wachesawgolfer

You can the same old story here and everywhere, people swing their irons so smooth, but cannot hit the driver. I think swinging a 9 iron is fine but it will never help you learn to hit the driver. The plane is so different and your hitting down on a short iron with a short iron setup and stance. You need to learn to make the proper big extended move back and through with a long club. I like the swinging of a rake, but you can also hit your driver on your knees and tee the ball high. This really ingrains the flatter plane, proper turn, and easy tempo to hit the ball a long way. Good luck.

All the stuff you mention would tend to lower one's handicap, not raise it, such that those folks would be at an a disadvantage in a real hcp. match. Following the rules adds strokes in most cases.

Short answer is your just not making the big full turn or pivot with this club. Practice swinging a rack at home and concentrate on making a level shoulder turn back and take the rack back with your shoulders/torso, turn not your arms. In the swing forward keep your arms back so they come off your body at impact and swing through to a full finish. What happens with the driver is we want to swing faster as we think we need to, so we lift the club back with our arms not our body and then flail the club at the ball with our arms with an OTT move or yank down. Driver is the easiest club in the bag to hit if you learn to make that big body turn back and through and just keep the arms extended and not stiff. Club Head speed comes from the long length of the club, extension of the left arm back and through, the body pivot and coil, and the wrist hinge back. No need to force the arms forward as they kill clubhead speed. The key I found is the level shoulder turn back, if you keep your shoulders on the same incline back and through with a full turn you will be on plane and generate lots of power.

Dealing with this garbage now, too. Mine is my Latissimus Dorsi on my rear side. It causes pain in the back and front and into the inner elbow. Stretch and massage those trigger points. Ice after golf and moist heat occasionally.

I have a mat but rarely use it because it is different hitting off a mat and I found it does not help hitting off real dirt/tight fairways. I believe you would be better served just hitting whiffle balls off hard packed dirt than using a fluffed up well padded mat.

I think a slice is simply an arms swing which is out to in and decelerating causing the face to open and quits at the ball. Practice swinging anything a rake or a short club, especially a putter and let it slide down your body and then turn through so the implement stays back and you can swing it through your impact zone not just to it. Then you can take a 9 iron and practice swinging through balls with the club back behind your hands not out in front. I know, it is very hard to keep a driver back and the moment you add arms to the downswing, because of the perceived need to add power and speed, the club gets ahead of the hands, opens, and dies at the ball = slice.

What is instinctive to the novice is to hit out hard from the top as this feels like a power move but in reality is a golf swing killer. People make golf like swing motions all the time such as chopping a tree or making a body punch. All those things require precise body/arm moves in sequence. When we hit from the top we throw our golf swing out of sequence; having said that everyone has a natural swing that fits them and will work well but it may take some instruction and practice to find it and then hone it. Take a look at Reinmonth's book "Tension Free Golf", very little golf instruction beyond the set up and grip as a relaxed move, he feels, will allow your natural swing to happen. I am an old Jim Mcclellan fan and I agree with him swinging into one position after another is worthless golf instruction. Your best players all started at a young age when they were not strong enough to manipulate and control the club with their hands and arms. Thus, they had to use their bodies and flexibility to swing the club and they do it well. They can gain from instruction by changing a position because that does not alter their basically good athletic swing. People who start later in life and have middle age flexibility coupled with a strong urge to control and manipulate the golf club can and are hurt by position based instruction which destoys what natural swing they really have.

Its why I putt whenever I can near the greens as for me its too easy to miss a short chip by hitting behind the ball, eventhough I practice this shot a lot. It was tough one time telling my team I had a bogie instead of a par and they are all scratching their heads....

Not if your all on the same "team". Its your "opponent" that you cannot ask for or accept advice from.

Fluffing up the lie or moving the ball onto grass really does not help that much and probably contributes to lack of improvement as much as anything in golf. I voted no.

I think you are doing great, mid 80s, after such a bad injury and layoff. Good luck to you.

Too bad you could not play that day and it never end. You will play next week or whenever and wonder how you you ever hit it so good on the range that day. When those "golf gods" wake up they love to punch balloons, just for the fun of it.

I am sorry but your post really makes no sense to me. "They do not play the clubs that fit their game",... "but only worry about how it feels and flies in their hands" Huh?

