Rookie question

[Gaviao]

So I went to a driving range today to try and work on my swing after watching some videos on youtube. So after 150 or so balls I noticed something strange. All of my shots, not counting the MANY that I sliced or just plan screwed up, they all went about 125 yards. Didn't matter which club I used... 3 through 9 iron and a driver (one of the shots with my driver did go around 175 yards).

Is this normal?

[Harmonious]

No, not normal. If it were, driving ranges would only need to be 125 yards long. I would think that, after 150 balls (the equivalent of two large buckets) your arms were beat. It' s impossible to maintain a decent swing if your physically shot.

I would advise hitting fewer balls at one session and work on making solid contact. Start with a wedge. If you can't make good contact with that, don't go to a longer club, as it will be more difficult.

Just beating ball after ball does one no good.

[clam fist]

This happens when you are not making good contact. A Wedge is a shorter club and should be easier to hit. You are most likely using all arms and not compressing the ball. I hope this helps. Relax. If your willing to practice that much you will get better.

[mattttt25]

I'm sure fatigue had something to do with it, but it's mostly the swing. I'll have it happen occasionally on the range, usually I'm hitting very fat and making terrible contact.

[JetFan1983]

Not normal? I think it's totally normal. You're completely new to this game. It's normal to just be horrendous right now. It'll take you a year before you know your distances or be able to somewhat hit a longer iron.

Obviously your progression as a player is completely dependent on what you decide to study and how often you decide to play, but I remember hitting every club seemingly the same distance at first. I remember a time when I could hit all my short irons longer than my long irons. It's normal. I'm not sure why people are saying it's not normal. Maybe they forgot what it was like to be a beginner.

I recommend learning the Stack and Tilt golf swing- the most efficient teaching method out there.

[ERdiesel]

So I went to a driving range today to try and work on my swing after watching some videos on youtube. So after 150 or so balls I noticed something strange. All of my shots, not counting the MANY that I sliced or just plan screwed up, they all went about 125 yards. Didn't matter which club I used... 3 through 9 iron and a driver (one of the shots with my driver did go around 175 yards).

perhaps some "scooping" going on to help the ball into the air? common rookie error and could explain similar distances for different clubs.

[pxc]

When I first started all my irons went the about same length (when I didn't slice/shank/etc the shot). Over time my lower irons have kind of spaced themselves out in distance so that from wedges to 6 or 7 iron there is a fairly discernible difference between each one. My 4 and 5 irons still go about the same and only recently has my 3 hybrid started to go consistently farther than those two clubs.

It's frustrating but that is just a part of learning. In another year or so I will hopefully have a reason to use all of my irons. As it is I just leave the 4 iron and sometimes the 6 and 8 irons at home. Less weight in the bag and fewer choices when trying to decide what to hit.

[Gaviao]

Thanks for the good replies! To be honest I noticed this trend somewhere in the middle of the two large bags, at the end I was shanking every ball... and getting some decent blisters. Now I'm noticing a lot of talk about good contact with the ball, can anyone explain some more on this? Or is it just as it implies and I'm not getting good contact between the club and the ball.

Also Jetfan 1983 mentioned the "stack and tilt" method. Where can I find examples of this method? Or could someone explain it a little.

Thanks again for the great responses.

oh yeah... "scoop" ?

[JetFan1983]

Also Jetfan 1983 mentioned the "stack and tilt" method. Where can I find examples of this method? Or could someone explain it a little.

Thinking about good contact only is a good swing thought to have. As a human being, you can really only think about one thing at a time, and "good contact" is one that helps a lot of people while on the course.

