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I went to my first PGA tournament at the Colonial a few weeks ago and saw Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia, Angel Cabrerra, VJ Singh, Jason Day, Trevor Immelman, and many more. Saw these guys one after the other hit easy irons into a 250 yard par 3 like it was no thing. Saw Cabrerra reach a 635 yard par 5 in two with driver and an iron. All of these guys bombed the ball. I realized weekend warriors who think they average about 280 off the tee are out of their minds and have probably never even seen a ball go anywhere close to 300 yards. The best drive I have ever seen any amateur hit, including myself, was comparable to how these guys were hitting easy little hybrids. Their drives were like nothing I've ever seen anybody hit. It was really something else.

Good find. Probably just saved me from having to shell out the money for the v1 premium.

First, I really appreciate the help guys. My swing clearly needs it. Thank you. This board is a great help. I’m going to work diligently on each of these things you guys have listed. johntheJoiner – You know, I really do make a flail at the ball. I’d hardly call it a swing at all. It’s more of a slash. I’m pretty much straight up hacking it. I’d love to have a nice rhythmic swing. In order to see how swinging hard affects my swing one thing I’ve done is to take video of practice swings where I’m trying to swing pretty close to as fast as I can. When I see these swings on video – they look like my other practice swings, relatively OK in comparison to my actual swing. Of course, rhythm and speed are two separate, but related things. I’m definitely going to keep it in mind. Phil McGleno: I have probably some dumb questions. When you say I need to make my left shoulder go down and right hip go up, this is of course referring to the backswing, correct? I understand the down motion with the left shoulder, but I am a little confused with the right hip upward motion Up as in up behind me and towards the target sort of? I just want to make sure I understand because I am going to really work on these recommendations that I’m given here. Uttexas: I hit a few balls today doing the 'something under the right armpit drill', and that really seemed to help. Funny thing is, it’s a very common tip, and I’d seen it recommended a million times, but I guess I never really tried it for more than a few swings. I guess I needed a second opinion as well to make sure that was a drill I definitely needed. I had to really exaggerate the muscle pressure in my armpit area. After awhile, I could start to feel the point in which my shoulders and arms were wanting to come up OTT, but were met with some resistance due to the clamped upper right arm. Hit some nice high draws doing that with a couple divots even pointing out to the right. I didn’t have the camera, but the ballflight was what I’m looking for. I’m definitely going to keep drilling with that. As for the shoulder rotation, you’re right, my shoulder turn currently is more horizontal than vertical. I used to be more vertical but about a year ago I got the idea that I wanted to swing flatter. I will definitely work on that because the way I'm doing it clearly is not correct. That video helps. As for the deep hands, that is a new idea for me. I'm going to have to read that entire thread, and incorporate that as well. Again thanks for the replies so far guys. I really appreciate it. I’m going to work on these suggestions for at least a couple months, probably more. After a few months hopefully my swing improves both in appearance and results and I can come back with new video of a much better swing. If you guys or anyone else out there spots anything else or has any other suggestions or ideas, that would be great. I need to get this sorted out sooner than later.

My swing is so unbelievably jacked up, and I can’t fix it. I need some help, some serious professional help. I see so many problems, major problems, in my swing, that it is really tough to know where to begin. In fact I’m pretty sure I execute almost all the major problems a golfer can have - at the same time. I’m not Charles Barkley type bad here, but I’m not that far off. IMO it really is that bad. I see a lot of beginners at the range who can’t hit the ball but yet I honestly think their swings look infinitely better than mine does. My swing is entirely unacceptable to me. I’m honestly embarrassed to post up such a terrible swing, but I am so desperate to improve my swing, I will try most anything. My main issue that I have been working on is trying to swing from in to out instead of OTT. I have been working on this for a few months now pretty much on every swing. I have heard and tried lots of things. I’ve searched all the major golf forums, and have tried all the common tips for OTT and yet I still do it. I know I do it. I try not to do it. But it’s still there. Now what gets me is I can execute an OK in to out swing during a practice swing. I have no problems doing that. If I could go around the course with my practice swing that would be great. I’d definitely take that. My practice swing probably has some faults too, but I’d take it any day over my actual swing that suddenly shows up when I am actually striking a ball. My practice swing is most definitely infinitely better than my actual swing. Here is my practice swing: Like I say, it’s OK in my book. It’s not a pro caliber golf swing, but I could get around the course with it. It’s definitely serviceable and something to work with imo. But when I actually try and hit a shot, this monstrosity shows up every single time: THIS IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. Like I say, I don’t even know where to begin. There are clearly many major faults with this swing. Here are just some assorted ones I spot: OTT path Straightening of the knees during the backswing Club taken back inside lifting the arms and right shoulder up and OTT during the transition. the right elbow comes up and away from body during the transition In conjunction with the OTT lifting, my head raises up, and then drops down on the downswing. follow through in general is horrendous. I spin out on my left heel and the left toes raise up. My left elbow ends up all down and low behind me rather than nice and folded somewhat correctly like it is in my practice swing follow through. I’m pretty sure I don’t shift my weight forward correctly on to my left side or else I probably wouldn’t spin out with my left foot like that. Also something I noticed recently is that in my practice swing I have a closed face at the top, but in my actual swing, I open the face up at the top during my transitional OTT move. These are just a few things I spot offhand. I’m sure there are many more. I’ve tried lots of things to cure each of these issues individually by themselves in addition to some things I’m probably forgetting. I mean I used to not be able to hit a single ball out of 100 with a draw. But now I can draw probably about 4 out of 10 on the range. So there has been some improvement. But every time I look at my swing on video it’s pretty much the same old thing, maybe very marginal improvement here and there, but nothing major when I see my swing on video. I don’t want just marginal improvement, I want pretty much the complete reverse of what I’m doing. What gets me is a lot of these things don’t show up in my practice swing. Anyways, I know my swing is a complete mess and has a ton of issues. If anyone has some insight though for just one of these things that would be great. I am completely determined to get this swing sorted out. Coming OTT like this and hitting weak pull slices and pulls with this crappy swing is no way to keep playing this game. I feel that I can play so much better than this. I’m going to get my first lesson this coming week or next to try and start sorting out this OTT move, in addition to the rest of my problems. I’m also going to be ordering an inside approach training aid and hitting balls with that to see if that helps. And maybe a few other training aids if that one doesn’t help me. I’m open to any ideas really because what I’m doing clearly isn’t working. Honestly there’s so many problems I might have to totally scrap my swing, which would be fine. But I figured I would try and get some help here too.

