Sclaffer

I recently returned to golf and got a Swing Caddy SC300i. It has confirmed what I have suspected for some time - I hit my 3 wood as far as my driver. This is backed up by similar swing speeds of 93 MPH. I have had 6 months off golf and exercise, so my speed is down a bit on what it was. Driver is 12 degrees, D1, Cobra 70g stiff shaft. 3 wood is 15 degrees, D0, Cleveland Gold 65g stiff shaft. The 3 wood feels great to me and flies straight. The driver feels dead to me and tends to slice. A local pro thinks the shafts are both a little on the soft side of stiff (which suits for me). The only difference I can see is the driver total weight is 340 grams and the 3 wood is 320 grams. My question is what is going on? Surely 20 grams should not slow my driver down to the same swing speed as my 3 wood?

Really enjoying seeing how my SC quantifies little changes I can make. For example: flaring my right foot a bit seems to give me about 3 more metres on my 8 iron. Still working on gapping irons. I have a few questions for those with more experience. Currently I am downloading data from SC to phone and then transferring to PC. Can I download data directly from SC to PC using cable or bluetooth? If YES, how? Is there any export format option other than CSV? If Yes, how? Currently I export each clubs data one at a time. Can I export all the clubs from 1 session at the same time? If YES, how? How do I stop it putting the decimal part of each data element in a separate column? For example total distance of 120.5 comes out with 120 in 1 column and 5 in another column. Thanks

Thank you for the replies. On reflection, I need to go away and work on proprioception. For example, I have never had any idea where the club head is. I go for a lesson, the pro identifies a fault and we fix it. Because I do not feel the difference between the fixed swing and the old swing, I write down what we worked on. However, without any feel or muscle memory of what constitutes a good swing, it is a lottery whether my next round will be good or bad. I contrast myself with my brother in law; who’s swing is truly ugly. He was a cricketer and has great proprioception, so he is consistent and straight. I just found Andrew Emery video on golf proprioception. Any views on his teaching? Regards

I have reviewed the entire Swing Thoughts forum and this question has been answered many times in many ways. I am posting to seek help in clearing my own thoughts. Hogan says for the average golfer to "keep any conscious hand action out of his swing". 6 pages later he also says "Hit the ball as hard as you can with both hands". This appears to be a contradiction. My drives are respectable (I can find them) when I focus on swinging with loose wrists. If I try to "hit" the ball it all turns to doo doo. Strangely, I can "hit" a 7 iron - and it is more satisfying than just swinging at it! I have been told that my swing is fast. Advice please

Hoping Birdman is around. I have intalled the VC app on an old phone. It appears that I have to create a member login to use it? It wants email, sex, age, phone number that I hoped would not be necessary.

Thanks for the reply. I downloaded a software update and can now measure swing speed without a ball. Without a ball and with an all out effort, I can get over 100mph swing speed. But as soon as I put a ball in front of me, I tense up and the swing speed is back to low 90's. More work to be done! I am also excited to tweak everything to see if I can improve smash factor.

I have used my Swing Caddie SC300i for the first time at the range. I bought it because my eyesight cannot see the ball so well past 160 metres. It does the main thing I need – tell me how far I hit 5 iron and longer clubs. I hope it will eventually help me with forcing/hitting from the top – because it gives me quantified feedback that confirms that the harder I try, the shorted I hit. It pretty much confirms what I already know – my irons are OK and my driver is a problem. As a slightly built 67 year old male, I am happy to hit a 5 iron 160 metres (total, at sea level). I have Ping G5 with regular graphite shafts. I am not delofting - they go plenty high enough. But my best driver only goes 220 metres. The driver swing speed reading is around 92/93 mph – which looks about right for 220m. I found a conversion chart which suggests that if I hit a 5 iron 160 metres, then my driver swing speed should be around 100 mph. Question number 1: If I can consistently hit my 5 iron 160 metres – how far should I hit my driver? Question number 2: Assuming the answer to Q1 is more than 220 metres - what I am doing wrong with my driver? (I know that is a big ask) Question 3: I believe the SC300i can measure club head speed without a ball but I get no result without a ball. Any suggestions? Thanks

