stoverny

I have a Callaway Diablo Edge driver and I think it's awesome. Very forgiving and long. You can probably pick one up for less than 50 bucks online these days.

You are talking about Pete Cowen, fantastic video and pretty much cured my bunker troubles.

What is the problem? Are you popping it up, topping it, what?

I honestly don't see a reason to put a limit on your progress. There is no reason you cannot be a single-digit handicap. As a short-term goal sure, getting into the 80s is fine - but single-digit is not unattainable as a long-term goal. Golf is not so much an athletic sport as it is a skill like playing the guitar etc., imo. It does not take exceptional coordination or some special innate athletic talent to be a solid player. It is a matter of learning the correct techniques, and then practicing them, just like learning to play a musical instrument. That is not to say there are not some people who don't have an exceptional natural talent for the game (just as there are natural guitar prodigies), but with hard work and proper technique I think most people can become single-digit players. FWIW this is my 3rd year playing and I am an 18 HC but have been working hard on my short game and my swing, and my goal is to eventually shoot in the 70s consistently.

I see no reason to shut it down. You can't get better if you don't play, and you say you enjoy the game, so why stop playing? Lessons are great for many but not a magic pill either. Lots of people do improve as they gain experience, even without lessons. There is so much great info in books and online/youtube that I can't see the point of not working on some basic things now until you get a chance to take lessons next year. At least where I live, Aug-Oct is probably the best weather of the year for golfing. Silly to waste it because you think you'll get bad habits by playing. Trust me you are not going to forever ruin your swing if you go out and play. Also time at the driving range might be helpful as you can focus on individual things like grip, stance, half-swings, solid contact, etc. without the pressure of an actual round.

Apologies Phil I am not understanding your point. Or maybe I am not explaining the swing correctly? What I mean regarding the weight shift is that there is no thought of pivoting the lower body or shifting weight in the swing, you simply raise the lead arm up along the chest. Then when the arms falls back down, weight of the arms/club transfers the weight to the front side along with it. So there is a weight shift but there is no rotation or conscious turning of the hips. I cannot guarantee that my hc will be better in 2 months (I only play once a week!) - but I shot an 81 with this swing last time out which is my best score ever (I am about a 17-18hc). But regardless of score I was hitting the ball great and my drives were clearing fairway bunkers I had previously not even been reaching. I am pretty sure if I can get my short game in order this swing will have me breaking 80 finally.

I think lessons are a mixed bag because just like doctors some are excellent and some not so good. It is hard to know which kind you have, but you probably need to give it a few sessions at least. It is certainly possible it is just part of the learning process. Could also be he is not the right instructor for you. I know a guy who has been seeing the same pro for over 3 years, and his handicap has not improved a single stroke. He still shoots around 100. I often wonder why he still goes to him but he seems convinced the guy knows what he's doing because he's "the pro". My feeling (probably heresy on this board) is that lessons are a little bit overrated as a general rule. There is so much good info in books, online, youtube, etc... that it is easy to find an online instructional style you like and work with that. For example if you practice the grip just as Hogan prescribes in Five Lessons until you have it down pat, do you need to pay a pro to show you how to grip the club? You can get Hogan's book for 99 cents used on Amazon, how much is a typical golf lesson?

I know this thread is old but wanted to bump it because I've been trying out this MGS swing recently and IT WORKS. Couple of things about the swing as it has been discussed here that I think leads to confusion: Pre-set/pre-turn: There is a false conception that MGS has no backswing because of the pre-turn of the torso to the right at address. Of course there is a backswing, you are raising the arms up (specifically the lead arm up along the chest). Wrist cock: I think there is naturally a degree of wrist cock simply because the weight of the club naturally causes the wrists to cock near the top of the backswing. However the idea is to not add any wrist cock or do it excessively. The only thought should be raising the club up along the chest and letting it fall back down. Power: There is absolutely nothing in this swing that would or should limit power or club head speed. There is definitely a weight shift in the swing but it is solely due to the weight of the club. I get much more distance with this swing, it feels free-flowing and promotes a natural draw. Only for beginners/seniors/etc: I don't see why this would be the case although it is clearly a good swing for beginners as well since there is less to think about. However on Kiran's web site/Youtube she demonstrates improvement with all levels of golfers including some professionals. Anyway just thought I'd throw it out there that I was using this swing and finding it great so far. I had been using the Heard Super Swing which was also very effective however I wanted something with even less moving parts and I was fighting the hooks with HSS due to the super-strong grip. The MGS works with a standard grip which makes it feel more natural to me.