You'd think coaches would know better, but I had a coach with two students cut right in front of me a few weeks ago. I was finishing up on 17 and then I see them coming from some other part of the course and proceeding to the 18th teebox. Then when I walk up, they ask me if I "wanna hit". I don't get these people. If you're heading in and want to play 18, at least don't cut in front of people on 17.

I also play a square head three wood. I occassionaly get some curvature, but it's rarely all that much. The majority of the time it's predominately pulls, straight shots, or pushes. Not suprising as that is what the club was designed to do. I fight an over the top swing, and with regular clubheads, I'll get a fade of some sort, but with the nike my out to in swingpath turns into a pull.

Maybe try getting your swing on video. That helped me get out of a long slump I was in.

I bought a Titleist 690 mb 9 iron off ebay to both try out a blade and to substitute for a lost ping 9 iron in my set. I've hit that blade great overall actually. Had my best iron shot of the day out on the course with it today.

Yes, the fitter will get you all sorted out with what specs are best for your personal swing. I personally don't know much about snt, but there are some guys on here who know a lot about it.

When I get fit for my driver, we found I hit down with an -3 degree angle of attack. As a result I got a ridicilous amount of backspin, 6000 rpms, which was killing my distance. I got hardly any roll either. We got spin down 2,000 rpms by going to a lower lofted head (8.5).

I play a Titleist 690MB for my 9 iron. I play it because I lost my 9 iron months ago, and decided to purchase a single 9 iron blade off ebay to see for myself what the big deal was. The only major difference I really noticed was that the swingweight of the Titleist blade was much heavier than the Ping I3's cavity backs I normally play. Flushed shots feel good on both and bad shots feel like bad shots with both. I guess I've never swung a true modern SGI iron, but I doubt hitting off the toe with a SGI produces a flush feel.

Here's the thing imo - just because pro's hit down with the driver doesn't necessarily mean they are hitting it optimally in regards to distance. In a related article I was reading, they noted that Tiger and JB Holmes had similar numbers such as swing speed, but differed in their angle of attack. Tiger hit driver with about a -3 angle of attack. JB Holmes hit driver with a +3 angle of attack. As a result, Holmes drove it further. http://www.lifeintherough.com/2009/0...ver-yet-again/

I bought into the hit down method after reading the Clampett book and it messed up my driver swing. When getting fit for a driver we found that I hit down with an attack angle of -3 degrees on average. As a result my spin numbers were ridiculous, as high as 6,000 rpms. Optimal spin for me they said was 2700 rpms. The high spin hurt my distance big time. I got fitted into a low spin low launch driver which improved spin to 4000 rpms, which is still high. http://www.golf.com/golf/gallery/art...381-14,00.html ^^On that page you can see the results of a study done with many golfers summed up in a table that shows the effects of angle of attack on distance for a range of swing speeds. -5 produced the lowest distance, and +5 produced the most distance.

I love mine. I can get a reading usually in about 10 seconds or so. I found several of my course markers to be off by as much as 20 yards. Others were accurate. I pay the markers no attention any more and just use the rangefinder. I also find at driving ranges that their posted adjusted distances for the day tend to be off as well.

