Brakkus

TBH the gap between the red line and the yellow line isn't the lateral movement of the hip,it's his right hip which has rotated round to where his left hip was. As for the slide forward it was a well known move of Hogan to tilt his spine toward his target at the top to initiate his downswing,so therefore he does slide forward but only by a small amount at best. Then again who apart from Hardy and his star pupils actually use his model.

I would say this is true in sports for me like Snooker,Pool,and Tennis where your opponent has a direct influence on the quality of your own play.These sports I mentioned really toughed me up when playing partners varied in quality. Snooker especially,as worse playing partners would spray all the high scoring colours off their spots,making break building impossible.Tennis when your partner can't pull off certain types of shot,less spin and pace to deal with,so you learn to play a game of a lesser standard knowing that if you were pushed to play much better you could. Golf for me in that case is easy in comparison,because I have already learned how to focus and concentrate.It's worked because my scores are not affected by the quality of my partners,i'm improving month on month.

I hit it 300 once with a tail wind,but i'm around 250. Interestingly my local pro plays on the British seniors tour,and he stopped to look at my swing,and to my suprise said it was a good looking swing.He noticed my hybrid,which is a Ram fx9.He liked it and had a couple of swings.Amazingly he hit the same distance I would. It's a 16 degree with a graffalloy shaft,then he got his club out with a 200 pound shaft and 4 more degrees of loft and hit it the same distance. The moral of this story is that equipment can have a large bearing on distance,but nailing any length of shot down the middle is of higher value than any 300 yard shot.I had one lad I know boast how he could drive his ball 30 odd yards past me,but he's rubbish at the rest of of golf,so it's a redundant point when I can nail greens from 170 in. I just don't know why it's so important for some blokes to have the 300 yard drive,it's a small piece of a very large pie.

Absolutely and in TG this month,it was said by one of the writers,if you are prepared to cheat in golf,then what about your integrity in general?If you cheat in sport,then your likely to be less than truthful in other areas.

I've got a friend who cheats basically,shaves strokes,takes drops where the ball went out of bounds,moves his ball when the lie is bad,and he thinks we don't know. It's a running joke among the rest of us.I have become quite the escape artist from the rough and it's because I have taken my medicine.One round my cheating friend even suggested moving the ball from a bad lie near the base of a tree,but how do I get better if I don't play it?

I find the mats are terrible when hitting anything lower than a 7i.As my swing gets steeper and my ball position moves back in my stance,I just hit the mat heel first and it closes the club face and I hit hooks and pulls. On grass 8i through PW is a strength for me.The grass allows a divot and I get the compression.On a mat I have to pick the ball,and I don't want to do that. From now on when I got to the range it will be 6i and above.However practicsing the short game is absolutely fine,so wedges are fine.

This the thing,because of my handicap,there's no point in trying to reach anything above 380 or so in 2. I'm shooting around 100,so going for broke is only going to put my score higher.Besides if I want extra length I go with a hybrid.My 18 degree is 210-220,and the 16 gives me around 240,so it's not a huge loss not to have any woods at this point. The other thing is we all have yardages we are good at hitting from certain ranges,so play to them,my favourite is the 8 iron,and I like the SW,so it's easier to play for these distances based on the length of hole. It's a confidence thing,confident in my strategy,leads to more confident ballstriking,less confusion,then leads to more self-belief and better golf.

This is what I thought,as I'm hitting just as far with my 16" hybrid,as I do with the driver,so for now I just want to improve my ballstriking,instead of watching sub-standard drives. My driver has a 10.5 loft and I would love to find out if I could benefit from a couple of degrees more.

For me though hitting the scores that I am now,then it's better to shelve those woods. Found an interesting article about those long par 4's,even with a conservative approach. http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Break-90&id;=1031955 I'm looking to employ the strategy I am now for my golf as long as I can,and If I ever get to the standard of shooting below 80,then maybe I can look at chossing to hit longer,but until then why not just take my medicine and hit accurately,after all I'm only losing 50 yds when I hit my 5 iron.

