Strandly

I believe the fairway thing for sure, that destroys me all the time when I'm faced with hitting a long iron in the rough.

When I started playing a bunch this spring I was spending multiple days at the range to figure out how to simply hit the ball consistently. Now that I can do that I've shifted to playing more rounds. I do need to get back to doing the range more often but damn it's hard when you get on a roll and your rounds are dropping a shot or two each time out.

I need to spend a little time figuring out how to better aim my wedges. I seem to land them pin high somewhat consistently but they're usually 15+ feet left or right of the hole. I've tried drawing a line across the tips of my feet and aiming that at the pin and looking down my left shoulder to make sure it's aimed roughly at the pin but the ball often squirts left or right just enough to leave me a long one putt.

I would do it just for the chance to play a round for free. Ha If it's good enough for the team, cool, and if not then who cares.

I thought I read somewhere that that is a temporary fix you might use on a driving range but not something you want to do all the time. I think it causes problems with other types of shots. But yeah I messed with that type of stance a little bit before I figured out the wrist thing and it definitely shaves some of the slice off.

I don't do it because I don't want to teach myself a bad habit. If other guys want to do it I guess I wouldn't care but I wouldn't allow it if we were playing for money or something. I started springing for a small bucket of balls before I start a round now-a-days and that really helps. If I don't have time for that though I'll usually just hit a conservative shot on the first tee and go from there.

I'm probably at least a 20 handicapper and I certainly don't hit it 300. I'm not even sure how far I hit it actually. I'd like to find a driving range with a football field type grid so I knew exactly how far all of my shots were going.

Yeah that's very, very bad. I came across a video early this spring that described why that's a terrible thing to do so luckily I never struggled with that problem. For a while I was still slicing the ball though and couldn't figure out what the deal was. I found another video that nailed it and the problem was having my left wrist cupped (misguided attempt to get the clubhead further from the ball, similar to how the wrist looks when holding a baseball bat) at the top of my backswing. Once I flattened it out the slice instantly went away. I've never had a problem with hooking the ball, and my drives don't even have a draw actually.. they mostly fly straight or slice a little bit (overswinging). If I hook the ball it's usually from standing too close and catching the heel of the club.

50 degree wedge for me probably.

How much did he charge?

See now that seems fairly reasonable, I wouldn't have a problem throwing down $50 to give it a test run.

I live in Denver and the price I'm quoting is from a couple public courses nearby. I will probably shop around some and see if I can find a better price though. For the sake of comparison, where do you live and what are the rates in your area? Also, I don't think I'm really struggling (yet) and I'm certainly not frustrated. I've made some huge improvements this summer compared to how I've played in the past. I simply want to stay on a roll if possible.

I don't have the equipment to record video unfortunately. It's possible I may just need to hit the ball harder. I've been keeping my swing pretty easy and relaxed so I don't get fatigued and spray bad shots all over the place on the back half of the course. If I'm losing distance and loft doing this though then I'm not really doing myself any favors anyway, right? I might experiment with a crusher round next week and see what happens.

Back from the range. I choked up close to an inch on my 9 iron and moved it closer to the center of my stance. I got noticeably more loft on the ball and lost maybe a little bit of distance but it's still not quite the amount of loft I was hoping for. I noticed a similar effect for my 6, 7, and 8 irons but the effects were diminishing as I approached the 3 iron. I'm not sure what to do next. I wouldn't mind taking a lesson to get another pair of eyes on my swing but I'm a little bit skeptical of how much help the instructor will be and the price is, in my opinion, outrageous at $100 an hour.

I thought I was standing too close to the ball at first also so I backed away a little bit. All that seemed to do was cause me to toe all my shots though so I think that wasn't the problem. I have been holding all my clubs at the end of the grip (no part of my hand ever hangs off the clubs though) regardless of how it felt because I assumed the fitting was spot on for each club. Anyway, heading to the range in 15-20 minutes, I'm looking forward to testing the choked up grip.

I would hit thin shots occasionally and then someone watching me swing commented that I was lifting my head (and consequently my upper body) to see see the ball fly. I made a conscious effort to do less of that and I seem to hit fewer thin shots. /shrug Maybe there are some golfers out there who's head is detached from their body and they can wave it around like a sparkler and not have it mess up their shot. Sadly, I am not one of them.

I'd take this with a massive grain of salt considering my current skill level but I think the biggest thing that jumps out at me is you're yanking your head up to see where the ball is going. You would be amazed at how badly that jacks up your ability to hit the ball cleanly. Also, I would suggest watching golf help videos on youtube, that helped me tremendously.

Hi there, I've owned golf clubs for about 15 years but only played about once every 3-4 years. This spring I decided to get more serious about the game and bought a set of Ping i20s (1w, 3w, 3-9i, 46/50/58 degree wedges). I bought them at Golfsmith so they came with a club fitting. The guy who fit me used a yard stick to measure from my wrist to the ground while I was standing completely upright. He frowned and said I was right at the point where it could go either way, leave them standard size or cut 1/4 or 1/2 inch off (forget which). He suggested leaving them as is. I then hit several balls in the simulator, all with a 6 iron, with the tape on the club to see where the ball was striking. Again he just kind of shrugged and suggested leaving the clubs as is. I bought the clubs and started playing with them the very next day and have played quite a bit with them over the 2 months I've owned them (about 2 dozen rounds and 15 large buckets at the driving range). An immediate adjustment I had to make from my old clubs, which were not fitted, is that I had to move the ball very far back in my stance in order to get a solid hit on them. My 9 iron for example needs to be in line with the inside of my right foot (I'm right handed) and my 3 iron is about 1 ball width left of the midpoint of my stance. Everything else is in between. I assumed this was normal and was simply a consequence of newer club technology. Anyway, I can make solid contact on many of my shots and do not have a problematic hook or slice but I cannot seem to get any loft on almost all of my irons and my distance seems poor. Aside from maybe the wedges, all of my irons seem to fly about the same height as my 3 iron (10-12 feet off the ground eyeballing it). After numerous rounds with other people and watching them pop 5, 6, 7 irons up in the air like a 60 degree wedge and thinking back about the fitting process I went through... I have a feeling I got a bad fitting. I plan on going back to the driving range this weekend and choking up on the clubs to see if that gives me more difference in lofts but in the meantime does what I describe sound like the clubs could be too long for my build? Also, if there are any club fitting professionals out there can you give me some tips on what to look for during a fitting that shows the people know what they're doing and care that I get a good fit? For example, should they be doing the marking tape thing on all of my clubs and not just 1 club? Should they be taking the wrist measurement while standing upright or at address? Should I be wearing golf shoes for the fitting or will that likely not matter? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.