Range Time - 3 Weeks and Still Not Getting It

[Fairway_CY]

So... I'm in northwestern New Jersey where we've had some crappy weather recently. I've been to the range one time in each of the last three weeks. First time, everything felt okay. Irons were solid, but not perfect. My 3 wood was pretty much where it was when I left off last season. My driver... I was crushing it straight down the middle about 50% of the time. The other 50%... I was anywhere but where I wanted to be.

Went back last week and my irons were crisp... although I had a few 'ugh' shots that I topped real bad or skulled and REALLY stung my hand on the feedback. My 3 wood was dropping off right with a pretty pronounced fade... maybe a 20 yard fade off target. My driver was just pitiful. I topped a good 15% of my swings with the driver, hit maybe 5% where I aimed and then it was army golf. I'd either slice a ball across the entire range or hook one the opposite way by overcompensating.

Today I went back again. Irons were better again. Very solid and crisp. Not too much deviation... I did notice a bit of a fade (maybe 7-10 yards) with my 7 iron... but the others were pretty much on target and crisp. My 3 wood was pretty much on target... but I did have a few 20 yard fades again, mostly lazy swings. My driver was pretty good today, but again I had some army golf issues at times. Probably 75% of my swings with the driver were solid and went where I aimed... but there were times when I would drop one way right or yank one left. I tinkered with my grip a bit and realized that my straight shots with the driver are when I adjust my grip to have my top hand (left) thumb well to the right of center on the grip (the 'V' was pointing at my right shoulder) and my bottom hand (right) thumb was well to the left of center on the grip (the 'V' was ALSO pointing at my right shoulder, but almost to the center of my chest).

I've never had a lesson and haven't really ever tried to tinker with my grip. Can anybody tell me where the 'V' on each hand SHOULD be pointing? Why is it that my grip with my 3 wood and my irons has the top hand 'V' pointing left and the bottom hand 'V' pointing right and I don't have the same issues?

Sorry if nobody can help... but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.

Thanks!

CY

[Yukari]

See:

http://golf.about.com/od/golftips/ss...rip_lead_4.htm

[Gioguy21]

Fairway_CY...Do you go to the Randolph Driving Range? I work in Wharton and go there twice a week...was there yesterday in fact.

[Fairway_CY]

Fairway_CY...Do you go to the Randolph Driving Range? I work in Wharton and go there twice a week...was there yesterday in fact.

Yes, I do... I was there yesterday around lunch time. All the way to the left side of the range.

I grew up in Wharton. CY

See:

Thanks for the link. Very informative and proves that my grip with my driver is incorrect. I'll have to work on it a bit. The stronger grip seems to be working for me for now, but I'm sure that'll change in the future.

Thanks again! CY

[Gioguy21]

I"ll be at the range in Flanders at 4:30 today...if you're around i'm the 6'3" guy with the yellow nike bag.

[ks8829]

What is your goal? to score and lower your handicap? or to hit a perfect shot? After 20 years of playing golf it finally occurred to me that if I want to improve, lower my scores and handicap that I need to focus and improve my short game.

During a round if you hit the slight fade, learn to play the shot for the day and aim slightly left of target and maybe take more club. The improvement curve for golf is the practicing from the hole backwards. Putting and chipping and pitching from within 80 yards and in.

In summary spend 90% of your practice on the short game and 10% on your driving range practice. Learn to hit partial shots and knock down shots from within 80 yards and watch your scores and handicap drop.

During you next round of golf keep track of your putts per hole and round and your scrambling or up and downs from around the green. The goal is to get your putt under 30 per round and get up and down at least 60% of the time. The pros having a good round will have 23 putts for 18 holes, the pros short game allows for more one putts.

[wannabe]

sounds like me - lots of solo time at the range, inconsistency abounds. I tried to teach myself this game for years, reading books, internet forums, watching videos and the Golf Channel, some but never consistent success. Then I bought 8 lessons at a local range from a PGA golf pro -- best money ever spent. Still working on things for sure, but at least now I have a solid foundation. My advice - lessons.

[ET-Taylor]

i play military golf as well left right left right

[Fairway_CY]

I"ll be at the range in Flanders at 4:30 today...if you're around i'm the 6'3" guy with the yellow nike bag.

I don't go to the Flanders range very often, but I will be visiting there starting probably the middle of March. I'll look for the yellow Nike bag whenever I go to a range now.

