KoenA

I've been Playing Golf for: about 5 years My current handicap index or average score is: handicap 15, trending downwards lately My typical ball flight is: straight and very high The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: This has been changing somewhat, typically it's a hook, but lately misses have rather been slices or even the occasional open face hit Additional background: I've only taken very few lessons (including some on evolvr a few years ago around key 1), but try to figure out how to work on my swing based on what I read online (mainly here). I've been progressing quite steadily on my own, but last year over the entire season I only managed to drop my handicap by ~2 points. This year, I aim to do better and want to work on improving my swing. From looking at my own swing on video, there are two things that strike me: 1) Overswinging: my left arm breaks down at the top of the backswing, even when I try to 'feel' a shorter backswing 2) Early release: I release the golfclub way to early on the downswing. I still get a decent contact, and am not lacking for distance (7 iron goes 145-150 meter) but my ballflight is way too high and unplayable in windy circumstances Despite trying to work on these, I just can't seem to get these right. Maybe I need to practice more/better, or maybe I'm doing things in my swing to which the natural reaction is the errors I see. Especially for the early release, I can keep the lag in practice swings, but as soon as there is a ball I go back to the early release. Would love to get some insight from everyone on here on what to work on (and ideally how). In the below videos, I've included a practice swing and a real one right after that. Thanks in advance everyone for your help! Videos:

Had the exact same thing a few weeks ago... So annoying they don't allow any counting or qualifying competitions anymore. Mine was a 9 hole round, shot a 3-over 39 (which still included a duffed chip and missing a put less than 1 meter...). 6/7 Fairways and 5/9 GIR. We should play together some time.

I've been lurking around this thread for a long time, but I'm so happy with today's score I just had to post to share it with other golf nuts Over the past months, I've been averaging low 90's scores, and managed to break 90 twice with a 89. I felt like there was potential to do better but always had a few blow-up holes. Today however, I managed to shatter my personal records, despite a not so great start I arrived at the golf course just in time for my tee time, no warming up, and it showed: 1st hole: Topped tee shot barely beyond the ladies tees. Thanks to decent second and 3rd shots managed to get away with a bogey. 2nd hole: First tee shot out of bounds, second tee shot in a lateral water hazard (beyond the stakes but luckily still playable), resulting in a triple bogey But as of then: 8 pars, 7 bogeys and to top it off a birdie on 18! Total score: 82!! I just can't wait to go out again and see whether I can repeat this feat (or even what my card would look like if I wouldn't have taken that damn triple bogey)! For those interested, game golf round here

I agree, but then there are still two ways to look at it: 1) The OOB as a whole is to be dismissed 2) The fact that it only applies to tee shots is to be dismissed We went with the second option in the end, but I played the ball from where it was considering the OOB zone ended at the last stake.

Hello everyone, Apologies if the below has been asked before, but I couldn't find it through a search. I was playing matchplay against a friend 2 days ago, when the following situation happens: We were playing hole 5, for which a local rule states that for shots of the tee, hole 14 is out of bounds. Along the left side of #5, there are white stakes clearly showing this internal out of bounds, however these stop as of a certain moment. My tee shot landed left of the fairway, but before the stakes (lousy lie). My second shot however sails across the out of bounds line, and comes to rest beyond where the last white stake showing the out of bounds is. At this point, we were unsure whether the ball was out of bounds or not. Unfortunately, reading what the R&A; has to say on out of bounds still doesn't give the answer. Quote: It is a common misconception that it is not permissible to define areas within the course as out of bounds. However, it is not unusual for features such as maintenance areas, clubhouses and practice grounds to be marked as out of bounds. In addition, it may be necessary to establish boundaries between two holes to maintain the character of a hole or to protect players on the adjacent fairway. In these cases, it is important to consider where the boundary starts and finishes so that there is no doubt where it begins and ends. Where there is no natural start/finish point, e.g. the boundary exists in isolation and is not “tied” into other boundaries on the course, often it is necessary to place two stakes, side-by-side and at a right angle to the first and last stake, to indicate that the boundary extends indefinitely in that direction. It is not permissible to make an area out of bounds only for certain strokes at a given hole, for example, a stroke from the teeing ground (see Out of Bounds, Chapter 3). Source: http://www.randa.org/en/Rules-and-Amateur-Status/Guidance-on-Running-a-Competition.aspx?chapter=3&section;=1 First, it would seem that the local rule saying the out of bounds only applies to shots of the tee is wrong and so that fact that it was my second shot doesn't matter. This still leaves me with the question of where the out of bounds zone stops. As there were no double stakes, the line doesn't continue indefinitely, yet then how should the area be defined? Perpendicular to the OOB line? I'm sure this situation arises at more courses. Any thoughts on what the right ruling would be here? Thanks! Koen

