JaY_B

Are you a member of one of the Crown courses?? St Mellion is definately one of the courses I need to play, quite a few from my club have gone and said how hard they find it.... they are a bit wild off the tee though haha

Well remember Foley doesn't teach Stack and Tilt, he likes to see the swing stay centered on the backswing and then move laterally on the down swing, similar to S&T; but different

Wie is working with Ballard, they have to say shes working with Leadbetter because he is her management companies 'head coach'

Royal Lytham Golf Club, which has hosted The Open starts with a par 3.

Learning to control/shape/work the ball is just as important as learning to swing correctly imo. As Iacas said earlier trying to work the ball on every shot helps to clear your mind of technical thoughts, its near impossible to play well consistently thinking about technique. Learning to shape the ball and forget technique on the golf course is helping me to take my game to the next level at the moment. It is worth remembering that, at any level shaping shots gives you an amount of predictability to the result of the shot as opposed to hitting it straight, the ball can go left or right.

So the degree of improved control is noticable? Is the difference in forgiveness significant, or is a miss hit much of a muchness once you start getting down to blade/shallow cavity long irons?

Cheers for reminding me im having a read through it all now. It all seems a bit yeh blades arnt hard to hit at all or blades are to hard for anybody to hit, ever. period. I'm looking for direct comparisions between the workablity and forgiveness benifits of blades and cavity backs in the long irons, which isnt covered as such in that thread (unless I havnt got to that page yet :-p )

In a magazine article a few months back a European tour pro played all of an 18 handicappers shots from inside 100 yards, the 18 handicapper played all the shots from outside 100 yards, im pretty sure the score in the end was around level. I know its hardly a groundbreaking story but it goes to show how important the short game is!

I am currently looking for a new set of irons as believe it or not my Hogans are startin to wear a bit on the sweet spot. Now my question is, as someone who has never had bladed long irons before, exactly how much forgiveness are you losing when compared to a players cavity back (for arguments sake, imagine the Callaway X Prototype compared to the X Forged) and how does this relate to the ball flight? I am a good ball striker, but also realistic enough to know that blades could cost me shots. It's also worth noting that I love to shape the ball... fade, draw, high, low etc etc... how much easier will it be to do this with say an mp 68 4 iron when compared to my apex ftx 4 iron? Again I know this all sounds quite ill informed of me but I just want some opinions from the guys who use full sets of blades. Cheers in advance

I play a 2 iron, would I recommend it to 90% of players? probably not. The truth is if your good enough to use a 2 iron you can probably hit the same shots with your 3 iron anyway. I have found that I come unstuck with the 2 iron when I have somthing like a 220 yard carry over something, an awkward distance to take 30 yards off a 3 wood but too long to consistantly have a go with the 2 iron. Hybrids are the way forward.

Really enjoyed the final, great to see to English guys in the final and despite it not being a stroke play event Poulter has still got that win in America, in one of the bigger events as well!. On another note, the official top 10 world rankings looks pretty good for England and Europe with 3 English in the top ten, two Irish and a German.

Well to be fair, it doesnt matter whether its the stack or tilt method, PGA method or any other method there is still going to be an unatural twisting of the spine which will lead to injury in some golfers.

1 under two weeks ago and a 2 under 68 today, of course neither of these count towards my handicap as they are deemed "Winter Competitions"!!!!

Slight change in what im working on now, 1, I am trying to feel as if its slight lateral movement of my hips to the right (away from the target) to start the backswing. 2, To start the downswing I feel like my right hip goes up which forces my weight to go on to my left big toe. 3, Working on everything inside 100 yards, not so much technique, just feel and trying in to dial in some key yardages. Targets for the year Handicap - scratch Depending on whether I reach this or not one of my targets is to start entering the big amateur comps in England and Europe. In terms of 50 - 100 yard pitches I want to be getting up and down 70% of the time, a hard but attainable target. Learn and develop the chip and run, the low spinner and general ball flight control around the green.

The problem is that the release instructors commonly teach does not agree with the way the wrists are designed to function, the most inconsistent way in the world to hit the ball is to try and manipulate the club head by rolling your wrists, they are not designed to rotate, they work most effectively using an up and down chopping action, much like the casting of fishers.

As Iacas said earlier on 'releasing or rolling' the wrists makes absolutely no sense bio mechanically. Set up to ball and hinge your arms up from the elbow (keeping your upper arms in a constant position) and then unhinge them downwards back towards the ball, that is the correct powerful release that is proven bio mechanically, the rolling of the wrists provides little to no power and constantly changes the accuracy of the club face throughout the swing.

1 under 69 last week in my first and ony competition so far in 2010, typically because of the weather in England recently the competition did not count towards the handicap.

Agreed. Why not? fair enough you lose the demonstration and instant feedback factors over the Internet that you would get in a one to one lesson but there are plenty of knowledgeable people who can give good advice.

I suppose he has a lot of free time now lol

Yes but working on cocking the wrists wont help because it is not the cause, the ball position needs to be correct first, if you set up with the ball back in your stance you will find you tend to drag the club head inside the line during the take away. Yanks Fan, I recommend that for now you work on these things: Set up - your grip is a tad too strong, the grip should run along your hand on a diagonal from the ball of your left hands little finger (pinky) to the first 'pad' of your index finger, simply close your hand on to the club and your grip wont be far off. Also note your ball position, for your driver it didn't seem too bad but it has definitely crept back in your stance for the shorter irons, just make sure the ball is always central or slightly forward in your stance for short irons (unless your trying to hit it low, duh ). For the swing I would suggest we keep it simple, I think your hips are a bit wild are your arms become unconnected, so on the back swing you should feel like your weight never ever goes past your right instep and the inside of your right thigh (this is where you should feel the tension). Secondly, put a glove/headcover under your left armpit and keep it there throughout the swing (even the follow through). Just try this for a few practise sessions, see how it goes and report back, hopefully this will help .

The ball position causes every technical fault in this swing. What shot do you normally hit and whats your bad shot?

Australia's handicap isn't the same as Americas I don't think, more similar to England's in that he has to shoot 10 over to avoid going up.

300 isnt that big any way Look at the heat your playing in.... In England its freezing cold, we work hard just to swing the golf club with all our layers on, let alone worry about distance

I imagine you would lose balance and near enough fall over if you lifted your left heel off the ground while staying centered (stacked). With minimal weight on your right side would it even be possible to lift the left heel without consciously thinking about it?

They want to hit it past the hole and put a positive stroke on the ball, simple.