BristolGolf

I am going to focus on my 5 wood and mini driver next - I need a reliable 200 yards off the tee to bring my scores down and a 200 yard recovery shot with my 5 wood. I will be at the range on the weekend so will post some footage of my driver swing, it is now a reliable push slice! My instructor has suggested it is down to slow hands which you mentioned, he feels everything is right to hit it much better than I do but with a long stick in my hands I am not turning the clubhead over, i.e my release is delayed - he has had my forcing what feels like a casting motion, but I worry that this will mess up the work I put in with the irons, so I will get a second opinion here with a new range video of my driver swing.

Had a fun round and scored my first birdie this weekend, it should have been a hole in one! I was literally 10 inches form the hole, I had 47% GIR which for me is just nuts. I have been working on my wrist set on the back swing as you suggest Eric, in the end I bought a cheap swingyde and a short practice club (A weighted small gizmo with grip trainer and a short shaft with weights) - it really helped, as soon as I picked up some confidence I was hitting some great shots, one of them here, I am obviously guilty of raising up on the back swing still, and that right foot does seem to come up early, but it is better.

Portugal mate - specifically the Algarve, it is the goto place in Europe for sunny golf breaks and it is rammed with courses to play.

A dusting of snow here in the UK today - I have been able to get out most weekends but struggling to get playing partners sticking to tee times because it is so darn cold, and those that do only want to play par 3 courses :( So another par 3 it is tomorrow - I have just got my hands on some new thermals and am looking to pick up a new putter from the pro shop tomorrow so that might cheer me up, oh! And I am off to the island of Menorca in July for a round with my son so well pleased at the prospect of that. I really need the weather to sort itself out, I am getting properly depressed, I need shorts, obscenely bright polo shirts and sunshine on the golf course now please.

Managed to get out today, with a duel purpose! The wife did sort me out with a new GoPro for xmas so I was able to grab my first ever footage, a few swing shots in here, but the swing has been set back with a lack of practice over the holidays, I am posting here more as a reference so I can look back over the year at progress and I am also feeling rather chuffed at the quality of the video!

I make bad decisions on the course driven by a desire to be playing golf, rather than playing safe. Another factor is that my good shots are OK, in that down range video that is an 8 iron sailing past the 150 marker dead straight into the darkness, but my bad shots often end up sailing in exactly the same way out of bounds or into the woods because even my bad shots get distance, see the slice? It went over the fence and vanished into the fields beyond, my blow up holes end up being 8s and 9s as I end up with penalty strokes, drops and lost balls. I think if I rained in that over swing as you suggest I might lose distance but gain more control which should also help me stay in play. I am going to get out on the course between xmas and the new year and play a tactical round alone with the focus on playing safe to see if I can card a score, I might feel better if I can end the year with a round under 100.

Thank you iacas - I do actually have some notes on my phone about my over swing, I noticed it before and my teacher did point it out as well, I think it has developed because it does not feel very powerful to only bring my shoulder up to my chin, this is where I was then rising up out of the stance, I am not moving as much but the arm motion has now been grooved in and I seem to have a rather flexible shoulder enabling that to happen. I have never noticed how high my chin is! Regarding your point about the time i have been playing, do you think that is just down to confidence and experience? i.e the longer I play the more I will own my swing and have confidence in it? Is time the only cure there? I will work on those two things and post some new video if the Mrs delivers my shiny new GoPro on xmas day

To be honest (and as a few folk here will know) I am not sure I am getting great instruction - I have not actually been given any drills by my pro, he works with me in a lesson with almost no goal or target, it is more of a troubleshooting 30 min session and he often leaves me more confused than anything else, that being said I am now working on my backswing, stopping my shoulders from tilting so that my spine angle is better, I did had a tendency to lean to my right during my swing, it is much better now. I have come up with my own practice plan, which is 1) club drop drill for hip rotation 2) A focus on arm extension during the down swing, I was scoping before and you might notice in the video that I still have a scoop motion at impact - i do this by pretending there are two balls and I swing at the imaginary second ball (two ball drill?) I have no idea what my priority should be, but I think that I need a reliable tee shot and the ability to hit my irons with some consistency - If I could drive 250 without a wild slice and hit an iron 150 yards straight I am in the game. My main issue is that when I am in front of the ball I still have no idea what i should be doing with my swing, how the hips work, what my shoulders should be doing, if I was at the range for an hour and you were watching me you would see maybe six different swings... Left knee moving in towards the right Left knee pushing out Shoulders tilting shoulders not tilting Starting downswing with a bump Starting downswing with shoulders or hands The worst part is that mentally I know I am doing those things and when I am on the course my head is filled with swing thoughts because i just don't have my own swing yet.