Sorry if this is a repeat, I searched and could not find the answers about a Mevo (not Mevo plus). If I buy the Mevo can anyone confirm that I can use it off line ie without any further subscription or monthly charges? Can the Mevo output audibly via whatever device you use? I ask because I will use it ourdoors and find phone or tablet screens very hard to read in bright sunlight. I have two old Galaxy Tablets - should they work with the Mevo? I guess they have to have bluetooth to talk to the Mevo? Is there a minimum memory required? (I am not planning to use the camera). Thanks in advance

Thanks guys. For year I have been labouring under the idea that swing path caused a slice/hook and face open/shut caused a push/pull. Seems it is the other way round. Suddenly opening the face for a slice and standing open to get the end direction right makes sense. Off the the range to test this.

I understand "feet aiming well left". But if I just shuffle my feet to aim more left and the rest of my body follows so that it has the normal relationship to my feet, all I am doing is aiming left. There must be some other change to cause the shot to curve, Do you aim your feet left and consciously not turn hips and shoulders? Or are you changing the swing plane some other way? I also understand "face open". That should make the ball travel to the open side; in a straight line. Thanks

I am seeking detailed instruction on how to hit a deliberate hook and slice. Most usually with a mid iron, after I have put my drive behind some trees. For brevity I will only ask about the slice (the hook should mostly be the opposite). Google searches simply tell me to set up aiming left, point club at target and swing normally. The ball is not curving nearly as much as I hoped. Forty years ago I found it much easier to slice (or hook). But in those days I had blades and swung differently. I am now using Ping G5 irons with graphite shafts. Maybe they are hard to slice? I always believed and read that an out to in swing path causes a slice. So if my normal shot is straight (not, but let’s assume it is) then my swing path at contact is straight and simply aiming somewhere else should not cause any side spin. However, I do get a little bit of a fade by aiming left. I always believed and read that pointing the club face right of the swing path would cause a push. That is the ball sets off to the right in a straight line (not curving). The ball definitely goes right if I aim the club face right, but I am getting a little bit of curve as well. The less changes required the better. However, it seems to me that for a slice round a tree (not just a wee fade) I need to do more than just set up left and point the club face at target. What is your experience with the following in relation to promoting a slice: Weaker grip? (to decrease supination through impact) Tighter grip? (to decrease wrist action) Address ball further forward? (more likely club is moving back in) Stand closer to ball? (more upright swing likely to be out to in) Steeper takeaway? (more upright swing likely to be out to in) Deliberately try not to roll wrists through impact? Swing faster? (to leave the hands and club face behind and open) Use a lower loft club? (not sure why) Some other adjustments/factors? Sorry if this has been done before. I could not find it. Thanks folks.

Thanks Zippo. None of us are getting any younger. I find it helpful to hear from guys who do not claim to hit their 5 iron 220 yards.

Tks Zippo. I am now leaning towards the SC200. May I ask: Does the smash factor reading help you to work on swing and strike efficiency? From experience, I am aware that a well timed swing gives as much, or more, distance then an all out effort. But my muscles frequently forget this. I wonder if you have found the numerical feedback has helpful in this regard. What does it output audibly? Club head speed? Smash factor? Distance? Do you feel a mid handicapper (say 12) is consistent enough to use it to compare drivers? To put it differently how many shots do you need to hit to form a reliable impression that 1 club is longer than another?

I know the thread is old - should I have started a new one? Anyway - just being working on breathing while chipping. Got 5 different google results: 1. Breathe out during backswing and downswing (David Leadbetter) 2. Dont even think about it 3. Breathe in before backswing and hold until after contact 4. Breathe in on backswing and out on downswing 5. Breathe out before backswing and do not breathe in again until after contact. After monitoring myself I realised that I was option 5. But there is more to it. The crucial point was that the trigger for the start of my backswing was a normal breath out. Sometimes my mental focussing on the shot coincided with the breathe and sometimes not. I found I was sometimes starting the backswing before I was ready to hit the shot; just because I had breathed out. By consciously taking a couple of longer, slower breaths and then exhaling, I could be ready to start the backswing at the same time as breathing out. This has resulted in more relaxed and consistent chipping. Unless you are lucky enough to follow option 2, I think option 5 is the most logical (at least for short game) as it should lead to more consistent geometry and a more relaxed state. Keen to hear other views.