I would guess most of us when we started playing got caught up in the whole distance thing.I did too,but I have gone completely the other way,and just don't find any gain in hitting further. I find that an accurate iron shot is far more satisfying than a wood or a driver.I'm not long by any means with the driver,some 250 yds with a nice contact. I'm shooting in the low 100's now,and it's only 3 putts and errant tee shots that are costing me even lower scores.The whole course management thing really appeals to me,and I get so much pleasure from hitting the green from 160 out,as opposed to bombing a drive from the tee. Maybe it's something to do with the sports I like the most like tennis,and snooker which are very chess like in nature,or it's just my personality. Anyone here who shoots low numbers on the course rely heavily on iron play?If it's a strength why not build my game around it?

Last year in July time,I had been practising a lot on the range and had played the odd short course or two. I decided not to count up my score as it was my first time on a 6000+ course.This particular course has a first hole length of 521 yds,so a baptism of fire. Hit first drive high and to the right,then did it again.Lost four balls on that first hole and ended up with an 11,although it may have been more as I lost count after losing that many balls. Funny enough was at the same course this week and just shaved the hole for par,so i'm glad I stuck with it.

We had a corporate day organised about 3 months ago now,and we knew the forecast was going to be bad,but as usual the rain was later than expected. Just before we went out it just tipped it down,fortunately no wind,but after taking a 10 on the opening 521 yd hole,I was already wet and frustrated,and what followed for 9 holes was my worst sporting experience of any sport I have played. We had to play on as there were over 20 of us and we had all paid up front,plus there was a nice dinner afterwards waiting in the clubhouse. I shot 69 on the outward 9,truly the nightmare of all nightmares,you just couldn't hang on to the club,and as i'm a high handicapper,I didn't have the skills or the concentration to rise above it. Then it stopped literally on hole 10,I dried out got the wet gear off,and came home in 53. So would I play in the rain,no I would cancel in a heartbeat.

Shot 103,after last time making 100.This course was slightly longer by 200 yds,and it was a par 71 as opposed to a 70,so I guess the rounds were very similar. Funny thing is I played terrible of the tee,hitting a lot of pushes,and when I got on the green I let lots of bogeys go begging,and eneded up with doubles which I knew would force me above the 100,but now I know I have enough shots to become a sub 100 golfer,just need more consistency throughout.

I think it's interesting in the book itself,that Jacobsen and Hardy look different at address.Jacobsen isn't even in the same ball park regarding his posture.Hardy has way more bend in his spine and he worked with Jacobsen. I think there are still individual facets to a persons swing that don't conform,like the tempo of a swing,angle of plane,the arc that describes the path of the club,these tend have an individual look to them depending on each golfer,but as long as you apply the fundementals of what Hardy is talking about,you can have a higher percentage of one plane moves in your swing. Still peoples swings will still not look exactly alike put side by side. I have found in my quest to swing flatter,that just stopping any weight shift into my back leg,I achieve incredible compression and much straighter ball flight.Even the smallest of weight shifts into the back leg cause fat contacts and thin with early releases due to being behind the ball on the way back. Allow your body to find it's way,but follow the fundementals,and you can be a one planer or a two plane if you wish,but looking exactly like Hardy himself swinging a club isn't really required.Just be as pure as you can.

The pro who does lessons at our local range is still playing on the British seniors tour,and he told me that he and two others did a 3 club challenge. He used his hybrid,5 iron,and a PW. The hybrid he used as a putter.He's long with his hybrid,so he could use a mid iron for his second shot.Apparently he got round in par. Obviously a very skillful golfer,but sounds like a lot of fun,I would like to try it on a smaller course.

I happened upon Jim Hardy totally by accident really.When I took up golf about a year ago,I was interested in making it simple as I play a lot of tennis,I was aware of the pitfalls of tinkering all the time with strokes. It first started with watching vids of Mike LaBauve,and I got on really well with the style of swing.Anyway got caught up in adding elements I didn't need.Lost my ballstriking for a few months.I decided to buy the book as a constant reference,and all I can say is it's awesome. First round out,and practice at the range firing 6 irons out of the middle.If particulary you're looking for that one plane action then this book is for you.Don't know about those with the more conventional upright plane,but I bought specifically for the flatter swing action. I'm shaving strokes every round,in part because of the simplicity of the action,but also because of the confidence that I can hit straight. The instruction is easy to follow even if your knowledge isn't that great.Could do with more pictures,but the instruction is so simple it really does not matter.Nothing on the short game which is a shame,but I only need Mike's videos for that.

