Hollister

The practice greens are way slower at my place, too. Found it hard to estimate the Stimp speed on the course so far. Still got no AimCharts, used the App the first time yesterday. Wrong pace on the first two holes (thanks to slow practice greens at 8, course at 10 - and a little lack of trust/commitment). Three one-putts on the next three holes - twice from 20 feet, once from 15 feet. Hmm, I think I like AimPoint even more after yesterday. The App is a little fiddly, though, but should have a higher accuracy (self-assurance). Equipped with a laser, iApp AimCharts and a method swing (ooops) - I now feel like a cyborg. Take away the technology, then what? Gotta try that out. Next year... Anyone got the Clinometer App (for iWhatever) working?

I hear ya. Hope I can get hold of such effing bubble here in Europe sometime soon. Waiting for my charts, too. The iApp is OK, but too fiddly on the course. Using my feet to access the green is an enormous help so far even without using the charts. Tempo on my home course remains a challenge. The practice green is slow compared to the course - and those green vary quite a bit. Getting their (relative) stimp speed would be my next important step. Huh, were are my charts...?

Ah, well - that is why I chose to name it "entertaining" video. The dirters (SITD) are fun to watch - Elk makes Golf look like an epic quest. (Were ten words could say it all.) The Blacklock video has more on Hogan's swing, but IMHO it is not really worth watching it. I got it for free from the Hogan Club. I remember a McLean video on Hogans swing, which was as interesting as Hogans book.

Interesting topic - I have a video from a Luther Blacklock on what he coined "Radial Ball Positioning". The video is called "The Lost Fundamentals Of Ben Hogan". Google and you find a few interesting threads on his view of Hogan ball positioning. Furthermore an entertaining video with Elk on that matter:

Yo, back again after much work syncing arms and body with the long sticks. Yesterdays 9 hole round was the best I have played this year (4 pars, 9 over with still 2 balls lost!). Thanks for your offer, Adam, but I am quite happy with my in-to-out swing path. It is more about club face control. Forgot which of the 5SKs that was. Last round saw just a couple of 10yard pushes plus one bigger push slice. My push-slice fix for the round for the tee shot: A practice swing with the focus of ... keeping the arms and body in sync, holding the right (back) hand wrist hinge throughout impact, straightening the right (back) arm throughout impact, not before. The 3W flies like a charm with around 200 yard carry now, the D turned from a big push slice to low hooks. Video shows that I am currently rotating my hands/arms and closing the club face doing so. Don't know why, back to hitting punch shots. The other day I hit punch shots with the driver off the mat. After 10mins full shots off the mat flew straight with some draws and got up to 35 feet high. Taking a 8i lead to notable length. Looks like that is my drill to get the driver going. Huh, am still bad at extending thru impact - but thats another matter.

The best place to for S&T; instructors is here: http://stackandtilt.com/stackandtilt-instructors/ If you do not find one in your vicinity, just use the email link and ask them - their lists might be a little outdated.

Woah. Mind sharing an inside view of his philosophy behind the right ball placement? Did the lesson take more than a hour? Bet so...

Being on vacation I stumbled upon an AimPoint instructor and convinced him to give me the fundamentals lesson. That was pure luck here in Europe currently. Woah, putting balls that close (in)to a hole I would otherwise expect me to have another 1-2 feet put left. Wished he did photos of me grinning big time. I never thought that "reading" green with my feet could be that easy. I am thrilled to go practicing! The downside of my private lesson - he had no charts or the student workbook mentioned here for me. So I have to wait at least for the end of the month to get the AimCharts.

Count me in on that. Thats why a cam is so damn important. Self assessment and correction gets you further. I am repeating the lessons from a year ago over and over, because several things tend to revert back to where I was 18 months ago. And that is the very reason why I value distance/video instruction. Would be nice to have Erik and friends for an in-person lesson a bit nearer to where I am. Thats the fun of golf - learning never ends. Hit, view the video, smile, repeat.

Yeah, there we go again - brands, different lofts and distance (see my post #215 ) I hit the 9i with 42 degrees loft consistently 120 yards. Your Burner Plus 9i has 40 degrees of loft - your distance should equal about mine with a lower loft. Your 8i has 36 degrees loft - mine 38. So you next distances would/should increment in about 10 yard steps. I saw a chart listing typical distances for hi-/mid-/low handicaps - gotta dig it up. Found it true for me.

No wonder that the golf courses get longer... Found a list of yardages for the "reasonably proficient 40-year-old male golfer of average height" hitting "modern" lofted clubs into still wind: 4-iron, 170 yards, 155 meters 5-iron, 160 yards, 146 meters 6-iron, 150 yards, 137 meters 7-iron, 140 yards, 128 meters 8-iron, 130 yards, 118 meters 9-iron, 120 yards, 109 meters No. 3 hybrid, 185 to 190 yards, 169 - 173 meters No. 4 hybrid, 180 to 185 yards, 164 - 168 meters http://www.leaderboard.com/LOFTINFO.htm I am happy to report that I am just one of those average golfers - that are my carry distances, too. And I can not hit it longer, I have to hope for roll. Here are their ranges for the average hitters on the PGA Tour. 4-Iron 210-220 5-Iron 195-205 6-Iron 180-190 7-Iron 165-180 8-Iron 150-170 9-Iron 140-155 Pitching Wedge 130-135 Gap Wedge (not used) Sand Wedge 115-120 Lob Wedge 75-95 The most interesting part of the article is the discussion of loft angles. newloft.gif So we might see even increasing distances for irons.