"Jews really know finance" isn't negative? I think you are confusing generalizations which can be positive (women are good listeners, Asian immigrants tend to be hard workers, etc.), with stereotypes that have a component of being demeaning in them, and often have no relation to the truth. A Jewish person is no more likely to be "good at finance" than anyone else... plays into the racist stereotype of Jews as money hungry, etc.

It is always curious to me how when someone makes a racist comment, so many people get annoyed that people are offended and say everyone needs to "lighten up". I'd say its probably a good idea to come out and condemn racists, even if it means we are ruining their good clean fun.

Definitely looks like some sort of chemical damage, something tells me Quail Hollow might be interviewing for a new head groundskeeper soon.

well obviously there are lots of different putting methods and theories (straight-back-straight-through, arced, etc.). But the end purpose is to get the ball rolling straight. I do think there are some putters who put some side spin on the ball by cutting across one way or the other and in essence playing the putt to curve just slightly. I know I've read something like that from one of the well-known putting books, but I can't remember which one at the moment. Will have to try and hunt the quote down. However I don't really see the benefit of it.

Yeah Knudson was big on feel probably to the over-exclusion of mechanics, at least for beginners who need a solid foundation. As for the eyes an interesting fact is that one of his favorite drills was a closed-eye drill. I do it at the range and it really is a helpful drill for feeling your swing in a different way. Once positioned over the ball properly can hit the ball quite well with both eyes closed. Takes some getting used to though! He even says in his book that he once played an entire round closing his eyes before every shot, and shot a 68. Then again I wouldn't try that myself on the course!

I actually think Hogan's chapter on the grip in Five Lessons is awesome, however I've heard he was fighting a hook at the time so his grip was too weak for most players. I think for many if they follow Hogan's instructions but make it a little stronger they will have a fantastic grip on the club.

Ha funny you say that because he actually does use the example of blind players who are still able to hit the ball well in his book... he calls golf a "target game" rather than a "hand-eye game". In that sense it is more like darts or archery. Again these are Knudson's examples, not saying he is right or wrong but certainly food for thought. He certainly had a great swing, can't argue with that. Again his overall theme is that the swing should be natural and not mechanical (hence the name of his book "The Natural Golf Swing"). That is why he spends a lot of time advising against mechanical swing thoughts such as "keep the head still", "keep the left arm straight", etc. He feels these thoughts only lead to trying to manipulate things and a loss of natural rhythm. He was pretty much against most swing thoughts in general. My sense is that he is correct in a broad sense, but it was easy for him to say since he already had a wonderful, natural swing. Some people not so talented do need some checkpoints to keep them on the right path.

Well Knudson in his book spends about 2 full pages debunking the "keep the head still" myth (his words). His conviction is that golf is not a hand-eye game and therefore the idea that the eyes might move is irrelevant. He is more concerned with a smooth, free-flowing swing, and he argues that the "keep the head still" instruction ruins this. Book is quite old so maybe his theories don't fit with modern instruction.

Setup is different, swing is the same.

I agree, however the constant mantra of "keep your head still" and "stop lifting/dipping your head" is self-defeating to a lot of golfers I think. They end up "trying" to keep the head rigidly in place, as if that is the key to ball-striking... and it ends up hurting more than it helps. Agree that pros tend to have little side-to-side head motion, because they all have excellent rotational turns with no swaying. Since they are rotating around a fixed point there is no reason for the head to move very much. However as I mentioned quite a few do move the head downward as they come into impact.

