dkling8

I think the short answer is that hitting greens drops your score like crazy. Being able to hit a 5 iron 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190, or 200 yards on command is very difficult. If we had to do this we would miss greens. So, we put in a club for each one of these yardages, and hit more greens. It's as simple as that.

Hmm that's an interesting analogy. This is something I'm pretty bad at myself, so someone with better footwork might offer some tips on that type of feeling. I do know that the way a pitcher's foot is "banked" toward the instep is a feeling that would help get your right foot at a better position at impact. I find that even when I exaggerate this feeling, I still lift my heel up quite a bit. Check out Stricker at impact here. I'm not sure if I could say he's actively pushing with his right foot at impact since ~80% of his weight is already on his left side, but his foot is definitely "banking" as opposed to lifting out toward the toe.

I'm sure that you're getting at the same thing Jh was with going for more of a "Fowler" feeling on the takeaway. So by more depth, you mean the hands just need to stay to the inside more? Or does the club have to stay outside of the hands to have depth? I feel like in this video, Tiger takes his hands to the inside, but his move is more subtle than Fowler's motion. Maybe that's just because Rickie just keeps the clubhead so far outside of his hands, whereas Tiger lets the clubhead ascend. Thoughts? Thanks Jh. Looking back at my DTL swing, my left hand definitely works outward as soon as I start the takeaway. This gets the clubhead under plane right off the bat. In the video you posted, the guy's takeaway looks almost identical to mine.

Nice, definitely an athletic looking swing! There are a few things that stand out the most to me, and they are all related to having your weight sway back too much the backswing. This one thing causes a lot of other corrections to have to happen in the swing. Your hips have a looong way to go to get back ahead of the ball at impact. You can also see your weight is on the outside of your right foot at the top of the backswing, which makes it hard to get any drive from the instep of your right foot starting the downswing. Being athletic, you compensate by pushing off with your right toe, which basically lifts your entire right foot pretty early in the downswing. I'm not sure exactly what you meant by "posting up on your right leg," but you might try to feel your weight stay on the INSIDE of your right foot. Trying to feel a more centered pivot on the backswing should help with that feel. Here's a side-by-side of you with Charlie Wi. He has a very centered backswing, and it might illustrate some of these things. This might have other good side effects too, like keeping your left foot down, and shortening your backswing a little bit.

Another thing to consider is the position of the hands at impact. Dave Stockton hits up at the ball but with his hands very far forward. His putter has negative loft at impact but he hits up, making the ball roll sooner. Hitting up with the hands back would make the ball skid or go airborne for the first few inches, and then begin to roll. These are different shots. It probably comes down to personal preference. The putter has loft in order to lift the ball out of it's little indentation in the green, so I would agree with Gaijin that putting the ball slightly forward of center and hitting level or with a very slight upstroke is using the putter how it was designed. This first video looks to me like a delofted putter with a slight upstroke. The second video looks more like a neutral putter with a level stroke.

Unfortunately I can't make it up to Chicago in the next few months, and I'm actually moving out to the West Coast starting this summer. I lived in Chicago the last 3 summers though, and I totally would have up for something like that!

Nice swing! It looks really fluid and effortless. Even though you have an awesome practice set up where you can hit as many balls as you want, one thing I might suggest is pausing for a couple seconds between swings when you're practicing. It looks like you're already forward pressing to start your swing before you even finish taking your stance. Unless you're that quick on the course, a slight pause between balls might better simulate what a shot would be like if you had to walk up to your ball on the fairway and hit your second shot. Edit: Nevemind, your new videos are much less rapid-fire! :)

I've been Playing Golf for: About 3 years. I dinked it around when I was in high school, started playing more regularly 3 years ago, and started practicing on a regular basis about a year ago. My current handicap index or average score is: 16.8 My typical ball flight is: Slight draw with irons, fade with driver. The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Mostly a straight push or push fade. Also, my driver ball flight is usually pretty low, which I'm hoping to fix. There are some things I'm somewhat satisfied with in my swing right now (tempo, balance, impact position), but there are a lot of things I'm hoping to improve. Early extension/losing my spine angle is something I struggle with. Another is taking the clubhead too inside on the takeaway, then a slight over the top in transition and having to try to fight off getting too steep. I feel like I can drop my handicap fast with improved driving, more consistent short game, and limiting blow-up holes. If you'd like, you can also check out my stats from the past year. I'd love some insights on what areas of my game need most improving. Videos:

Loving my new Samba stand bag! It's around 4 lbs and has a really nice and clean look to it. I think they got my 60* wedge too hot when they were bending it... soon after almost all of the finish came off. Luckily it doesn't have to look nice to work well... Driver: 2009 Burner 3-Wood: 2008 Burner Hybrid: 2008 Burner Rescue 4H Irons: Callaway X-20 4-PW Wedges: Vokey 52.08, 56.11, 60.10 Putter: Odyssey White Hot Rossie

Actually, you're correct, I made a mistake. The thread title should be "Push Draw vs. Pull Draw" since shot B will start to the left of your alignment. Maybe a mod can change the title/post. I agree that the flights should be the same in a perfect world, but maybe our tendencies are different when we try to hit Shot A vs. Shot B? For example, maybe the push draw will go higher than the pull draw due to the feeling of coming more from the inside, possibly shallowing out the angle of attack. I'm not sure.

I've been wondering about the difference between the two common ways to play a draw. Shot A (push draw): Square alignment. My swing path is 4* open to target, and clubface is 2* closed to path. Shot B (straight draw): Alignment is 4* closed to target. I swing straight along my feet, and clubface is 2* closed to path. Are launch conditions the same? Are the ball flights identical? In both cases I'm swinging 4* right of target with a clubface thats 2* open to target, but are there other factors involved that could make these shots different? In this video starting around 9:30, Grant says that to hit a high shot, he puts the ball a bit forward and hits a push draw. He claims that because face is open to target, you're adding dynamic loft, and the ball will go higher. I was thinking that since the clubface is closed to the path, you're actually reducing dynamic loft. That's what made me wonder about the difference between Shot A and Shot B? Thoughts?

Hey everybody, I've been lurking for at least a couple of of years, and I think it's about time I got more involved. Thanks to everyone for all the knowledge you share... I went from a beginning golfer to a 16 handicap mostly due to the hundreds of threads I've read on TST. The amount of quality info here is incredible. I'm hoping to begin posting more regularly and eventually get a swing thread going. Any questions just let me know!

I've been reading these forums consistently for the last 3 years and never posted, but this thread is just too good not to make my first post. First off, this CANNOT be serious. This has to be a video parody-ing other lengthly videos with ultra-technical explanations of swing mechanics. Or a troll. The way that you have to physically mangle your right fingers into place with your left hand is brilliant. I was dying during that part! I was trying to think of other funny things you could do to the golf swing to make it hilariously technical, but I couldn't come up with anything good. Then you said to change the grip midswing... simply incredible. Why didn't I think of that? I do have one idea for you though. At 11:18 in your video, you drew the arc of a "two-axis system", and it was very arced. Then at 11:50, you showed your "one-axis system," which was less arced. BUT, at 12:15, you drew a line that was PERFECTLY down the target line using a standard grip! Therefore, it's only logical to choose the standard grip according to your Sharpie experiment. But in all seriousness, I found your video very interesting and entertaining. I'll be looking forward to the rest of this thread.