ERdiesel

you're comparing apples and oranges. There's a reason why medical professionals take possible head/neck injuries so seriously and take every precaution not to do further damage when treating such injuries vs other injuries. to say that tiger can play through a leg injury but not a possible neck injury makes no sense. look at it this way, if there is an injury to the neck and you continue to play and risk further trauma/injury to the area, it could mean a life changing outcome............i.e. paralysis. i'm not saying tiger's injury is even remotely close to that, but i sure know that if i had a leg injury but could still swing a club vs a neck injury and could still swing the club, i would be more likely to call it quits with the neck pain than the leg pain as most people with an ounce of common sense would do. now, if tiger was in contention to win the tournament, i'm sure the decision to withdrawal would have been that much more difficult, however with him not having a remote chance of winning or coming anywhere near the leaderboard, i'm sure it was a relatively easy decision with no risk/reward considerations since it was all risk at that point in time with no reward. as i said before, a no brainer decision.

great job and nice swing......so envious!!! I wish i could just take a week or two off and attend a golf academy, boot camp style to help me. your swing, is that what they call a one plane swing or is it a stack and tilt swing?

Hahahhaha, made me laugh and look in the mirror..............i have mizuno irons, a minzuo stand bag, and usually wear a mizuno hat out on the course. However, my wedges, woods, clothing, gloves, etc. are not mizuno. I think i might be borderline.........."that guy", please tell me it ain't so :)

You should be able to export videos from the v1 app to your photo library or email it out to yourself so that you can upload it onto some other site that is compatible to be posted on this forum.

Have you looked at the Garmin G5? It has a couple of pros which I don't think the others have: 1) Touch screen that allows you to press anywhere on the screen showing the fairway/hole and it tells you distance from where you are to that point and distance from that point to the center of the green. Great feature when trying to decide where to layup based on what clubs you hit most consistently 2) No annual subscription fees. All course that i've played at were already included in the device, and they issue firmware and course updates every several months or so.........for free!!! The device works great for me!!!

I find myself taking practice swings whereever and whenever no one is looking as well regardless of where i am. At work, i'm sure when i'm in the elevator alone and taking swings in the air the security guys are watching me on the surveillance cams and wondering what the heck i'm doing.

Great to hear that your immediate short term experience has been so positive. From the sound of your post, it seemed as if your instructor totally rebuilt your swing from the beginning and i'm a bit surprised that you saw an immediate improvement. Most golfers that I know who had their flawed swing broken down and correctly built back up spent many frustrating months undoing the bad habits and doing the good things with nothing but frustration and despair on the course during this transitional period.

$100/hour seems to be the norm in the nyc area.............unfortunately.

So, i've made up my mind to go take several lessons, perhaps, 1 every 2 weeks or so over the next couple of months to help my game. I live right outside nyc, and there is a golf school in nj that is about an hour away with a grass range where they teach (there are closer courses with teaching pros, but they teach off mats and i would rather hit off of grass while i have a teacher). The question that I have is they allow you to choose the instructor and the prices range from $100/hr upwards of $200/hr for the head guru. For this weekend i have a choice between a $100/hr instructor vs a $150/hr instructor. The $150/hr guy has an impressive resume with over 16 years experience whereas the lower priced guy has only about a half dozen years experience. Obviously, money is an issue, so I guess my question is, for the extra $50 an hour, would the more experienced guy add that much more value? I wouldn't mind trying him once if there could be a measurable benefit from his years of experience. or do you think at my handicap, that the cheaper guy would help my game as much? thanks and yes, perhaps this is a silly question.

tm22721, i've seen you mention, well more like praise "DOCF" before in this forum and when someone asked for more details on this, you would more or less fall silent or disappear altogether. the material on the internet on this DOCF that you speak of is extremely limited so the question for you is, are there any specific reading materials that you can provide links to for those interested in learning more on this? thanks in advance

