TopMostOfEm

Actually, I hate them for that reason. They give me false confidence. Also, with no divot to provide feedback, they even more lead me to believe I hit it right. I struggle massively as you can imagine, getting any lag at all...being just 3 weeks into the sport. But FWIW when I do have a small divot in front of the ball, and my 7i does go 150ish and fairly straight... To me it feels like my *straight* left arm and wrist are pulling through the ball...and my right hand and arm are along for the ride. Additionally, when I get it right, it did not take much effort-- as opposed to the majority of the time when, despite telling myself to relax and let the club do the work...emotion or subconcious BS take over and I try to kill it with my hands and arms from the top of my swing. Sigh.

I told my wife last night that... After about 1000 completely wrong swings, a few nights on this forum and I've turned a corner towards getting it right. Funny thing is, once I learned the position of my body relative to impact and decided to attempt to create that condition, I found myself having to do exactly all the things my instructor has been telling me. If they would simply show the desired result first, we could all save a lot of time, money, and wear & tear on our bodies.... Sigh...

Ok Sean, I'll concede we are saying the same thing. On another note, and admittedly with no expertise in the matter, I wanted to comment that -- for me at least -- flipping and over swinging are related. When I tried to use brute force to get under the ball, I swung hard using my hands, then arms, then shoulders, then hips...and topped the ball. Since trying to swing correctly, it is the reverse order of body parts...a much gentler swing...and not really possible for me to overswing.

Well Sean, I can tell you that I'm that bad at sports in general. Not everyone is an athelete. But you know what? Because some people would rather talk about how to get past this problem (which, obviously many, many people have) rather than talk about how f****** bad the people are who suffer from it -- I'm on my way to thinking I can actually learn to play this game.

Oh, two other points: It takes 33 percent of the effort to drive the ball a greater distance... And for once I have something to hold on to as far as starting to look for some consistency in building positive progress!

OMG!!! Thank you to those who have defended flipping as the number 1 problem!! It sure is for me! While I am still terrible, now that I am focused on maintaing my lag via: Eyes focused 1 inch in front of the ball towards the target Proper weight shift Keeping then power package intact... Including maintaining lag as long as possible By starting the downswing with knees, hips, shoulders, arms It now Feels like I strike the ball with my left arm...instead of my right hand! I've taken my first divot ever (today) without an instructor present, and I DID NOT TOP MOST OF THEM!!! Thank you, gentlemen!!

Shanks, I am a complete newbie: 2 lessons and hitting about 70 balls per day, 5 days per week trying to learn the previous week's lessons. This thread, and in particular, your posts are speaking to my life every morning nowadays. I really appreciate the combination of your knowledge and writing ability. Please forgive me if my questions are answered elsewhere on this forum...I would like to read your answers to my questions if you would be so kind as to answer them for me. 1. Flipping? Does this refer to breaking my wrists near the bottom of my swing? My instructor has told me to maintain my wrist cock on the downswing. I'm assuming flipping is breaking before the ball? 2. Is flipping related to poor timing in an attempt to have a faster downswing than upswing, which all translates to trying to power up through the ball? 3. Is the ideal cure for flipping maintaining the wrist cock 2 or 4 or 6 inches past the ball? At 2 weeks into this, today I started feeling like my posture was locking in, in much the same way as being at the position of attention in the Air Force became....something your body just locks into and you know by feel that it is right. However, and this is scary, I do ... Top Most Of Them... Only now I only top them somewhat as most go 100 yards, about 60 percent straight. Please tell me, from what you wrote above about taking months or years to correct, what is a good plan of action to consistently move the low point forward while remaining on plane? Thanks!