JKolya

Took up golf (again) three years ago, and have been injured 90% of the time. The first year of playing I played one round, the second, three rounds, and finally this year I played a regular season. The regular season this year though was not easy, and about 70% of the time I was playing through pain/discomfort. My injury is something that hurts insanely bad (ribs: feels like a heart attack), but I am not/cannot actually hurt anything. I think it is all do my first instructor who wanted me to get out of my head by swinging as hard as I could without thinking. Next year, I have decided if I simply take time off and do not go overboard - playing 3-4 a week in a row several weeks in a row - then I will be ok.

So, in my three years of playing I have not officially kept my handicap, but was going to start to next season. I am with everyone who has already posted. 1) The vast majority of time I play alone. 2) When I play with others - how would they even know what I am posting/myself what they are posting? I understand when groups have their groups, but when I do play with others it is rarely the same group. My friends who keep handicaps, they post and I am clueless of it. 3) The majority of the people I play with (maybe the same for others) do not play by the rules, so what good does it do? 4) Where is the accountability? I realize I did not say anything new, the guys above already got it, but just felt like repeating everything.

This has worked for me WHEN an actual correction is not. My miss is a push, but it's almost always caused by a lack of upper body rotation. I am good at disassociation so the lower body tends to turn through, but my miss is the upper body stalling. The rotating the arms left is a bandaid, for me, usually no more than a few swings.

Still not exhaustive, I may come up with more later. I tried to break it down into a basic outline of the key areas that matter. What I came up with is 1) ball flight, 2) swing, and 3 course management/misc. I did not provide answers except where to show what I had in mind. I enjoyed brainstorming this and tried to think of things I see instructors say incorrectly when caddying. Hope this helps. I can provide my thoughts on answers and/or why I thought certain questions were important if necessary. Ball flight What laws dictate ball flight? Ie, what gives the ball its initial direction, clubface or club path? Given the ball flight laws, how does one shape the ball flight? How do you hit a draw? How do you hit a fade? What causes a hook? What causes a slice? How do you correct these misses (hook and fade)? Answers: Before answering each individually, answer one overall - Clubface relative to swing path. Therefore, changing one relative to the other will change the ball shape. If a golfer wants to increase a draw, how may he accomplish this? Answers: Close clubface more - however, we do not recommend this Come more from the inside relative to the clubface This may be accomplished by - More weight forward Closing stance more at setup Etc….. If a golfer wants to increase a fade how is this accomplished? (I think it is important that if you ask this for a draw to also ask this for a fade. The reason is one answer for draw might be 'more weight forward,' leading one to believe a fade (the opposite) will be less weight forward which is not the best option. The reason for asking all of these is to insure complete knowledge relative to other facts/theories. I may not ask a new instructor all of these, but it doesn't hurt to test his knowledge. Swing A recent Golf Channel (cannot remember if it was them) marketing campaign advocated swinging "your way." Is this the best approach to the golf swing or do you advocate a specific philosophy and method to learning and perfecting the golf swing? What are the swing commonalities that all great players have? We posit, supported by video evidence, that all great players possess the Five Simple Keys: 1) Steady head, 2) Weight forward, 3) Inline impact, 4) Diagonal sweetspot path, and 4) Clubface control Which of these commonalties, if not all, are essential for an average player of 15-20 handicap? Keys 1, 2, and 3. What role do the hips play in the golf swing? What is the best position for the hips in the backswing (restricted or open)? Is the hip action essential and a commonality? What does the right leg and right knee do in the backswing? Does the right knee/leg straighten or stay in flexion during the backswing? Is the right leg and knee action essential and a commonality? What is the correct hand path in the backswing? Do the hands go straight back down the target line, or is the path more circular around the body? Is the path of the hands essential? What is the action of the forearms and wrist in the swing? Does one actively role the forearms and wrist in order to close the clubface to either hit the ball straight or to manipulate the desired ball face? Or does the closing of the clubface happen more naturally, a result of other biomechanical actions? If so, what actions most directly affect the closing of the clubface? What initiates the downswing? Should the downswing be initiated by the lower body, the upper body, or the arms? Answer: Ideally lower body, however, feel is not real and what each player feels initiates the downswing will differ between players. Depending on a players tendency and misses what initiates the downswing may need to change to achieve a desired result? What positions, if any, are essential to an ideal golf swing? (How important is achieving various "ideal" positions in the golf swing?) Where should the body and club be at A2? A3? A4? A5? A6? A7? How do you analyze a swing? Do you utilize video in your lessons? How do you select what component of the swing a player should work on? What additional technologies to you utilize in lessons? Management and Misc. Given the different ball flights and trajectories, how do you approach shot selection on the golf course? Do you recommend playing a straight shot, draw, fade, high, low, etc? For 5, 15, and 30 handicaps respectively, how does shot selection and the various possibilities differ? Answer: Stock shot What is your theory on course management? What is the most important aspect of the game, and therefore the most important aspect to practice (putting, short game, inside 100 (or 150…whatever), long game, drives? Does this vary for differing handicaps?