What is your goal? to score and lower your handicap? or to hit a perfect shot? After 20 years of playing golf it finally occurred to me that if I want to improve, lower my scores and handicap that I need to focus and improve my short game.

My goal is to score and lower my handicap, yes. I work on my short game fairly often... more than any other part simply because it's easiest for me to do that and also cheapest. My putting still sucks...

2007 = 36.00 per round 2008 = 38.83 per round 2009 = 35.08 per round My goal for 2010 is to have ONE round with less than 30 putts and to average about 32 putts per round, which would knock 3 strokes off last years average. I've heard the 'green to tee' theory, and I try to incorporate that in my practice time. I hit more shots with my short irons (wedges especially) than I do with my 3 wood or driver.

i play military golf as well left right left right

Yeah... I've been cutting down on that lately. Used to be I ONLY had to worry about it going right, but... now I've got to worry about EITHER direction. Luckily the range time and extra playing time last year paid off a bit.

CY

[Fairway_CY]

sounds like me - lots of solo time at the range, inconsistency abounds. I tried to teach myself this game for years, reading books, internet forums, watching videos and the Golf Channel, some but never consistent success. Then I bought 8 lessons at a local range from a PGA golf pro -- best money ever spent. Still working on things for sure, but at least now I have a solid foundation. My advice - lessons.

I've never had a lesson, and I've thought in the past about buying some, but... I don't play enough right NOW for me to think it's worth it. For the last few years, I've played an average of only about 8 rounds per season. This year, my schedule has me playing upwards of 16 rounds. Still, not a lot compared to a lot of other people, but for me... that's a 2-3 year span in a single season. Hopefully it helps to lower my handicap.

I get approached by pro's at the range frequently. I'm told I've got a very nice swing... but nobody is quite sure how, with my swing, I'm so inconsistent. A lot of times I laugh it off... kinda like when we walk through the mall with our kids and we're stopped at the kiosks and they tell us our kids can be models. Don't get me wrong, we have great looking children, but... I see you giving the same speech to everybody you see, so... Either way, it's something I'll be doing in the future (lessons, not modeling)... but right now, I'm looking more for it to click with ME working on it. Thanks to everybody for the replies. Very much appreciated. CY

[Bullitt5339]

I got the same comments when I started out. "You've got a nice swing". But I was still shooting well over 100, and making some really poor strikes.

I just got back serious about playing last year, and was playing 2 or 3 rounds a week, but not getting any better. I took 4 lessons, and after 2 weeks practice, went back out and dropped over 10 strokes off my game. It's the simple things. Fundamentally, my swing was decent, but I was missing a few things to make is good. My grip was too strong, my backswing was too fast (something I still struggle with), I would stand a little too far from the ball, my swing was just a bit too steep, I wasn't placing the ball in the correct position in my stance, things like that.

With just a little coaching, I was able to actually get down to an 18 handicap, but took a couple months off for the winter, and went back out to play, and all my bad habits were there waiting for me when I got back. I took one lesson today, and relearned a few things I already knew, but wasn't doing anymore. One hour with the instructor, and my swing was back to where it was at the end of last year. So I would suggest taking a few lessons, you would be amazed the small things you're doing wrong that make a huge difference in your game. Then if you start slacking back like I did, it usually only take a lesson or two to catch up, and then a few more to make even more improvements. My instructor told me from the beginning that he was not going to rebuild my entire swing, because I didn't have the time to dedicate to perfecting it, but he has helped me out a ton with fixing small things that make a difference in the way I play and make the game more enjoyable for me.

[Fairway_CY]

I got the same comments when I started out. "You've got a nice swing". But I was still shooting well over 100, and making some really poor strikes.

Hmmm... you dropped 10 strokes that quickly? It MAY be worth it for me to invest in a few lessons. I dunno. I'd hope that all instructors were as understanding as yours seemed to be. I don't want my swing rebuilt. I actually kinda like it. But, I'm SURE that I'm doing plenty wrong. How else do I account for the 23 handicap?

Good post. CY

[Bullitt5339]

I dropped them quickly because there were fundamental flaws in my swing that were easily corrected, and showed an immediate improvement. I had a couple things, like my backswing that just felt right the first time I did it, so that was easy to implement. My grip was another story, over a year later and I'll catch myself teeing up with my driver and having a baseball grip.