I think this may have gone out of fashion, but I still find Hogan's chapter on the setup from Five Lessons to be great for getting into a balanced position. If you setup like Ben tells you, you will feel solid and balanced over the ball. He recommends a slight inward bend of both knees (less so with the lead knee, more with the rear). This setup helps make the whole thing feel "compact" and helps lead to a more balanced rotational takeaway and swing "into" the right side (rather than swaying backwards over the right side).

It often helps for me to shorten the swing with the driver. I find especially with the driver there is a tendency for my swing to get too long and my arms separated from my body. When I keep everything compact and rotating together I get much better results. Try swinging the driver so that it feels as if it's a half swing (9-3 o'clock). It will feel ridiculously short at first but you will be surprised at the distance you'll get. Once you get the feeling of solid in-sync swing you can try adding a little more rotation to get more distance. I don't think you need to focus your attention on a spot behind the ball, but you can alter your setup so that slightly more weight is on your rear foot. This will move the center of your swing slightly back, allowing you to take the same swing as with all your other clubs, but contact the ball slightly on the up.

In all honesty I think keeping the head still is probably overrated in terms of ball striking. Look at some swingvision video of Graeme McDowell. Head goes way down on the downswing, and he is a great ball striker. I think Sam Snead is another good example. I read George Knudson's book a while back and he says "let the head go where it will go". In other words it's OK if the head moves somewhat. Actively trying to keep it still leads to tension and poor ball-striking. I have had success by focusing on the setup. Make sure you feel an opposing stretch - your feet are firmly planted in the ground and your shoulders feel like they are stretching upward, against the downward pressure. If I work on keeping the upward tension in the arms and the proper setup/takeaway, I don't have to worry too much about what the head is doing. I constantly play with guys who have terrible setup and takeaway, who yell at themselves "keep your head still!" after they top or fat a shot. Their head is not the problem but for some reason they are convinced it is.

Well I would think the answer is primarily distance. I think Hogan mentions how the best players turn a 5-iron into a 4-iron because they get lower trajectory, while bad players turn a 5-iron into a 7-iron. Obviously higher flight is better for sticking greens but in that case a good player can simply go down to a wedge or any other lower club to get added loft. However in many cases distance is what is desired so a more penetrating trajectory gives that.

Was actually responding to the OP who said he used to swinf hard but now he's "matured" and swings easy. Not overswinging is good advice but some take it too far and equate slower speed with better control/tempo. Not always the case. I agree with you that control is important, i just wondered if the OP was swinging so easy he was losing the natural rhythm he had when he was younger (and playing better).

Without video hard to say but it certainly sounds like you are swinging across the ball with a lot of slice spin... swing path out-to-in, and club face open to that path. result is added loft, slice, and no distance. The fact that you used to hit the ball well in high school is completely irrelevant to the current state of your game so you might as well let that go completely. You are currently a slicer who shoots near 100 which means you need to restart from the beginning with solid fundamentals. Your grip could be screwed up, your stance could be out of balance, you could be jerking the club up with your arms... a million things could be wrong. Also, "swinging easy" as you mention can be a problem in itself. Often "trying" to swing easy is a recipe for failure in golf, as it wrongly translates to "swinging slow" which is usually a very bad idea. It should be a controlled aggressive motion. You want to hit the ball hard. True, lessons can be expensive but you can probably get a used copy of Hogan's Five Lessons for like 4 bucks online. His chapters on the grip and stance are worth the price of the book all by themselves. Start with the fundamentals and you'll have a foundation for improvement. It sounds like you are just flailing around on the course wondering why you are hitting it so bad. You need a plan of action.

Yeah I'm talking about the basic chip... just a few feet off the green. My dilemma is between the standard "bump and run" type chip (ball back, open stance, descending blow) and a more "mini-swing-like" chip (pivot, passive arms etc.). Those seem to be the 2 main camps with lots of variations. I guess I will have to spend some time trying this stuff out and see what works best for me. I think if I could improve my chipping I could shave 5 strokes off my HC easy, it's that bad.