Based on your questions - I prefer less leading. For example, for question number five simply ask what are the commonalities of the greatest players/what is essential to a solid golf swing. Then list the answers, just not within the question. This is more of a methodology/approach answer than content, which is what you asked. Content based: ball flight (check), commonalities (check), hips (perhaps add to the knee question or ask in a similar fashion, simplify commonalities/ask in another form by asking about impact position. What/how should players approach shots (fade, draw, high, low, stock - says something about overall view. Course management. Some of these do not deal with the golf swing, but are more holistic which sheds some view on their thinking in general. That was stream of conscience thinking/writing, will probably think of some better ones later.

I didn't read all the replies so this may have been said, but many courses do this just because. My home course has five sets, with room for up to 7 on some holes. Though by the book we max out at 7300 in reality we could push 7800. Anyways, on any given day the tees can be a where from all up front to all back and that is not just within their standard box. They can be as far as plus or minus 800 yards quite often. For us it is a combo of random and giving certain areas time to heal. Ie, more members play the 3rd and 4th sets than elsewhere so those boxes are beaten up and we have to move the tees forward or back often to allow them to heal.

6 has always been my favorite. Most people talk about 8 (which is amazing, too), 10, and 11. The usual bail out spot for amateurs is to the left of the fairway bunkers. Personally, I do not understand intentionally avoiding the second shot when it's a once in a lifetime round. Ever since the tree was knocked over that shot is a lot more 'blind' than it used to be. The tree at least provided some reference. My groom's cake at my wedding was a replica of 8 - amazing hole. I am trying to think of what hole is "not a barracana?" 2 and 16 have the Gulley across the fairway, but they are bunkers.

I remember watching a tournament years back in which Tiger hit a 7 iron 212 yards, and then a few holes later the same 7 165. I do not remember the circumstances of each shot, but vividly remember the numbers. On a days basis I see my golfers say, "my 7 is 150 yards, 8 140," ect. Pretty basic. Now, I definitely see daily that ten yards is seldom the actual gap, the actual being more like 12-15 yards between clubs, but that is not what I am talking about here. My 7 iron can go as short as 140 (not talking about 3/4 swings or such) and as long as 180 if I try and jump on it. Usually, I use it as my 165 yard club, but that number varies on any given day depending on how my legs and ribs (old, recurring injury) feel. What I am asking here is what are your differentials for key clubs, and/or do you play with those or simply go off of a set number? So, if your 7 is 140-180, do you use your 7 in that range, or for the lower numbers do you take a lower club, or club up, but use a flighted shot? I realize that it is probably better to stick to your average range (7 is 165 +- 5) for a given club, and then to either club down or club up and use a flighted shot to obtain shorter distances. I am just curios if anyone uses any given club for a large distance differential, for special shots, because its your preferred club, or what not? Thinking about it now I occasionally use my PW with a full motion for anything from 110 to 140. This is simply because my three wedges (60, 55, 50) are different than the rest of my irons (length equivalents, and lie), and I do not like using them for full swings. So I occasionally use my PW and simply vary the swing speed to reach a larger difference in ranges. PW is probably the only club I do this with as I really like that club, and even that is rare - more preferring flighted shots inside of 130.

