m11

i'd hit a little cut instead of using your sandwedge, i'd use your pitching wedge...open the face just a little...i'd keep my stance still basically square. Maybe a little aimed to the left..and take a nice and easy swing. The reason why you arent really aiming left like a cut lob is because you still want the ball to roll out a bit. If you really wanted to stop it...you'd just aim a little more to the left, open the face a little more...still use your pitching wedge...and take a minutely harder swing across your foot line Because the face is slightly open, it'll take the distance off that your pitching wedge would normally have. Of course, you'll have to tinker with it a bit. Maybe you can still use your sandwedge but i like to take an extra club. and i'd still keep the ball in the middle of my stance...although everyone seems to move it forward. I suppose you can try moving it forward but im not a big fan. I find hitting cuts and cut lobs is just as effective from the middle of my stance----also no chance to skull it.

i'm not into giving a quick answer so i'll just post this to provide you with a little more insight http://perfectpractice.wordpress.com...ubface-square/

Off-hand tips usually dont help much. They give may give you the right concept but its difficult to apply properly unless that person can give you a detailed explanation of how to implement that tip. I try not to give to many of those "take your club back further tips" without providing a detailed analysis ...generally with video... of a persons swing. The issue is that what you feel is a full swing is likely much further back than where you need to be at. There are also too many factors that contribute to a good golf swing for a tip such as "open your hips more" to really help out. All that really does is throw off something that it inate to you...and that is tempo. So my overall opinion on off hand comments is that they really shouldnt be taken to heart. If you are interested in improving your game, you need to allow someone who has an idea of what they are talking about to really break down your swing for you going from the ground up.

did some analysis on your front view.

just some quick tips: First thing i'd recommend is taking a little wider stance. This ensures that you maintain balance. I also like to put some additional weight on my front foot. Normally, i like to keep my weight evenly distributed, but because a downhill lie may give one the urge to 'help' the ball up...bringing my weight forward allows me to ensure that i hit down on the ball and don't catch it thin. You also want to match the angle of your shoulders with the angle of the lie. This allows you to maintain the proper plane of your swing. On side hill lies...if you are sloping downwards...a righty is going to push the ball out to the right sloping upwards, you are going to pull the ball a bit. You just want to make your target slightly right or left of your intended landing spot depending on what applies.

top notch putters. personally, i dont know ive i'd play the 44magnum or 38 special putters but they are definitely unique looking. quality wise...im sure they are on par with the scotty putters...and the feel is great on both. It seems that scotty cameron did a better job with his marketing by hopping on with titliest while bettinardi is with mizuno. Either way..great putters nonetheless. although i dont think i'd give up my circa 62

So i got a new set of irons that came with a 56* sandwedge included in the set. Brand new grooves that are nice and sharp. However, i still have my 56* cleveland cg10...it has wear on it...but the grooves are still pretty ok..except they are a little more worn down than the new taylormade wedge. both have the same bounce. Im going to hit them both to see which one i prefer, however...what do you all think will have the better results in terms of spin control etc? Cleveland, of course, specializes in wedge making but i wouldnt see why the wedge in my iron set would perform any worse given how much i like the irons.

your view of a squared club face may actually be a shut one. is that possible?

having a proper grip puts your hands and wrists at the proper position at the top. i made a thread a few days ago called Gripping the Club. watch the video in there.

Personally, its probably best to just breathe normally. You certainly don't want to take a deep breath in before you take any stroke. This will just bring a lot of unwanted tension.

have the Burner in my bag easy to hit and you can launch it high or low.

or cause you to catch the ball on a descending stroke

yea thanks im looking for something like that...but im actually looking more for iron speeds

yes. besides telling you overall which clubhead you hit best, they can tell which shaft flex, what kind of shaft tip, and loft that you should be using.

ordered the package (club towel, brush, ball towel) should be in in a few days

Does anyone have a chart or anything like that that shows average touring pro's swing speeds?'

yep, theres a common thread between all sports. They all need balance, rythym, coordination, strength, and mental aptitude. Since you've played sports..you probably have those down...unfortunately, not everyone was born with or has at least trained themselves to having those abilities. You just need someone to show you how to apply all those to hitting a little ball with a crooked stick.

not to try to advise you on parenting your child or anything along those lines, but the level to which your child will emulate you at that age is very high. They subconsciously record a lot of the actions you do, and will act very similarly. Therefore, my opinion is the first reaction on a bad shot is the attempt on figuring out why that shot occured. This gets you in the mindset of accepting the poor shot and trying to learn from why it occured. Your son may be old enough to start developing that sort of thought process...and its certainly a better alternative than focusing directly on the result of the shot. In short...you dont want bad shot to equal bad reaction. After every shot, good or bad...you want to analyze why it happened. But of course, since he's 9 years old, its all about positive reinforcement. He hits a good shot, it definitely should be rewarded with your praise..and before you go on to the next shot...i'd recommend explaining to him what he did right., but when he hits a bad shot...it still should be a postive mood around that shot and explain to him that from that shot, he'll be able to learn what he slipped up on. and about play around the greens. Their touch is very surprising. I'm trying to get my 2 year old nephew into hte game, and i think he's a better putter than i am

grip is extraordinarily important. Improper grip wont allow you to develop adequate lag, allow you to hit down properly, or allow you to release the club. Check out my thread called "gripping the club". theres a video in there. i suggest watching it. also. ball position wise---place the ball in the proper location and just take your swing. Focus on not compensating for the ball position and trust that that is were its supposed to be. You still want to be takign a normal stroke at the ball. Do it at the driving range. Worse comes to worst, you hit a bad shot. No big deal.

