xSmithy

Thank you for that, I genuinely thought I had made inroads in to solving the issues Mike originally noticed but now that you still the images it is obvious that there is still a lot of work to be done. I only picked up a club for the first time 3 years ago and missed last season as I moved away for work so my golf knowledge and ability to analyse is pretty bad right now. I thought I was solving the problem by turning the knees outwards but now I realise I have to really focus on turning the hips more which I was finding incredibly difficult when practising as it made me hit the ball poorly (I felt my movements were out of synchronisation). Thanks a lot for the tip, I was finding turning the hips so unnatural as I mentioned above so I will put this in to practise when I next hit the range. About the P.S, not at all, I appreciate advice/critique from anyone, especially considering it is relative from your own experience; I'm certainly not a handicap snob haha. This is a pretty unique place given everyone is so knowledgeable about golf, it is a really great forum for picking up tips given everyone is so passionate and interested about our game. Furthermore. I've only ever had 5 lessons from a club pro, so most of what I do I have picked up from trial and error or from listening to my dad, a different perspective really useful, thanks again. So frustrating how long it takes and how dedicated you have to be to see improvements in your golf game. I move away again to London in September for work too (no golf time for me) so my goal of becoming category 1 before I move away is look rather bleak/pretty much impossible now! Thanks to you and Isaacs for the avatar tip, think I will go for the still of my lack of hip movement, seems pretty fitting! ha.

Am I doing something wrong with my videos guys? This thread hasn't generated as much discussion/advice as I'd like.

Myself Rory Mcilroy Michelle Wie Natalie Gulbis Mixed doubles, and you better believe I'm sawing every club in Rory's bag in half save his putter and 5 iron to give myself at least a bit of a chance of impressing Natalie.

Well I absolutely flopped the competition, realised the course isn't the best place to work on new swing elements! Went to the range tonight though and had a really productive session, was hitting the ball a lot better off the tee, exclusively hitting it straight or with a slight push draw, not a single snap hook or push. I was working on: 1. Turning my feet out slightly at address and ensuring my knees were flexed outwards as per mvmacs advice in order to promote more hip turn. 2. Improving my posture as I realised I had gotten in to bad habits from my first videos above. 3. Ensuring my weight was distributed properly (55% right leg), that my hands were behind the ball and that the left shoulder is higher than the right to create a positive angle of attack. 4. Dropping my hands slightly as I felt they were too high. I really just want to get in to the best setup position possible and hope therefore that I have less of a chance of screwing things up during my swing! Videos of the session below, any critique more than welcome!

Thanks mvmac, looks like that video could have been made for me, it's exactly what I've been doing wrong! Playing a competition for the first time since getting back from my holidays tomorrow, will be putting this in to practise, will report back on how it goes.

I've been Playing Golf for: 3 years My current handicap index or average score is: 8.2 My typical ball flight is: high draw The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: typical miss is either a block right or a snap hook Videos: Really struggling to keep the ball in play off the tee at the moment, hurting my game a lot. Typically I will hit a huge block right or a snap hook so capable of missing both ways. I've had lessons previously where the instructor has informed me that the block is caused by not turning my right hand over and the snap hook is caused by not getting through the shot properly. These swings look a little long to me, hoping to get some pointers from you guys, any advice welcome :).

Just bought a couple of copies, one for myself and one for the old man. This is my last summer to really work on my golf before I move to London and get reabsorbed in to 70+ hour graduate job weeks, hoping to get as low as possible. My dad has been on the verge of single figures for as long as I can remember (6+ years), his game is all there, hoping this can push him over the edge, a ton of positive feedback which bodes well.

I would love to get involved, no doubt my youthful exuberance/confidence would be caught out and I would shoot somewhere around what I usually do from the back tees but unfortunately I move away for a job next week and therefore my time on the course is limited.

I honestly think I'd burn up the course from the red (ladies) tees at my course and have always thought this, would be an interesting experiment but my club is quite snotty and could imagine them being disgruntled if a young chap like myself was to be bombing off the ladies tees all day. Also as an aside in the UK we don't use this rating/slope for courses or at least I couldn't find it for my course online, can anyone shed any light on this?

In spain recently on a golfing trip and calculated a drive at 360 yards down wind, had like 55 yards in to a 415 yard par 4, flicked a sand wedge which I subsequently pushed to the right of the green and made a bogey 5! Was driving the ball so far that whole week, gained about 30 yards on average to what I get in England. This whole trip for me was an eye opener and time to realise it wasn't all about bombing the long ball but actually start working on aspects of my game and thinking about managing the course. Since I got back I started working on the clock drill for my wedges and now have accurate yardages for my PW, GW, 56 and 60 for both a 3/4 and full swing, brought my wedge game on a ton and my handicap from 10.8 to 8.5 in approx 3 weeks.

Best competition round is 79 which I shot on Tuesday, +6 par 73. Recently I've been hitting the ball worse than I have all season but still managing to score well, a lot more gratifying than hitting it well and scoring badly. Was -1 through 7 and double bogey bogey 8 and 9 for a +2 front 9. Played the next 7 +1 and finished bogey double bogey for a +6, missed an 18 inch putt for bogey on 18 after my par putt burnt the lip, a few times recently I've blown up on the way in but still managed to post a decent score and break 80 this time so hopefully I can turn over a leaf and keep it together for the full 18.

