difference between iron and driver

[blaylock6502]

I have been working on my driver swing a lot lately and have ran into some issues. My iron swing although not technically perfect was repeatable and straight but I had a slice with my driver. The driver is starting to come around since I have made a few changes. I relaxed my grip and wrists slightly and tried to concentrate on starting with the hips and pulling the club more with my left hand vs pushing with my right. The problem is I picked up my lob wedge after a couple of days and now I am hitting everything way right and topping badly! Any ideas? Should I tighten my grip back up and stiffen my wrists more with an iron? Thanks in advance for any input!!!

[Hacker James]

yah, just forget about mechanics for awhile and work on making good solid contact. Try and swing smoothly and without a lot of effort. Clear your mind e.t.c.  like the guy says:  "Goo Plaay".  If your shots are going right, then you are not squaring the club at impact.

[camforreal]

The more flat my swing gets the harder it is for me to hit irons but the easier it is to hit the driver. I am not a golf pro so i don't know the exact science behind it. I just seem to have a tougher time getting back to the correct impact position. When I start making bad contact I get tense and frustrated, so after I have a bad swing or if i just feel wound up I try this. Take in a deep breath, and start slowly breathing out right before you swing. Try to maintain that relaxed rate of breathing throughout he swing. If I get tense that really helps me relax and smooth out my swing, and if I am over thinking stuff it helps because I try to spend most of my energy thinking about the breathing rather than the mechanics. Might just be over thinking or trying to hard. Maybe it will help man. Good luck!

[Hacker James]

a little follow up on my somewhat curt response.

In reviewing my own videos, I noticed a commercial video (you know, the ones that appear after you play your own) and there was one from a guy I think "Wilson" was his name. He was talking about how you can swing fairly easy and still have a respectable speed. The gist of what he was saying was to stay completely relaxed, say on a scale of 1 - 10, the grip was a 2, and the arms hanging down were zero.  Then he said just to swing in a relaxed manner not even worrying about ball flight or anything until you got to a point where you were consistently down the middle. He went on to say that even with that easy, free flowing swing, your swing speed was still around 95-98 without even half trying. Of course I think he was also trying to sell the device "Sports Sensor".  In any event, I started practicing with that mind set and immediately noticed my impacts into my cage back were dead center and firm leaving dimple marks after only a few swings. I tried with 3 wood first, then driver, and then 7 iron. Same result.  One caveat however....I also know from experience that these feelings can be fleeting, and disappear the next time out. It seems that with anything new you are trying, you tend to get excellent results at first, then they can wear off after a while. Probably due to concentration or as I alluded to in my last post "over concentration".

Keep it up, I enjoy your posts and admire your tenacity.

[camforreal]

To add to what hacker said, you want to swing the club, not hit the ball. Being relaxed will allow you to swing completely through the ball instead of hitting at it.

[blaylock6502]

Thanks alot guys! Trying to figure these things out has been the most enjoyable thing I have ever done (as far as hobbies and sports go). I know the best round ive played as far as irons go the only thing that ever went through my mind was making solid contact and let the rest of the chips fall where they may and maybe ill go back to that! I think the more I try to correct things the tighter things get and the worse the results! The statement about great results at first could not be more true! I have fixed the slice with my driver four or five times only to have it return in a few days. And everytime something different seems to fix it! Maybe its just the favt I am concentrating on one thing and let the others happen naturally! Thanks again guys!

[camforreal]

I try to not think about more than one or two things when I am swinging on the course or range. I usually pick one mechanics related issue and then something feeling wise like stay relaxed.

I usually drill that one mechanic issue until I feel pretty comfortable with it then change to something else. I have a big issue with plane, so I do alot of thinking about swing plane pre-shot, take a few practice takeaways or whatever I need to do to get that feeling I need for the plane, and then once I address it I think stay relaxed and just rip it.

I am sure some people can think about 10 things at once during the swing but I cant. My mind gets all cloudy and cramped and I just hit bad shots.

[blaylock6502]

Im in the same boat! I think what I will concentrate on for now is pulling through with my left hand (this somehow also seems to encourage starting with my hips) with a driver and concentrate on contacting the ball with a flat left wrist with my irons. That seems to work for now at least! Thanks again!

[camforreal]

No problem man. You should find you a semi knowledgable range buddy too to watch you hit some balls. Might be able to see stuff you are doing wrong.