DeanS

Well I've spent the last few of months beating the bushes and taking lessons for the express purpose of coming to terms with these little demons. I've been using the setup process in this video and confirmed it as being very good with my instructor last Sunday. However it didn't get me all the way there. I got one step closer after reading this article and other posts here at the Sand Trap. Anyway what it comes down to is the driver setup vs irons/woods setup are noticably different feelings. For the driver at setup lean the upper body left (your right). I'm talkin small amounts perhaps 1 inch. This will promote a sense of hitting up on the ball and a feeling of more weight on the back foot. For the irons/woods slide the right hip (your left) forward. I'm talkin small amounts again. This will promote a sense of hitting down on the ball and a feeling of more weight on the front foot. The distance between the club shaft and your belt buckle should give you the feeling of being able to swing the club freely. If you are crowding the club you will hook the shot. For me the arms feel somewhat extended. Expect that space to be about 6 inches. Ball position, wedges to 3 iron, about middle, driver off the heel. During the setup process try having the club face land on the middle of the ball. If I swing with the right tempo this process works for me. Also a word of caution, do not swing that driver keeping your weight back, I did exactly that and strained my knee.

Nerves, expectations, pace. I shot 12 over on 3 holes at last Saturdays tourny. Went 53 on the front and 41 on the back, probably the best 94 I have ever posted. Actually 91 with adjustments. This happens to me when I go into these things expecting to score well. Got off to a good start, found myself waiting on the 4th tee box, nerves kicked in then shot a 7, then went 8, then 9. It took the rest of the front 9 to settle down and once I got into the back 9 my expectations were gone I shot a good score. My best scores come when I play without expectations. For me its prepare the week ahead and play the game one shot at a time and let the score take care of itself.

I'm going to guess that you want to rotate the clubhead to perpendicular. Sounds like you rotate your shoulders and arms to this point then lift the club such that your arm touches your chin completing the backswing and shoulder rotation. Thats a different process then a continuous combined arm shoulder rotation. My visual says you need to set the club square earlier on the first process. And no on the release unless you are try to hit a low draw. My guess.

I'm right hand dominant. I bat & golf left handed and catch and throw right handed. When I golf I pull hard with the lead hand. What I had to learn early was to strengthen my trailing hand grip and pull the backswing into position. Then relax that grip and pull thru on the downswing. If my head moves I get into big trouble. Lots of interesting comments about feel lately, nice to read.

Ok, maybe "family life rebuilding" was a bad choice of words. I'll sub with "picking up the pieces". With his personal life a mess and minor injuries keeping him away from the game I just think he's having serious second thought about competeing again or at least in the near future.

I've had a feeling for a while now that Tiger is done with golf. I think the injuries combined with his scandal have sapped his strength and his focus now is on rebuilding his family life. I wouldn't be surprised if he retired after the season is over just to avoid too much publicity.

I don't know how best to express this. I've been far to literal with the notion of 13 clubs one swing. One swing for sure but with feel. Anyway I came across this writing might be of interest http://www.golftoday.co.uk/proshop/features/the_big_feeling.html I think it describes well what arogolf was saying.

I am also having the same problem as Spacklers. I'm resonably comfortable with my setup so I'll be trying AroGolf's tip this Wednesday. Had some success last night with the driver. I placed the ball off my front foot with the idea of generating a laid-off feeling in the backswing. Hit a few like that, returned to a normal ball position and was able to hit driver. I think thats a great tip, perhaps I now know what to look for.

Is this true at the practice range. Are you intend on getting up and down when on the course. Maybe just a mindset change. Trevor Imelmon focuses on keeping his head still, Dave Stocton doesn't teach speed, he treats it like an unconcious act. I once had an instructor have me place the club 6 inches above the ball and then swing. I hit the ball. The lesson was that the body auto adjusts to suit the situation. Treat the chip like a putt, know the distance but don't focus on the speed, change the focus to something else like keeping your head still.

To paraphrase a Roger Dunn video these shots are a mini-swing. To execute a mini-swing effectively you need to setup in a finished full swing position, that being an open stance with the weight forward. Michelson says hinge, ball forward. Watson says square the hips to the target. Someone says a narrow stance will position the weight forward. For 40 maybe 50 yards and in I do this: Ball in the middle => easier to make contact. Narrowish & open stance => to get the weight forward & have a completed swing setup. Hips square => to give gravity an assist, promotes more use of the lower body and less arm/hand action during the downswing. I hinge early and keep the lower body quiet during the back swing.

Seems to be that way for me. Went from hitting duck hooks to hitting push draws which morphed into a straight push. From there to staight shots and then to a push fade. Being left handed and being able to hit a fade I was thrilled. Went to the range and thought I'd try hitting a few draws, couldn't do it. Played a game last weekend and all I did was hit duck hooks. Quit after 12 holes and played another 12, same result. Went to the range last night and worked on my swing.

For me its; treat others like you would like to be treated, leave the course as you found it. Its easy to do.