Was literally going to post that a far more gratifying thread title would be 'I stick my irons to 10 feet and less every time' - since I re-took up golf 18 months ago I could hit the long ball pretty good but would too often miss the green entirely from 100 yards and less, nothing more soul destroying than launching a drive down the fairway and missing the green when everyone you are playing with is expecting you to stick it close. In the off season I put a lot of time and effort in to my wedge distances and my general iron play and now I'm hitting a lot more greens in regulation which I think is the more important yard stick - so much so that I hit the ball terribly from the tee yesterday but still managed to shoot 81 around a par 73 including 5 birdies. Sounds like we are in similar places, i used to love being known as the guy who creamed his drives (i would say I'm probably one of the longest at my club) and loved the feeling of my playing partners being astounded as I hit it a long way - now I'll settle for being the guy who keeps it in play, manages the course and makes good scores. My moment of realisation came on a recent golf trip to Spain with my dad and his friends, they were all astounded at how far I was hitting it and all remarked how I showed them how golf is supposed to be played but over the course of the week I came third and had a lousy 18 points on one particularly tough course where I just went for everything and hit driver on every hole. The novelty of hitting it far quickly wears off but bettering PBs and improving every time you hit the course, i don't think I could ever get sick of that feeling!

I'm in no position to offer you any advice with regards to your swing, I would suggest however that you would benefit greatly from learning the fundamentals of posture/setup and how to swing 'correctly' there is no doubt you have some natural ability but at the moment there are big flaws in your swing which will really restrict your ability to improve, get some lessons from a pro perhaps? Or if not some of the teachers on here might be able to give you some pointers, good job though man you have good hand eye co-ordination and you hit it pretty good considering you have been playing for such a short period of time. A couple of videos I thought I would upload to show you the difference that happened with my swing after 1 lesson with a good pro, unfortunately I don't have an old driver swing but this is an iron, I'd suggest muting because it is windy: This is a swing post lesson, I think the difference is night and day: Cheers, Smithy

I think it is very beneficial, too many times I have had a decent score going, thought about it and began to think too far ahead and hit my tee shot in trouble and ended up blowing up, similarly if I've had a bad hole and I get hung up on it more often than not I'll follow it up with another, that is golf and why I love it so much, peril is everywhere and you have to be mentally strong throughout. Especially when you get to a mark like ours, it is the beginning of having to play well consistently throughout a round, bad holes just don't cut it anymore, you have to begin limiting the blow ups. I played a comp last week where I had 13 pars and shot +8, 3 double bogies! It seemed like every time I thought about having a good score going I did something stupid and made double whereas when I just got immersed in the round and took it 3 holes at a time I had made 6 consecutive pars before I realised where I was, infuriating but great at the same time!

I used to have a problem closing out rounds etc when I had a score going and found it was because I was counting my score in my head and psyching myself out if you will, now I try to just take it one shot at a time and not get ahead of myself - maybe you could apply the same principle - just focus on making a good swing (i know this is widely touted but if you can fully immerse yourself in it it really pays dividends). I've never had a problem starting well but my course starts with 2 par 5's that are usually down wind and I hit the ball pretty far so they are good chances for me, still I've got a plan on where I can hit the ball from the tee to give myself the best chances and know where I can't miss it, then I just go and try to make good swings, I think this is also important especially at the beginning of the round when you're still warming up. Finally, I heard of a pro who suggested playing the course 3 holes at a time, setting yourself a target of how many shots you wanted to use per each 3 holes and then executing it, for example at my course I want to play the first 3 holes level par, 2 par 5's which are birdie chances down wind and then stroke index 1 par 4 in to the wind. I'll set myself the target of 14 shots for the first 3 holes whether this comes as birdie par bogey, 3 pars, 2 birdies and a 6 or whatever, anything better is a bonus but won't effect the plan I have for the next 3 holes, once they are gone they are gone - same goes if I play them worse than I planned to; this is another technique to set yourself mini targets which if you immerse yourself in properly can eliminate or reduce nerves which can become overwhelming. Cheers, Smithy

First post, something ive got a bit of experience in. I've had lessons with two different pros this year, 4 with a pro working only on the range that would give me little tips on how to improve my swing and become more consistent with my motion but not really changing anything just working with what I had - I saw little improvements on the course but still had those inconsistencies which restricted my ability to shoot low scores. I've had one lesson with another pro who records your swing etc and he butchered my posture said it was wrong and needed to be completely changed before I could work on intricacies and improving subtle aspects, for a few rounds I was terrible, went backwards massively as it felt so foreign but I eventually adjusted and now I have never hit the ball better and more consistently including pbs over 9 (-1) and my handicap coming down 2 shots in 4 competitions. Would I have achieved this working only with the first pro, who knows? Probably unlikely in such a short space of time but it's obvious which pro I would recommend highest, completely changed my game in one lesson and gave me the fundamentals to take around 7 shots from my average score and improving rapidly!