Travtex

My go-to club around the green is my 58*, and I'm much more confident with it than anything simply because I spent a year with it in my yard hitting thousands of various chips and pitches. Now, I do -try- to change things up a bit depending on how much roll I have between myself in the hole. I know the one club system is supposed to be 'Beginner's Mistake' territory. But... I don't have great results with other clubs. It's just a matter of practice, of course. Less confident when I'm pulling out my 8i for the first time ever on any given type of chip.

Hey guys, weird experience/question: I switched to graphite shafts recently to counter some elbow tendonitis (Works wonders, by the way). Ordered a set of Di9's, and now that I'm starting to get used to them I'm finding myself flying WAY past the green. Went from a dead-on straight shot with high trajectory (Maybe ballooning) to a lower, looping draw. Even adjusting for the differences in lofts, I've picked up around fifteen yards. Made for an ugly round, actually. Bouncing off trees behind the green, finding the lake after overshooting my target by ten yards, etc. I kind of expected this to be the case once I got the feel for the lighter shafts. What I did NOT expect was a similar increase in distance with my wedges. These are, mind you, the same wedges I had before. Same shafts, same everything. What would bring this about? Anyone have graphite shafts also increase their swing speed with steel shafts? My body getting used to a quicker sequence with the irons and just deciding 'Okay, we swing THIS fast, now'? Was also overcooking short pitches, sand shots, everything. With the same wedges I've been using for two years.

Google 'eye dominance golf' or something along those lines, and you'll be reading for a while. I do the same thing, though the mirror image version -- I golf left-handed, and I'm right-eye dominant.

On board.

Fayetteville, Arkansas. Most if not all of the teaching pros are absorbed by the University. (It's kind of a pain when the standard recommendation to any question is 'Get a Lesson', since I've yet to find an instructor that uses video... while telling me how 'Aggressively Rolling Hands at Impact' will cure my driver push) Anyway, I don't really have the budget to go make a Project out of it and fly to Kansas City/Dallas/Wherever... and, like you say, I realized the Professional Fitting wasn't particularly professional. Just trying to hope that some of the data might carry over here to get me SOME sort of information. *laugh* Problem: Driver too High. (My real-life 6 iron can get in the mid-180's, at least?)

Well, I went and got a fitting today and while I can probably find something to do with the information gained it wasn't a particularly helpful experience. At the end of the day, the dude told me I needed stiff flex irons and regular flex driver... Though I have my questions about the monitor. It had me popping a 6i with a club head speed of about 80 mph (I think the average was 77). Best was 82mph for 198 yards. But my DRIVER club head speed was averaging around 85mph. I might have developed a tendency to try and keep my whippy driver shaft under control. Anyway, the problem THERE that I'm mostly curious about was my problems with launch angle. Driver is Cleveland Comp 460 10.5* with 45g Grafalloy PL Blue R-flex. I was ballooning that thing 19-25* on the monitor. I do believe that, because it's the problem that got me in there wanting to try out shafts in the first place. I started asking the guy about kick points and his summary was "You need a regular flex." I pressed around, trying to find something about shaft properties, and I came away understanding that he wanted me to get a 9* or less driver head with a 'regular flex' shaft. Is it really that simple? 'Cause it feels like I didn't quite come away with the Complete Fitting Experience for my money.

Unsolicited Update: Backswing work... I'm not sure. When I try not to go too flat, I seem to immediately overcompensate and go full Furyk steep. Not sure if that's better or worse, heh.

I have a huge problem making good contact with "slow" or "controlled" swings, myself. My natural tempo is pretty fast and aggressive (Talk too fast, walk too fast, swing too fast), so slowing things down really messes with my timing while being intended to improve it. Far as lag and impact position (One of those all-too-rare areas I'm not so horrible at), the only thought that -ever- worked for me was keying on the trailing elbow and getting it to my hip/side -- Actually, for me, the feel is getting it in front of my hip or toward my navel -- as quickly as possible. Work with hand position, wrists, etc, was all futile, but focus on the trailing elbow just made it sort of happen by itself.

I got into golf because my wife was tired of me injuring myself regularly with MMA and Kali stuff. I think she regrets it, now, because I have a bit of an obsessive personality. Amusingly, I injured my shoulder within a week of quitting martial arts and taking up daily golf practice. Anyway, yeah -- I've screwed up my left knee, left shoulder, both elbows, broken my right hand, separated some ribs, torn my sacroiliac joint, broken both radius and ulna left wrist (at the same time)... I could probably use a surgery or two, but so long as it's still workin'... The worst is instability in my left (trailing) knee, and it can be a bit tough to work with at times. I don't play pain-free, but I don't really do ANYthing pain-free. Lessons + Range are the way to go to start, IMO. I don't have a great deal of opportunity to get lessons (My locale limits options, as does my schedule, AND my budget), and I've got some pretty nasty bad habits to work on. If you have a pitch and putt/par 3 course nearby that's a fun way to crash course your short game. I remember playing a few par 3 rounds before I had ANY idea what I was doing. Horrible, haha. Chipping back and forth over the green two or three times before three-putting, etc.

Been more than a year since I've gotten some swing video. Pretty horrified, although my ball flight/contact have never been better. *heh* Current list of things to work on are getting my posture a bit more upright and not taking the club back so wildly inside. At first glance, I like my impact position... Just looks like way too much work to get there, inconsistently. Thanks, all!

It's been a while, but I did the stage & studio thing for somewhere around a dozen years up 'til about 2002. Trying to find the time as well as the personnel to put together a little casual band to bang around with, now. Through the 90's, though, heh... Hovered around a hundred shows a year, anywhere from a couple thousand in the crowd to three drunks and empty chairs behind a chickenwire stage in Nowhere, New Mexico. Was successful enough with music to encourage me to drop out of my Premed program in college, leading me to now be unable to afford my golf habit. *hah*

Yeah, if I get more than 200 yards on it, it's going to be in the next fairway over. I'm looking VERY suspiciously at my shafts. The hybrids I can hit pretty straight and solid. When I do miss with them, it's usually a straight hook. They're Nickent 3DX's with stock S-flex shafts, at about 75g. The 3 wood, which I tend to push or push-fade, is a 70g R-flex. The driver, which should cause alarm throughout the golf course when I'm stupid enough to pull it out, is rocking a 45g R-flex. Whippy.

Another lefty with what sounds like a similar problem -- Report back if you find a fix, as I'm driving myself slightly insane in my search for a fix. (I ended up trying out one of the few 'I don't use no videos' instructors that are available to me, here... His solution was to aggressively roll my hands through impact. Obviously, that did not work.) I have a -bit- of the same problem with my 3 wood. Basically, my long clubs go 4h: 200, 3h: 215, 3w: 180-235, Driver: WTF? 170 or so if I do straighten it out. Managed to get on a launch monitor recently on a trip back to San Antone... I was jacking a 9.5 degree driver at a 16-20* launch, monster balloon push fade. At this point, it's become an -issue-, and I simply have zero confidence in the woods. (Maybe I'll just get a 1h and 2h to fill out the set, heh.)

I would have thought so... Or at least a discount. Or a rain check. Or even some sort of apologetic, "I'm sorry, that sucks." of some sort. Instead, when I get in to the club house and tell the dude why I'm hanging it up after four holes, his response was, "Huh. Well, have a nice day. *wander off*"

Someone's already mentioned Phil's DVD. I'll add in a nod to Stan Utley's books -- Don't remember if it's Art of the Short Game or Art of Scoring that I have at home on the bookcase, but Stan's chipping/pitching methods helped me greatly. (That, and a few billion hours of practice in the yard.)