+1 for videoing your swing. Did you consider online lessons? I can recommend http://evolvr.thegolfevolution.com good value - check it out.

OK, two weeks and two rounds later - none the wiser. Rounds start just great. Straight shots, optimal distance, center hits, pars and bogeys. Perfect for me. But then the swing with the 3w and 3h slowly falls apart from hole 4 and on. Tolerable 10 yard pushes off the tee first, by hole 10 I hit up to 50 yard push slices and off-center hits. It translates to the longer irons with fat or off-center hits, too. Fat is bad, off-center is 15 yards less distance, 10-15 yards to the left or right. First I just aimed to the left. Perfect, good distance, all cool. At 30+ yards plus slice spin off the tee it gets hairy. Gripping stronger was no help at that point, too. I hit straight pushes with the 4h and irons 4/5, push slices with 3w/3h/d - and straight hooks. Funny thing is that I hit straight shots with the 3h/4h in between the erratic shots. After a good nights sleep I think that I got too confident too early yesterday. After a very good start I lost my swing being overly ambitious. Either too fast with the upper body rotation (open out-to-in) or too much from the inside (open in-to-out). Loss of concentration? The worse it gets, the level annoyance grows. Tried to stay cool, but it did not translate to the swing. Do I need a swing whisperer now?

I do not mean to offend you with junior golf blabber. But I am still smiling after have seen this video a while ago. No voodoo, simple "truths", understandable. Nice prep talk most of us should have received while in school. But it is never too late. I few Zen ideas should be applicable to golf, too. PS: How do tour players handle their issues? Just watch the blow-ups every Sunday on TV. Why does Charlie Wi and a lot more do not close the deal on Sundays? At least Tiger seems to be getting the Zen-master again. The mental game is the hardest to tame and own expectations are very big competitor.

Yep, right, on the course things have to work and thinking has to stop. Thats why I was asking for a fix. I will aim even more to the left the next time for the rest of the round and stop thinking about it. The analysis on the driving range helped to analyze the why. Since changing to S&T; two years ago, the push was always an issue, albeit a small one. I worked the last months on getting the right arm higher and the left arm "in front" of my body at to top of the swing. I did not hit a push for the past six or seven weeks when I began practicing after a longer break. It is really helpful to know where your bad shots might come from. Last week I lost my confidence at one point. Thanks for your advice!

Well, you have to ask yourself why club face and path are on the same in-to-out line at impact. You can work on both to improve the ball flight. The best is to video your swing and have it looked at either here or by your pro. Without video it is really hard to analyze. Here the chart I have always in my bag (to remind me and show to my friends when discussing ball flight). Closing the club face (stronger grip) should in theory help to produce to a draw (8 -> 7). (chart done be Zeph - thanks a bunch for it!)

I consider myself way post Faldo... My arms at P4 look like the Strech pic - and he is not happy with it, too.

OK, got video. I am swinging too far back, the left arm is too low. Not new, but I thought I fixed it over the past weeks before moving to other things last week. Fix: point the right thumb down the stance line at P3, to the right ear at A/P4 - feel-wise, that is. And let the flexing right arm do the lifting from P3 on. And a few things more on the down-swing. Ah, I begin babbling to myself again. Well, I need a caddie with a cam shadowing me on the course. Hey Foley, where are you when I need you following me around with that cam-pocket thingy? Huh! Regarding revving the throttle - how do you think about counter clockwise rotation of the right forearm on the back-swing? Is that "feel"/move worth anything?

:D Been back to my evolvr lessons 18 months ago. I find that I understand things way better now. OK, the 6 months winter injury related break left a lot time to read up on things. And yes, I have to put some work in on the right wrist action on the downswing. I still tend to forget that on the course. Next time I try to quick fix the push "watching" the hands a little closer.

Grip should be OK - I will check next time. My golf bible says "but of the club" could be a possible cause. I worked on elbows (closer together) lately, which made my results with the driver way better. The iron swing seems to suffered a bit from exaggerated moves for the driver. So it is back to the range...

Hi all, been hitting a lot of pushes today on the course - and a few push slices with the longer sticks. What is the most likely fix for a push during a round for you?

Still using my set of 2001 Ben Hogan Apex Edge graphite shafted clubs I finally bought one mint Apex 50 blade with a stiff steel shaft from 2004 a few weeks ago. It is really beautiful. Interestingly I have am able to hit it, too. That made appetite for more, so I bought a set of 1988 Apex Red Lines which should arrive every minute. 60 bucks for a good condition are worth a try, me thinks. Yes, I am currently in love with the Ben Hogan brand. Since the name points to a great golfer I am happy advertise it.

I have got a half tent, which works well. Mostly I am using a small mat since I am not keen to ruin my precious turf. Nope, I do not use the driver and anything 4 hybrid up with regular golf balls - too dangerous. Same goes for 9 iron and down. If I have to use em, I'll hit wiffer/air/foam balls into the net. Sometimes I hit air balls around the house using a wedge... Otherwise a net is nice to help working on details using a mirror or a digi cam - that is not always possible on my range. And you do not get thank distance thing in your head...

Would your answer be: get more turf? If so, how much to make sense for your perspective?

I found a picture that would represent the green I plan to build. My putting surface would be a bit longer (28 ft) and I would have up to 30 ft chipping distance to reach the beginning of the green. Before I invite you over, I have to think about cup placements and ondulations. (example of what my green could/should/would look like)