I can think just a few days ago when I was on a par 4 and was inside of the 150 pole and I would have roughly estimated the distance to a roughly center cut pin to be about 135-140 ish. I lasered the flag though and it was actually 166. Same deal on another hole, I can remember standing right at the 150 pole, lasering the center cut pin, and it was actually 170. I pay no attention to markers anymore and just use my rangefinder for distances.

I got fit for a driver recently and I must say that I will never buy another golf club without getting fit. $55 dollars for an iron fitting is a steal if it's a good fitting. A good fitting is worth the money and some imo. The only small downside is you can drive yourself crazy thinking about all the options, numbers, and data while going through the process.

Knowing your distances is essential to playing good golf imo. Once I got a rangefinder, I found the markers at my course were not reliable. A few were accurate, but many were off by as much as 20 yards. Once I found out my distances I figured out it was not about hitting perfect shot after perfect shot, but about hitting within a known range.

I got a clicgear cart close to when I first started playing around 25 years of age. I love mine. And if people only carry out of pride thats just dumb.

I hit an 8.5 degree SuperTri w/ Fujikura Motore F1 S shaft in a fitting recently. It was one of the clubs that was a good match for me. I almost bought it, but went for a Titleist 909D3 w/ Blueboard 73 S shaft instead. But that all dark color was pretty sharp. The balls would leave a mark on the face so you could see where you hit it. Felt pretty solid overall imo. Shots just seemed to be nothing but straight and long.

a well struck long iron shot that lands close to the pin a longish (~20ft) breaking putt that's read perfectly and sinks into the hole well played short and mid iron approaches long drives close short game shots

The exact number for smash factor is actually 1.47. I just rounded up. I don't know anything about most of these numbers or clubfitting, so didn't think that extra .03 would be a big difference. But yes, 1.47 smash factor to be exact.

Ok, so I just got back from a driver fitting with CoolClubs at Haney's place in Lewisville. I sent an email to The Golf Station with some questions, but they never got back with me so I just went with CoolClubs. I will say that I will never buy another golf club without getting fit, probably not even a putter. The experience was great, informative, and the guy helping me out was very helpful. It was not awkard at all. I am currently playing a Ping G5 10.5 with regular flex shaft. I explained that a good drive for me was only about 230 with plenty below that, and once or twice a round I crank one out to 250. But I hit lots of drives around 200 as well. I also explained that I have a high ball flight and get no or little roll. First, I warmed up a little. Then, he got me on the trackman system with my Ping G5. My average was 212 yds! The longest was 246. I had an average swing speed of 100. He seemed most concerned with my spin rate, which was 6126. I had a smash factor of 1.4, launch angle 15.5, and ball speed of 140. There's lots of other numbers he gave me too such as club path, vertical and horizontal swing plane, dynamic loft, and a few more. He reccomended a lower loft and stiffer shaft. So we tried a TaylorMade R9 SuperTri 8.5 with stiff shaft, and a Ping G15 9.0 with stiff shaft. I hit the TM 8.5 the best and had my average distance up to 250! The longest were 270. The TM driver decreased my spin rate to 4067, smash factor increased to 1.5, and launch angle lowered to 13.5. Swing speed stayed about the same, around 100. I was not trying to kill it, I was just taking nice firm brisk swings, but nothing outside my limits, just a normal swing. The 8.5 TM also was much tighter in dispersion. I didn't hit the Ping that great and was actually slicing it some. He ended up reccomending the TM R9 8.5 degree driver, and a Titleist 909D3 8.5. The shaft reccomendation was a Fujikura Motore F1 65 stiff (torque 3.3, Dr1? - 6.1). A Ping Rapture V2 was also reccomended, but in 9 degree. So now my dilemmia is that I'm not really all that partial to TaylorMade. I'd like to get the 909D3, but it is a 440cc head rather than 460 cc head. He said the D3 was a good fit for me and a good head, but not as good performing as the TM. I'm not really sure though as I never even hit it. I would rather play Titleist than TaylorMade, and I can't find any Pings Raptures in 8.5 degrees. Will I really notice much of a difference between a 460cc vs a 440cc driver? Thanks.

You can drop very fast from a high handicap to a mid or even single digit handicap if you are working on the correct things and making the right movements. If you are not working on the correct things, you can get sidetracked for months or even years. I've dropped my handicap from 21 to about an 11 this season. It's mainly been from learning about the swing, practicing, and seeing my swing on video. Turns out I had a reverse pivot, and no rotational hip movement, only lateral. After working on the correct backswing and overall pivot movement for only a few days, I went out and almost broke 80 a couple times. I was previously a mid 90's player. Basically, you can improve fast if you are working on the correct things.

I'm looking to get fit for specs for a driver. I was thinking about going to the Hank Haney fitting center in Lewisville. But I also was searching on the internet and found a supposedly top 100 ranked clubfitter in Euless at a place called The Golf Station. I of course know about the big retail outlets such as PGA Superstore etc, which are also an option if they do a good job. Are there any other options or reccomendations I should be aware of in or near the DFW when it comes to club fitting? What should I expect from a fitting?