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I have always done the same as above posters, hitting "flop shots" like bunker shots - essentially opening the club face, and swinging along my "foot line". Phil Mickelson just had a golf digest article saying that these types of shots lead to shanks, and that instead, he does it by keeping the clubface open through the shot, not by opening his stance and cutting across the ball.

Yes, soft-tissue injuries can take a long time to heal. But if you haven't already, and considering how long it's taking to heal, you should definitely go see a doctor just to make 100% sure that the injury is not a manifstation of something else.

Agree with iacis above. Ball is not "bouncing" or "pinching" off the turf. The other thing I want to correct is that you spin the ball better from a fairway because there is not grass getting between the club grooves and the ball, not because you can "pinch" it better.

Wow. I thought European History was hard to understand. Seriously though, it sounds to me like you have a swing path that's too inside-out, and you are compensating by opening your stance. You've essentially flattened out your swing too much. The different results with different clubs probably have to do with ball position in relation to your swing path. I would regroup - align square to your target - and try to get the feeling of swinging more steeply for a while. You need to find that balance.

It sounds to me like you are releasing the lag in your swing early. That may be why your divot begins behind the ball no matter where your ball placement. When I was doing thisi my instructor had me do the following: Put the ball on an uphill lie, and stand so that you'll hit the ball up the hill. Grab a SW, and take swings by letting your arms just fall towards the ball on the downswing without manipulating the club. It should feel like your hands are very passive, and that the clubhead comes down late into the downswing. You'll know that you're doing it properly when you hear the "click" of the ball indicating you hit the ball first. The ball will also go pretty high because you are on an upslope and because you are hitting down on the ball properly. Once you master this, try it on a flat lie, and you'll eventually feel that you are hitting the ball first, not the ground. Good luck!

Zach Johnson has a pretty flat swing. I've heard commentators saying his swing looked a lot like Hogan's.

As the old joke goes: Tell her it's best to start off easy with the #1 iron. Then tell her to make it even easier, take a nice downhill lie, and then swing easily.

Just looked at your own analysis. Pretty good! I guess you know what you need to work on. Just need to work on it. Since I've had some of these issues, especially the head drop, here's what's helped me. 1. You can only try to fix one thing at a time. For instance, if you work on keeping your head level, just focus on that. Don't worry about outcome for a while, because your brain can only handle one change at a time. 2. For keeping your head level. Have a friend stand in front of you and keep a club level on top of your head. Try to maintain contact with the club throughout the swing. Focus on keeping your spine angle steady. 3. For the looping issue, I would try to focus on keeping your hands in front of your chest through the swing. You'll notice that bring you on to a steeper plane - and then letting them fall in front of your body on the way down. I wouldn't try this until I got my head and spine angle steady though. Good luck!

If you look at your club plane on the backswing and the downswing, you'll see that you are steeper on the downswing. It looks like you're redirecting the club, instead of letting it fall back on plane. I would try to take the club back on a higher plane, and then come in from inside more. The other thing I see is your head dropping quite a bit on the backswing, which can force you to stand up and come out of the shot before impact. Try to keep it level.

Your club face may be closed to the target line, but open to swing path. In other words, if you are slicing, your club face is open to your swing path. Hence the good suggestion from the previous poster on checking you alignment.

Well, since he "always" chips and 1 putts (an up and down average of 100%), it's very possible he only "averages" 17-25 putts a round. By the way, Mr. William Le Wolf, that's a range, not an average. Oh, and since the French have already given you a nickname. I suggest us Americans give you one as well. How about the Welsh Pete Rose?

Cigarnut, I was just pointing you to Wikipedia as a reference. Please point me to your research. I'd be curious. I won't have trouble understanding it, as I studied (and taught) quite a bit of physics. By the way, no need to pity me. You can pity my golf game - but otherwise I'm OK :)

Iacas and Cigarnut81, "sweet spot" is not a scientific term like center of gravity (and is actually more closely related to the the center of oscillation (or center of percussion), than to center of gravity. In terms of it's size, the center of oscillation is described as an equation. There is no "size". Here's a difficult to understand explanation from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_oscillation :)

Pulls are caused by an out to in swing path with a clubface that is closed to the target, but square to the path of the out to in swing. As for the fix, hard to tell without seeing your swing.

A "sweet spot" in a golf club is the location on the clubface where the force of the ball hitting back on the club is best offset by the forward swing motion. In other words, it's the spot in which the club will twist the least on impact. There have been a ton of studies on sweet spots that try to calculate yardage loss when you miss the sweet spot, but it depends on the club. Every club has its own sweet spot. Driver Manufacturers usually try to designate the location of the spot on the clubface with some markings. Putter manufacturers usually put a line behind the spot. Sweet spot in sports refers to an area, not some tiny "spot". Some clubs have larger areas of acceptable performance than others - and thus claim larger sweet spots. Perimeter weighting, invented by Karsten (Ping), substantially changed the size of the sweet spot on golf clubs.

If you're thinking of doing it, I would suggest two things. 1. Ask the instructor for a quick meeting to see if you like him/her. 2. If you do, and really want to drop your handicap that much, forget about your full swing, and work only on putting and chipping. Of course, I never do this, which is why I'm an 18

Agree with previous post. Sounds like an over-the-top move. After a lot of work, I no longer come over the top. I still block shots, but at this point, I'd rather do that than pull One thing that helped me is to start with 1/4 and 1/2 swings, esentially pitches, and really work on making sure the ball starts out to the right. Don't worry about the result of the swing, just make sure the ball starts a bit right. One nice thing about smaller shots is that the same over-the-top flaw will most likely emerge, but it will be easier for you to self-correct than in a full shot, in which there are many more variables. Once you get the feeling for how to bring the club in from inside on a 30 yard pitch, you can start increase your swing length and see if you can get the club into the right position coming down from a full backswing.

Where does your ball flight start out? Does is start out to the right of target and then hook? Start straight and hook? Start left and keep going? The direction your ball starts out will tell you your swing path. If it starts to the right, your path is in to out, if it starts to the left, your path is out to in. The direction and amount your ball spins tells you the clubface angle in relation to your swing path at the moment of impact. For example, if you are hooking the ball, the clubface is closed in relation to your swing path. The most common malady with longer clubs for higher handicapped players is an outside in path, which makes the ball start out to the left. Then if your clubface is open in relation to the swing path, you get a classic slice, which starts to the left of target and then curves to the right. If, however, your clubface is closed in relation to your path, you'll get a low ball that starts to the left and hooks further left.

Yes. Correcting your path is the first step. Once you get the path more inside to out, you can work on squaring the clubface.

To me, this sounds like a basic, steep, over-the-top move. Swiping across the ball can make the ball go high and short if the clubface is open. Been there, done that :). You may be doing this more with the irons than woods, which is not uncommon as longer clubs make your swing flatter to begin with. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a simple fix to this, since so many things can set you on a steep downswing path (head dipping, poor weight shift, etc.). Good luck!

I think Alcorn is spot-on. The deep divots are most likely from a too-steep swing path - they probably also point left of the target. Lesson time.