flat swing and poor contact

[Cali Golfer]

I've been playing for years now and relyed heavily on my short game (not many GIR). I'm a single digit but you would never guess by seeing my ball contact. My swing is flat (low ball flight) and my distances are not consistent. I want to revamp my swing to gain distance on and off the tee, but I would really prefer to be consistent! Any thoughts or suggestions?

[WUTiger]

I went to a clubfitting school in February, and from what I learned you might not have the best shafts for you in your clubs.

What shafts do you have in your clubs? You might check out the ball flight on the launch monitor. Three things to consider on shafts:

• Shaft structure/Kick point
• Shaft FCM / actual flex
• Shaft weight

Lower "boring" ball flight is something many better players seek. What you might consider is rifle shafts: you get a little extra loft on launch, but the ball flight flattens out. If you got better initial launch, this might give you more consistent distance.

*Also, there's kickpoint , a secondary influence on ball height. A shaft with a low kickpoint gives a higher ball launch, while a shaft with a high kickpoint gives a lower ball launch.

Next, what flexes are you using? Find out what the FCM (frequency coefficient match) of your shafts. This corrects for the problem that there's no industry standard on what constitutes a Regular or a Stiff flex shaft. Using FCM comparison, a ProjectX 6.0 specs out as more than a half-step stiffer than a DG S300.

(There's a copy of this chart floating around Sand Trap, I just can't seem to get it loaded up tonight!)

Also, there's shaft weight. All things equal, a heavier shaft gives you more resistance and thus less clubhead speed = lower launch.

You're a 5.8 HDCP - you do something right when you hit the ball - so I would consider that equipment might be part of your problem.