As far as Stack and Tilt information-- it's all over this board. Iacas, David Wedzik, and Nick Clearwater are all gurus of this swing style and they post here regularly or semi-regularly-- which is totally awesome for someone like me. Just a disclaimer though. Golf is really hard to learn. I know that sentence is obvious, but I think the reason it is so hard to learn is because of all the "golf speak" you have to get aquainted with. I remember not understanding what "square," "closed," and "open" meant when I first started, and that made it really hard to follow what people were trying to say when explain some aspect of the golf swing. It's almost like you have to learn a new language when you first start playing. Once you do get familiar with the golf jargon though- which may or may not take a few months- you will really begin to understand what you have to do in order to improve as a player. Right now, basically anything anyone tells you will sound intelligent and correct. You won't be able to discern good information from bad for quite some time. I can confidently say though that learning the swing through the lens of Stack and Tilt is the best way for a new player to go. Check out Iacas's signature . There are a bunch of links to pages of good information to read. Here's one just as an example: http://thesandtrap.com/forum/entries/61-The-Big-List OK, I'm rambling, but here's what I got for you: The Stack and Tilt Website- It has a great summary of the swing. Maybe you should start here? http://stackandtiltgolfswing.com/abo...asic-elements/ How to Make a Stack-and-Tilt Backswing: All of the videos this guy has done (check out his profile page on Youtube) are excellent. Again, a lot of the terminology he uses will probably fly right over your head at first, but don't give up! He gives great instruction. Flying Wedge Drill This is what every sick, nasty golfer looks like at impact. They have maintained the angle between their right forearm and the club shaft to some extent. All high handicappers release their wrists too soon on the downswing and throw away all their power. This link may be hard to understand, but if you can master this one, you can play golf. Sorry it's so windy. The instruction is worth it though. Iacas has a video of this same drill, except he pre-sets his weight forward: And more from the The Golf Evolution. David Weznik shows you how you must slide your hips towards your target to initiate the downswing in order for the hands to drop into the hitting area. Like I said previously though, you have to check out all his videos and watch them multiple times. Don't worry, I know it's hard to understand. You just gotta trust it. Here are some threads from this message board on the Stack and Tilt swing. Just use the search engine to find more- They're all over the place and full of awesome information. But here are the big ones you should read: The Biggest Secret: Slide Your Hips http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads...LIDE-Your-Hips The Stack and Tilt Pattern http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads...d-Tilt-Pattern *** OK, now that I've completely overwhelmed you with information, I will give my keyboard a rest and go back to work before I get fired. I know it's a lot to digest. Just keep in mind, learning all the stuff I've included in this post isn't going to happen overnight. Patience, sir! It goes a long way in this game.

[WUTiger]

If you're willing to hit 150 balls in one day, you have enthusiasm for the game.

So I have to ask, have you had any lessons? If you take a package of three or four lessons with a capable pro, you can make a lot quicker progress on learning the just using trial and error on your own.

When I was growing up, the old-time pros said that your basic golf swing was pretty well set once you play six times. So, I would suggest lessons so that you start with a solid basic swing, rather than a shaky one.

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Once you figure out your club mix, consider putting a What's In My Bag section in your sig-line. That way we can tell how you approach the game.

[Shripe]

Coming from a similar newbie who knocked down about 75 balls this weekend for my first range visit in a long time, I noticed some funky things with my "yardages" (again, these were Titleist range balls, not regular, so take the yardages with a grain of salt). Not as bad as yours, but I did notice that while I could manage to hit my 5i somewhere around 150, everything above that (3i, 3W, and driver) came within only a few yards of that point on most shots. I can say it was based on not having good contact, though I haven't exactly figured out my wood/driver swing yet either.

I don't really have money for the lessons either, but I'm just going to try to work with what I have... and maybe check out the S&T; stuff tomorrow when I could actually work on some of it around the house.

One thing I do wonder about all of this advice and such is that if you're not really out there taking lessons, is it more of just trying to commit yourself to a certain mindset, taking away a little point here and there that you can focus on a step at a time from these videos/pieces of advice, or is there another way to basically absorb all of it? I understand a good bit of the jargon, but it's not like at this point I can automatically figure out "Hey, I'm totally not doing this correctly, so instead, I'm going to do this and this and this to correct it." Maybe that'll come in time, but it's still a bit confusing as to how I should go about getting to the point where I'm adequately mimicking what I ought to be doing. :P

[JetFan1983]

One thing I do wonder about all of this advice and such is that if you're not really out there taking lessons, is it more of just trying to commit yourself to a certain mindset, taking away a little point here and there that you can focus on a step at a time from these videos/pieces of advice, or is there another way to basically absorb all of it?

Good question. First, I would take the time to read about the swing and post any questions you have, like you're doing now. At home, you can practice some of these movements in front of a mirror without a club in slow motion. I would then go back and watch videos and keep reading while getting out of your chair again to practice again in slow motion.

