BIGTRUFFLE

Are you saying that none of these coaches would be able to help a beginner golfer or a golfer with a high handicap?

IMO if I was to be a beginner again I would choose one well known coach that has a good reputation amongst the tour players and stick to him. I'd suggest Butch Harmon, David Leadbetter, Pete Cowen or Hank Haney. These guys teach theories that have been proven to work and their pupils success on the PGA Tour justify that.

To me it looks like you may be standing a touch too close to the ball. Try standing 2-4 inches away from the ball and position it 2 inches to the left so that it is opposite your left ear. A better address will increase your chances of hitting a better shot.

Sinking putts from within 10ft is where the real scores are made. That's pretty good! But can you repeat those scores from within 10ft when taking part in a competition?

When chipping and putting you're not really exerting much force so the chances of you hurting yourself from it are minimal.

I wouldn't play with it, but I sure would like to try it out as a drill to take to the range!

It's a bit of a late intro as I've already posted a few times but nevertheless I wanted to say a little hello to all of the active users on this forum. I am studying towards a PGA degree in golf across the pond here in England. I chose to join this forum because I want to practise some of my coaching skills I have learnt over the past years and to hopefully improve them as well (and maybe help of few people out along the way). I have been playing golf since 6 years of age and since then my passion and enjoyment for this sport has been increasing day by day. I look forward to discussing golf with people from all over the world who equally share the same passion for this wonderful sport as I do!

Without seeing your swing I cannot tell exactly how you may be able to improve your accuracy however I have a thought about what you might want to try. How far a player hits the ball is decided by several reasons such as club head speed, having solid contact by hitting the ball in the sweet spot of the club face and having the club face square at impact. Long and accurate shots require all three. A slower tempo produces an increase in time which gives the body more of a chance to achieve the above. Try slowing your pivot down a fraction, this in turn should lead to a slower left arm and the chances of hitting the club square will increase.

The swing should always stay the same no matter what the club is. The only change you need to make between the woods and irons is in the set-up. The ball for a driver should be positioned on the inner edge of the left foot at address, and the weight should favour the right leg slightly, say 40/60. The stance should be a couple of inches wider than your shoulder width. For a full iron shot the weight should always be 50/50 and for a mid iron (6 or 7) the ball should be positioned an inch left of centre in the stance. You should stand shoulder width apart. The longer the iron the further left the ball should be placed in the stance and your stance should become wider relatively. (or narrower stance and ball positioned further right for short irons). I don't want to jump to conclusions but the slice may be caused by having the wrong set up for a wood.

Ok the rare hooks are a good signal! However there are a few faults that need to be fixed. The easiest one to solve is probably your reverse pivot. This means that during backswing the right knee raises out of the bent posture, causing the right hip to move up rather than rotate > This causes a loss of rotational energy and consequently a reverse pivot. The hands gets trapped behind the body at impact because of this and it can lead to all the problems you have been naming. Remember, that the more you move out of the position at address on the backswing, the more you will have to move back into position on the downswing, and because the downswing happens in less than 1/4 of a second it is much more difficult to return to the correct position after making all them different movements. To get rid of this you need to retain a strong right leg position on the backswing. In other words try not to move your right knee. Take a look at Ernie Els' swing. He would be a good role model for you as you seem to have the stature and tall build. Notice how relatively little his right knee moves on the backwing? Would you be able to post a video of face on? I believe there to be a few mistakes in the set-up that can be the route cause of your problems.

That is definitely not a swing of a 31 handicapper. Do you seem to hit a left to right shaped shot most of the time with the occasional pull?

Could it be that you swing your driver faster than your irons?