wachesawgolfer

I think the real benefit of the waggle is exactly as Hogan stated and that is, it helps the hands practice what they need to do in a good backswing which is set the club and hinge. To get to the ideal 9:00 position in the backswing where the club is parallel to the ground, butt to target, toe up and still on line, not inside, requires a lot of setting and hinging early in the backswing. An added benefit, no doubt, is the relaxing and tempo enhancing effects.

Focus on solid contact, ie. getting the ball to roll perfectly up and down, not wobbling or sideways. Put a circle on some balls and hit them so they roll on the circle. If you focus on solid contact you will slow down and accelerate through the ball on the line of the putt or to the hole.

For those over the obstacle short shots you can play the ball forward (just inside my lead heel) to hit a high soft shot. I keep my weight on my lead foot but setup behind the ball to drive straight under the ball causing a high flop like shot. Playing it forward also adds loft to the club. You would play the ball back in the stance when you want a lower chip like shot with some run after it lands on the green. The third place is to place the ball dead center in the stance and just turn back and through with very little hands. I practice all three positions regularly and find the forward position to me is the easiest and most reliable. Remember to hit down, accelarate through and keep the left wrist flat through impact. The key is to shorten the backswing and increase the forward follow through. Ideally, you should use the same tempo and just adjust the backswing for your distances. Its really easy if you practice it.

As you know the ideal swing bottoms out after we hit the ball with any club, yet we are still hitting down on the ball, which is why the good divot is after the ball. I think we still hit down with the driver but the fact the ball is teed up allows a flatter swing with no ground strike. I think the forward ball position is more to allow the clubface to square with such a long club as opposed to hit the ball on the upswing. Otherwise you would be setting up inches behind the ball and hitting down to a spot well behind the ball which is not what we see anyone doing, to have their swing hit upwards on the ball. I think, the idea of hitting up on the ball with the driver is not what is happening to determine the launch angle which comes more from a good impact postion of the left wrist/hand.

I just got the 202s with KB Tours regulars shafts. Like any other iron the key is to get the right shafts for your game. All of the current US line up are players clubs even the larger 102s are for the skilled player. Their Blades are not that much harder to hit than anything else they have currently sell. Most forums on Miura irons reveal the heads are best teamed with Rifle shafts or Nippon NS Pro. DG tends to mute the soft feel the heads have. I like the KB Tours with Sticky Iomic grips on mine.

Per the Tutelman site: A swinger is a golfer who depends exclusively on centrifugal force for clubhead speed and adds no wrist torque during the downswing except that needed to hold a 90 degree wrist cock. A hitter is a golfer who depends to some extewnt on torque applied to the club's grip via the hands and the wrists. In the golf physics link.

Do not confuse the fact the some people swing the club flatter as Moe Norman did that they are making a one plane swing, as Hogan who was steeper was also termed a one plane swinger. It all comes down to whether the arms are just turned by the shoulders or they rise up independently of the shoulder turn. Hogan called the latter a "false backswing" It is not if you still make a full shoulder turn, but most amateurs rise the arms but do not turn the shoulders to a complete coiled turn at the top. This is why Jim Hardy is so popular. His one plane swing setup enables the average golfer to make a fuller shoulder turn and not loose the coil simply raising the arms. Look at VJ who is a one plane swinger and he does the same without the exaggerated Hardy setup. As I said I think the terms are unimportant as the ideal golf swing is compact and is simply a shoulder turn to the top which puts the club in the ideal position to swing down without any compensation.

To me the "two Plane" swing is nothing more than a steepening arm raise at the top which is really a bad move requiring lots of compensations throughout the whole swing. Most tour players are simply turning their shoulders to the top now without any independent arm rise and this has started to eliminate the bad steepening move from most players and shortened their swings with no loss of power. We all would do well to forget the notion of two plane or one plane swings and rather work on a good backswing which puts us in good position at the top to swing down.

Rifles play stiff to most folks. You are probably 4.5 in Rifle if you are R300 in DG. You should carry a 7 iron 150 yards to hit the 5.0 comfortably, 160 for the 5.5. I hit the 7 145 yds. and that is clearly regular in either of these shafts.

turn back, swing down.

You get consistency by being consistent in your backswing. That's all there is to it. You need to learn the correct setup (grip, posture, balance, foot position and ball position) to allow a proper backswing and then make a proper backswing where the club stays out along the target line and the shoulders complete the turn, so that the body is turning the club from the ball and maximizing and saving the coil at the top. When you look at the photos of any good touring pro, their backswing is textbook and repeating. You cannot play golf with an armsy steep, nocoil, limp lifting move from the ball to the top. You can do it at the range because you can figure out the compensating moves to hit the ball for that day but those compensating moves do not repeat on the course or under any pressure. A good drill is to set up with a club, any club, and take a used shaft and stick it in the ground at the same incline next to the club. Now move left of the shaft on the same line so that you club's hosel is in line with the shaft at parallel to the ground. Now make backswings so that you do not hit the shaft. This makes you set the club properly at three o'clock so the club is butt to target and toe up, then you turn the shoulders to complete the backswing, arms do nothing but hold the club in the final shoulder turn to the top. This prevents the fatal flaws of turning the shoulders too soon in the backswing resulting in a final arm with no coil and taking the club inside at the bottom (same result). The downswing is simply swing down and you can it well without hitting the shaft. Eventually, you can hit balls with this shaft in the ground and swing around it. Any miss sequence and you hit the shaft. Two notes In a good setup and spine angle your eyes should be slightly beyond or over the ball. To see the ball we should need to strain our eyes down. We tend therefore, to drop our heads, to avoid the strain and now our head is too low and we cannot make a full shoulder turn back. Also, the first move back sets the whole backswing. We need to move the clubhead straight back two inches or so with hip turn (this gets the body turning not sway)if he move back is blocked by the club and grass, such that, the first move in the backswing for most is a "lifting action" which starts the arms folding improperly, left arm breaks and right elbow rises up all the way to the top. Work on taking the club straight back not up, by having most of the club weight in your hands, not on the ground.