Although there are probably issues with your swing, it isnt the first issue that you should be concerned with. To develop a good swing, you first need the basic fundamentals of setup. Posture, grip, alignment. All are extraordinarily important. I made a thread last night that provides a very comprehensive video on proper grip. The thread is called something along the lines of 'gripping the club'. You must have a proper grip...there are no two ways around it. You can also find videos from that same organization on youtube...and i'd also recommend checking out Shawn Clement's videos on youtube. Look through those to find videos pertinent to learning a proper setup. The ones where you didnt think about form were hit well because you were able to eliminate tension from your body. You allowed your athletic tendencies to take over and provide a good tempo and you were able to strike the ball within rhythm--keeping the club on plane---not necessarily on the proper plane--but you were able to keep the club moving on some sort of constant plane. Of course, abandoning grip and all that isnt going to work out for you in the long run. And not to put you down...but you dont want to be hitting 205 yard drives for the rest of your golfing career...although that is certainly good for someone with your golfing experience. The reason why you were able to hit some good shots in a row is because, being an athlete, you have a rudimentary concept of what needs to be done in relation to the crooked stick you are holding and the little ball in front of you. Turn and then turn back to get the clubface on the ball. You then were able to create compensations based on previous results in order to assemble a movement that creates something that resembles a positive shot. These compensations were able to hold up for a few swings, but because it isnt the most efficient method of applying power to the ball...it couldnt hold up beyond those few good shots. And of course, i highly recommend getting lessons. yes, going out and golfing is fun...but lessons are certainly a worth investment if you are interested in playing this game for awhile. You'll learn a lot very quickly and professional instruction is by far the most efficient way to learn the game.

You just need to think to relax and to trust what you've practiced. Its also necessary to understand that how you swing on the range translates to play on the course. If you mishit half your balls on the range..expect the same on the course. That said, understand that you are going to mishit some on the course and just let it happen....its just the level that you are at and theres nothing wrong with it. The issue occurs when you start tensing up which causes you to revert back to Day 1 of golfing..and thats when you start hacking at the ball. Just relax and trust that you can pull of the shot at whatever rate that you know you can. Dont worry about bad shots...they happen and at that present moment on the course, theres nothing you can do about it. The range is where you can kill yourself with swing thoughts in order to improve. So yes, relax and have fun. Keep the swing thoughts limited. I keep it to 'relax' and 'take it back slow'. Seems like my tempo is the only thing i can actively control on the course and i know that if i take the club back too fast...disaster is looming...but if i remember to take it back nice and slow...the probability of me hitting a good shot goes way up.

Yea I was interested in if the lining holds up alright in the washing machine. I read the review on the brush that thesandtrap put up (did alan do that one as well?) and am thinking to buy the $52 package that Frogger offers that includes the towel,ball washer, and brush

i actually learned some stuff as well. At the top of my swing, my wrists werent as cocked as much as i would like...and i figured it was just something that i cant change. I assumed that i had my grip down pat...however, when he explained the part about how deep your left thumb goes up your right life line...i had an epiphany that i wasnt allowing my thumb to go deep enough into my hand...which limited the 'unification' of my hands. I picked up a club and did what he said basically...and suprisingly enough, my wrists cocked and set early in my backswing, and at the top, they were fully cocked. The increase in clubhead speed was extraordinarily noticeable from that little adjustment. I was actually surprised. . I was at my normal driving range...and the guys i knew were puzzled as to why i was excited to be hitting 6irons that went 5 feet off the ground. Basically, I began to actually cast my irons because i wasnt prepared to have to hold off the release for so long. I started to work with it and delay the release as long as i could..even longer than normal and the lag that was being created was very nice. I normally hit my 9iron a Furyk-y 130yards. I was able to effortlessly bump them up to about the 145 yard range with noticeably more spin. And the results for my driver were equally enjoyable...Normal conditions if i hit a good one it'll be in the 265-275 range and something with the wind will get to the 285-295 yard range. I hit them on the range with the grip adjustment and the extra lag got me to that 285/290 yard mark with almost no additional effort. It was nice to make such a tiny adjustment as sliding my left hand a little further into my right and create such results.

yes, overlapping is effective as well...and yes, i do mean your actual left and right hands. Whether you are comfortable strengthening your grip is up to you...it really is a personal thing because it involves physiological differences between golfers. You can play from that weak hand position but it'll take more effort to square the clubface at impact. More importantly though, your hands need to be working in unison with each other...and it doesnt look like your hands are doing that. I know thats a vague statement but that video that i posted in my 'gripping the club' thread does a good job explaining how to have your hands mirror each other. If you havent watched it yet, i'd suggest that you do.

I wouldnt recommend creating those type of compensations in order to promote a certain ball flight. At his level of skill, he should be swinging with a squared clubface with the ball in the proper position. Altering the basic fundamentals to produce certain ballflights really isnt advisable right now. Moreso, compensating to 'fight' a slice isnt the best of ideas as well. A slice is a result of a failed swing fundamental. Instead of compensating by creating worse fundamentals (setting up with a slightly closed face), you want to get to the root of the problem by making sure your grip is proper and that you are aligned square and not cutting across the ball. Also you want to address your swing path and that you arent coming over the top of the ball. If you are looking to improve, the goal should be to develop as much of a textbook perfect swing as your body allows you to...not develop offhand compensations that may work for a round or practice session before they break down. Every pro has sound fundamentals. On bad days, you dont see them topping or chunking shots to the point where they dribble around or wildly shoot off the hosel. They have sound fundamentals too fall back on, which even an amateur golfer can develop. Remember that you want to create sound fundamentals that you can fall back on from day to day...not compensations that may work for a short period of time.