Depends on how i'm doing that day. 1) If i'm driving well, i would just bomb it as far as I can and then pitch/chip onto the green 2) If i'm not driving very well but my iron play is on, I will work backwards so that i can have an approach shot with a yardage that i can hit consistently with a high degree of accuracy, i.e. 150 yards for example. So i would tee off with a mid iron and knock it onto the fairway only a 170 yards or so, and then onto the green from the 150 yard mark. Of course, with my handicap, i'm still pretty inconsistent, so my course management philosophy is very much day to day depending on what i'm hitting well and what i'm not, but usuallly when i'm not driving well, i will lay off the driver a bit and really focus more on course management where i work backwards. if i'm driving well, i'll just bomb it and hit an approach shot wherever the ball lands. I've read several articles that say that one should always work backwards from the green to leave themselves an approach shot with the highest % of landing on the green though......................

lessons as soon as you're able to. trying to do it on your own will just help develop and then reinforce bad habits and build muscle memory for the wrong swing, especially if your plan is to do it by hitting hundreds of balls on the range.

Another question regarding visualization of impact, is the toe of the club supposed to be slightly "up" in relationship to the ground so that there is a slight "gap" between the toe area and the ground or is the whole bottom of the club (iron) supposed to be flat in relationship to the ground for a properly struck ball?

Thanks guys, i've done google searches on the subject and i guess it's the notion of "trapping" the ball that leads me to visualize the wrong thing. I see several articles from supposed professional teachers that talk about hitting "down" on the ball to trap it between the ground and clubface so that the ball compresses and rides up the clubface before launching off..............i guess "trapping" the ball provides a wrong picture of what actually happens. going back to my question regarding higher lofted irons such as wedges, at address with the clubface squared, it seems as if it's designed to slide under the ball unless due to the loft you almost come in at a steep angle and deloft the clubface a bit in order to properly hit down on the ball.........or if not, and the ball is contacted by the same angle i see at address, then the point of impact to hit the ball first than ground just seems so small with "topping" the ball or hitting it thin the likely outcome

Hi all, So i've combed through the threads here regarding properly compressing the ball to trap it against the club face and ground to get the proper distance and such. The question that I have is that i feel as if i'm "sliding" in under the ball and if i hit down on the ball, it's as if i'm trying to time the leading edge of my club face to hit that small sliver of the back of the ball if it makes sense (espeically with higher lofted irons like wedges), and i simply can't picture how the club face strikes the back of the ball. i suppose it's a silly statement, but the the loft of wedges and shorter irons, seems as if it makes it difficiult to properly hit down on the ball due to the leading edge. I guess the questoin is if anyone has any impact pictures to show the the angle at which the club face impacts a ball to properly trap it. Hopefully this is not a silly request. thanks in advance. E

I'm currently reading "The Impact Zone: Mastering Golf's Moment of Truth by Bobby Clampett that was highly recommended in several threads on this site and in the beginning of the book he talks about how he was taking divots right at the ball or slightly behind the ball so he began to practice employing the "aiming point" technique which involves directing your aim not at the ball but at a point in front of the ball as your backswing transitions into the downswing. He said it worked for him. As someone else mentioned in this thread, if that helps use it. If it doesn't well........good luck finding some other technique that will help you.

4 sets: Old Lynx starter set Taylor Made Firesoles Callaway X-20's Current set: Mizuno MP-62's Don't get me started on my misc collection of putters, wedges, woods, and drivers :(

