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A Eureka Moment? What to do next...


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I haven't been golfing much lately, my increasing frustration with my game has led me to do other things on the odd time I have had the opportunity. It seems for the longest time I have been one of those guys who just can't get off the tee to save himself. Give me three different tee shots and I'll find a way to hit it in three different directions. Conversely get me inside 170yards and I can play some handy golf for my handicap level. A real frustrating way to golf as I am always scrambling and I can play some really nice golf shots for double bogey or worse depending how much damage I did to myself at the start of the hole.

I decided the past couple of weeks that I was going to spend some time on the range and try and sort myself out. I am so tired of going out to play, starting well and then having my tee game erode my confidence to the point where I can be struggling to hit the golf ball by the end of a round, even with my most reliable clubs.

My range sessions seemed to follow a routine pattern:

Generally hit about 40 balls with my short irons and have been hitting them quite well. When I go to hit my hybrids, or Driver it all turns ugly and my best shots are a fades - high and weak and I hit varying shades of snap hooks and mishits as I try and work out WTH is happening. This goes on for about 20-30 balls until I give up and go back to a pitching wedge/9I and try and recover some sense of a full swing. I usually get this happening again in 5-10 balls but am whiffing pretty bad the first couple. I'm usually pretty jacked off at this point and just hit pitches for the rest of the bucket and try to hit some targets and generally try to gee my self up a bit with some successful shots.

Now I sat back and thought this isn't working, I'm just experiencing the same thing as on the course and not solving my problem. If anything I am ingraining a lack of confidence in my tee shot. I read a bit online and see that I am maybe not releasing the driver and hybrids and that is the cause of the high, weak fade. My adjustments are really trying to steer the club and the results are all over the place. I tried to think about why I couldn't seem to tell the difference between the occassional good shot and the solid mishits.

I took some swings with my 8I, my favourite club and then took some swings with my driver, trying to note any differences. Hmm...this 8I just feels like it is locked in a groove - there is a weight or resistance at the end of the shaft - it's hard to describe so hopefully it makes some sense.. Swing my 8I, swing my hybrids hmmmmm...swing my 8I, swing my 5W (The one longer club I seem to have some luck with) HMMMM. Swing a bunch of my irons and I have my eureka moment.

I cannot feel the clubhead of my driver and hybrids during the swing.

The "in a groove" sensation I have with my 5W and irons is the feel of the clubhead. The Driver and hybrid I feel like I am just swinging a shaft with nothing attached. My iron's and 5W I feel like I just need to get into a good position at the top and make a good turn back to the ball, the club seems to guide and release itself into impact without manipulation. The driver and hybrids I am obviously missing that sensation and manipulating the club on the downswing by holding off or trying to force something.

Now the million dollar question:

How do I find this feel with these clubs?

Is there a drill or something I can practice? Are there things I can check in my setup? Are there clubfitting remdies that may help - increase swing weight or different shaft flex profile required?

I really feel like I could have a breakthrough with my game if I can find the clubhead.

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Trying to do the same thing with a driver and iron doesn't really work for me because the setups are quite different.  I could very well be doing it wrong though so I dunno what to tell you. :-D

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Lead tape

Rich C.

Driver Titleist 915 D3  9.5*
3 Wood TM RBZ stage 2 tour  14.5*
2 Hybrid Cobra baffler 17*
4Hybrid Adams 23*
Irons Adams CB2's 5-GW
Wedges 54* and 58* Titleist vokey
Putter Scotty Cameron square back 2014
Ball Srixon Zstar optic yellow
bushnell V2 slope edition

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Generally hit about 40 balls with my short irons and have been hitting them quite well. When I go to hit my hybrids, or Driver it all turns ugly and my best shots are a fades - high and weak and I hit varying shades of snap hooks and mishits as I try and work out WTH is happening. This goes on for about 20-30 balls until I give up and go back to a pitching wedge/9I and try and recover some sense of a full swing. I usually get this happening again in 5-10 balls but am whiffing pretty bad the first couple. I'm usually pretty jacked off at this point and just hit pitches for the rest of the bucket and try to hit some targets and generally try to gee my self up a bit with some successful shots.

Well there's you problem.  The courses I play tend to frown on that. :naughty:

Golf is hard.

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Well there's you problem.  The courses I play tend to frown on that.

How else am I supposed to relax after these stressful events? ;-)

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Well you are not alone ... Struggle with the tee box ... Listening to the advice you get ... Even though I have recently moved the tee ball way forward ... Like past my left foot, and I hit it better ... At least on the range ...

Ken Proud member of the iSuk Golf Association ... Sponsored by roofing companies across the US, Canada, and the UK

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Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Well you are not alone ... Struggle with the tee box ... Listening to the advice you get ... Even though I have recently moved the tee ball way forward ... Like past my left foot, and I hit it better ... At least on the range ...

I hit driver and wood at better than irons. Always have. And I am pretty sure I swing steep. Go figure. To the OP, I am not sure what to tell you. I don't feel my clubhead's weight with any shot. Not anything that I notice anyway. I have read before that people do but I just don't get it.

James

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I cannot feel the clubhead of my driver and hybrids during the swing.

Yes I would add some lead tape, start off with one strip.

Mike McLoughlin

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Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

I had a fiddle over the weekend with the driver and the tape. I weighed out 2gm strips so i knew what I was adding.

4 grams of lead tape I started to feel the clubhead and 6 grams is on there now. It feels pretty good and it seems a lot easier to maintain my tempo. My backswing is feeling more compact and my follow through isn't jerky and abbreviated. Hopefully I can get to the range during the week and see how the feel translates to actual results. I might end up back at 4gm or even heavier...I'll have to hit some balls and see how I go.

Another thing I have realised since engaging in this analysis - the Driver I was gripping the heck out of it! Probably due to fear of the results I have been getting. Hopefully these little changes and observations will result in something positive.

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Probably boring for you guys but anyway... :-P

I was given a link by an acquaintance yesterday to a site with a swing weight calculator. You weigh the club and then measue it's balance point and the calculator will spit out an approximate swingweight, the acquaintance assured me that the calculator was really quite accurate compared to the swingweights given by his clubmaker but I figured regardless it should work for comparative purposes.

My 8I that I like to hit so much...D9

My Driver with the 6gm of lead tape - D8.

My 4H that I hit everywhere - C8

My 5H - D2

My 5W that I hit OK - D7

My 6I, 7I, 9I - D8

I haven;t bothered with the wedges yet but I suspect they will be D9-low E's.

If I got the theory right the driver would have been a bit south of D5 prior to the weight. It is amazing to me that such a small amount of weight can result in such a big change in feel swinging the club.

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