Jack

This is something I have worked on with my pro. To cut a long story short the root of the problem was that I was not making a full shoulder turn, letting my arms get ahead of my body in the backswing. From this position I would return the club to the ball with the arms behind the body, clubface open... block. If I managed to get the clubface square (squarer?) with my hands I could get anything from a push draw to a big hook. By making a full shoulder turn and feeling the arms out infront of the body I have sloved my blocking problem. My swing is now much more efficient and I agree with Nassau that my improved swing "feels" much shorter when infact it is just the same (parallel). Hope this helps.

I very much doubt that you hit your wedges this far. If you did, then I suspect that you would have enough ability not to have this problem. You need to, 1) Check your distances 2) Work on your technique. Find what works for you hitting partial distances. If you have been taking lessons I'm sure your pro can help you with this.

I keep my stats, but as soon as I have made a note of what happened on the hole I tend to forget about it as I am starting to think about my next shot on the next hole.

This. Get out there and knock in a 100+ 3ft putts. Then practise knocking the ball from one side of the green to the other. If you can do this (and you will be able to), then you can control the distance. Remember to be athletic and just focus on getting the ball in the hole. Most importantly believe and have confidence that every putt is going to go in! There is no substitute for practise to get the confidence back when it goes.

I have the Casio FC150 and I highly recommend it. I believe it is the new version of the FC100 and has a few more control options. To my surprise it also takes great still shots if you want to use it as a normal pocket camera too. My swing is on here somewhere if you want to see some examples of it in use. Also check out youtube for example footage. There is quite a lot on there of different subject matters.

As I now find myself making a good connection with the ball on a regular basis, my attention is being drawn more to the accuracy of my shots. The club where I play has an 18 hole par 3 course with holes ranging from 60 to 135 yards. It's a great course that is well maintained and will test the short game of any player. A couple of the longer holes require me to a take a full PW to reach the green and my question really comes from these shots. I tend to take dead aim at the pin if the conditions are right. My misses are generally to the right of the pin, but only by a few yards. I would say that I could guarantee to hit the ball within 5-6 yards either side of the hole providing I have hit the ball cleanly. I get annoyed when I hit the ball nicely and it goes 6 yards right and ends up on the fringe or off the green altogether. My problem is, I don't know if at my stage of learning the game I am being too harsh on myself. I only tend to play on my own or with the same few friends who are not really up to my standard (which isnt great itself!) so I don't have a good comparison to make with good golfers. I realise that distance control is just as important as direction, but at this stage I would prefer to concentrate on one thing at a time and nail that direction aspect first! Also although my handicap is 18 I go around this par 3 course in about 5 over par or less. I have only just started playing on full sized holes and I'm still very much learning the longer clubs (I need to learn how to hit it off the tee consistently) and how to negotiate full sized holes. My question to you is, "how accurate are you from 130 yards?" p.s. I have been working hard on my alignment over the past few weeks, getting a friend to check my setup before I strike the ball, ect. I believe my misses are resulting from small pushes (not quite bringing the club face back square).

Your swing speed is very similar to mine, so I'll tell you a little about my fitting. I too suffered from a high ball flight which was robbing me of distance (note that high does not always mean less distance!). In my case the ball tended to balloon off of the clubface. This was a result of hitting down quite a lot on the ball, generating more backspin causing the ball to fly off higher than wanted. I was fitted for a stiff shaft to match my swing speed and reduce some of the spin. You can also get drivers with a low spin face and there are a multitude of shaft options. How does this help? It probably doesn't. If I have learnt one thing, it is the value of getting properly fit for your clubs. By doing so (and making a couple of swing adjustments over the past 3 months) I have been able to add good distance to my drives. So please go and see a pro and get fit. For your reference my swing speed is 98mph. I currently get around 240 yards carry out of my driver. I'm still working on the swing!

I used a Casio FC150, which can shoot video at high speed. In this case I recorded at 240fps. Cheers iacas. I'll work on these things next. The image there makes it very clear what I need to achieve.

Cheers guys. I'll take these thoughts to the range and get some better videos when I can.

Here is an update of my swing. It's just a short clip with a PW but it does give some idea of what I am trying to achieve. I now think I need to work on getting a fuller shoulder turn and stop my head moving a few inches forward on the backswing. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Yep, Scorecard was really the reason I asked. If I make the purchase I would like to make use of all the features. Pacing to the next putt sounds like a good idea. I was interested to see whether others made measurement a part of their routine or not.

