Adumb

Get a pass if I'm going to play once a week. Get a driving range pass if I'm going 3 days a week. Could have saved me all kinds of money, lol.

I've heard the Hammer and Hammer-X is sucky. If it wasn't sucky then why would they bother coming out with the X? I have had a really good year for distance actually. Last year was my first year breaking 300. I hit drove a ball 315 yrds with a 3 wood on a par 5. I had a golf pro actually give the bad advice of "well if 3W is working then stick with 3W". I talked to a bunch of other people that said that's bad advice so I started working hard with my driver. Now I hit it 270-280 consistently. With wind and hills helping me I've hit it 300 yrds several times. Earlier in the season I hit my longest drive at 321 yards! 2 years ago I was a high handicapper with a terrible swing that got me 180 yards at most. There is hope, just get your form down and you'll have it. If you need inspiration and you think you don't have the power...look at Tom Watson.

Check your swing plane. Also check your point of contact. You might have your arms too far out in front of you whenever you make contact. I used to have a terrible duck hook that didn't go very far sometimes. It was multiplied on my tee shots. I also started focusing on tucking my right elbow into my ribs until I got close to contact, this seemed to help me even my swing.

I have extremely caloused hands so all I really get is a blister on the bottom right corner of my left palm when my glove tears. I used to spend hours at the range too. Something I do for the low punch is I will choke up and not take a full swing. If I'm trying to hit a low ball off the tee, I start with ball in about the middle of my stance and tee it just a little lower. High shots come naturally when the ball is in line with your front heel. Nothing like a good ol wind cheater to carry it 300 yards. For fade and draw I turn my entire grip slightly to the left or to the right and take a normal swing. Works like a charm for me.

Muscle memory. Your muscles forgot. Possibly your flexibility changed a little bit. You get rusty if you haven't played for awhile. I always hate my first round of golf at the beginning of the season for this reason. The good news is, the relearning process is much shorter than the learning process. Sometimes you might thrive in areas you didn't before because you might do something different (because you forgot exactly what you did in the past) and it works in your favor. It did for me the year I discovered more power that seemed to come out of thing air at the start of the season. Play more golf and see how it goes.

I started out the same way before I developed a slice and a hook. I used to hit long irons a lot because I didn't know how to get distance with my body. I would take a short backswing and not move my legs at all. Everything went right down the pipe. But actually learning the correct swing will help in the long run. Later I was able to hit a 3 wood 260 yards rather than 150-170 yards. Keep working at it. When you go to the driving range make it an experiment. Don't just try to go and hit a bunch of balls. Actually try to make one adjustment at a time and take 5-10 swings or so and see if you can do it consistently. After that, your practice won't be about finding the swing, but about practicing your swing.

I would agree with MiniMoe. I fought a terrible slice for a long time and then a terrible hook for long time for these 2 reasons. I switched to a down the line style and I hit it longer and straigther consistently. Perhaps a slight draw or fade would be okay, but an all out cut or duck hook miles from your target would be alright. The way I look at it though, is that you lose distance whenever you start going right and left. You might hit it 250 yards straight or 225 straight + 25 yards to the right. If the swing plane isn't that great then perhaps you would meet in the fairway at 225 in the center rather than in the trees.

I had this problem for a long time. I was afraid to swing too hard and I would hit the ground first and then top the ball because my wrists would get soft. Now I judge my chips by 3 things: The break of the green, the place I want my ball to bounce first, and my backswing. Basically don't worry too much about your speed, control your chips with your backswing. Focus on getting under it with clean contact. Nothing sucks worse than trying to get yourself close to get up and down for par, and shooting the ball over the green further than you were to begin with. Practice on chipping greens or get a chipping net if you want.

Yea it takes awhile to not suck. When I first started, I felt like a developed a "new and improved swing" about once a week. Since my early days I've settled down into a decent swing after so much revision. I remember it would take me a bucket of balls or a round of golf to actually settle into my new swing, then it would all change in a week. Those were the days when I was happy with consistent double bogeys.

I assume my normal grip rotate my hands very slightly to the right causing my clubface to be closed at impact, and I take a normal swing. This works well with the fade too, except I rotate my hands to the left slightly. (If you're left-handed the rotation will be opposite)

This will probably be a bad idea for me. The course I play has a lot of dog legs and water. My problem is that I hit my driver too far and it ends up in the rough or sometimes in the water even if I hit it straight. Like the other day there was this hole where it was 290 to the water and 400 to the green...it splashed in the water. On the the 17th hole, it's set up in an interesting way. The green is on the left and there is almost two fairways. There's one straight ahead for the white, blue, and black tees, and one on the left inline with the hole for the red tees. You can try to drive to the left but you have to make it over some nasty thick weeds and trees dividing the fairway. Instead I opted to drive it straight. This ball went over the fairway in front of me and hit the rough on the fly and was 3 ft from the tall grass. I drove the ball 285 yards uphill. I was shocked. So who knows, maybe I'll be reaching par 4s in 1 if I play from the reds.

All of this sounds good, but the problem is the mass of the club and the mass of the golfer will remain the same no matter what. Theoretically if you could swing a 2 lb club at 100 mph and a 7 lb club at 100 mph, you would be able to get more distance out of the 7 lb club. Momentum = (mass)(velocity) and of course this would be like comparing a semitruck going 60 mph on a highway and a car going 60 mph on a highway, the semitruck has more momentum and is therefore more difficult to stop. I think perhaps it has more to do with force. Centripital(sp?) force is the main part of the golf swing. The proper distribution of force within the arc will give you the best swing with the maximum amount of power and distance.

Intentionally chunk one. Make divots in your practice swings. Whatever you need to do to get into the habit of getting under the ball more.

