bossfrog

I noticed a strange phenomenon, at least for me. At times, when things are not going well with my irons and I can't figure out why, I'll drop a junk ball on the fairway and launch a "frustration shot" out in an adjacent bean field. Thing is, 75% of the time, they end up being one of my best shots of the day! For instance, yesterday I launched a 7 iron 150+ yards straight as an arrow. Today, I was having a devil of a time getting under the ball with my pitch wedge. So what happens? I drop a cheapo ball to vent some frustration and with not so much as a waggle, walk up to the ball and whack it into the bean field. Result? Ball goes laser straight, a mile high and lands 120+ yards out in the field. My question is, A) is it just me? and B) what could I be doing differently that maybe I could transfer to my game? Is this an indicator that I'm not trusting my swing and am thinking about things too much?

Thanks @mvmac ... very informative links. The biggest thing I've noticed as far as mechanics is that by allowing the knee to straighten, it is much easier to keep my head stationary, and when that happens my contact is much better. I'm also trying to learn to not "hit" the ball, but rather to trust the swing itself to cause the contact.

THIS ^^^^^^^ I went out today to hit some real balls using the tips provided here and had good results. Since I'm still getting used to some of these new mechanics caused by allowing the back leg to straighten somewhat, I'm not real consistent at it yet. Here's the main thing: when I hit the ball solidly (probably only about 1/3 of the time right now) my divots start either right at the ball or in front of it as it should be! I had not been able to make that happen before. It's a different feeling for sure... almost as if the ball is "squirting" from between the ground and the club face. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone or not but that's how it seems to me. As a side note: Now here's one thing I was wondering about. By allowing the back leg to straighten to a large degree I'm not transferring much weight to that side. Do the changes that @billchao recommended essentially equate to a variation of S&T;? I'll post a progress video in a week or two when I feel like I've gotten my consistency up with what I'm doing now.

@Morocco Mako , I really do appreciate the time you put in your post, but I just don't see how it helps. I already know I don't swing like Ernie Els. It's almost akin to saying "Ernie Els is better than you" even though I know that's not your intent. The analogy that comes to mind would be telling someone who is just learning guitar to just do what Eric Clapton does.

Thanks for the input, mvmac. I definitely need to work on my flexibility in my upper torso. Hopefully that will get easier as I continue to lose weight.

All I can say is, WOW. @billchao , you're a genius. I couldn't wait till tomorrow, so I went out with one of my cheap whiffle balls and turned the porch light on. I flaired my feet and allowed my back leg to straighten and everything is just instantly so much more fluid, and what's more, for the first time, I'm consistently placing my divots AFTER the ball! Of course, it still doesn't exactly feel natural yet on the setup and backswing, but the downswing and follow-through feel so much more connected, if that makes sense. I only took about 10 swings at the ball, but I honestly didn't expect such immediate difference in the feel. I know I still have plenty to work on and getting these changes automatic will take some time, but right now, I feel like you've helped me take a step forward. I also adopted the Coke bottle trick and it helps a lot. Thank you for the advice, mein freund. Edit: another thing I noticed. By flaring my front foot a little bit, I'm able to maintain straight arms a little further on the follow through.

Thanks Bill. The first part of your suggestion I just kind of figured out today. I started addressing the ball with the shaft basically inline with my left arm. That really seems to be helping me get to the ball on the downswing better. I think my grip is fine. As you said, it's hard to see in the picture, but I grip with the "V" point at my right shoulder. I had no idea about flaring my feet a bit, but that makes sense, especially with the back foot. I'll try letting my back leg straighten more on the backswing too. Just experimenting with it inside without a club in my hands feels good. I'm looking forward to working on that tomorrow! I had no idea my head was moving back that much. You've given me some good stuff to work on. I guess I'd never seen anyone suggest straightening the back leg though, but I know guys with unconventional builds sometimes have to do some unconventional things. The good news is since I've been carrying my clubs on the course (and pissing off a lot of old guys behind me in carts...lol) I've lost 17 lbs. in the last 2 months. Maybe a year or two down the road and I'll get more where I need to be in that regard. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions and I'd love to have more if anyone has any. I'll report back with results after I've had some time to assimilate.