Pretty much never used my driver, instead preferring a 3 wood. My longest that I can measure was 265 at a reachable par 4. I missed well right unfortunately. I probably had some further, but did not use anything to measure and record. I am struggling with my driver right now, and it only goes about 10 yards further than my 3W, but more often than not slices hard.

This season I had an 8 round stretch with no three putts. Followed by another three rounds. The one in between I had one three putt. Not sure how that streak rates for others, but it was a big positive for me. Unfortunately it was followed with some struggles with speed/distance. I do not remember for certain, but my best guest is a few of those rounds were in the 24-26 range.

As a player could not care less. I play the ones I find. As a caddie, I really like yellow and pink, especially when forecaddying. Easier to see, find, and differentiate between players. The exception is during the fall when leaves make them harder to find than white.

The temp is still mid to upper 60s here in DC. My goal is to get in as many rounds as possible over the next couple of weeks. Once winter hits I will be limited to when I visit family in TX and CA (I miss home a lot over winter!). That said, I will continue to work on mirror work pretty regularly.

I was thinking the other way around - that he owes me for how many players I sent this way. I cannot count how many times I wrote the site and both of your names on the back of a scorecard. Hopefully some of them are lurking around here somewhere.

I agree with what was said above -listen to Mike, and work on getting your weight forward. That said, in terms of flipping a feeling which works for me is - feel like you are pumping the right elbow. That is, in the backswing you bend the right elbow, then from the top as your weight goes forward and automatically drops your arms some feel like you are straightening that right elbow to push the club the rest of the way down. Do not think about your hands,just straightening that right elbow (ideally it is not fully extended until after impact). A second optional feeling I have heard used is from the top,after your weight begins to transfer feel like you are throwing your right wrist or right palm down. Done correctly it is the same effect as straightening the right elbow, just with a different focus. Now I cannot stress enough that these are feelings designed to result in an outcome. They may not work for you,but I do believe they are worth a try. So to sum up -focus on getting that weight forward then as the arms drop finish out by straightening the right arm through impact. Do not think about the hands or ball.

As others have said, sequence does matter overall. But it seems that your question was does it matter that your shoulders are not there at a3, but somehow they catch up and are fully turned by a4? Hard to tell without video, but even in those pics it looks like your shoulders are still a tad bit behind. Perhaps you start a little armsy? Not necessarily a bad thing if that is the feel you need. There are drills you can do to work on the backswing, but it may not be your priority piece. Submit a video and you will get feedback on a priority piece and the question you have.

Similarly, I just started playing three years ago at the age of 32 after a ten year hiatus. My first year (three months in that year due to injury) I spent all my time at the range playing only one round. The second year I only played three rounds (in about three months, again due to injury) . Each year I spent at lest 3-4 days at the range when I was healthy. All that to say that when I finally started playing regularly my biggest problem was uneven lies. It did not even have to be a bad lie, I was just so used to flat ground. Second, at the range, off of mats, I got away with fat shots. So, while you can improve with the simulator,there are other aspects you cannot practice (the lies you will face on a course. Not just bad lies either) that you will run into once you get out. Like someone said above, be intentional amd you will improve.