At the range though, you can really only work at one thing at a time. You're going to hit a lot of shanks on your own as you attempt to engrain this swing in your muscle memory. For me, it took about a month or so before I felt like "OK, I'm starting to get this now." I probably went to the range maybe twice a week during that month? Everyone's different, but that's how long it took me to start feeling confident that I was improving. If you're lucky enough to have a Stack and Tilt instructor within driving distance of you, I would take it. They're good enough to get you hitting better shots in the first lesson. Lay an alignment stick on the ground when you practice and first and foremost, make sure your setup is fundamentally sound. 1. Balanced starting position. Legs shoulder width apart. Cupped left wrist at address. Proper grip (weak, neutral, strong). I prefer strong. 2. The Takeaway. This is the first move in the golf swing so maybe you want to start here. You want your hands to go deep on the backswing. What does deep mean? Stand about 6-8 inches from a wall. The wall is to your immediate right if you're right handed. Without a club in your hand, take your backswing. If your hands hit the wall, you're taking them too far out and away from your body. Ideally, your hands will miss the wall, but I think you might be allowed to brush them a little bit. Not exactly sure about that. But here are some links you can read about "deep hands." Iacas post on what "Deep Hands" means: http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads...ands-Explained Evolvr Online Lesson Example: The Proper Takeaway: In this video, David Wedzik works with a student who fans the club way too much on the inside and with too open of a clubface. It's a common error and I suffered from this too until seeing this video. The hands are also moving out away from the correct plane and too far from the body. So, I'm obviously not a pro, but my guess is, once you have a solid setup, you can start working on the takeaway. The proper Stack and Tilt backswing video in my previous post on this thread might be where you go next. After that, it's understanding how to properly slide your hips to initiate the downswing. And finally, you can work on impact, which is maintaining the flying wedge (also included in my previous post on this thread). And then of course, the final move is the follow through to the finish. Taking half swings at a slower tempo working on clean contact with the ball can also help. It's possible I have no idea what I'm talking about in terms of helping someone improve at golf. I'm a relatively newer player myself. If I said something stupid here, one of the instructors here will more than certainly chime in and bitch me out. It'll be to our benefit if they do though obviously. Good luck.

[Gaviao]

Well to be honest I'm not sure I'm going to be hitting 150 balls in one setting anytime soon as I got some pretty decent blisters from that, but maybe one large bag twice a week would be better

I wouldn't be opposed to taking lessons but I don't have a lot of money to put towards this game right now... hence my used clubs. I am heading out to the range tomorrow with my cousin who has played golf for awhile so hopfully he can help me out a bit. I'm also trying to get some of my other friends that golf to head out with me with the hopes that maybe they can help me out. In the meantime I'll check out those videos.

[Fourputt]

Well to be honest I'm not sure I'm going to be hitting 150 balls in one setting anytime soon as I got some pretty decent blisters from that, but maybe one large bag twice a week would be better

Instead of just hitting balls, practice with purpose. Leave the bag at home and just take your 7I to the range. Start out just hitting with a half swing, focusing on making solid contact. Hit at least 15 or 20 balls this way, until you feel that you are making good hits consistently. Then lengthen out to about a 3/4 swing and do the same. If you start to miss the sweet spot, drop back to the half swing again. If you can't figure out how to progress to a full swing on your own with this method and make solid contact with a 7I, then you need to consider a lesson or two. There are so many things that could be keeping you from making any progress, from grip to stance to ball position to takeaway to transition to follow through. Until you learn something about the fundamentals of the golf swing, seeing a professional may be your best bet.

[Gaviao]

Instead of just hitting balls, practice with purpose. Leave the bag at home and just take your 7I to the range. Start out just hitting with a half swing, focusing on making solid contact. Hit at least 15 or 20 balls this way, until you feel that you are making good hits consistently. Then lengthen out to about a 3/4 swing and do the same. If you start to miss the sweet spot, drop back to the half swing again. If you can't figure out how to progress to a full swing on your own with this method and make solid contact with a 7I, then you need to consider a lesson or two. There are so many things that could be keeping you from making any progress, from grip to stance to ball position to takeaway to transition to follow through. Until you learn something about the fundamentals of the golf swing, seeing a professional may be your best bet.

I'll give this a try. However I have to ask...

What is the deal with the 7I? The first time I tried golf the person I was with handed me a 7I and said "just stick with this for now". And of course there's the part of the movie "Tin Cup" where Kevin Costner breaks all of his clubs but the 7I and plays the rest of the course with the 7I... So I'm just curious... why is the 7I held in such regard? Or am I way off and it's just like any other club.

[Fourputt]

I'll give this a try. However I have to ask...

The 7I just happens to be about in the middle of the bag, halfway between driver and wedge, so it's a good starting point. Harvey Penick was one of the most respected instructors ever, and he taught his students with a 7I, and only the 7I until he judged that they were ready for something different.

[microcrayfish]

Definitely sounds like you hit too many balls that day and got fatigued. As others have said, simply hitting balls won't help you get better and can actually hurt your game as you get tired your swing breaks down. Many a time when I was starting out I would end up leaving the range with a worse swing than when I started and wondering what on earth was going wrong simply because I got tired.

There are different views as to the best practice method - some say hit just one club, others say never hit the same one twice in a row – but the important things is a focused and efficient practice that will get results rather than just banging away at golf balls. These days I very rarely hit more than half a bucket (25 balls) at the range. If you do want to hit more balls then at least make sure you take time and rest between each shot so you don’t get tired.