martee

I saw a few videos, one which had the Gold Digest David Owen give it ago by reading the article and book. Then he made a visit to Leadbetter for 1/2 day and was quite satisfied. There is another video where the guy had the same experience. It seems just a read of the book may not be enough, it may take a few and it definitely requires the use of the 7 minute practice plan. The A Swing may not be a method per-se, seems like the key factor in the back swing at waist level(left arm) is to have the butt club pointed down, not the shaft may match the spine angle or it could be vertical, both will work depending upon the golfer. So maybe and I don't know but I am guessing is that most of what he talks about will be key alignments and not so much as must have positions. Don't know but you guys give me hope as I look forward to mid June to give this a go.

During my practice session today, I for whatever reason decided to give The A Swing a go. Now I haven't read the book yet, only skimmed the Golf Digest article but have read a number of posts on several forums. So with that said, I really don't know if I am actually implementing 'The A Swing' as Leadbetter has describe in total. I am gripping the club in the fingers. I am setting the wrist early and matching the spine angle while the club is out in front. I am staying connected. I am using the lower body to drive the down swing. My club plane appears to form the 'V - Plane' Backswing to Downswing. The Golf Digest Picture Slides is what has defined what I THINK I am doing. What I am doing is working, does feel a bit different. From successful swings to poor swings I discover several issues 1. Grip Pressure increases will introduce tension and problems. 2. Backswing Tempo, if the speed exceeds the golfers abilities (control, strength, etc) a number of problems occur including causing the grip pressure to increase. 3. For me, thinking about shallow-ing out the club on the downswing made is awkward to about impossible. Get the club to the top correctly, then let the lower body's motion in the downswing put the club automatically on a shallower plane. 4. Ball position vs posture has more impact on longer clubs for distance and trajectory. This will be a work in progress, but I was able to control the iron's trajectory and flight relatively consistent and easy. I fear once I read the book I will be a total mess, but that won't happen till mid June. I will say I like the concept and philosophy from what I know so far. Having a Practice Plan, a Fitness routine and minimal equipment and time requirements IMO makes 'The A Swing' have potential for a wide audience of golfers. A minor disclaimer, I am not a Leadbetter fan, well at least until now, but time will tell come the end of June.

I might have missed it, but no one seemed to comment on Leadbetter's Practice Plan: "Actually, I've saved the best part of the A Swing for last. You can learn it with an easy-to-follow, seven-minute practice plan, a few times a week and you'll have no problem develop and maintaining the mechanics and feeling for the A Swing." There are about 6 steps and then a small section on fitness 6 Swing Exercises (10 reps each) 1. Developing a Good Setup 2. Grooving the Pivot 3. Slotting the Top of Your Backswing 4. Feeling the Backswing, Slotting the Downswing 5. Training the Proper Left-Side Release 6. Developing Feel Still reading the book, the articles were sort of interesting.

My tee selection is simple, what set of tees offer me a challenge yet permits me to have scoring opportunities. In short if I can't reach the par 4s in regulation, etc. then I am playing a course too long. For me, my driver carry is 207 yards, so I stick with 6100 to 5800 yards (my home course that would be white or green, seniors). I can stretch to 6200 yards but in all honesty it isn't all that much fun since it takes all of me to match my handicap, 6.2. Clearly I can't play to my handicap from tees beyond 6200 yards, unless my putter is red hot and short game is 1 putt or less. I think most golfers need to decide if they want to score good or just push the ball around and talk about that one shot of the day. if they want to score, then they need to select tee boxes that match their skill level IMO. I liked the rule of thumb formula of old, using the 5 iron, but since a number of golfers don't carry a 5 iron, I found that a 6 iron with a multiplier of 42 give a pretty reasonable distance. I know the USGA/PGA for tee it forward used driving distances, they had chart. From watching golfers, most seem to play tees that don't give them the opportunity to score and enjoy the game IMO.

Some good advice above. Compared to you I am but a youngster, 66 going on 67. You sir however have a longer drive than I do, my driver carry is 207 yards, though my 5 iron carry is 160 yards. I have messed with various driver lofts, also went to graphite iron shafts. I have replaced the long irons with hybrids, a 3 and 4. Even have a 5 but dragging my feet on pulling the 5 iron out of the bag. Another area you can get a few more yards is the ball, try all of them, interesting how some go farther than others. Fitness is the key I am told. Went to a TPI assessment, was all fired up that I was going to get back my lost yardage of yesterday. My hip rotation was a total disappointment and basically was non-existent. After some exercise I ended up at the doctors office, I have degenerative arthritic hips joints. Seems when I do stretch/rotate I then discover why my body has been slow to move. Currently living with it and accepting the lack of rotational speed available. I have moved up, my limit is 6200 yard course but to be honest anything above 6000 has become a real struggle.

