IlliniBoy

I get that it is true that the ball is hit at different points in the "C" depending upon the club. What I'm wondering is, what creates the higher "C" with a wood or driver that allows the club to clear the ground at the bottom? If the swings were absolutely identical, after all, the bottom of the C would catch turf every time. Obviously that isn't true, and there must be some physical reason for it. Is it the greater axis tilt? Something else?

Sorry for all the questions! I hope that as I get better I can contribute more and ask less. My understanding that a proper swing with an iron will come down on the ball, while I proper swing off the tee with a driver or woods will come "up" on the ball (or at least will come down on the ball at a much lower rate). Is the placement of the ball at setup the only thing that creates this difference? Or is there something in the swing itself that should be different? A related question is this: if a "driver swing" and an "iron swing" are basically the same except that the ball is further forward with the driver, what accounts for normal driver swings not being fat every time? It seems like if your setup is the same every time, and if your normal setup results in a divot a little after the midpoint on an iron swing (just past the ball), then the result would be hitting the ground just before the ball on every driver swing? Sorry if these are dumb questions. I've been reading and watching all the videos I can find --- they are extraordinarily helpful --- but this isn't something I've seen discussed.

Nice. I'll try it when I go to the range, hopefully tomorrow.

Thanks everyone. This is becoming a very expensive hobby.

If taking the occasional divot with my driver is causing this, then I'm going to break a club a month for the rest of the time I play this game.

This definitely isn't anger related. I was actually pretty happy with how the range session was going, all things considered. And then THWACK.

I've been playing for about three months now, and in that time I've managed to break three clubs, all 3 woods. The first was a new TaylorMade club that broke about five days after I purchased it. The clubhead went flying onto the driving range and I never got it back, so that was about $200 wasted. I bought a refurbished Ping next. That club broke in the middle of a class on driving, but I at least got the clubhead back on that one, and Ping was nice enough to send a replacement shaft. Now this morning I've broken that replacement shaft. Is there something about my swing that could cause this? I thought at first the problem might be me putting too much weight on the club while leaning over to tee the ball, but I've been extra careful not to do that with the latest shaft. My coach thinks it could be from hitting the shaft with the ball on occasion and creating a weakness that presents on a later swing, but I don't really shank any shots (I have a million other problems, but shanks aren't really one of them). After three breaks in less than three months I think I can rule out bad luck. I attached a picture of the latest clubhead and shaft below. All of the breaks have been pretty similar. Any ideas? The fear of breaking another one is starting to mess with my swing, and this latest break isn't going to help matters.

Snuck in six holes this morning. Things aren't all bad. Started off with an honest double bogey, double bogey, bogey, triple bogey, which for me is great. Usually ball striking is my main problem, but for the first few holes it was short game and putting, which is fine. I actually overhit three greens in the first five holes, which never happens for me and says I'm getting more distance on my irons in real game conditions. Was going to play nine but things started to fall apart on me and I decided to quit while I still felt good about things. This is the first time I've gone out and felt like I have something to build on.

I just took up golf about two months ago. Unfortunately, I find that I'm drowning in information. It seems like I do absolutely everything wrong, and "fixing" one thing only creates three or four more problems. If I go to the driving range and hit 50 balls, I'll make solid contact with maybe 10 of them. I'm reasonably young (29) and have played sports all my life but I can't only hit my 3 wood past 160 yards or so. My five iron goes only a little less. All this is very discouraging. I've started taking lessons but, again, the info I get there seems to contradict what I see elsewhere. For example, my coach is trying to get me to "flip my hands" more, but everything I read and see says *not* to flip your hands. My head is all turned around at this point. Sorry to vent. I'll try to post a swing when I have a chance. I don't really have good equipment to do so but I'll find a way.