KEEPITSIMPLE

I hate to say it but usually guys who have trouble with long irons are too steep and don't get enough extension on the backswing and come over it on the downswing. Well, I am sorry to imform you but it usually reguires a whole retooling of swing and swing plane IMO. I am not sure if there is a easy way out. Hitting long irons can be hard even for the best of players.

depends on condition and who I am playing with and whether or not I am playing for money. But assuming sea level and nornal humidity and I am playing for money-Younger guys, I 'll muscle up and hit a 5, and even if I hit it flush, I'll tell them that I missed it. Older guys who play their own game,I just hit a 4.

What kills me are the 3,4 footers. I probably shouldn't be giving anyone tips on putting as I have tried everything and I am still a crappy putter. BUt from experience, I know for a fact it can be mental,because believe me I shot in the 80s before hitting 16 greens ,but that is why it is so important to work on your mechanics first and get them right so that you have the confidance from positive reinforcement. IMO, don't just work on making 8 footers, video tape yourself and make sure you have the right mechanic for your putting stroke. Boy, I only wish I had done this before my crappy mechanic permanently tarnished my putting psychic.

Trying to get that extra oomph the end with the arm. To me **one of the way** to swing a club is imagine oneself as like a wip. keep arm loose and right before arm complete the backswing snap or bump,as fast as you can with the hip, and than give it another oomph at slot with the right elbow. Exactly like a whipping action except I am adding the elbow hit at the end. you know like adding a bit more at the hinge point of the whip before it snaps through. Incredible timing involve and I get huge lag and huge distance but again **incredible timing involved**. I could be wrong but I believe it is how Sergio Garcia create his lag and distance, and a swing that could work for the skinny athletic type with fast twiching muscles. I could do the quick hip bump and get really good distance and be pretty consistent, but that little snap at the end with the elbow is just so hard to time.

well, Obviously you are taking the club too far in than what is usually **recommended**. My approach to golf is a lot simpler than other people. If you are used to taking the club too far back on the inside on your backswing, start your downswing more toward right field. The problem here is that too far inside and you are starting the downswing along the target line and that will usually cause a over the top move. Never had a golf lesson and never care to have one.Don't read any of the golf pub anymore but isn't it just common sense that if my body is coming inside on the backswing, in order to square it, I have to start it outside on the downswing. If My backswing is more upright, I start my downswing on a more downward path,If I am going straighter back, I follow staighter through,etc............................... I don't know about other people,but just focusing on reciprocracy, I could hit the ball pretty straight with as many different plane as I want... and I could even work the ball -cut it, draw it, hit it high and low depending on the plane of that reciprocracy. Geez, all that, and really my point is that another option is that you try to bump your hip toward right field to start your downswing.That shallow out your club and start it more inside-out. It might not be the ideal way,but it could be a quick and dirty fix.

It is the plane or angle in which you start your downswing. ASSUMING YOUR BACK SWING IS GOOD, Swing straight down with back of your hand on the downswing,left or right hand does not matter, you will not lose the wrist cock. Swing inside out and you are fine also,but if you swing the back of your hand outside in and the arm and hands will drop. The feel you should get is like pulling the butt of the shaft down and out toward the ball. My advice to you is that you start with the back of your hand and swing inside out first until you can make solid contact. It is not exactly the ideal way to swing,but it will get you to feel what the proper plane is.Close your eyes and feel that swing and how that is also moving your hip and shoulder.After you get consistent feel for the hip and shoulder movement, than try to swing with your hip or shoulder leading along the same plane.

This is true,except I like to add couple of things. When you tell most people to slide their hip, they slide the whole left side of their body. Most pros slide with the ***hip ahead** only. I stop reading the conventional golf instruction long time ago so I don't know the term but that angle that is created by the hip or actually it could be any part of the center your body whether that is knee ,chess, hip,of even your elbows has to be ahead of your hands before it unhinges.Really you don't see anyone who learns to do that who is not a good golfer or have a good swing. The core gets ahead and the hand snaps through later.It results in the hands being ahead at impact position. I know it sounds crazy and hard for me to explain but I know in my heart and my head this is a fact. Golf is only govern by a few scientific rules.It is a lot of people that passes bad information that makes the game hard.I don't mean to sound arrogant but unless you are a touring pro, the muscle memory is the hard part . The swing itself shouldn't be that hard to understand. Essentially I guess I would try to explain the best I can why it is so important to "slide the hip" by simple a common sense analogy to a fishing pole. Let say if you have a fishing pole ,to maximize energy transfer, the middle of the pole has to get ahead before the end of the pole snaps through. The middle of the pole is the core and the end of the pole is your wrist. Think about the motion of that fishing pole, the middle of that pole gets way ahead before the end of the pole snaps through.Also this draws parallel to the fact that one of the most important thing in accuracy and power is maintaining the wrist cock. the tip of the fishing pole being ahead gives no power but that is what great majority of the golfing public do when they start the swing with their arm or unhinge their wrist(or turn their forearm,same thing).And they wonder why they don't get power or accuracy.you only have the laws of physics against you.you know what I am saying. Anyways,really, your knee joint is connected to your hip,,your hip is connected to your chess,your chess is connected to your shoulder........ the body can and should be connected as one piece just like a fishing pole when you turn and coil correctly. I truly believe that the difference between the good player and average player is that good players connect and coil their joints as one piece and know how to get ahead with their core and snap their wrist at the end.

the one that is always kind of irritating to me is keeping the coil of your right leg and over turning your hip on your backswing. It you are having problem with that and someone or pro is emphasizing it and how it allows you to get more coil and push off and generate more power........... it is true except they are not telling you what the fundamental problem is- Your backswing is off and probably too steep and for sure coming way too far on the inside.. Don't believe me. Try different plane on your backswings. Go way outside and up and I guarantee you their isn't any unbending of the knee. Go straight back and their is no unbending of the knee. Golf should be pretty natural and athletic. your hip turn and coil of your knee will be "correct" when your backswing is in good position. If someone is telling you to "hold" or maintain something, chances are their is something fundamentally wrong. Guess what, if you have a back swing that does not come way too far inside, you are not going to overturn with your hip and you will retain the coil with your knee.

^^^^ yep great points, and I also like to add most people get too far inside on their back swing which makes it harder to swing up. I know I use to do that. Personally, I put the ball forward, tee it high,widen my stance.I try to keep my arms loose and make a full straight back swing and absolutely throw ,as **fast** as I can, my whole lower torso upward, way ahead of my upper body. That gives me the spring effect I need so that my upper torso and arms follow and spring in an upward motion and the club path will of course naturally follow the arms in ascending blow. I get really high launch angle doing that.

sound advice, I went from a 2.3 to probably scratch or better when I started hitting everything 3/4 with my short irons. I know my profile says 2.3 but that was like my last time I kept a handicap and that was like about wheuu, I am thinking like about 8 years ago.. SO honestly I don't know what my handicap is but I have a friend who was a Plus one and I use to give him tips so.... Anyways,one thing I like to add, for most people they can't swing with a shorter backswing. Imo, it is because they unhinge their wrist or drop their arms as their first move.They have to have a long swing to generate anykind of coil and feel any type of power, but if you know how to "spring" off your hip, a simple cock of the wrist up to 3/4 level and bump of the hip will generate about 75% full power. I am 5'9" and 150 and I can easily hit a sandwedge 100 and carry a drive 250 to 260 by just doing that... Hummm, In fact I think I am going to start a thread about that. Oh,well, they won't let me post a new thread. I guess because I am new here,but when I get a chance I am going to try to post my swing and how I do 3/4 swings and It could perhaps help the bigginners and intermediate golfers here..