1) I buy used balls either from the thrift store or from a local bait shop that sells them pretty cheap. It works fine. Otherwise, go to Walmart and buy the cheapest balls you can find. 2) I interlock my grip, not sure how to answer this question. 3) Jim Furyk style swing? If it works for you, then do it. Jim Furyk does a wild looking swing off the tee and the irons are a little more tame.

Go with the grass. Not only does the mat mask the fat shots, but also you can look at your divot and see if you're hitting it right. You also aren't limited on your tee shots. Most of the mats have a little rubber tee that obviously does not have an adjustable height. This is one of the reasons I hate the mats.

It's in the chipping and putting. Today I had a pretty decent score for me anyway. I played the tougher back 9. I started out with an ugly triple bogey on the first hole. I had another double bogey later. I ended up with a 44. I nearly had a birdie on 2 holes where I missed the fairway. The reason my score wasn't bad is because I normally have a few nasty 3 putts. However, today it was 2 or less. My chipping was decent too. So, yea, chipping and putting is where it's at.

I normally chip with a pitching wedge. But I get the downhill lie once in awhile. It sucks. What I do is actually switch to a sandwedge. This helps me get under the ball so I don't get a nasty shank.

I've had this happen before. Luckily I have a summer pass there. It was a couple weeks ago. There were mowers everywhere on the back 9, which we had to play first. The cart path got repaved on the back 9 and there's dirt right and left of every cart path and ropes between the cart path and the fairway so you can only enter at certain places. Also there were groundsmen watering fairways. Me and my stepbrother had to yell in order to hear each other talk. I played exceptionally worse on the back 9 than I ever have. I was pissed.

Bulk is fine, but it's possible that you can lose flexibility as a result. Keep going but make sure you stretch. Look at some of the long drivers like Jason Zuback or Mike Dobbyn. They both have a stretching routine to maintain their flexibility for golf. My advice is to stay lean. Don't let yourself get over 12% body fat. The best workout would be one that balances power workouts (like power cleans, hang clean, barbell snatch etc), regular strength training, and cardio. Do a good back workout for golf. Hit the lats with pullups and pulldowns, bent over rows, deadlifts. Make sure you work your legs as it releases hormones to allow muscle to grow and it helps build a good base. Also, don't go crazy on the amount of weight you use for your back as you had previous injury like you mentioned. Woodchoppers are good too for the golf swing, with a dumbbell or a medicine ball.

Sounds like you're simply having issues with how close or far away you should be from the ball. Try this. Stand straight up, hold your club out in front of you at shoulder level, both elbows straight. Now drop your club straight to the ground and bend at the waist slightly. What I kind of do to keep my back straight is kind of stick my butt out. Not sure why it works, but it does. But where you end up should be what it should look like at impact. Try taking a divot out of the ground and hitting the same divot several times in a row and take a bigger backswing each time. This will ensure that you're making contact in the center.

A low drive is good on a day where it's dry and the conditions are favorable for a roll. It's good if there's strong wind against, either directly or right/left. If you have the wind at your back, it's good to hit a high windcheater. If you want a higher drive, try standing so that the ball is inline with your left heel (if you're right handed). Maybe tee it up a little higher. Choke up on the putter, read the break both by looking at it and with your feet. By with the feet I mean if it feels like you're leaning slightly backward, it's breaking left, or slightly forward, it's breaking right. Analyze if it's up or downhill. One of the most important parts is the follow-through in the putt. Take some time to practice on the putting green before you play, or after if you don't have time. Visualize the putt when you're taking your practice swings. That's a strong 9 iron. If you want to hit shorter, don't take a full backswing. Another option would be to go down to a pitching wedge. For chipping, use a pitching wedge or a 9 iron. Focus on where you want the ball to bounce first. If the hole is close to the edge of the green, try for the first bounce to be on the fringe that way it will roll toward the hole. Read the break. Chipping is mostly in your backswing. You can practice more chipping on the chipping and putting green before you play, or you can buy a chipping net. Something that actually help me was to "try" to make it in. It seems a little too simple but sometimes I get hung up on making a good swing that I don't ever really put it close to the hole. If I try to hole it, I get it close. Good luck. I hope this advice helps.

Consciously grip the club a little lighter. Make it a habit before every shot. However, usually a strong grip results in a hook instead of a slice. But you can try to see if it will work with a slice. Last summer I hit the driving range all of the time. At the beginning of the summer, I would be spent after 18 holes. At the end of the summer I would be used to the motion and the muscles wouldn't be as sore and so I would play 18 holes and hit a couple buckets at the driving range. I never hit small buckets, jumbos only. One good way to help a muscle recover is to stretch it after activity. But most of the time, if you give it the standard 48 hours of healing time it should be good to go.

Usually you can go into a golf store, or a sporting goods store with a good golf department and they could tell you what stiffness you need by watching your swing, or clocking it to determine average clubhead speed. They might also try to sell you the newest shiniest driver for $400 so be ready for that.

1) Right elbow bend. I took lessons from a golf pro at a driving range a year ago and he said to open up my swing, meaning, keep both arms straight. But I wonder, what's the consensus on this? Shouldn't the right elbow be tucked until impact? When I got into the habit of "opening up" my swing I starting hooking golf balls right and left. Well not right and left...just left. Just for the record, the golf pro sucked...I could outdrive him. So what's better a tucked right elbow or straight? 2) Losing balance on the tee shot. After my follow through all of my weight is on my left foot but then I end up with a leftward lean. Meaning I'll instinctively have to take a step with my right foot on the other side of my left foot (looks like I cross my feet for a sec while regaining balance). What's a common cause of this problem? Thanks for the help!

I would definitely agree that something as simple as grip can determine a slice or hook. I fixed my slice by changing my grip to a tighter grip.