One event was with a 4 man shamble with a PGA instructor and caddie in each group; two best scores. My pro had a 27 cap (generously) and had him hitting different shots on almost every shot. "Open your stance, hands high and shallow, keep the club face open." I was amazed. The same with the LPGA pro who is a top 50 guy. After his on the range lessons, I spent five minutes with my ladies and had them preset their hands and weight, and take 1/2 to 3/4 punch shot type of swing. They could at least make contact that way. My overall experience, in addition to crazy advice, was that these guys had been instructors for 30 years, but haven't really stayed on top of advancements in knowledge, theory and data, and teach the same things they have for years without regards to the individual or new info. Reminds me of a bio instructor in grad school - he hadn't worked in a lab in over 35 years so knew little of advancements in DNA and other bio issues - we were constantly correcting him in lab.

I have had several "a ha" moments over the last few years. Most were things that I theoretically knew, but as we know "feel is not real," so my a ha moments were realizing that I was not doing what I thought I was. My moments have been arms only to proper backswing; steep to shallowing out backswing and downswing; cooking of wrist without additional rotation; low hands, among others. My most recent realization is feeling like I am standing up on my backswing. I have to feel less dynamic as I had to much movement (head dipping, leaning in). The feeling has led to fewer fat shots. Along with this is dropping my arms on the downswing in contrast to dropping my right shoulder and lifting up my left shoulder. This led me to be too steep and/or hit the ground first.

I spent this past season caddying with loops ranging from absolute beginners to tour players, and events from corporate outings to international tournaments. Here are some thoughts: 1. Unlike many, I enjoyed the beginners. While they guaranteed a long round, I enjoyed the teaching aspect they afforded me. With beginners, instructing them in key number 2 resulted in the most immediate results. I do not know how many times someone thanked me that they could now play golf because they could make contact. Obviously, they would still have a ton to work on, and weight forward alone did not result in a successful golf swing - but weight forward was the one single change that allowed many to play the game. For the absolute beginners, I would usually have them preset their weight forward, and make sure that their weight stayed forward on the backswing. Obviously, there will be some correlation between key 1 and key 2 - ie, preseting weight forward, and not changing that in the backswing, aids in having a steady head (the head could still move, especially towards the target on the downswing, but this prevented them from moving it in the backswing. 2. Whether it was a match between friends, the club championship, or a bigger tournament - shot zones and LSW helped my team a lot. No surprise to everyone here, but most golfers (that I looped for) wanted the number, what the wind was doing, and then would go right at the flag. Very few ever thought of shot zones and their misses when approaching a shot. Nor did they think of setting up the next shot. A side note on this - golfers over estimate their distances. I could not count how many times I gave a number, the guy comes up 20 yards short, and then looks at me and either questions the number or comments on the wind. My guys were constantly surprised when I would either recommend an additional club and/or provide a line not near the flag. But when all was executed properly it helped us score well more often than not. Again, no surprise. 3. A couple of anecdotal stories on teaching pros. We had one event sponsored by an LPGA player with the aim of introducing women to the game. The player's swing coach was at the event instructing the players on the range before we headed out for a round. I was amazed at the advice being given to absolute beginners. Most of the advice centered around club head position, and completely ignored the player's body. Not surprisingly, most of the women - their heads were all over the place, their bodies were rocking back and staying there - yet, the instructor was saying how good they were doing when the club head went to the position he wanted. He probably is a good instructor for his pros, but was clueless with beginners. I looped a number of teaching rounds with instructors and players. I was amazed at how often the instructors would tell high handicaps, who could not consistently make contact, to change their stance or swing or hands for various holes (this hole requires a fade, etc). I do not know how many rounds I played with instructors, but I can say that not once did I hear an instructor talk about a steady head or weight forward when these were obvious problems. The instructors always made it more complex, and/or focused on club position. At the same time, during on course instruction the instructors often pushed the player to select a shot they had no chance in making instead of playing their distances, shot zones, and misses. I could go on for awhile, but will stop here. Obviously these are generalizations based on my experiences, but to some it up - 5SK and LSW helped me help my players play golf and win tournaments. And simultaneously, a lot of players and instructors are clueless on the swing, ball flight laws, and shot selection.