Do you measure it? If you do... how do you do it? Pace it out or just look at it and take your best guess? Do you measure before or after you have taken the putt? The reason I ask is that I am interested in recording this stat, but I am not sure how it will affect my pre putt routine. I have just finished reading "Putting Out of Your Mind" by Dr. Bob Rotella and my putting has dramatically improved now that I just step up to the ball with a consistent routine and focus on just getting the ball in the hole. I don't think about the length of the putt, nor do I need to. I just let my brain work it out and stroke the ball. I wonder if I start thinking about the distance of the putt by measuring it I might not be able to just focus on the hole anymore and stroke it freely and confidently. Which, if you have read the book, you will understand is a key part of Bob's method.

Get lessons as soon as possible. If you have the basics down you will get a lot more enjoyment from the game. Also, I would read through the forum here and learn about the golf swing. Pick up a good golf book too if you can, Hogans 5 lessons is a great place to start. I think knowing how the golf swing works is the first stage in putting it into practice.

Am I right in thinking that this will be a good drill to use? My coach has got me doing a similar drill. Only he wants me to keep my right heel grounded to get the feeling of swinging in front of the body.

1. Thanks for the tip on this. It was the first thing I noticed when I looked at the video. That left leg just looks plain ugly to me at the moment! 2. Not sure what rate of closure is but I'll do a search and come back and ask if I can't find out. 3. Sliding through impact, definately happy with the hips sliding and I've read quite a bit of the thread you posted previously. However, my head has, or maybe "had" (since I have worked a little on this) a tendancy to go with the hips and get infront of the ball at impact, causing me to push the ball out right. I think I should be aiming for a "reverse c" position rather than a / position? Please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks also for your reply, I appreciate that you are busy with all the fantastic work you put into the site. Cheers.

Thanks for the quick reply HAVOC. The second point about rotating around the hips is just what my pro pointed out to me a few days ago and he has given me a few drills to help me with this. I'll take on board what you say about sliding the hips. I didn't realise I did this until looking at the swing on video! Feel is not real :(

This is my first attempt to record my swing so I hope I have done it right. I decided to brave the cold toay and went down to the practice field with my new Casio FC150. I took some swings with the 7iron and the driver... Here are the results, I'd love to hear your thoughts and tips on how I can improve. Thanks, Jack.

Well I just got back from the fitting and I thought I'd share the experience. On the monitor it was showing that I had a swing speed of 95-100mph and a spin rate of over 3300 (this was with a club I borrowed from my dad (regular flex, 12deg)). So straight away he switched me to a stiff flex and dropped the loft of the club from 12deg to 10.5. This managed to get my spin speed to 2800 and a better ball flight. Basically my spin speed is higher because I tend to hit down on the ball, also delofting the club a little. So we took a few clubs out on the range with the stiff flex and 10.5deg loft, and the one that we decided on that was within budget was the Ping K15. Now I have done a little research on the club, but since it is quite new there isn't too much to be found. Anyone know anything about it? The other problem is that being a new club, I don't think finding a second hand one is going to be easy. I think I'm going to have to try a few more clubs based on the spec mentioned before. Other suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

Thanks again for the advice guys. Just a quick update. I am going for a driver fitting on Thursday with my club Pro. The fitting is meant to be one of the best in my area and since I'm a member of the course it will only cost me £10 ~ $16... I can't wait!

I usually slice my driver if I rush the transition at the top of my swing, causing me to throw my arms out and come over the top.

Wow this is great guys. I thought there would be a few different opinions. That's what makes this game and this forum so great! I really like the idea of picking up a 2nd hand driver to have a knock around with while I'm still improving at quite a fast rate. Since late July I have been playing and practising nearly every day. I am fortunate that I am quite good at a few sports and I'm determined to have great fun learning the game of golf. I wish I had started taking it more seriously earlier! Anyway, I digress... My club pro offers a fitting service for a small fee so I think I will start there. Then I can pick up a good cheap driver that's a few seasons old in good condition and play that until I'm ready for the next level. I think I am comfortable enough with my wedges that I could appreciate the benefits that a good set would bring, and with the new groove rulings coming in shortly; now seems an ideal time to change them. I'd love a new putter but I'm happy enough with my current one while I save up some money. I think fitted irons are currently out of budget unless Father Christmas is very generous!

Thanks for the advice Gerald. Looks like I will be searching for a driver for Xmas and some wedges for my Birthday! I have already started playing the E5 ball and have to say that I'm pretty impressed. I'll be sure to try a few clubs, do a load of research and get fitted.

Ok fitting it is! Will I be able to get an accurate fitting with a fairly inconsisent driver swing?

Ok, I see what you are saying and I think trying a few clubs at the range would be great. I'll be able to get a feeling for how other clubs behave and what I really like.