It's just not as easy getting 245 lbs moving as it is getting 165lbs moving. There has to good tips to help us hefties out

I've been Playing Golf for: 2.5 months My current handicap index or average score is: I average about 52 on a par 35 9-hole course . Low score: 45. High score: we won't go there. My typical ball flight is: fade The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: A lot of them Videos: Hitting my birdie ball in my yard. Not too many training videos out there for fat bow-legged guys, but I do my best! I feel okay about my back swing but I have a hard time getting all my weight moving forward consistently. Craig Stadler really needs to make a good instructional for guys with guts. This is an 8 iron BTW.

Add an inch to your club length. You'll make divots.

Thanks Joe. That's kind of how I was thinking. I'm going to exchange it this afternoon. He said he has an older Ping G10, a Cleveland Hibore xls or a Callaway Diablo Edge he could give me. I have to leave in a couple hours. Any quick opinions on these two? The Ping and the Cleveland are both 9.5* and the Diablo is 10*, IIRC.

So are you saying there was likely already some damage/stress in the shaft before he hit it, or that it was simply way too soft for him to hit like that?

Last week I was browsing the bargain bin at the golf shop and they had a TM Burner 09 for $35. So I took some swings with it and decided I liked it and bought it. I've played 2 rounds with it and saw average drives somewhere between 210-225, which is good for me! Today I went out with my nephew who plays golf for Illinois State University. He's a scratch player who averages around 270 with his G20. He's hit as far as 310-ish in competition before. Anyway, he offered to give me some impromptu lessons today at the local public course (free golf on holidays if you walk :). I took a couple shots and hit the first one a draw just off left of the fairway. The second went straight and about 200 yards but very low. So my nephew asked if he could hit my Burner because he wanted to see how much difference there was between it and his old 07 model. Well, he hit it nice and high and well over 250 yards. The second time he used it, it sounded kind of funny and his ball went low and barely cleared 150 yards. When he handed it back to me, the shaft had delaminated about a 6 inch strip of the outer layer just above the hosel. Now I'm not worried about replacing it. The guys at the shop told me they'd replace it with something else, but I was wondering if this happens often on clean shots? I understand it happening if you smack the ground, but since I've had it, I haven't done that. I know my nephew uses stiff shafts on his driver and he's been thinking of moving to x-stiff. Could it be that the regular flex shaft simply couldn't hold up to his swing speed? Or was it likely already cracked internally when I bought it?

Thanks guys!

As a novice, I'm always looking for good instructional material but I find a lot of crap where they give you the first half of a lesson then they want you to sign up somewhere else for the rest of the lesson. Clearly, anything with David Leadbetter is money, as long as you don't mind dry dialogue. I've improved a LOT by watching his vids and doing many of his drills. What else is worth watching? Any good suggestions?

I've been golfing for 2 months, probably have about 12 rounds of 9 under my belt. My slice is much improved. I hit a lot more straight shots now with the occasional unwanted fade. The adjustments I made was to close my club face slightly more than I was at first and I went with a stronger grip. It was like magic :)

I'm 5'11" and with wrist of 35.5" By chart my lie is standard and the tape test you outlined gave good results. I don't think I'm going to worry about them being a shade on the short side. They work well for me and feel comfortable so I'm just going to leave it at that for now.

I'll often play two balls at the same time just for fun, but only if there's at least a couple of holes between me and the next group. And the course manager doesn't care as long as nobody's getting held up. I've done the whole course like that a couple of time.

Thanks... that's what I was kind of thinking. But I even went so far as to take a vid of me swinging some of them and my swing didn't appear to be any goofier than the next overweight, bow-legged golfer.

Sorry if this all boils down to a dumb question. Only been golfing 2 months. I started off with some Callaway S2H2 irons that I really had to choke up on to hit. Basically, they were a terrible fit. Two weeks ago I traded them in on some Callaway X Hot irons after hitting with them in the shop for a good half hour. I have stopped taking to many fat shots and have been swinging much better with them. Now, for no other reason than sheer curiosity, I measured my wrist to floor and referenced the numerous charts on the internet and from a purely objective perspective, the clubs are slightly too short for me, at least according to the charts. It ranges from just under 0.5" too short on my PW to about 0.25" on my 5 iron, and it's a steady progression. From a subjective perspective, my game has improved a great deal with these clubs. When I get back from a round of 18, I don't have near the muscle soreness I had with the S2H2s (though I suspect this may be due partly to better conditioning since I started). They're not uncomfortable for me in any way. However, my question is this: Is there any reason to be concerned physically with clubs that are ever so slightly too short or do some people actually carry such a preference anyway?

Hi all!

Psychiatric Nurse. I run into a lot of people on the course who might do well to pay us a visit