The fool who shows me his bottom teeth and then tells me that's my ball when its not. The moron who drinks Bloody Maries at 9 am in the morning, drives the golf cart like a dune buggy and then tells me I'm spoiling his fun. Idiots. And then after all that the wife who tells me I shouldn't have lost my temper.

Thanx for clearing that up. In my case I was forced in to taking an unusual stance. The ball came to rest in a bush on the left side. I would of have to of swung over top of the bush which was not possible. So declaring a right handed swing was all I could do. Which in turn gave me relief. Nice to know, nice to understand that rule better.

I'm glad I came across this discussion. I had a similar situation playing a Beat the Pro tournament last weekend. Fortunately we had one of the pros in our group. Now I'm left handed and you would think that I would not be entitled to relief. Not so. All I need do is declare that I'm going to hit the ball right handed. That entitles me to take relief as shown above and proceed to swing normally.

For those 30 footers I forward press the putter and apply a chipping feel, hard to explain. Depending on the situation I might also release my trailing elbow to keep the putter head low and going down the line. I agree having constant velocity back and thru feels better to me. However having said that a shorter back stroke will gives me better line control. So for those shots inside 10 feet a short hard/solid feel is what I'm looking for.

Two rules of thumb I was given were 1) for the stoke, its one part back and two parts forward, (not an exact science) this shortens your back swing and forces you to accelerate thru the ball and 2) figure 1" back for each 1 foot of roll (again not an exact science).

We played Beat the Pro last Saturday. One of the pros's played with our group. After hitting his tee shot on the 18th he had to hit a draw from a cut lie to get it around a tree and over a lake in order to get it close to the green, which he did. I didn't get a good look at his setup or swing. I believe he setup slightly right of his target to help avoid the tree and hit a 6 iron. His normal swing is inside - out. The ball came out lower than normal for him. I want to say he hit a pull draw but I don't think that's right. From reading this thread I think it more likely he played the ball back in his stance with the club face more square to the target line. Is my estimation correct?

I've had three lessons from three different instuctors on this topic. The last one I did yesterday and it was the best. Still don't know if I got it but here are my notes: catching raindrops: stance open, hands forward, weight forward club straigt back, rotate upper body hit down on the ball => feels like hitting under the ball hands remain forward after contact => club head is pointing upward catching raindrops. typical forward distance is just past the front foot. => turn the body. very much a putting stroke, maintain the "V" of the arms. the 3 ft chip: stand club on toe, heel up, shaft straight up, shaft forward catch the ball on the toe using a putting stroke ball spins and stops 3 feet out. comes down to chipping lower lofted club, chip & run gives most control higher lofted club want to hit too hard.

I'm not sure what is you're saying but I'd like to know more. Can you post a link? I've seen improvement in my driver thru 4 iron by narrowing my stance to shoulder width. Have to credit the Golf Fix for that one. And I always bend at the knees.

I do that with my 4 iron. My instructor told me it was a power move. Somehow I got it in my head that I needed to swing harder. He suggested hitting 6-10 balls with a wedge to slow down then swing the 4 iron, rinse and repeat and build on that feel.

I'll second that thanx and thanx for the bumb. Tried this yesterday with good success. Also added a Tom Watson tip, square the hips at setup, which allowed me to give gravity an assist.

I play Carlton Oaks here in San Diego almost exclusively. They have hosted a number of PGA events, National Tour First Stage Qualifier, Junior Masters Championship, NCAA West Regional to name a few. Because I play there often and usually as a single I find myself playing with these guys during their practice round. During last years Junior Masters I played with a nice young guy from New Zealand, I think he was 18. Anyway, what he did might be of interest. We both drove carts but his dad walked ahead and spotted the landing area for the tee shot. If he missed he hit again, usually only once but if he missed a 2nd time he hit a third. He always played two shots, sometimes 3, from the fairway into the green. Around the green it was 3 chips or pitches and on the green it was a minimum of two puts.

Well my driver swing speed is 100 mph. A good draw gets me 290-295 yards. I think of my average drive as a 265-270 yard shot. I play a Ping I15 witha a fade bias and a stiff shaft. By the way how many pound/kg to a stone?

Well I feel a bit stupid posting this but it did help me: I suffer from performance anxiety and anger when it comes to my golf game. All it takes is one bad shot. One catastrophe, one mishap, can ruin a perfect day of golf. I tend to feel incompetent when I play poorly as well as get angry and it leads to feeling embarrassed. “Albert Ellis referred to the following perspectives as interfering with capacity to perform in sports to full potential: The belief that you must always have love and approval from all the people you find significant The belief that you must always prove to be thoroughly competent, adequate, and achieving The belief that emotional misery comes from external pressures and that you have little ability to control or change your own feelings The belief that if something seems fearsome or threatening, you must preoccupy yourself with it and make yourself anxious about it The belief that your past remains all-important and that because something once strongly influenced your life, it has to keep determining your feelings and behavior today. (Orlick, 71)” These five perspectives outline performance anxiety. Read more: http://sportales.com/golf/golf-lessons-anger-management-at-a-personal-level/#ixzz1Fxs5odRV