BirdieNumNums

Work on putting. I accept Paypal.

I've been putting the best in my short 6 years of golf during this past summer due to a similar stroke. The only difference, even though I will agree that I use a more, right-handed controlling stroke, is that I focus on hitting up, trying to produce the forward roll to find the cup.

I've battled heel shots, shanks for awhile now. I've tried all the standard fixes, but the fixes were only temporary. This past week I went with a friend and asked a question about trying to hit the toe of the club, because I just couldn't do it for the life of me. He suggested I try getting my right arm(I am right handed) more active during the downswing. I immediately began hitting middle of the club out to the toe. While before, all of those temporary fixes I had tried would only ever produce middle of the club at best when I was attempting for shots of the toe. Just to cover my tail, I will say I understand toe shots aren't my objective when I am playing good golf, only my goal while I rid myself of the shanks. So I went again, 2 days after the the advice from my friend and I was smoking it, everything middle and out. Played for the first time since my last shankfest on the course 3 weeks ago. Played great and no contact issues. So, if you've tried it all, try using that right hand arm to get the inside-out swing going.

Gotta work on camera angles. Need momentum moving to your front foot. To ingrain this I used to: Address the ball as normal, then pull my left foot back to my right(rear) foot. Swing to the top and step into the ball and swing simultaneously. Swing easy and don't actually hit the ball Then do the same thing, but hit the ball. Hit a few this way, then try to bring your weight shift into a normal swing with feet planted. Just never go full baseball mode!

Learn to hit the driver, don't be Tiger Woods.

I'll give you the other option. Use driver, swing hard, just make good contact and aim left side of fairway and let it fade in. =)

I'd work on your right hand position. Get it to more of a neutral position, rotate right your right hand knuckles counter clockwise. Also, too much bend and pull from that right arm. You seem to be the left image and need to look more like the middle.

Yes, the right arm has been the key. Figured this out a few days ago messing around at the range. Had a terrible session at the start and realized I wasn't going to get any different result trying the same thing over and over. So at address with about 5-6 balls to go I felt my right arm solid and I felt my swing again. Went out and played a local muni 2 over. Had 4 early bogeys due to not committing to swinging through the ball and ending up short. However, my left arm felt good throughout the swing. Came back with 3 birdies in a 4 hole stretch. Hopefully, these 2 swing thoughts stick with me Monday(tournament)!

Maybe early on group lesson is ok. Just to learn basics, but I would suggest individual lessons sooner than later.

What's your game like? I wouldn't necessarily say stay away from stiff shafts yet just because you're new. What did the professional fitting you mention? If you're fit( by this I take, athletic) then without seeing your swing I'd say you want to go with stiff. If you're already pretty decent(scoring under 100) then think clubs you can play for awhile and improve into. Unless you're planning to buy new sticks rather soon after these once you see improvement.

Do you feel as if your right elbow is "Stuck"? I saw this on another thread and it's something that helped me visualize what I needed to be doing. http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/880860-right-shoulder-lower-explanation-w-diagrams/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsZ5UakcBpk Not a big fan of many of the videos I saw. This guy had good comments. I'd also suggest when shortening be sure to get good shoulder rotation and cut down on how much you take your arms back. If you cut out your shoulder turn in an attempt to shorten your swing you're going to be in a world of hurt. I think, "Rotate and accelerate" If I leave out one or the other it's simply luck if it ends well.

Too long of a backswing can definitely be a problem. You will hear a lot of people here, pros and teaching professionals mentioning the benefit of shortening the backswing. I wouldn't say that making a longer backswing should or would cause someone to lunge at the ball, I'd say it would make it more difficult to be consistent and most likely I would think your misses would be due to a failure of being able to close the club in time. Is your miss typically a slice?

I think most low handicappers would agree that you need to work more on the short game than anything else. However, you can't argue with the fact that hitting the big dog long and straight is fun. For me, it started there as well, but then became unsatisfied with hitting great drives to only hit a terrible approach or 3 putt for bogey. So, I became determined to figure it out and I found I had more fun draining putts on the green rather than pounding long drives on the range because I knew it was inevitably leading me to have more fun during my rounds by scoring on those killer drives. As for me, I don't have a regimented pre-game routine. I do focus on putting though and make sure I'm loose by hitting 5-10 balls before hand. I used to have a much more detailed [re-game routine but with having a wife and 2 children now I try not to spend that extra hour beforehand. I generally play about once a week during the summer and practice 3-4 days during the week for about 1.5-2 hours so i get most of my feel for my game during that time.

My best round was a 3 under at a course I frequented before renovations began this past year. I knew the course like the back of my hand so that definitely helped. What powered me to that score was basically all that summer I had flirted with going under only to flop the final 2 holes. But, I was very encouraged at how consistent my game had been all that summer, rarely ever being 3+ on that course. My warm-up was rather simple that day. His a few drives to loosen up, hit a few wedges then a few 7i. Rolled about five 5 footers and five 20 footers on the practice green and went to town. I was 1 under after 10 and then 1 over by 12 but then finished strong. As for the aspects of my game that day my putter really helped a lot and not just the scoring side of things. I had some slick putts to save par as well. There weren't many people on the course that day since it had rained the night before and so I read putts from both sides of the hole(which I rarely do) most of the round. Also, I was playing with a buddy who isn't as skilled so I didn't "feel the need" to hit a 7iron when I should be playing a 6iron. I played smooth and usually taking an extra club to ensure being middle of the green rather than barely on or just off. Then I battled the shanks and I'm just now back to the level of play I was then.