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Within 100 yds I will hit a PW and focus on the wrist action. This helps me get a good shot whether I'm 80 yds from the green or 20. With an extremely lofted SW like mine (56 degrees), it's hard to really get the green to pick up the spin since it simply drops right down on top of it. My only exception would be when I'm between 60-70 yds out and I have to make it over a bunker or have a small landing area I'll hit SW full.

I used to have the hook LIgolfer described. To remedy this it might seem counter-intuitive, but I would swing like I was trying to hit the ball left and this would help me get more inside and not only would I get a better angle and it would make it higher and farther, but it would eliminate almost all of the right-to-left action. Now, if you're hooking irons, try leaning forward over the ball a little bit more. I often manipulate the back/forward lean for fade and draw shots.

It really depends on the circumstance. Is it downhill? Is there a little bit of fairway for the ball to run up? I hit my 5 iron about 190-200 yrds flat, but if it's downhill I would probably go with the 5 iron. Otherwise it would be 4 hybrid.

I'll have to try/work on the flop approach. I actually hit a pretty good flop shot and the good greenside bunker shots that I've hit felt a lot like that. However, I will say I usually do have a big follow through. It seems that when I take a large backswing I have the tendency to dig under it. Today I hit a fairway bunker that was 100 yrds from the green and hit it with a 9 iron (normally I'd hit PW for that distance) and put it on the green. It seems those bunkers never give me trouble, but yea I'll definitely have to work more on greenside bunkers. Thanks for the help guys!

It's a complicated question because some pros have mastered and many amateurs have butchered it. A lot of long drivers do the overswing in fact. However, I've found that the problem is mechanics. Even if you have the flexibility and are able to let the head of the driver come last and have perfect timing with your wrists, the overswing changes everything. You have to maintain a larger wrist angle and the toughest part is getting your downswing on the right line. Like James said, it's actually pretty easy to lose power on the downswing. It's up to you how you want to go about it, if it feels more natural, go for it. But I'm not sold on the fact that you will extend your drives by 50 yards and be an extremely long hitter. Look at Camillo bombing them 340-350 yrds sometimes, and he doesn't even take a full backswing. Basically do what works for you and try to improve on that. Swing speed simply takes practice. I drive anywhere from 240-320 yrds if the conditions are right, and I take a pretty normal backswing. I've tried the overswing and could never get it to work even if I hit it straight, I still didn't hit it any longer. Having said that, it's not to say that it won't work for you, so give it a try at the driving range and see if it works. Good luck!

Good advice. Haha I liked the "Grayhawk" rules, although I don't play by those anymore. Actually, I used to use a pitching wedge from the sand for longer distance, but now I'm trying to see if I can hit better with a sandwedge. One more question. Whenever you hit off the ground it's good to make a divot where the ball is and in front of the ball as well. Does this apply in the sand? Thanks for the help!

Hey guys! I actually am in need of some advice on bunker shots. I can seem to hit the ball out of the bunker with 56 degree sandwedge, but it doesn't make it that far out. For example, my last bunker shot was out of a somewhat large greenside bunker and the ball was in the middle, I made it out but it was still on the rough before the fringe. My problem is I either hit that exact short shot, or catch it too thin and bomb it over the green, or I dig under it completely and the ball goes nowhere. I see a lot of pga golfers take a full powerful when hitting out of the bunker, but would it be counterproductive to have a slow swing and catch the ball thinner? Let me know what you think and if you have any tips. Thanks!

I am faced with this situation at times but it depends on the conditions. One of the par 5s at the course I play at is dogleg right. Naturally, I like to hit the low ball. When I do this I'll fade it. For this I simple lean forward over the ball a bit more than normal. BUT when the wind is decent and at my back I will tee it up just a bit higher and play a little wind cheater over the trees and cut the dogleg. Now you can hit the ball sky high and keep teeing it up higher, but you do get diminishing returns at some point. If the fairways are wet I also like hitting the ball high because a low ball won't roll as much. So basically just tee it up a little higher, no need to go out and by 4" tees, because eventually the ball will land on your head. Good luck!

Lean over the ball more with a shorter club. If it's really short like a S Wedge or a Lobber bend at the knees more. Your swing shouldn't change all that much. But what exactly is the problem? Are you topping them or hitting them fat? From what it sounds like, you're topping them.

It's been said, but GIRs and putts need some work. My best round didn't have the best driving accuracy nor did I have a bunch of distance off the tee. But I hit plenty of greens and I never had a single 3 putt. It was 1 or 2 putts. The fewer 3 putts the better. Maybe try to do what you can to knock it down to 2 3-putts and try hitting 8 GIR (possibly by playing a little more risky). Good luck.

That was probably the root of my problems when I tried doing it with irons. It kills the loft! Thanks for the help!

Toward the target. More like the guy on the right here: http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/AB-LeftHand.jpg As opposed to this guy: http://golfswingtipsvideo.com/images/golf_swing.jpg The first guy has his hands in front. I begin like this at address and it fixed my swing with my driver. Does this work for irons too?

Alright, I have completely fixed all of the problems I had with my driver. I step up to every tee box confidently. Something I did to fix my swing was in my hands. At address I put my hands forward tilting the club up a bit more. My drives have been going longer and straighter than ever. It has also helped a bunch when hitting my 3 wood and hybrid clubs off the fairway. Now here's the problem: Irons. Whenever I do this "tilt" with the club it seems to take off the loft. The tilt isn't anything extreme, it gives me the true loft of the club for the driver. However, does this translate the same with irons? I haven't been hitting my irons very well since then. Is this incorrect for irons but correct for the driver? Or is it correct and I just need more practice with this change to my swing?

