Golf general advice and help thread.

HMHB

There's no way I would have been able to understand what I was doing wrong if he hadn't shown me on video.

The first part of my backswing I was almost picking the club up and that meant that it started on the outside of "the cone" where the club is supposed to stay in all the way through. So The club was too far right of that to start with and so stayed there all the way through the swing.

This meant that I was hitting across the ball and explains why I always sliced it unless I started with the club head toed in to counter that!

Graham27

Yeah, that's very common. And the natural tendency is to aim further left to compensate, which means you cut across it even more. And if you close the face, you just pull it straight left!
I don't know anything about Direct Golf, but as HMHB says, it's a lot easier to be shown on video where you're going wrong. It makes it much easier to understand. Before video lessons came in, you just had to trust what the Pro was telling you, even if it didn't feel right, because you couldn't see where you were going wrong.

Taking a video with a smartphone/tablet can help. There are instructional apps now available which are great. Some will put your swing next to a pro so you can compare. Pros often have slo-mo/high fps cameras though, which let you see your swing in greater detail. 30fps isn't ideal for capturing a golf swing.

HMHB

Going with a pro (oooh matron!!) also has the advantage that he can tailor his advice to suit you personally. Everybody is different and so not everyone will be able to swing/stand the same.

HMHB

I'm getting obsessed by all this now and am determined to get the basics right So I made a decision to stop being silly and I've changed my grip to the conventional grip. It will take a few trips to the range to get used to it but then I can concentrate on the other aspects.

TheCSSDoctor

Well I have booked an appointment with my local Direct Golf for Saturday morning so will let you know what it is like and if I felt it worthwhile


Stick with it, it will all be worth it in the end

Toasty

Yeah, I changed my grip earlier this summer, took a couple of months to adjust as I'd had my old grip for years, but it has really helped my game. Just need to work on posture now..

HMHB

It felt like a bit of a step backwards on my lesson last night because I'm not hitting the ball so well now. This will be due to the changed grip and me trying to get the swing right.

I'm having difficulty on the follow through part of the swing and not hitting through the ball properly and not finishing off properly. I really have to get this right before I have my next lesson.

Overall though the pro is very pleased with how quickly I've progressed over the last 2 weeks as I've had to cope with a change of stance, change of grip and a change of swing Everything that I'm doing is now miles better than what I used to do (even my mate has noticed) but I'm just not connecting with the ball properly yet

Graham27

That happens. Two steps forward, one step back Every change takes a while to bed in. It's a lot to think about as well, and it's only when it becomes instinctive that you stop thinking about it and start swinging properly.

You may even just be having an off night. One of my pals came to my course and shot 67. Then he played in our Open tournament a couple of weeks later and shot 85!

It is cool when you start to understand your swing though, eh? When you realise how one little change here and there will cause a massive knock-on effect elsewhere.

HMHB

I've been waking up early all this last week or so and so have been regularly practising my swing in the kitchen using a feather duster at 6am I do hope none of the neighbours can see me!

I went to the range last night and managed to improve a hell of a lot on my follow through and I've got high hopes that I can go ahead with my next lesson next week.

I'm hitting the ball quite reasonably of the ground now but off the tee it still seems to be poor for some reason.

I have been doing an exercise at the range where you set up to hit the ball but with the ball 6 inches in front of where you are setting up for (not easy to explain). So I'm actually setting up to hit 6 inch behind the ball but have to hit the ball. It's to teach me to follow through better. It's doing me some good

Edit - the reason why I'm using a feather duster for practising is because if I use a club I keep hitting the lamp shades and ceilings!

TheCSSDoctor

Slightly later than planned due to not being well, but here is an update following my golf MOT last weekend.....

Went along with a mate and we were both very impressed with the service - the pro spent plenty of time going through everything, gave a couple of tips to each of us based on our swing and we both noticed a change pretty much instantly, especially my mate who started hitting the ball much more solidly, shown by his tee shot on the par 3 2nd when we played 9 holes afterwards and he put it about 6 feet from the pin

The whole session comprised of hitting as many balls as needed to warm up, during which time the pro gave some tips and made some very slight adjustments to our swing - once we were comfortable with the slight changes, he then used an impact board to check the loft/lie of the clubs (which were fine for both of us) and then we were hitting balls on the flightscope monitor to check the club/ball speed, swing plane and flight path of the ball

Based on this information he then asked which ball we currently used and gave some recommendations on a few different balls which would suit our swing speed and handicap which ended up being the same for both of us - either the Srixon AD333, Titleist NXT or Bridgestone E7 so once I get through the balls that are currently in my bag I will give them a try and see how they go

The pro was more than happy to answer any questions (I asked about drivers as I struggle with consistency with them) and give tips, there was no pressure to buy any gear, and in fact, while he took our clubs to be cleaned he gave us both a large basket of balls and a selection of drivers to try on the range

As I currently have the Taylormade RBZ 3W and 5W I took the RBZ driver, and my mate took the Cobra ZL Encore as it is the replacement for what he currently uses, and then we took the Taylormade R11S as well

Putting the very slight swing change into practice with the drivers has made me think that could have been a very expensive tip after spending time on the range with the drivers.....  

Neither of us liked the R11S and it got put to one side almost immediately, for me it just didn't feel comfortable at all and I struggled to get a decent contact with it

The Cobra felt very consistent and I was hitting the ball quite well with it, but the RBZ just felt so much better (that may be due to the fact I already have the 3W and 5W) and it could well be a purchase for next year.....

My mate had the same opinion of the R11S, and he said that he could live with the Cobra, but he could live with the RBZ even more lol

We then went out on the 9 hole course that is attached to the store and I shot a 42 and my mate shot a 45 (his best ever round for 18 holes is a 90 and he currently plays off 23), and most of our shots lost were actually on the greens as they were ridiculously slow and neither of us could judge the pace on them so on a slightly drier course the scores could well have been lower - so I can't wait for next year to get out and play more