Right I have stuck a swing thread up *cringe*

I've been Playing Golf for: 5 Months My current handicap index or average score is: handicap unknown! I shoot on average 115 My typical ball flight is: anywhere! The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: slice and hook Firstly sorry for the mobile phone footage and the night time recording it is not ideal but better than nothing and sorry for such a poor swing! I have a GoPro on the xmas list so will provide better video in the future. I have posted a few threads asking for advice and have been asked to post a swing thread so.. here we go. on the downrange clip I have shown three shots, one cleared 150 with an 8 iron, the next shot was a wild slice then I hit a clean shot but without the distance of that first one which really sums up my game, I would say that one in three shots fly straight and true, the rest a slice or hook or I top it (topping is rare but it happens). I think my key issue is that I am clearly struggling to square the club face on impact. The facing footage I spliced two shots together, both were OK but show the hip rotation and shoulder turn I am trying to work on, to be honest it was a bad range session today. I have mentioned before - I am taking lessons, I have had seven now and have for in the bank with the same pro - and I practice twice a week and try and get at least 9 holes a week in (it is winter months during summer i was out doing 18 a week even if I was alone). Videos:

OK I should be able to get to the range in daylight tomorrow so will grab my tripod and throw up a swing thread. I appreciate you taking the time to respond iacas I am always blown away by how friendly the golfing community is.

Women's underwear aside - did you guys have any thoughts on the shoulder turn point made by my pro? The sentiment of the original post was around having to change my swing recently to incorporate that feedback and I am not convinced that it is actually good instruction. I do appreciate that you need to see my swing so I will post up some video this week for you.

I know what you're saying and you are right - I do believe that if I took a 7, 8 9 and a couple of wedges out I could break 100. I can carry my 7 around 160 my 8 130-150 and my 9 is good up to 150 with a thump, as I mentioned under 100 I have a semi decent pitch shot, I can play bogey and double bogey golf like that for sure, but I don't want to JUST break 100 at any cost, I want to learn how to play. My goal is to be able to hit driver and bang it 300 yards then launch an iron onto the green and hole it for par, over and over and over again while women throw underwear at me and men marvel at my athletic ability :) Edit: Also worth noting that my 7 8 and 9 are my best clubs, the 7 is where it starts getting bad, so the longer the club the worse the hooks and slices get for me.

I would say that what I have is more of a spasm, with a golf club in my hands. I will record my next range session to get the right footage for the swing thread content - I guess I am due some public feedback :)

Yes - in fact that is mostly how I hit my wedges, stacked up to the left (not as stacked as that fella mind), it is one of the better parts of my game - I spent a week working on a simple pitch shot from within 100 yards to save me from scores of 130+ - put me within 100 yards and I am confident, put a putter in my hand and I am happy, drivers and irons are my problem because the motion of a full swing is just alien to me still. I am actually to embarrassed to do a swing thread, my swing really is that bad :)

I have only been playing since July but have had eight lessons and played a LOT - my swing has changed so many times, mainly due to following unstructured teaching and consuming to much information online. I am getting better but still shooting an average of 115 with serious issues off the tee and shocking iron play. My last lesson was an odd one, the pro told me that I had a solid setup, good grip and should be hitting the ball far better - he then had me work on my backswing turn, placing the club across my chest he told me that on my backswing there should be no tilt of the club, the turn should be against my right leg, hips rotating into that leg, spine angle maintained with my head pointing at the ball, essentially he was trying to get me to maintain angles as I do have a tendency to bob around on the backswing and I was leaning to the right as well, the "fix" was to really work on staying solid in front of the ball and not tilt the shoulders on my backswing, imagine the club held across your chest, he was saying the club should remain horizontal as I turn, before I was making the club tilt, the left side side towards the ball the right into the air, so he had me simply not tilt the club as I held it across my chest and made my turn. Now I realise many people do tilt the shoulder as they rotate, but his advice was to not do this - and I have been working on that since at the range along with some drills to get a better hip turn, but it just does not feel right! To be fair to him I do think that I am striking my irons a lot better, they actually launch with some distance now, but i am still struggling to square the face at impact causing a mix of hooks and slices along with some decent straight shots, but it can at times go any which way still, the hooks are far worse than than slices with the irons these days, but they are not as wild as they once were, some people think I am hitting a draw or a fade - which I am certainly not intending to do. I am so frustrated! I must be on my fifth iteration of a swing, it is no wonder I am not consistent, I don't have a swing to practice as it changes every few lessons. I played with a guy yesterday who had not played in ten years, only made half swings with a 7, 8 and 9 iron with a very flippy armsy swing and shot 18 strokes less than me in a round, why? Because he was not thinking about a world of advice and swing mechanics. My latest swing is really bothering me, the shoulder thing seems to be against everything I can see online, I would be interested in your thoughts.

