Sharkgolf

Hiya Dent I have to disagree with Jeff. You have a good golfswing. No weight shift problems anywhere. No reverse pivot either. If you were my student, I would ask you to post your butt a little prouder at address - giving your spine a slightly better tilt toward the ball. I feel you stand a little too upright. Next, I would ask you to slow down your backswing by 30% - this would give your tempo a chance to develop. Right now, your swing has a one-size-fits-all tempo.....you rush the clubhead away from the ball. Eaaaaaaassssyyy away!!! Your hands are good & high at the top of the backswing, you have a good strike through the ball. On the sequence down-the-line, you did two things I would say you need to work on: You did not stay down through the strike long enough - you were up&outofthere; really quickly, and you did not hold your finish at all.....which shows you maybe are using the ball sometimes as a "barrier" for your swing. This happens to us all....and if you have a pre-shot thought, try to think "play to my high, balanced finish". Good luck!!!

Ha! Now this was a pretty intense thread, Gents, with some sound advice and thoughtful answers to a tricky - and as you will probably all agree - neck-swelling situation, if the shot doesn't come off. Of course the best idea is not to aim for the tight-cut pin but to approach the entire green as your target, to 2 putt from there and move on...... .....with second best idea being to keep the acceleration going through the shot... ...with the 3rd best being, to make sure you keep your weight forward, stay tension-free and head well down.... BUT DOESN'T IT JUST FREAK YOU OUT WHEN THESE SHOTS DON'T WORK AS PLANNED? We need a workaround, something which works, ("reliable", was the subject of the thread, remember?) and doesn't pose such a problem....and I reckon the 56deg chip, as suggested by one of you, with the ball almost behind the back foot with a downward strike, seems to me, after a week of working on it, to be the best shot for this situation, under pressure. The cut lob, the open faced soft-arms swing, these come with too much risk, don't they? Thanks for all the input guys. Nice to know I'm not alone!!

Good luck with everything you do in trying to enter the professional world of golf, from any angle. A small tip though, from someone who "knows" about these things - if you go back and re-read your first letter, it is almost like the person who wrote it has some weird mental deficiency, JUST BECAUSE HE WROTE EVERY WORD WITH A CAPITAL LETTER! Don't do that anymore, friend. It looks kinda cute but for people who read fast, it's a red flag. Best To You

Hi Guys. I hope this doesn't sound like somebody whining, BUT (wwwwwwwaaaaaaaah) I have tried EVERYTHING, from the short game bible of Dave Pelz, to pros-lessons, to hours and hours of practise, and yet, at the absolute moment of truth, when you 100% need that shot to work, you know, the one where you are on a bit of hardpan, there's a yawning bunker in front of you, and the pin is cut fairly tight to your side of the green, and you go up to the ball, make your preview swing, nice & slow, feel the shot, see the shot, then swing, head down, posture perfect, on plane...............and you chunk it into the bunker??? Is there anybody out there who has the absolute answer to these 15 yard 60deg wedge shots which should be so easy, but prove to be a scorecard wrecker????? All guaranteed help gratefully received.

mnel Don't get flustered. You have great balance at the end of your swing and any kind of individuality at the END of a swing is always welcome, as long as things have happened correctly on the way there. What you should try to do: 1. Know that your swing has all the right pieces, just that they are not sequencing properly. This is a positive. 2. Start your backswing by "bumping" your hips toward the target, and then back. 3. (The secret) Imagine your backswing as one long loose, rubbery thing, the only "stable" parts being your flexed right knee and your raised butt. Now, complete the backswing in total slowmotion 4. Try it. You will see that you are suddenly able to get forward easily to your left leg. That you stay in good balance. 5. Most important, you will see that you haven't lost any distance. 6. Send me lots of money. Good luck. P.S. Try this especially with your wedges from short range as well.

and.....your buddy....his swing is just magnificent. Ask him, if he is such a good buddy, why he doesn't share his weight-shift to the right leg, his long arm extension on the backswing, and his powerful move toward the target with his best friend??? he just wants your money pal!!! ;)

mnel From this angle, which isn't always the best for plane-analysis and legwork, here are my two cents worth: It seems you are straightening your right leg on the takeaway. For a young guy like you, that's really not necessary. It raises your entire torso and can lead to a reverse pivot. You have a good position at the top of the swing (again, from this camera viewpoint we can't see exactly how the plane is). Your impact body position is flatfooted with both feet, indicating you have not transferred enough to your left leg - major power loss here and I bet your bad shot goes left. Your follow-through is really athletic and your right knee even goes PAST your left knee, something we don't see too often...... BUT, you're faking it mnel!!! If you could work on achieving this end-position by also striking the ball with your weight almost fully transferred to your left leg, then this would be a great strike. I think you're pretty brave to post your swing anyhow!! Best to you & good luck M

My Momentus Heavy swing trainer club. This two-piece screw-together short club has improved my swing better than anything else. Short enough to swing easily in hotels and at home without smashing light fixtures, it has so much weight in the shaft that you cannot swing it out of plane - and it's great for warming up before practise, or a round...

Bought the Eidolon 52, 56 & 60 deg last summer. They have U-grooves and spin-milled faces, and a V-sole system which allows each wedge to "become" another loft when opened slightly - like Ping is doing as well. The wedges perform terrifically, although I have noticed a lot of wear on the face of the 60deg - something I reckon isn't so great for wedges less than a year old BUT I haven't been able to compare this wear to any other spin-milled wedges, so a negative vote would be unfair at this stage.

Wow. Some of these made intense reading. I hope you guys achive what you set out to do. Simply put, my golf goals this year are: to reach a single figure handicap (currently 12), to maintain balance through all competitive swings ( keeping the 80% power idea in mind), and to play golf holes with a result in mind, and not a hope. Wish me luck!

Two things which weren't covered here so far - grooves and green conditions......if you have a spin-milled clubface with U grooves on your wedges, like Vokey and others are producing, you will increase the spin rate enormously: so much so, that some players don't use Pro V1 balls with these because of ball wear, the balls are wrecked after two holes. Similarly, if you pitch in to a really well prepped green, mown to abrasive lengths with a softish base, the spin will bite much more than a non-prepped green....

I bought a (ugh!) ugly long Ping putter this last week. (OK, its the same model Nick O'Hern used to kick Tigers butt in Arizona with) Only reason for this was the dreaded yips afflicted me last year and so I tried the long putter for the last 3 months of '06 and those damn ****** were no longer present. Now the big question is: to suspend it from the chin with the toe down and putt with a vertical shaft, or to cut the shaft a little and fix it to the sternum with the lie lying correctly on the ground.......anyone got a good idea about this? I went to the puttlab system two weeks ago and out of the 5 members from our club team who underwent the test, my chin-suspended putter had the least flaws.....but I feel I am maybe not hitting the sweet spot by having the toe of the putter down during the swing.....thanks if anyone has an idea about this....maybe (cos I am a n00b here) I will post this in another forum as well.....I dont seem to be able to activate my membership here properly.....oh wellll.......

I bought a 32" Tracy last year, and until the dreaded yips set in, in late June, loved that putter more than any other. Unfortunately, all my short beauties have been relegated to the dark side of my locker, and an ugly long Ping thing is what I now use. The Yes long putters are really expensive......