I did not read all of the replies, and this may have been said already - but, most courses that allow caddies already have a caddie program. And for those courses who do not, I do not see any players taking a caddie. The exception is for events and tournaments. I could see, for example - for a state open, players taking caddies. For such cases, the standard now is caddies either call the course and/or governing body and get put on a list, and/or caddies just show up to the tournament and wait. Players show up and ask for a caddie, and those who are there go out in a first come first go basis. So, there is theoretically a lot of room for improvement on this process, but given that it is such a small market, I am not sure if the app would take off.

There are a couple of different options. First, there are caddie companies that provide caddies for courses all over the US and internationally. This past season I worked with Caddie Master who provides the caddies for Augusta, Pebble Beach, and TPC Sawgrass (along with almost all of the TPC's) among others. Simply apply with them for any of their courses. Option 2 is that some courses run their own caddie program. Just call the course and ask for the caddie manager and then proceed from there. Option 3 - many events provide opportunities for caddies. For example, several state and/or regional opens may provide opportunities. You can contact the state/regional body, and provide your information. Then if someone who is playing in the given tournament requests a caddie, they will help out the player and caddie together. Obviously, this is more of a one-off option. However, if you want to not just caddie for a local course, but potentially make it to the big leagues this is the way to go. Try to get on the bag of an up and coming player, and build a relationship. When it comes to looping on a major tour, it comes down to luck and who you know. I have talked to several PGA and LPGA players about their caddies, and the most common answer I have gotten was, "I needed a knew guy, and someone introduced me to my caddie." None of these answers help with obtaining a work visa though. Sorry.

Would he not still be in the hazard since the backside of it is not marked? The right side of the hazard is marked, but the left side is not, so he is still in the hazard, and therefore cannot ground his club? I agree that you cannot, legally, determine the precise location of the property line, but there can be clues that aid the common sense decision. On my course, which is marked well, if it was not the clear distinction is how the grass is mowed. Our side is high grass and the second you hit private property it is well mowed. Obviously that would not always be the case - such as a property line in a wooded area, but it is one possible clue. It is a public course in that anyone can play it, but it is not public property or owned by the state. So in that sense, the land is private. When it comes to play though, you never see amateurs play from the the beach which is normally marked as OB. Its just during the PGA event that it is not marked that way.

Searched the forum, but could not find anything on this new show. Wilson, and the Golf Channel, have a new show where contestants are competing to design a new driver. Not sure what to think - no idea how this will work, or if it will be interesting. http://www.golfchannel.com/news/press-releases/new-television-show-%E2%80%93-%E2%80%9Cdriver-vs-driver%E2%80%9D-shines-spotlight-sports-innovation-and-path-golf-products/ https://www.wilson.com/drivervsdriver/index.html

In general I am not a fan of practice swings for the reason that you said - they do not emulate a real swing at all, and therefore you are rehearsing a different swing. That said, they can be helpful to rehearse one aspect of the swing - ie, if you are struggling with swaying back on the backswing, or opening the face relative to the path, or whatever, a practice swing can be to rehearse that one aspect. Currently I am working on getting my hands low and keeping my right shoulder down longer (my miss is snapping forward where the left shoulder goes up, the right down (not rotating fully) which results in casting and fat shots with an open face), so I take practice swings to get the feel of my arms moving down first, and then rotating through. But, the practice swing as a whole does not do my any good (unless I were to take it at full speed, and take a divot). I deal with players on a daily basis who take 4-5 practice swings, and then hit their shot extremely fat - especially when pitching or chipping, and they will comment that the swing feels good, but when they step up to the ball something breaks down. I will point to their practice swings - you can usually tell by the shade of the grass or even a small mark where they were hitting, and its constantly behind where the ball was. They mis-hit their chips and pitches because they rehearse the wrong swing and then execute it. So in that, I guess a practice swing could be helpful if they realized what they were doing and then corrected it, but instead they just rehearse a bad swing and then execute it.

Mirror work mapping backswing and transition.