timtim

If your question is: I don't have a clue how to swing a golf club, will hitting smaller half speed shots with out teacher and without video and no idea of what I am doing help me to miraculously improve my full swing a la wax on wax off from the movie The Karate Kid? My answer is no. Back when I was first taking lessons, I would spend hours hitting smaller easy shots to the point where I was awesome with crisp contact and everything when hitting small short easy shots. But I never could get that to move up to my full swing, because I was not turning on the small shots like I needed to on the full swing shots. If your question is: I already know how to swing a golf club, will hitting smaller half speed shots help me? I would say yes, it will help you with your timing. When my timing is off, smaller shots, and punch shots, help me get my natural timing back. And then, because I have worked on the full swing, I can move up to the full swing with the same timing, just longer and faster. Secret tip just for you: the smaller swing helps you get control of your timing because timing of the golf swing is not about actual speed or about the actual length of the swing, it is about the relationship of the rotational speed of the hands/arms IN RELATIONSHIP to the turning of the hips.

I have read it was 1 out of every 4. My question is, when he plays a more difficult course, what changes for him, his handicap, or the course's par? Is it possible that he is not making a calculation based on the course that is even making playing to his handicap more difficult? I would think that if I were a 7 on one par 72 course, I would either be a 9 on a more difficult course, or I would still be a 7 and the course would be a 74 for me. How does that work? He could be shooting an 81 and actually shooting his handicap even if he was used to shooting a 79 on his old course.

I am sorry if you already know the below stuff, and are simply asking about how the shaft stiffness effects the things you mentioned. If you are interested in that stuff, you also need to look at the flex point and the torque. Shafts with a higher flex point keep the ball lower, and shafts with a lower torque should hit the ball more consistently straighter. Playing with firmer grips also help you be more consistent with your direction. Those soft sponge grips can twist in your hands. If you look at the http://www.aldila.com/ web site, you will notice that they list what their shafts expected launch angle is, and what the torque is. And you will notice that the heavier shafts have lower torque numbers. I would recommend going to a heavier stiff shaft with lower torque numbers before going to an x stiff shaft, if you are on the margin. Here is a wonderful page: http://www.fittingworks.com/Technolo...criptions.aspx Here is another great page. Warning, the following web page will keep you looking at it for maybe hours: http://www.titleist.com/909_driver_g...iver_Stock.pdf It shows all the shafts available in Titleist 909 drivers, and where they compare on launch and spin. Fantastic.

I think you need to see yourself on video. You need to find a Hank Haney style of teacher who is not out to fix or rebuild your swing, but instead is looking for a few key points to improve upon. Someone who can video you and then work with you on what you do when you "feel" good and then when you "feel" bad. Someone who is willing to work with you, instead of teach you. Then find a place with a big mirror where you can work on your positions. Maybe in a karate dojo near your house. I actually will set my swing plane using a laser pointer I got at Radio Shack, using it to determine the direction the butt of the club is pointing, and then, looking back at the mirror, put post-it notes on a big mirror at my hand and club position points of club pointing exactly at the ball, club pointing 90 degrees up, and then at club at full swing, and then swing while looking back at the mirror to check my positions. Keeping my feet in the same place. You have to do this differently for different clubs, because the plane will be different. Here is a secret that I have noticed, don't tell anyone, this is just between you and me, your swing plane is messed up more by your body and head and right hip position than what your hands do. You don't want your hands correcting problems with your hip or knee or head. If I keep my right hip and my right knee from moving very much during the backswing, and don't let my head move back away from the target, my club goes up right on plane, and then if I keep that head position, while I rotate my hips, I hit the ball exactly where I aimed. It is funny, but when move my head away from the target on the backswing, my backswing is flatter, and I fade/slice the ball a little bit, and I feel the toe of the club hitting the ground as I feel like I am flipping the club. Knowing this stuff about your swing does not make you more mechanical at all. Instead, it helps you to know that to hit the next ball correctly on the course, you don't need to "fix" anything, just concentrate on what your best swing is.

Found this good video today that compares 300 and 60 fps:

Dave Peltz wrote that book Short Game Bible, where he recommended three swings, and recommended figuring out distances with each wedge with each swing, and gave a typical chart to start with. That system is money. No doubt about it.

Really laughing out loud at this. Too funny.

Grade your course management. Give yourself an A for a hole if on every shot, when you are done and are thinking back, you used the best course management you could have based on the information you knew at the time. You used the right club, you picked the right shot, picked a shot you had practiced before, and did not take a large risk for too little reward, and did not get mad, and did not think about the last bad shot or the next hole while you should have only been thinking about the one next shot. If golf is x percent mental, then you need to keep track of where you are on that issue.

One entire bucket dedicated to fixing your iron swing.

JC Video does not recommend Sony cameras with variable frame rate. I do not know why. It may be that even though Sony says that their cameras are good at recording for slow motion, they may not be good for recording video that you drag and drop into a split screen where you compare one swing to another.

I agree with the above. MWs actual driving stats are accomplished by the tour in a very very conservative way. Maybe one day last year down hill down wind you all hit well over 300. But that would not be your actual average stats if done in the same manner as the tour calculates that stat.

Don't shift your weight to the right away from the ball at takeaway. Keep your right leg stable. Resist twisting your hips. (Too many people shift too much weight to the right, away from the target, at the beginning of the backswing, so they only get BACK TO THE BALL, and never move forward.) At the top of your backswing, come to a complete stop. Just for now. Start the swing with a combination of your hips turning and your arms FALLING DOWN THE PLANE toward the ball. Half way into the downswing, your hips should be turned, your chest should be pointing at the back of the ball, and the butt of your club should be pointing at the ball. Now continue pulling the club through the impact zone. Push your right hand toward the target as if you are reaching out to shake hands with the target. Keep your hands moving all the way to the finish. Do not hit at the ball. Swing through the ball. Your weight should end up mostly on your left side. This is the result of not having moved right first. Staying centered allows you to move toward the target instead of simply move back to center. Look at ernie els after he hits a ball. Think about being like that. Tall. Relaxed. Weight on your left foot.

Lots and lots of good stuff going on with your swing. It just looks a little lazy and sloppy to me. The fixes to your swing would be taking extra motion out, not teaching you to do completely new stuff.

You need rotate your hips less. You need to feel your right knee as very solid and continuing to point straight a head, while you feel your hips resisting your shoulder turn. Note how the golfer below hips only turn as much as they absolutely have to for his shoulder turn. Imagine that your twisting coil back is like a rubber band in a sling shot that the more you twist the more resistance you feel, then the start of your downswing is more of a release toward the ball. Imagine being this solid on the backswing:

Woods. Nicklaus. Watson. Faldo. Norman. Hogan. Down. Down. Down. Down. Down. Down. I am sure I could continue to find video on every great player hitting down.

One more. Moe Norman.

Second to last one. Faldo. On a down slope. Hitting down.

Jay Willimson. Wonderful slo mo of the clubhead after impact.

Woody Austin hitting down on the ball instead of down on his head.

Jack Nicklaus. 2 Iron. ON A TEE! Still hitting down on the ball enough to hit the ground after hitting a teed up ball. Watch the slo mo later in the video to see the tee flip up in the air and the grass get ripped up.

Ben Hogan. 4 wood. Down on the ball.

Ben Hogan. Short iron. Down on the ball.

Now. Young Tom Watson. Hitting down on the ball.

And Tom Watson picking the ball.

And then some more tips: