twoton

My other best round of golf was when I played one evening with my wife about 15 years ago. Just the two of us, soon before our first child came along. Beautiful, soft evening in late summer on our local course. Hardly anyone else out. I birdied the second hole par 3. Not a great tee shot, then I pitched it and it rolled and rolled and rolled right in, probably from 50 yards out.

What frustrates me about that advice is people give it without being asked for advice. My father-in-law: "You looked up." Me: "No, I didn't." Father-in-law's buddy: "You had to. You looked up." Me: "I know I didn't look up. I was staring at the ball the whole time." Father-in-law: "Nope. You looked up." Me: "Then what should I do to correct it?" Father-in-law: "I don't know what to tell ya."

Just as an update: Looks like I won't be playing the charity round after all. Sign-up is by foursome, and I don't have three golfing friends. The fee is $300 per foursome, and I don't have three non-golfing friends who will pay $75 to play a game they don't play.

I have never seen any of the tapes, but I can feel my swing getting better just from reading this thread.

About 10 -12 years ago I shot a 47 for nine holes. It was at that point, and remains, my best score. I was playing with my wife and two distant cousins of hers. The round started out about average for me. No ridiculously bad shots, but nothing especially good, either. The course is constructed over very hilly forested terrain, and includes natural wetlands. On the fourth hole, a dogleg with the tee at the top of a hill and the green way, way down below and to the right--so steep and with trees on the right side that you can't see the green from the tee. It was one time when my slice served its purpose. The ball sailed out and to the right and dropped quite nicely. Remarkably nicely. After that, my mental blocks dissolved. It was just a relaxing and invigorating round from then on.

I do not choose to live in your reality. I prefer to substitute my own.

About 30-some years ago, my dad took me to the driving range for the first and only time. He had played golf in the 1950s but quit when he and my mom got married. I don't remember how well he hit the ball, but I do remember how confounded he was at how ridiculously inept I was. He really was shocked. Years later, when I started playing golf, he would ask, "Doesn't it feel good when you really get a hold of one? When it goes out like a line drive then seems to catch some air and float way up?" And I would reply, "Uh....yeah....I, uh....I never hit it like that." And he'd say, "You know, when it goes out straight then floats up?" "It doesn't do that when I hit it." "Oh." So after all these years of wondering, does that really happen to a well-hit ball? Because if I do hit one solidly, it pretty much rainbows out, either high or less high, but it's an arc. The ball never line drives then floats. And I've never really seen any of my playing partners hit one like that. (of course, the best partner I've had had a handicap of 18). Is that because a) I don't hit it as well as my dad, b) ball coverings have changed over the past 60 years, c) changes from persimmon to titanium alloys altered the flight of the ball, d) my dad was delusional? I ask now because last night at the driving range one I hit almost looked like it wanted to do the line-drive-float routine.

Well, I feel confident in saying that the slice has been fixed. Permanently. Twice to the driving range using my new techniques and the slice is gone. Here's how I know. I made two changes to the set up. First, I moved my grip to a strong position. Second, I ground the club in the center of my stance rather than behind the ball. When I revert on either of these two, that is, either by moving my grip to a weak or neutral position, or when I ground the club directly behind the ball, the slice comes back. In other words, I can turn the slice on and off. Therefore, it's controlled. Therefore, it's conquered. The problem now is the nasty diving hook that's resulted. That's probably just a matter of moving the grip to a slightly less-strong position but it will take some experimenting. Adjustments of fractions of an inch seem to make a big difference. One other thing, though: in fixing the slice I've lost quite a bit of distance. But as my golf teacher said, "It's better to hit straight than far." (yes, I took golf class in college--25 years ago and at that time I had never actually played a real game of golf. Because it was spring semester in the northeast U.S., we did all the classes hitting into nets in a gym.)

I have Wilson Pro Staff Mid-size driver, 3, and 5 woods. Looks like the only place I can find them online now is on eBay. I bought them after trying lots and lots of clubs at different stores, and they were the clubs that felt best.

Thanks for the input, guys. As an update, I seem to have made some progress. Quite unexpectedly. I searched a couple Youtube videos and realized a fundamental mistake I had always made but never noticed and therefore never made an attempt to fix. I had experimented with different ball placement over the years, from mid-stance to outside my left foot. On Saturday, I tried the new "fix," and I think it worked. I positioned the ball inside my left heel, made sure my left knuckles were up, turned my right hand so my palm was slightly up...then I tried the new fix. I aligned the club to square in the center of my stance, instead of aligning the club directly behind the ball. In other words, I grounded the club 6"-8" inches behind the ball. This could have been the missing link. Because no matter where I positioned the ball, I had always aligned the club directly behind it. This time, the "fix" actually fixed the problem! I hit a lot of balls, and only a few were ridiculously awful slices. More importantly, I was hooking the ball--sure, a hook can be bad, but for a lifelong slicer a hook is a wholly new experience. Most important, I realized that little tweaks, like moving the ball more to center, twisting my knuckles more or less, aligning the club different distances behind the ball all had an effect (significantly, a compounding effect) on the ball's flight. Best of all, aside from a few swipes with the 6 iron, I used only the driver. My driver hasn't gotten that much fresh air since I bought it about 10 years ago.

Last night I filmed my swing. No ball, just swinging the driver in the backyard. I noticed a few things that I never would have otherwise known about. First, I have a lot of body sway throughout. Second, my head doesn't stay steady. Third, despite my height (6'2") I have a relatively short, choppy swing. Fourth, my body mechanics look too tight. Fifth, when I try to relax and loosen, my body mechanics get sloppy. Sixth, it looks like my hands are 'overpowering' the club. In other words, when I address, pull the club back, and swing through, what you notice are my hands. All that being said, what sorts of flexibility drills can I work on to lengthen the swing and smooth it out?

I wouldn't call myself pretty good--my best round of nine was 47. LOL. I'll work on the wrist roll. That's a motion that doesn't come naturally to me. And yes, I'll finally look into lessons. Part of this quest is i am expected to participate in a fundraiser in Sept and I don't want to embarrass myself. And thanks for the welcome!

I'm a first time poster, so I thank everyone in advance for your patience with this: I've been playing golf for over 25 years and play approximately 3-4 times per year. Not nearly often enough to be good, in other words. For the past 25 years I have been slicing and/or pushing the ball from the tee about 85% of the time. The only consistency in my drives is that the ball almost always goes about the same distance and lands in about the same place every time (on the driving range), which is between 2:00 and 2:30 (if 12 o'clock is straight down the fairway). I never, ever use my driver on the course. I always use a 3 wood because as bad as the 3 wood can be, it's far worse with the driver. I have tried repositioning my feet, starting with my hips pointed to the left, repositioning the ball in my stance, altering my grip, shortening my backswing, etc. My brain knows to square the clubface, to swing inside to out, etc. It simply doesn't translate to the swing. So far, the only thing that works consistently is to use an off-set driver I started using this year. With the off-set driver I hit very well and consistently straight. That being said, I don't want to have to rely on a 'crutch' like that. So: do I give up on improving my swing and accept life with the off-set driver, or what? I haven't taken any lessons because I'm not sure a lesson would help. Which is why I'm asking.