Rexx, Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to type that all in. What you say makes sense and one of my chief complaints about how I strike the ball is what seems to me is high ball flight with just "average" distance, i say average because i like to think i'm physically strong and fit yet others on the range with half my strength or size are able to pummel the ball long distances. Obviously its not size that matters but technique and ball striking so i've always known my technique sucked since i wasn't achieving the distance that I wanted. I've always suspected that i was scooping or flipping the ball as well, hence the high ball flight and on the course i would rarely take a divot. Re-reading your sequence of events in the swing, i can't help but think when i first began to learn how to swing a club, i learned on the range on mats for a while before stepping onto a real grass course. I remember many times the numbing sensation of grounding my club into the mat and feeling the pain in my hands through my elbows and into my shoulders. I feel as if i developed a "defensive" instinct to pull out of my swing right at impact or slight before, hence i'm basically swing at the ball and not through it for fear of hitting the mat and injuring myself. Your post makes sense, i think i'm decelerating near the bottom of my swing in order to pull up out of it prematurely or in preparation of such a thing, hence the bent arms at the bottom. I can't wait to hit the range now to work on the things that you mentioned. I do have a couple of follow up questions though, at the bottom, if the arms need to be straight at impact, should they be straight more in towards my groin as suggested in this thread or out more or at the same spot as my setup? Which leads me to ask about my arms/hands relative to my groin at setup, do you think that is the proper distance? Also, should you keep your head fixed with eyes on where the ball was after impact until your body rotation pulls you out? i'm sure the answer is yes and i'm just pulling up at impact as mentioned before with the club head decelerated right before or at impact as a result. :( so much to work on and think on..............

Thanks everyone, your feedback was exactly what I was looking for. @ CY, thanks for pointing out my position at impact, my arms definitely are bent, but wondering why that is, perhaps my distance to the ball changes at impact because i'm hunching over more or lifting my head or moving out of position? hence i compensate with the bent arms but it doesn't seem like thats the case. @ Rexx, when you mention a hip slide at the beginning of my downswing, do you mean kind of a lateral movement of the hips to the left (right handed) as i begin to square up my hips or while my hip is turned a little, and is that accomplished simply by a weight transfer from the back leg to the front leg? I know one is supposed to "limit" hip turn in the back swing but there is still a turning of the hips. Do i begin the downswing by squaring up the hips and then "open" my hips relative to the target line by the 20 degrees as you mentioned while squaring the shoulders? is that correctly interpreted? @ Greatgolfguy, thank you so much for the positive feedback on my backswing. It's good to know a part of my swing isn't complete FUBAR. The encouragement certainly wants me to try harder to get better. Do you think it's a setup issue regarding my hands? should i be closer to the ball? if anything i feel like i'm too close to the ball, or am i moving lower to the ground, hence the bent arms? arghhhhhhh so much to keep track of in the swing :) guess that's why i both love and hate this sport. Ahhhh, who am i kidding, i love it.

Updated swing video as of 22 Aug 2011 (please provide any feedback on this swing). I currently play to a 14 handicap, and I'm sure that some of you will say I shouldn't be playing a 2 iron, but I don't find this very difficult to hit, especially off the tee on really tight fairways. Most strangers I get paired up with on the course are pretty surprised that I not only bag a 2i, but that i'm able to hit it okay. In any case, I would like some of you swing gurus to take a look at my current swing and let me know what you think. And I've reposted my swing from a year ago, and see if i've improved in some areas and went backwards in other areas. Thanks all. Previous swing video for reference from last summer (May 2010) that others were commenting on previously:

mine ranges from 230 to about 270. my longest drive was 310 (total distance) and it was a straight perfect drive which i have never been able to repeat since :(

Played last weekend by myself and got paired up with a stranger. Was hitting out of a deep greenside bunker with no view of the green, i hit it out, feels like a solid shot and i'm thinking to myself the shot sounded great. As i climb out of the bunker and get onto the green, i don't see a ball on the green. my playing partner says the ball flew over the green into the sand bunker on the other side. So i begin muttering some expletives to myself and as i'm walking across the green to the other side, the guy asks me to pull the pin so he can putt out and now i'm thinking what a jerk but hey i'm walking by the flagstick anyway, so i'm pulling out the pin and look down and there's a ball in the cup. my ball, and the guy is cracking up. he says it was a great bunker shot, landed, took a hop and rolled right into the hole. was pretty funny :)

Project management :)