Top High Handicapper Mistake

[Harmonious]

Wouldn't it be so much easier to have you feet at 12 oclock and your swing at 12 oclock? Seems like too many different angles fighting each other.

Let us know how your golf teaching goes. You're obviously very frustrated with past teachers. Hope Dave/Erik get you on the right path. Good Luck!

[Shanks A Million]

Wouldn't it be so much easier to have you feet at 12 oclock and your swing at 12 oclock? Seems like too many different angles fighting each other.

Sure, it would be easy, and you'd slice the ball. My point is that what you feel and what's real are two different things. What's real is that I aim to 12 o'clock and swing to 12 o'clock, but that's not what it feels like to most people. If you tell the average player to aim to 12 o'clock, they're going to aim to 1 o'clock. If you tell them to swing to 12 o'clock, they're going to swing to 11 o'clock. That's the basic slice for you.

[MMouse]

I know there have been alot of threads surrounding this but I wanted to put a different spin on it.

Everyone has a different swing, whether it's S&T;, one plan two plane etc. Even within those the swings differ slightly. Just look at the pros, they are all different.

To me once a player has their swing, perfect or imperfect, they are using that swing to hit the ball. Once they are doing that, outside of lessons and drills to correct imperfections they are really falling into a few faults that are hurting their scores .

- hitting the wrong shot: your ball is in the trees and you think you have a shot at the green, so you go for it and we all know how that ends with a high handicapper. Instead of taking the safe shot so many high handicappers I've played with ( myself included ) go for the big shot. Take the safe and reliable shot everytime. You might make that shot 1 out of every 10 times. This applies to putting too. Ya you might make that 45 foot putt, but if you don't where are you leaving it?
- hitting the wrong club: ya you could hit driver, but where does that leave you? I golf with a 14 year old kid who works in the pro shop from time to time and he can hit it really long and shoot low ( was 3 under in 9 holes last time we played ). Out of the 9 holes he used his driver 4 times. Lots of iron shots to lay up away from trouble and then take his shot at the green
- swinging too hard: " if i just smash this one I'll be on the green" ya, but if you don't, then who knows where you will end up.
- rushing their shots: they get into trouble and rush the next shot to make up for it.
- ignoring their short game: a driver is a driver. You likelly only play it on a max of 16 holes, maybe more if you are a short hitter and have some long par 3's. Wedges and putting come into play on virtually every hole ( for high cappers anyway ) so learn to love em.

These are just a few mistakes I see high handicappers make all the time and ones that I have worked my way out of.
I played in a men's night a few weeks ago with a fellow who is deemed handicapped. He has a flag on his cart and can drive right up to the greens etc. He hits his tee shots 100-150 yards with an even shorter second and third shot. But he shoots in the low to mid 40's in 9 holes. Why, well he plays to his game. Safe shots straight down the middle over and over.

Too many high handicappers get focused on swings and power and new equipment etc. If they learned how to manage their game, their shots and their decisions I'll bet most could drop a stroke or more per hole.

By no means am I discounting the benefits of a good swing. Planes, impact position, ball position etc etc are all important to learn and you will learn them. It takes time though. Until that time comes play smart and see what happens. So what if your 3 iron only goes 170 yards when you swing easy. I'll bet you can make that shot over and over and over. Play it smart and work on the swing at the same time and you'll enjoy the game more. I've personally dropped my handicap by 5 strokes this year since April just by doing these things.

[Fourputt]

Most high handicappers are so focused on just getting the clubhead into contact with the ball that they don't have room for any other thoughts. Every player who stays with the game eventually crosses a bridge where he can suddenly see beyond the golf ball to the target. Actually see and focus on the target because his swing is sufficiently automatic that he doesn't have to freeze over the ball any more. The worst thing a player can do on the course is think about swing mechanics, yet that is all the high handicapper usually does.

What are my wrists doing? Where is my head? Did I lift my left foot? Are my hips turned enough? By this point the player has tied himself in knots and couldn't make a golf swing for a million bucks. He has to progress beyond this to the point of a simple swing thought like "Slow and smooth" to trigger all of those good things in the swing. At that point he can actually start to look down range and plan a hole strategy because his swing will often (not always - golf is not a game of perfect!) get him in the general area of his plan.

I go through periods of over-thinking while addressing the ball, and I have to kick myself out of those pits by actually rushing the swing. I simply do all of my thinking before I step up to the ball, then do my best to turn off my brain while I'm swinging. If I stand there too long, then the mechanical thoughts start to creep back, and for me, that is a ticket to a bad swing.