Not quite, the V is on the "top" not the palm. When the club is gripped, the Vs are formed by the thumb and forefinger of each hand as seen from the player's prospective. In a strong grip, the hands are rotated to right on the club, so the Vs will point towards the right shoulder. Regardless of where the Vs point, it is also fundamental that the palms face each, otherwise, the grip will not act as one unit and accentuate the tendency of the right or left arm to overpower the swing.

I disagree, repectfully, there is a lot of luck in golf and some days its all good and some days its all bad and somedays its inbetween. Accept it and go on is all you can do. Too many bad shots end up great to think otherwise.

I would think the Arizona/desert golf is the best all around. Hawaii should also be nice. Myrtle Beach is just too cold, wet and windy all winter and early spring and way too hot and humid during the summer. Their season is just too short. The same goes for the NC locations. I don't know about Oregon, isn't real cold there in the winter and spring?

Green and short game performance. Whats a few yards lost off the tee to not have an unputtable missile on the green.

Now I don't feel so bad.

Check out Darrell Klassen. You can order his videos or books from his website. A compleletly easy approach to what is in his words an easy game. I think these other folks, living or dead, play well but really did not or do not understand the golf swing is a simple turn back and swing down. The problem I see in most golf literature and teaching is the complete lack of backswing instruction as to muscle selection and sequence to ensure a good position and coil at the top on a consistent basis which is the cornerstone to good golf. Once your in good position at the top, swing down and the whole body fires powerfully to the target. That is all there is to it. Nobody has to teach you leg work to throw a ball, chop a tree, throw a Frisbee or how to do any of those things on plane. Golf is that easy too, if you do not get sidetracked or ambushed by well intentioned but poor golf instruction. Remember, golf is a large part feel and what we feel may not be what we are doing.

To get the correct steepness for each club make the proper backswing which includes starting the clubhead straight back from the ball for about two inches and getting into a good 9 o'clock position in the backswing club parallel to the line, butt to the target, toe up, then finish by just turning the shoulders to a full coil. Each club should be in the correct position at the top. Forget about swingplane. Proper swingplane is the result of the lifting and lowering of the arms and the body turning. These are separate motions which in a good swing are timed together. If you make the proper backswing and swing down you should swing on plane. If you attempt to swing the club on the ultimate club path, that will result in a disastrous arms only swing where the club comes inside at the bottom and over the top to start the downswing.

How do you practice to be a pro. Simple, work on your backswing so its repeatable, athletic, smooth and highly coiled. You can practice it anywhere, anytime, but the repeatability of a pro golf swing is a solid move back away from the ball. The more flexibility and coil you can attain the more powerful your effortless swing will have. Second, you have to love to play around with and practice the short game. Chipping in your yard to targets, through chairs, or around your neighborhood, constantly. Its helps to grow up on a golf course with a pro dad or mom, but if you have the focus and know what to practice, you can really improve. Knowledge and love of the game are the keys to success.

Also, lift your head up so its off your shoulders and not restricting your turn back. You are much too ball bound. At the top of the backswing your head should be over your rear side, not off your lead side as you are. Allow all the weight to shift to the rear which requires the head to move back away from the ball as any tour player does if you study the photos of them at the top. You cannot stay behind the ball through impact, if you never get behind in the first place.

As a poster said, you are not turning but merely raising your arms. Take the club back with the lead hip for an inch or so straight back from the ball to get the hips turning, let the grip continue the swing and hinge freely back so the club at parallel to the ground is toe up and butt to the target, not inside, just finish the backswing with a shoulder turn and let the shoulders move the arms upward. Practice this until you can lighten the grip pressure and increase the fluid move a little to build swing momentum to increase the hinge. I am not a big fan of hinging too aggressively with the hands in the backswing as this can increase grip pressure and limit the backswing and the unhinging in the downswing.

Lots of hype on shafts. I personally would continue to improve with what you are using which seems to be working very well. Once you get on the gear merry- go-round, its tough to jump off.

You did right. I doubt you could trim any shaft 2.5 inches from the hosel end and in any event that would drastically stiffen the shaft. To maintain the shaft feel, you remove the grip, cut and reinstall a grip.

I thought Lee said, "its got to stop somewhere, it might as well be at the bottom of the hole."

I respectfully think no one who has ever played the game has attempted to lift or scoop the ball, despite what all the millions of teaching pros and your buddies say. I still believe the scoop is due to the outward motion at the top of the arms, instead of straight down, which causes the left arm to bend forward and cup at the wrist prior to impact which results in a scoop or thin shot. This same outward/in move causes the body to pull up prior to impact. If we were merely just trying to lift the ball, it would be very easy to correct our mindset and error and just hit down, but because the whole thing is the result of a serious swing flaw which is breaking down the left arm, it is difficult for the so afflicted to correct.