I don't know about the repeat heel hits, but he hit the ball directly with the shaft, not even the clubface... Now I'll be scared to mishit my driver

Hi & welcome to the forum! I'm far from the most experienced guy on here, but based on my own experience I think you would see the biggest improvement from taking lessons with a good pro. When I just started playing, I started of with a beginner set probably much like the one you have. I upgraded to new clubs (Ping G25s) after about 3 months, but despite them 'feeling' better to me, I did not hit the ball any better... As you say that your issue is hitting the ground before the ball, new and potentially higher launching clubs will not resolve this. It's most likely a flaw in your swing that you need to correct. The only exception I can think about is if you are exceptionally tall or short, in which case having clubs that fit your size might help. The reason I highlighted good pro, is that even in a small set of pros I have seen, I observed very big differences in the quality of instruction. My wife picked up golf recently, and after 10 lessons with one pro, she wasn't able to have fun on the course. She had two lessons with a different pro and suddenly she improved a lot. I think both of them wanted to teach her the same, but one of them was just way better in conveying what exactly she needed to change. This may be highly personal, so it's difficult to say how you could select a good one, but I would suggest that if after a few lessons you don't feel you're improving, you should find another pro. As an alternative to taking lessons with a local pro, you could consider evolvr ( http://evolvr.thegolfevolution.com/) . It's an online 'lesson' where you upload a movie of your swing and get feedback. Based on all the good things I read about it on this forum, I signed up last week and am very happy with my first video lesson. (As a sidenote my current issue is the same as yours, as my swing has it's low point before the ball). At any rate, good luck with improving and make sure to stick around here. There are many very knowledgeable people on here that provide great input.

I use a GolfBuddy WT3, which I'm very happy with. It should be around the price range your looking for, so you may want to check it out. One warning in case you never used one before: once you're used to it, it becomes very annoying to play without ;-)

First, as a disclaimer: I did not see the actual events that took place, it was quite late on my side of the world. If I get the facts wrong, please disregard my statement. I do wonder though, from what I read here, didn't Phil an Ricky get disadvantaged from letting the final group catch up? I often play late in the evening in the summer, and at some point, 5 mins (or less) means the difference between seeing clearly and having a lot of difficulties locating the pin on a barely visible green. Under such circumstances, I could imagine not letting competitors catch up. Clearly, if it is at no disadvantage to yourself, you should facilitate your competitors round. I could even support being forced to do so. In my opinion, it's similar to letting faster groups play through on the course, a minor inconvenience yet no disadvantage. If there is a disadvantage though, particularly given the stakes, it's a rather different situation in my view.

I was out playing with my wife today (who just recently started playing) on a pitch and putt course. 66 m (72 yards) narrow par-3 hole. Group in front is three people, incl. a beginner and let's us pay through. With all of them watching, I hit a nice half SW, ball bounces once slightly before the green, starts rolling and drops in the cup... Yet I had just 30 sec before shot my initial tee shot out of bounds... Best shot so far in my golf career, yet so ambiguous as I was so close to a hole in one... (yes, short hole, but still)

This happens a lot to me. Just today, played a 9 hole par-3 course. Shot 13 over on the first 9 (9 over on first 3), 5 over playing the same 9 again... I like to blame it on 'not being warmed up'...yet in the end it just means I'm still very inconsistent.

The hitting vs swinging concept didn't really resonate with me, but the aimpoint is an interesting idea. I already did that with my driver (as per the driver video in another current post on this site), but I gave it a try with wedges today on the range and it seemed to work pretty well. Thanks for the link!

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My set only goes down to a 5 iron so far, but I hit that fine. Good height and similar distance gapping with the rest of my set. I actually just ordered a 4 iron, so hopefully I'll be able to hit that one fine.