I would like to buy a basic launch monitor for 2 main reasons: 1. Tell me how far I am hitting my drives at the range (I can no longer see the ball past 160 metres) 2. Measure my work on increasing ball speed/distance via swing speed and smash factor My short list is the PRGR launch monitor or Swing Caddie SC100 (each about US$200 on Amazon). By the time I get it landed in South Africa it will be almost 30% more. The Sports Sensors swing speed radar is real cheap +US$120 but seems it only does swing speed. I sort of hope that monitoring smash factor will nudge me towards efficiently producing ball speed and away from just swinging as fast as possible. Specific questions: 1. Which of these 2 would you choose and why? 2. Is there anything else up to US$300 you would buy and why? 3. Does seeing smash factor on the screen really help you work on a more efficient swing? Thanks

Well said DaveP043 "wouldn't you like to hit a larger percentage of them exactly that well? ". Perhaps I should have asked how to be more mature; how to stop obsessing about distance and think more about just scoring well. I think a lot of us tend to get over confident when we are hitting the ball well and start to think to ourselves "that was good, now if I hit it just a little bit harder ....." and of course it gets worse.

Thanks for the replies. 100% agree with getting the basics right, having an efficient swing, etc. Some (not many) of my shots are almost perfect and they are always when I swing within my comfort zone. Only one of my several lessons involved a launch monitor which said my driver smash factor was around 1.45. It is hard to put what I am grasping for into words. In most sports, the finalists are tired and sweating - they have used up as much energy as they can. It seems to me that most golfers walk off the last green with enough left in the tank for another round (at least physically, if not mentally). So I ask myself, if I have a sound swing, is there some way to use up, or apply, more of whatever energy I have?

I am over 60 and neither tired nor sore after a round of golf. I am tired after a session at the gym or after gardening. This tells me that I am not giving my golf 100%. Generally, if I try harder the game gets harder. I definitely feel that I am making more effort or putting more in, but the ball does not go any further or straighter. I feel tight, my swing shortens and I hit from the top. There is lots on Google about hitting it further and harder but very little on exactly what that feels like. So my question is how exactly do I put more into each shot, efficiently? Please do not reply and say "let the club do the work". That answer results in easier, sweeter shots but does not address my question.

The video was instructive but mostly about flexibility. Nothing wrong with that. But, if you want more "power", you need to do resistance exercises. Now that my knees are over 60 and deep squats are too painful, my favourite is the barbell dead lift. I note that Rory prefers trap bar dead lift to squats. I strongly recommend getting at least 1 professional lesson on dead lifting to ensure you use proper form and avoid hurting your back.

Can someone tell me the loft of the old Karsten III sand wedge? I have a set of G5 irons but the sand wedge is only 54 degrees. There is virtually no chance of finding a G5 lob wedge here in South Africa. I have been sniffing around to see if I could find a wedge like my old Eye sand wedge which I loved and should never have sold. So I found a Karsten III SW and it looks right but I don't know what loft it is and wonder if it might perform anything like my Eye 2 SW. Any thoughts? Thanks

Just a quick question this time: did ping make a 3 iron for their G30 range? I have searched the net and most specification lists run from 3 to LW but some include the 3. And, yes, I know hybrids are easier and more popular. Thanks

Not much wrong with that swing. Its very long but you are young and flexible. Swing is fairly flat, not necessarily a fault. Hard to tell, but stance looks a bit closed and shoulders a bit open at address.

My (amateur) thoughts: 1. Moving your head - try to maintain spine angle and position 2. Swinging mostly with arms - make takeaway more 1 piece and coil 3. Trying to hit too hard - I don't know how to fix that!

Kevlar10's comment is spot on. However .... you need to have some ability, and knowledge of etiquette, before venturing onto the course. If you are taking air shots or hitting the ball just a few yards, then consider some more off course practice. It cannot tell you that golf gets any easier; but we all become accustomed to hitting less than perfect shots.