I thought I would share the fact that I have for several years employed the Approach Shot Strategy of Center of the Green . I have made several adjustments to this approach strategy: 1. For multiple tier greens, I adjust the carry distance to the center of the tier that hole is on, always error longer than shorter. 2. For sever sloping greens, I adjust the carry distance so that I am below the hole, usually meaning I am taking the carry distance to the front of the green plus a few yards. 3. For extremely deep greens, I adjust the carry distance by one club up or down based on flag location. My swing is fairly consistent but I am a short knocker (lost a lot yardage as age climbs) and I don't have that many opportunities to have a pitching wedge or even a short iron in hand on par 4s for Approach Shots, so I play to the center of the green. Where I aim will depend upon the shot, the club, the lie and elements but it is either the middle of the green for a finish or a miss to the good side, the easy side. Here are my stats, not exactly a ringing endorsement of my game and golfing skills: Mar - Oct 2013 119 rounds 79.5 average score 1052 of 2097 GIRs 50.2% Total Putts 3883 / 1.86 avg per hole / 32.36 avg per round 1 putts = 517 2 putts = 1341 3+ putts = 228 Scrambled on 1045 par or better 34% (includes bunker play) 59 penalty strokes avg per round 0.48% Current index = 6.4 Yes I am averaging about 2 three putts a round. Most of these can be attributed to what I define as a BAD GIR, one which you have a high percentage of 3 putting. It could be the distance, it could be the relative position of the ball to the hole (sever slope, wrong tier, etc) or combination of these. I firmly believe golfers who have a handicap greater that 1 should employ the Approach Shot Strategy of Center of the Green with realistic refinements to match their game. IMO this strategy opens many scoring opportunities including improving the probability of your misses being easier.

First I wish the OP the best of luck. Not to pile on but the strategy/play developed on paper isn’t going to fly as expected in reality. There are IMO some flaws in the theory: - Accuracy versus Distance both of are equal importance - Actual distance of clubs will come up short based on USGA’s computation (Driver needs to be 250 yards, second shot needs to be 220 yards) - Distance gaps between 6-iron and Driver is a problem as is the gap between the PW and 9-iron. (Essentially by requiring a golfer to manipulate the swing instead of using a club suited for the distance you have increased the difficulty factor as well as introduced potential inconsistencies). The gap between the SW and PW could be significant as well, thus the reason for a gap/approach wedge often found in bags. - Male golfers being able to reach the distances, the majority of male golfers can’t even if you take out all the senior golfers. (My experience/observation is Golfer’s EGO can easily match those distances, but the Golfer seems to come up short more often than not) - Your general strategy seems to be more suited for a 36 handicapper than a golfer pushing to match par. - Playing 18 holes may introduce some additional adjustments, there is a difference. I think formulizing a plan/strategy is good, much better than just pounding balls or hit it and go find it, golf is a thinking game. With some changes to the strategy IMO would be a good start for breaking 90, maybe 80. I don’t see it and base this on my experience that it can get you to shooting par.

From my perspective I find that a practice swing is just that, you are not trying to hit, guide, etc an object. For me the idea of swinging the club and having the ball just get in the way works most effective. Also I noticed that most top level golfer’s practice swings are anything but the actual swing in regard to speed (exceptions being the special shot, poor lie, etc.). The slow motion, the 3/4 motion, the exaggerated motion seems to be the preview of what is intended to come. So I normally take less than a full swing, normally take a slow motion, and emphasize a relaxed, or loose, or tension free motion.

Well if one will accept that Gary Player who for his career has been very conscientious about his fitness/golf fitness, then losing distance as we grow older is enviable. Granted we can actively slow the process down with exercise and taking care of our bodies, but in reality our DNA is going to define how long, how good, how much we can perform at a certain level. For those who have incurred health issues as they aged, certainly focusing on regaining what once used to be has possibilities, but in the long run we will be a bit less than what we were (this assumes you were all you could be at first). There is a reason they have the Senior Tees. There is a reason that to challenge par at some point in time the Handicap will be the best hope.

If you go by name alone, then a 5 iron in 1960 was a mid iron, so it would be a mid iron today. If you consider loft and even length, then a 5 iron in 1960 was a mid iron, today by loft your 5 iron is close to being a 3 iron. The 7 iron of today is the 5 iron of 1960 when it comes to loft. Club 1960s-70s 1980s 1990s-00s 2010+ 1-iron 17 17 16 NA 2-iron 20 20 18 NA 3-iron 24 23 21 18-21 4-iron 28 26 24 22-24 5-iron 32 30 27 24-27 6-iron 36 34 31 27-31 7-iron 40 38 35 31-35 8-iron 44 42 39 35-40 9-iron 48 46 43 40-44 PW 52 50 48 44-48 GW N/A N/A 52 48-52 SW 56 56 56 54-56 The 2013 lofts are even stronger, for instance the more recent 5 irons have a loft of 23 degrees. Tour models and forged have a bit weaker loft by 1 to 2 degrees.

The strategy mentioned is similar to mine. When I play golf, it is me against par. My appraoch is to first and foremost, Keep the ball in Play. Next is to create a scoring opportunity. Last is not follow one mistake with another. If on the tee I know that I can't reach the green in regulation or that I have an even chance of taking the ball out of play, I go with less club, one that positions me for the next shot. If I am going to lay up on 5 pars, what is the need for a driver if there is a chance I may be out of play, fairway wood or hybrid. I choose to lay up most times to a full club out. So quite often I may hit a fairway wood followed by a 6 or 7 iron leaving 100 yards to a 5 par. I also tend to play to the middle of the green unless it is tiered, then I play to back or front. If it is a par 4 that I can't reach in regulation, same rules apply, take the dull easy shots. Now there are occassions that instead of a lay up to a full club I will go for a shorter distance, but it has to be one where the opportunity to score matches my playing for that day. This approach has basically eliminate penalty strokes from my playing as well as few bunkers and those are only around the green. My GIRs have increased and even the misses are a better than even odds of getting up and down. Makes for lower scores, enjoyable round.