Yeah I'm just going to confine it to the bag until I get used to constructing holes confidently.Each time I play i'm starting to ignore the distance of the whole realising I can hit 3 good shots and reach the green still.All mental tactics it isn't it? Here's the thing, and it's a bit weird to say: you're going to get better with your driver before you hit it too much. You're going to get used to making a good swing with the other clubs, and you're going to get used to seeing your ball hit the fairway, and sure enough, that will carry over to the driver. And that you are already learning to play your own game and not that of the people you're playing with shows great mental management. In short: congrats on the 100 and good going for your work so far![/QUOTE]

I would like to thank Shindig for finally making up my mind on how to approach a round when you're a high handicapper.My 4 rounds so far 6000+ courses were,121,116,112,and110. I finally bit the bullet and stopped hitting longer clubs,even when the fairway was wide.I played for position.I took the strategy of any hole under 400 yds,I would use my 5 iron off the tee,whatever the hole looked like,hence I had lots of chances to hit 8,9,and PW approaches to greens. Worked because I shot 100 exactly.This was with around 6 holes where I three putted.I'm getting good at chipping,and pitching,need more control of my wedge distances though.Long putting is my weakness in the short game area. I have a driver that I love hitting,but any movement off line even if it's a tiny amount of fade seems to always find rough.That means for the second shot you are playing out first,whereas in the fairway you would setting yourself up to hit the green for your third shot. I pulled the driver out twice,hit it out of bounds,and later faded into the fairway next door,but got away with it when I hit my iron shot over the trees back in play.So from now on I will let everyone else I play with smash their drivers all over the place trying to work out what's wrong with their swings,while i'm going to stick with nailing it down the middle with a less ambitious club selection.

I'm new to golf,just been playing a year.Last night was my 6th round on a 6000 yd course,rest of my play has been on smaller ones. New I had made improvements,so felt a sense of calm when I approached the first hole,played on a beautiful course here in Norfolk,England.First time I played on it,and shot 100. I was on a real high,as it beat my best round by 10 strokes.If it wasn't for my total blow-up on the last hole,shot a 9 on a long par 4,then I would have broken the 100. The most encouraging thing was that my ballstriking stayed consistent all the way round.Therefore less mistakes,and I could recover quickly after a bad shot.It also highlighted for me that once you improve certain areas of your game,it just reveals where you need to be better somewhere else. Putting,i'm okay within the 20 ft range,but I need to some work on the longer putts,because I three putted at least 5 times,could have been more,so I need to keep track.

Shooting 100 is a big motivator right now for me.Practice just covers all areas for the game for me,but the short game in from 100 yds in particular is my main focus now.I'm hitting 60% of my balls in this area. In my swing,during a round a slight flaw I have is to raise or post up with my left knee too early,obviously linked to me wanting to see where I hit the ball,so i'm working on driving all my downswing through that bend I established at address. As I have gone on,the other thing i'm working on and slowly realising is letting the course i'm playing speak to me about how to play each hole.I can't just hit the club I want.Just last week a par 5 I was playing,finally I reached in 3,by playing a 16 degree hybrid,an 8 iron and a PW.Missed a 5 foot birdie,got the par.I had scored some big numbers on that hole in the past.Shot an 11 once,so I intend to take a more simple approach to my management.

On a still day,with a nice temperature it's almost spot on 250 most times.Once I hit a 300 yd drive with a nice wind behind me,plus I had added roll,because the last 20 yds sloped downhill. However into a wind I shoot maybe 220-230,so conditions effect driving all the time.My approach now is,wide fairway,no wind,take it out,but anything different,I would rather take a hybrid,or a longer iron.

I have been playing for about a year now.Although I have played 4 rounds on 6000 yd courses.Played about 12 rounds in total,other practice comes from the range. Hit 110 a couple of weeks ago,first round was a 121.I have adopted a one plane swing,and read Jim Hardy's book.Playing this wednesday,and I really have put the work into my short game these last couple of months. Really getting into course strategy,and if I check my ego at the door,i'm a big enough hitter with my irons too not risk shots i'm not capable of.

I have a fatshaft in my wilson irons,so a good lie and it's fairly aggressive with the 5 iron.