Your current clubs will tell you. If you have a quarter size wear pattern in the sweet spot and most hits are well within the grooves, your good to play blades. The thin top line is addictive and as stated, the modern blades are easy to hit with the lower center of gravity and expanded sweet spot to the center of the club.

It depends on the club. Generally, having the hands forward is known as "impact attitude" that is your set up resembles the impact position. Most instructors I have read feel it is easier to go to a position in a swing than maintain one throughout. That being said, hands should be somewhat ahead for a 7 iron up, even for mid irons and somewhat behind for a driver. The main problem with a generally hands ahead position is it tends to steepen the swing and promote a lifting move, not so bad for a 9 iron but bad for a 5 iron or a wood.

I respectfully disagree and I carry a dual strap all the time. What happens is just like a backpack, the head moves forward to counteract the shoulder weight and the upper back, small muscles of the neck and shoulder are put under tremendous strain and are pulled forward out of position. (read all the info online about school kids and their backpacks, you will never carry clubs again) The key is to carry a stand less dual strap superlite bag, sun mountain makes one, with about 5 or 6 clubs max, and carry it under an arm alternating as much as possible. I think push carts are just as bad, as you pull or push one sidedly and this can wreck you spine. The best way to walk is with a caddy, this is how the game is really meant to be played. A smart caddy can really speed up a round. I looked for a bracket my mom used in the 50's which held a full set with the clubs on each side and it stuck in the ground. I could not find one. I will probably go with 5 or 6 clubs and simply carry them alternating arms/hands.

One further note, a violent right shoulder move outwards, ie., OTT, will in and of itself cause the body to move forward so as to catch the ball on the heel, no matter how far or close you are to the ball. Good players drop the right shoulder down in the downswing, not out, so they rarely fall forward or lose their balance.

Hitting the heel of the driver is most likely as someone said, an over the top issue, as the left arm folds too soon before impact the body comes forward to catch the ball at least on the heel. Really work on flattening the swing by making practice swings 6 inches above the ball. Take the club back, then over and down to the ball in slow motion keeping the left arm extended all the way up and down until past impact. Club cannot get outside if you maintain the left arm extension through impact and note you make center contact. The lost of balance forward follows the OTT move. Setting up with the upper body tilted back from the target so the weight is on the rear foot at setup helps flatten the swing and minimze the OTT move.

Bring on the dogs, hopefully, they will run off all the geese and all their droppings. Geese love to defecate on the greens and get real irate if you need them to move out of your line of putt.

Barefoot is south west of North Myrtle Beach but is apparrently within the NMB city limits. There are several subdivisions in Barefoot and several homes have been lost. The entire area has been evacuated (all 3 courese closed). Most of the courses on the north end would be tough to play with all the smoke. The south end has some smaller fires in the Murrells Inlet area and it is smokey there also.

Holding everything back so that the clubhead whips through the impact zone. Try swinging a rope or whip and try to get it to snap at the bottom. While the advice to swing hard is well intended, you must swing hard and fast to develop clubhead speed. When poorer player swing hard, their arms flail out off the chest or they yank the club down, not of which are swinging the club. Try chopping a tree and swing hard or hammering a nail hard. You will see all the strength is in the body and it allows the axe or hammer to stay back and position so it can fire through and accelerate into the target at the correct moment. Golfers tend to force the club out of position by swinging hard using their arms.

Hey, we all cannot be that bad, somewhere there is a glimmer of hope.

Are you referring to opening the face? This has no effect on the grooves as you would still set up correctly and swing in to in such that the club face is flat but still square to the target line and making solid contact with the ball. The more you open the face the more left (open) you set up to make the ball go straight. If you lack body swing and just flail your arms you swing path will be out to in even on a short wedge shot and the open face will make the ball, then slice or shank even more no matter how you set up.

Exactly why I could not do the Dante moves. The early wrist cock he teaches threw off the timing of the swing and added tension to the wrists. But, that is what he wanted when he says hold the club real tight. Feeling the weight of the club at address is key to the correct pressure and early swing back and correct hinging.

A quick visit to their website reveals the greens there are "tift dwarf" By the way The Witch is an excellent play and far better than Man of War. The suggestion for Glen Dornoch is very good. Since you are on the north end, Crow's Creek just over the line in NC is really nice and has great turf conditions.