I didn't know this was a thing, I just looked at some old "I want to be a pro" threads linked by another poster and I am literally in tears laughing. I don't get it! Golf is all about honesty and beating yourself, why are there so many of these people boasting about imaginary achievements to people they will probably never meet? I started this year and I have never broken 100 and I shot 104 on a par 54 course last week, after I had a beer in celebration, it wasn't the best score I have had on that course (that was 93) but I hit some great shots and could feel real improvement in my technique, I played better than the 93 I recorded before, on that round the weather was better (frozen greens this time around). That is what golf is about, at least it is to me! What is the motivation behind all of those threads? I find it really random.

Did the OP vanish without showing any proof?

I would imagine that the laws of physics dictate that it should due to the compression of the ball, a faster swing will result in more compression so the ball will remain on the clubface that bit longer but I cant imagine it would be anything you could really notice? Think about a car impacting an object at 10mph and then the same at 30mph - the object would remain in contact with the car longer at a faster speed and the distance it as thrown once contact was broken would be further - I am not a real golf techy but I would suspect that is where increased distances with higher swing speeds comes from as well. I would be intersted in having a geek chime in to clarify if my assumptions are correct, or have I ASS-U-ME ?

The first time I picked up a putter (without ever having played) and swung it is the very same grip and swing I use to this very day. I essentially grip as per normal with my left hand and then with the right hand I wrap it around in a split grip and use my index finger to anchor the shaft very low down on the grip, the index finger rests beyond the grip against the actual shaft. My swing is a shoulder based swing - over the ball with varied length to control distance. I have never had an issue with putting, it is the most comfortable part of my game and it is the only part where I just picked up a club and used instinct to figure out, there might be something in that you know! Edit: I just realised that actually I have changed one thing, and that is stopping behind the ball to correctly align myself and the ball, but I really don't faff around that much, I ensure the arrows point at the hole, get behind the ball for a peek at the line and hit it with confidence.

Played a frozen course yesterday - it was funny, you cant stop a ball on a green and the bunkers were like ice skating rinks - I am still plugging away as I figure it can only be helping my game, if i can play on that I can play on anything, right?

What is happening in this thread? I read every post but still don't have a Jimmy Choo.

Tee it up - very low, with a red castle tee pushed in as far in as i can shove it, why make life harder?

It would have to be my 9i that club is my old trusted friend, it can make an accurate 150 - which on most par 4's will get me to the green with a shot at par, I would say the 8i but the shorter club just has that additional accuracy and I am confident that i could get out of a bunker with a 9 and chip with it as well.

So I have been putting in the hours at the range working on my irons, and following advice here I am being a stupid monkey and following my pros advice to focus on my back swing and ensure that my right leg remains static and that in my back swing I am feeling the pressure against the right leg, this has the feeling of a shorter swing (although actually it is not as short as it feels!) - it is slowly having an impact, but I am working on it still. The issue I have had is that at the end of a session I pick up my 5 wood (I am using that off the tee for now) and I cant hit it for love nor money. Last night at the end of a session I took hold of my mates driver, and without any swing thoughts smashed the ball 250-300 yards five times in a row, I then picked up my 5 wood and for a few shots launched it 200+ yards (a couple of slices but it launched, before it was wild shanks). My question is - with my driver (and 5 Wood) I am swinging on a very intended inside to out path, when i do this and forget the advice about my right leg and shorter back swings, all is good, but I cant hit my irons with that swing - is it normal to have a completely different swing for the long clubs V the irons? I would ask my pro but he tells me to leave the long clubs in the bag - which is fine but I still want to play golf :)