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How important is it to keep it straight at impact? Alot of long hitters seem to let it bend, just wanted to get opinions if any single digit guys or teachers around

Not necessarily, driver swing has one hitting up with an ascending blow at impact whereas irons are the opposite.

I play a 7*, 48" driver and love it but you can't rush things. It takes time to get through the swing but the results of patience are outstanding(for me).

Funny, I do the opposite, I hit my hardest club,3 iron, if I can hit that well then I move up. If not, I know I need to practice my swing because something is out of whack. Why practice with the clubs you already hit well??

Actually, not true. More loft increases spin.

You may be standing too close. Also, try to keep your hands and arms very loose and don't start the downswing until you feel you have completed the backswing. This should help.

As you know, there are many ways to play the game. You need to find the ball position that produces the shot you want most with the swing you most often have on the course. That being said, ball position is a personal preference for many good players. I like driver played off left shoulder because with my particular driver and my driver swing, I get the most reliable distance and shot trajectory. I play most other shots from the logo on my shirt except on pitches, fairway bunkers and specialty shots. Find the spot that your club bottoms out and decide whether for irons, this is where you hit the best shots or the shots you most often want.

The split grip teaches your hands how to work, ie. makes it easier to hinge and also allows one to drop into the slot easier. Once the feeling is obtained, then put the hands back together and do it like that.

Watch the right thumb, if it wanders loosely around the handle rather than down and to the side, you will get too much wrist action. Check it out.

There's a reason it is called "hand-eye coordination", the eyes have to watch what the hands are hitting.

You can't hit something you don't see-at least no very well. Keep your eyes on the ball, some say back of the ball for most shots, others say front of the ball for irons. Keeping the head still is important, now having said that, I want to mention that moving the head side to side normally is ok, moving the head up and down is not good. I like to feel as if I am rotating around my head/spine.

Not really. Hitting fat is a result of either swaying or changing the spine angle during the swing or error in ball position.

I like to feel atletic position, feet anchored into the ground and yet a springy feeling in my legs. My back is fairly straight, my shoulders are square and back versus slumped, and my arms just hang from my shoulders naturally. When I swing my club, I feel as if I could go 75% or 90% or 110% and never lose my spine angle or balance. I like to feel as if my head and neck are there relatively rigid and my upper body pivots around them. My lower body is anchored into the ground and my hips just turn naturally as far as they need to to support the large upper body pivot. When I transition, I feel like a giant coil that has been wound up is just unwinding without any more effort than to allow the unwinding. I trust my swing, I trust my alignment, I don't really have to wonder where the ball is going, I know-most of the time. After 45 years of playing and teaching, these things are second nature.

a slumped posture will get you no-where So true yet alot of amateurs are trying to be tiger when they haven't perfected balance and posture. If you read the posts on some forums like manzella's jokefest forum, folks are trying to use talents they don't have or don't understand. Mansella has made a living off these fools' fantasies. You have to make it through the basics and fundamentals before you begin to work on accumulators, low points, puring irons, lag, and the rest. Posture, my man, posture.

you hear it all the time but how many folks really focus on it. Instead, players are trying to think path, plane or lag etc. Without proper posture, one can't proceed to the next level. What is good posture? Opinions welcome.

Amateurs' spine angles change all over the place while pros' remain the same. LOL

Here's a drill: On the downswing, try pointing the butt end of the club down the ball to target line; this will insure that you stay in the shot. You will probably be amazed at how well you hit your irons using this concept.

Lighten up your grip to about a 3 on scale of 10 and finish your backswing.

It's all about fundamentals, get those correct and then build other stuff after that.

Sorry but Michael Breed is a very poor teacher and even worse as a tv personality. Also, no one on tour is using him nor do they give him any credibility. Something about his personality seems to grate on most folks but that would be ok if he actually could get his point across, which he does not. Way too fast that most folks can't comprehend.

repeating what others have said before.

That's not what you originally said. Now you are just repeating what the rest of us said.

I agree but that's not what you said originally.

I disagree, a higher launch angle has its point of diminishing returns. Just as one can launch it too low, also one can launch it too high. Ideally, one should get on a launch monitor and get fitted. One wants a +2 or more ascending angle of attack and hit the ball on the upper third of the center of the clubface to have optimum results. If one cannot do that simple thing, nothing else is going to work.

The faster you swing etc. Not necessarily. You can swing fast and have an ascending angle of attack which lessens backspin. The best drives are hit on the upper third of the face and with an angle of attack of +2 or+3