[Shripe]

Great points by both of you. Granted I'm still at the point where I'm trying to figure out the necessities for my swing, but I can definitely see the perks to just knowing what you can do with what you have at the moment and working with them. :) I haven't had much on-course experience yet, but it's certainly something to keep in mind so I don't obsess too much over the fundamentals... no matter how messed up they might be right now.

[sean_miller]

Take the safe and reliable shot everytime. You might make that shot 1 out of every 10 times. This applies to putting too. Ya you might make that 45 foot putt, but if you don't where are you leaving it?

Good stuff MM - forgetting they're not very consistent (yet) is a fatal error for some players. Who cares if you pured 3 balls out of your last jumbo bucket of range balls - keep the ball in play - you'll play faster and shoot lower scores.

[spmurph]

Nope. Not for most (95% of golfers). Most slice the ball due to the path.

Sorry I should have stated that open means open relative to the path the club is swinging on. If slicers could keep the face square/closed they wouldn't have to come over the top.

[Shanks A Million]

Sorry I should have stated that open means open relative to the path the club is swinging on. If slicers could keep the face square/closed they wouldn't have to come over the top.

Nope, wrong again. They do keep the face square or closed, they slice

because they come over the top. They come over the top because nature has created them that way, not because they couldn't close the face. Someone who comes over the top but hits a straight pull is still coming over the top, and it's still a fault.

[saevel25]

-Initial Horiizontal Direction of Golf Ball is determined by the orientation of the clubface to the target line. So if you are aiming at 12 o'clock and the ball starts left, thats because your clubface is closed to something like 11:55

-Shape of the golf ball flight is determined by the orientation of the clubface to the swing path. Since most people swipe across the ball, for example the swing path running towards 11:00.

So you aim up square, club facing pointing towards 11:55, and a swing path heading towards 11:00, that means your swing path is 10 minutes inside out, and your clubface is 5 minutes closed (Initial Direction of Ball Flight) to the target path, but 5 minutes open (Right to Left Spin) to the swing path.

Best thing to check is go get a dowel from a hardware store. Stick it in the ground angled away from you on your target line, about 5 feet down your target line. This will give you a reference to were you are lining up and you can actually see were the ball starts off at, if you see it start left of it, than your clubface is closed, if it starts right, then your clubface is open. If you hit it, don't worry it wont break ;b

Then look at the shape of the shot. If it starts left and goes straight left, you closed the clubface angle to match your swing path, 11:00 & 11:00. If you have an open face to swing path it will curve back left.

[spmurph]

Nope, wrong again. They do keep the face square or closed, they slice

Just out of curiosity, how do you (specifically you), hit a fade?

[jamo]

Sorry I should have stated that open means open relative to the path the club is swinging on.

Nope, wrong again. They do keep the face square or closed, they slice

Think about it this way: If they face is square

to the target and the path is out to in, the face is effectively open to the path.

[Shanks A Million]

Just out of curiosity, how do you (specifically you), hit a fade?

Swing over the top with a shut face to get the pull slice, swing regularly with an open face to hit the high cut.

Think about it this way: If they face is square

Exactly. The face is open because of the path, so it's the path that needs to be fixed. Fixing the face is useless. That's like taking a car that's out of gas and changing the spark plugs.

I know there have been alot of threads surrounding this but I wanted to put a different spin on it.

That's all well and good, but if you find me a 20 handicap who doesn't flip, come over the top, reverse pivot, or commit some other major fault, I'll give you a cookie. The fact is, the first and foremost part of the game that matters most is the full swing, and that's that. When you're putting the ball in terrible places because you fatted it or sliced it, that short game sure does seem important, doesn't it? But if you didn't put it in those terrible spots, then it wouldn't be so important. I've yet to meet a high handicapper with a fundamentally sound swing that had a poor enough short game to keep them in double digits.

[armandoartist]

What's the secret?
For moving from 10 Handicap to a scratch golfer...

thoughts
theories
examples

[ohiolefty]

You have to purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka.

[goblue107501]

Short game -- have to be able to putt well and be capable of getting up-and-down from anywhere around the green.

Consistency -- I don't know too many good players who make a bunch of doubles and triples. They keep the ball in play all the time and rarely have to worry about if they will hit a bad shot. Knowing the distance they can hit each club so they can hit any shot they need.

Course management -- hitting the ball where you want to and what is the smarter play. They know to hit 4-iron when driver can get them into a heap of trouble. They know to hit to the fat part of the green and be happy with par. They lay up on par 5's to a good number if they don't have a good shot at the green.

Short game -- have to be able to putt well and be capable of getting up-and-down from anywhere around the green.

[GaijinGolfer]

Short game and course management.

[enis750]

get off the tee...the rest will come

[LBlack14]

Prayers, blood, sweat, tears and alot of cussing!!!