) I took a beginner lesson to get some initial things to work on. It was night and day from my earlier blind hacking. I've been hitting about 150 balls a day at the range, and I'm starting to hit a rut -- Time for another lesson. (In short, just a shout out to other noobs: Lessons. Yes, you need them.)

3.) I took most of the clubs out of my bag. I don't get them until I can hit them. My starter set for the first couple weeks was Putter, PW, 7i, 4h. I'm playing a round this weekend, those are the only clubs I get.

4.) I don't have a slice. This was probably the single most surprising thing about my Early Golf Development, as I assumed every beginner would have to go through a slice phase. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing -- My problems are more often with loft. I hit the ball straight most of the time, but loft inconsistency makes judging club distance near impossible. When I err, it's on the side of a hook.

5.) My most consistent club is actually my longest. My "driver", the 4 hybrid. It's the only club I've hit clean and pretty well blasted on successive swings. Unfortunately, I don't know -why- I hit it well. When I'm hitting the 4 solidly, I'm feeling it the most on the backswing -- Just raring back and letting it rip. It's the cleanest when I feel the tension coiled up in my backswing and keep my hands high (That's a problem, I tend to pull them in too close to my head), and then lead with my hips.

6.) My chipping is surprisingly decent. My putting is surprisingly horrific.

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So... My biggest problem is proper loft, I think. I've hit a few liners with a sand wedge (Which I've added to my bag, bringing me up to -5- clubs, oooOOoo.)

That, and today I was having a problem chunking into the ground. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I was doing it. Trying to correct just had me skulling a grounder. At least it was still a straight grounder.

I guess elevation upon impact is the key issue? Club face seems to be square, as I hit straight down my target line the majority of the time. It's just that hit fat or thin and don't know how to correct for proper consistency.

(Amusing Aside: I tagged a bird, today. Had I -drilled- the thing, I would've felt bad because I'm a treehugger sap like that, but I hit a clean sand wedge and the ball came down directly on what looked like the dude's tail. Long loft, a squawk and poof of feathers, an angry bird flying away to complain to management.)

[timwalsh300]

If I could start over again as a raw beginner, I would do the following...

1. Start using video immediately, before any swing habits get ingrained. You probably already have a digital camera that can take 30 fps video - use it. Look at every swing you take and compare them to better golfers (look for Swing Vision on Youtube). I only realized when I started using video that what I thought was happening in my swing was very different from reality. I would have continued to be lost for years without this - I don't even understand how people learned to swing a club before this technology existed.

2. Figure out exactly what a good impact position looks and feels like and just work on getting to that same position every time (legs, hips, torso, hands, everything...). In the end, this is it. Everything you hear about set up, back swing, weight transfer, etc. is just intended to get you to this position. Be careful not to miss the forest through the trees like I did for a while.

3. Practice putting early and often. I neglected it for a long time, and now that I'm striking the ball reasonably well I'm being held back by my poor putting. Who knows how long it will take for this part of my game to catch up now.

Tim

[Travtex]

Obviously, lessons are going to continue, but I'm continuing to experiment around with finding #2; What does good impact position look and/or feel like? At this point I do hit the ball straight BUT rarely solid -- It's increasing in frequency but still feels like an accident.

I had some success correcting my outside-in tendencies by working some of the wrist tilt/hip shift/head behind ball mechanics from the 'Four Magic' series, though I haven't gotten a chance to test it on the range just yet. The swing sans ball looks and feels more consistent, if nothing else. It also seems to help move back from an overcompensatory strong grip to a more neutral one. (Is this swing style a worthwhile avenue to investigate for a noob?)

[shortstop20]

A good impact position will have a flat or bowed right wrist since you're a lefty(the wrist bone and forearm will lead the swing).

Yes, a neutral gip may be more suited to you since you said you hit the ball straight or hook it. A more neutral grip might minimize your shot dispersion.

Start the downswing by turning your hips towards the target and let the upper body trail behind and you will get rid of that outside-in move. When you rotate your hips towards the target your arms will lower to near hip level and then you can unleash the power built into your upper body into the ball.