slinkee

Excuse my ignorance I've only been in the game for less then a year still, but what are compression drills?

Never be afraid to hit a bad shot.

I've noticed that my divots tend to point away from me, producing pushed shots with a dash of fade. I'm wondering if there are any decent drills or some friendly user advice that I could use to help straighten me out. Thanks!

Well that's what I thought to but it was resting about 6 inches away from it so I don't really know ... what the rulling is on a situation like that. If your ball is up against a man-made object such as a fence can you not put it 2 club lengths away no closer to the pin?

Yesterday I had a ball lay up on top of a pile of leaves next to a fence. As a righty, I had to make a left-handed swing and in the process, I missed the ball completely but took away the leaves to the side of the ball, involuntarily forcing the ball to roll about 12 inches away from it's previous position. Does this count as a stroke even though my club head never made contact with the ball? In the end, I counted it as a stroke, but what's the ruling on this?

Well for one he's a friend, he's 70 and still shoots in the 70's, and competed in his 20's and 30's. But seriously, I don't even know where to look for advice for a newbie. And to answer another question, my hands are leading the club at impact. At address, I'm all squared up.

I would guess I do some casting. I've seen many of my divots pointing from right to left indicting my outside-in swing path. Is the phrase "swign from the inside" something I should figure out what means? :)

Especially on my driver. I'm a chronic slicer of which I'd sell my soul to rid myself of. I got a quick tip from the ranger at the course I work at today saying my hands were way way too far ahead of me. Alas, I don't really know how to solve this problem. Any practice drills I can run over? Anything I can try and think about and put in my head? Edit: To answer a question, my hands are ahead of the club at impact, opening the club face. Seems like a simple fix but damn, I just can't keep the ball from going right.

Your name wins the forums.

This is both enlightening and intelligent as it fully explains the pros and cons of the Callaway Big Bertha series. I applaud your input. Thanks everybody else for the rest of the replies. I played a round today and found many uses for the Gap Wedge and was more than pleased. Also, the PW is 45, Gap is 50, and SW is 56.

And I'm quite disappointed in it so far, and it's a brand freaking new Callaway Big Bertha 2008 to match my set. Now, I'm pretty new to the game, and I was thinking that I'd use it for those chip shots around the green instead of the pitching wedge that I have been using. Well, the course I work at I was out using it and some of the guys came out that have been playing all their lives and were telling me that I should be using like a 56* wedge for green side chipping and what not, and even from a ways out too. So now I'm really frustrated as I've already used the club and after doing what they told me to do I found the 56* wedge much better for me. So obviously, the store is raping me on what they'll give me back for it because I hit about 10 range balls with it and used it around a putting green for about an hour. Basically, the "need" i had for this club is now gone, and I'm wondering if anybody can create that need again. What are these things relaly used for? What situations? Everything these guys at work are telling me is that my green-side intentions for the gap wedge can be replaced by the pitching wedge and that this gap is more used for taking full swings with. I'm confused and annoyed ... please help :(

Um I'd like to know this ...... how you wanna send it

What's the worst weather conditions you've ever golfed in. You know, when it's just absolutely horrid outside but you have that burning desire to just get out there and golf. For me, I went golfing when it was so cold I couldn't put a tee in the tee box because it was frozen. And when I shanked a shot in to a water hazard in front of the green, it was ok ... because the ball slid across the ice and popped out the other side :)

I actually went golfing when it was about 28 degrees at the course I work at. The ground on the tee boxes were frozen enough that I couldn't find a soft spot to even put a Tee in the ground! That's some manly golfing.

That makes me want to cry! hehe, and I grew up in the snow in WV. Folks run a ski resort ... and now I'm a summer golf junkie. Damn this weather! At least TN is warming up.

Weight shifted uphill for both ball positions? And I love the 3 wood. I got it off of eBay about 2 weeks ago, slapped a Golf Pride grip on it and it's working out great. I tested many many 3 woods as I'm progessively replacing a starter set I bought 5 months ago when I started playing. This worked the best for me.

I'm looking for a few tips on this because I'm never really that pure in my contact here. On the uphill lies, I generally choke down on the club a little more so I don't get a fat shot, and open the club face a little because I'm under the impression you tend to pull the shot here. On the downhill lies, I generally just bend my knees a little more, and close the club face because I believe you tend to push or fade your shots naturally here. Are these assumptions correct? And would anybody have additional advice on how to safely get out of these situations and still pull of an accurate shot.

That's what worries me, how can you tell if you're hitting it straight? I'm still battling inconsistent tee shots with my driver (generally fades, sometimes pull). I'm looking in to a pretty decent one with a target in the middle of it. My question is, if I set back far enough to hit the target at the appropriate launch angle for a driver (11* isn't it?) would that give you a pretty good idea? Second, what do you guys think about the ones with the chipping nets? I'm looking in to that as well.

It was usually right out of the fairway or short cut grass leading to the green.

I had a pretty good round of golf today but I noticed that my green side chipping was nothing short of spotty. I'd either skull it across the green or chunk it 3 feet. To be completely honest, I don't really know what to do. I was using a pitching wedge because it was either that or my sand wedge with this beginner set I'm replacing soon. Now I'm about a 25 handicap, haven't been playing for long, if that helps. What I need to know is how do I grip the club? How do I swing it? What type of stance do I take? I've been choking down on it somewhat, gripping it normally, and trying to do this straight back and forward "down-and-through" motion, with the ball in the back of my stance, but it's just not working. I'm not getting the contact I need because I feel like i'm not making a swing, I'm try to just "hit the ball" which, again, leads to slapping the club in to the ground behind it. Edit: Having the most trouble doing short chips from fairway or any short cut grass, anywhere from 1 - 5 yards out where I generally try to do a bump-and-run technique with just enough air to clear the grass and let it check and release on the green if possible.

It's come time that I replace my irons in this starter set I bought a while back. I'm looking for something very forgiving that'll give me extra distance as well. I've been looking at the Taylormade R7 XD's (big TM fan, hit their products very well for my high handicap), but that's one of the few sets I've researched so far and I've yet to actually try something out. I don't really know what to look for, and I'll be honest, I don't trust these commission guys at these golf shops in my area. So what do I get? Steel shaft or Graphite? Does it matter or is it all just how I hit it? Any product suggestions for something forgiving, that'll get me some extra yards as well? And last question, I see a lot of these sets come with /either/ SW on the bottom and 4I on the top, or you can shift up one club, and put 3Hybrid on the top, and take off the SW. I really like a 3Hybrid a lot but ... I'm new to all this. Any help is news to me. Thanks :)

What's a punch shot? and what about an uphill lie? Forward ball position? Centered?

When and why do you place the ball in the back of your stance? I hear people talk about different situations to do it it but I don't really know the mechanics of why it makes for a better shot.

Well my thoughts on this is that this does keep it really simple, and for me, a simple mechanic like this helps me keep the club face squared where instead I was using both hands to move the putter it just felt like I was doing a lot of inside out.

That does help a lot, thank you very much. My other question is going to be this ... what's it going to do for me to have stiff flex clubs with my swing speed and very amateur status right now? I'm a slicer, is this a cause of that? The reason I went with stiff flex is because a few months ago (of the 4 months I've been playing) a guy at a golf shop told me stiff flex clubs were more accurate, and that to me said "wow more fairways!" Perhaps this isn't the case .... yet.