My set has a 4 and 3 hybrid instead of 4 and 3 iron. I like hybrids because I can get a lot of distance out of them. I can hit my 3 hybrid about 230 off the ground. However, the problem is that it's hard to hit off the ground. It took me a long time to get decent at doing this, and this is usually the situation when you hit a hybrid. It might be a par 5 or a long par 4 and you're stuck 210-230 yards from the hole with a club that's difficult to hit off the ground. Overall, I'd rather have 3 and 4 irons instead of hybrids.

I can always read the break better from the dowhill side. Meaning if I have an uphill putt, I will read the break squatting on the other side of the hole. I will visualize the line the putt will take and aim to a spot to the right or to the left of the hole. Don't focus on the ball so much as focus on your stroke form and distance the ball needs to go. If you're a 3 putter think about getting the ball close. I guess it would be a lag putt, but actually it takes the pressure off with this mentality so you can possibly drop it in the cup. OR you can take the other philosophy, if it's a long putt that seems to be out of your range, don't give up. Putt as if you will actually make it. Look at what you need to do to make the putt happen. I used to be a 3-4 putter and the first mentality worked the best for me because I got tense, I rushed, I putted like Happy Gilmore. Then when I got to be a consistent 3 putter I switched to the next mindset of intending to make every putt and getting the best read and not rushing. Now I almost always 2 putt or 1 putt. No putters are nice too. It all takes practice, and reading the greens takes plenty of practice too. Good luck!

I used to use SW and then I started shanking them. That much loft felt unnatural for me. I almost always use PW. I will use SW for a downhill lie, helps me put a better swing on it somehow. My stepbrother really likes the 9 iron for chipping, he's a 8.0 handicapper. All in what you prefer I guess. Try different clubs on the chipping green.

I used to have a lot of putts as a beginner. 2 putts aren't really a bad thing. 3+ putts are. Make the best read that you can. Look at the putt from your side of the hole, look at the putt from the other side. Decide if your putt will be uphill or downhill, read the break both with your eyes and your feet. By with your feet I mean if you feel that you are leaning back slightly then the putt will be breaking left (for a righty). Or if you are leaning forward slightly, the putt will break right. Instead of aiming for the cup aim for a dime sized spot that incorporates the hill and the break. Also visualize the putt first. A drill I did that really helped me with mechanics is I would put 3 balls out in front of me in a line so that I would putt the middle one without disturbing the other two balls on either side. I'd make the gap between the balls just big enough to fit a putter through it. Also make sure you keep your arms straight don't use any wrist. It's all practice. Try this drill the next time you work on the putting green and practice this drill on a fairly flat surface without a break. Working on flat putts will help you with basic speed and accuracy. From there you can build.

He had a way of explaining it but I can't exactly remember. But if you look at the top of the backswing the clubhead flexes down toward the body and if it maintained this flex at impact, the clubhead would be out in front of the ball and hit off the heel causing the hook right? The uniflex is a regular flex used for most beginner sets and women's clubs.

I went to the range today and saw one of my highschool friends. He is a pretty good golfer, but the best part of his game is driving. He was bombing them, going about 290 on the fly. Lately I've had this hook that seems to be getting worse and worse. He looked at my swing and gave me a few pointers. I corrected some things and some of them went straight. But most of the time when I caught it perfect it would still draw. He looked at my driver and said the shaft wasn't stiff enough. I could feel the shaft flex with a 3w but not with the driver so I assumed that if I couldn't feel it then it didn't flex. He said he could visibly see the driver flex quite a bit and this could be the reason for the hook. The stiffness on my club says "Uniflex" with a 10.5 loft. Could this be the reason for my hook? Too much flex? I checked my swing speed about a year ago and it was between 90 and 109. Sometime at the beginning of this season I came across more power. Possibly just making a simple adjustment. Now I think it's consistently about 100 mph. Is it time to upgrade?

Exactly. If you want to work on putting you can always practice on a chipping/putting green before you play. Scoring clubs will improve your score even if you're an average putter.

The driving range masks the results you would see on an actual course sometimes. At a range there is no fairway. Say you slice or hook just a bit at the range. It seems like "just a bit" but if you take that same drive to a course where the grass is cut shorter and you are aiming for a fairway, the result will be a textbook slice that either flys out of the picture or bounces and rolls out of a fairway. When I go to the range, I aim for flags. Instead of just trying to bomb a bunch of balls, I take it easy and analyze my swing every time. I play the course now a lot and rarely hit the range. It really helped me get rid of the sense of pressure that I had in the past when I came down from the range and stepped on the course.

I've seen it on amazon, thought about ordering it, but there wasn't much for product reviews. But now that I have some real feedback, I probably will order it soon. Thanks for the post iacas, I'll have to give it a whirl.

It boils down to flexibility. If you're flexible enough to get a good shoulder turn without lifting the heel then do it. I'm not, so I always lift.

That's also a different issue. The bigger the backswing, the harder it is to control. Actually if you look at Camilo Villegas, he can really pound a golfball. But his club doesn't even quite get to parallel in reference to the ground.

Nice work! That's quite a feat! That's my next goal. I have come close but I've always had that 1 or 2 bad holes to shoot down my chances. Someday I'll have an all around good day like that. Good job!