Golf general advice and help thread.

TheCSSDoctor

Another thing to take into consideration when looking at the newer clubs is the lofts will most likely be a lot stronger than your current set, so a 7i in your current set will be more like an 8i in a newer set

So if you want to compare your current set against any other irons, it might be worth trying to find out what the lofts of your clubs are so you can compare like for like rather than hitting two 7 irons and immediately thinking the new one goes much further so must be better

HMHB

At the range last night I had my best session ever. I slowed everything down and concentrated on getting it smooth, so I did a slower backswing etc.

The results were amazing. It meant that I was no longer swinging back too far (which caused me to overbalance quite a bit whenever i did that) and I was no longer trying to smash 7 bells out of the ball. I hit about 90% of the balls sweetly last night which is about 70% better than I normally manage

I was only using the 5-iron last night so now that I seem to have cracked that I need to move on to longer irons and then on to the driver. I still haven't tried hitting a driver since I changed my grip, stance and swing!

stucarblne

Thanks for that. Certainly never knew that about the newer irons.

stucarblne

What have you changed your grip from... weaker or stronger ?, also is the stance more square on, from being open or a bit closed ?

HMHB

My grip was totally wrong. It was a baseball style grip. My stance was even worse and my swing was embarrassingly poor! I didn't follow through after the shot or anything.

I decided to change the whole lot after having a lesson and it was nearly like starting all over again, but it feels a lot better even after this short time

stucarblne

I started playing when i was about 13, round about the time of the Open at Birkdale in 1991. I had managed to copy a nice swing people said. My first handicap was 14, about 18 months later.

Problem was i had a few fundamental flaws in my grip, setup, aim, and swing. These were holding me back quite a lot and i couldn't get an awful lot of consistency and struggled to get the handicap down from there. No matter how hard i had practiced, i think the best i had played for consistently well was about a week. And that was after i had learned a tip from a golf mag about keeping the right elbow tucked in backswing and especially on the downswing before impact clearing lower body (hips) through impact.

But it wasn't enough as i had basic flaws. I had got friendly with a ex scratch club pro who now played of about 5 whom i sometimes played with. And in return for caddying for him in small amateur tournaments (which i enjoyed tbh) i got a few lessons up at a local driving range when i was about 16.

I discovered i had a weak grip which only showed one knuckle on the left hand. Also i was standing closed (shut) or right to the target, so what was happening was i was throwing my shoulders over the ball most of the time (or coming over the top) which resulted in the ball hooking or slicing a lot of the time. My arms were also disconnecting a lot from the upper body so was relying on hand and eye coordination all the time which resulted in the inconsistency.

So he adjusted my grip to neutral and had me stand with my feet together hitting balls with a wedge until i learned to keep my upper body working with my lower. My stance to target was fixed to. Which felt very alien to begin with but eventually after hundreds of balls started to come together. My whole game was transformed and within a year i was down to 4.

Unfortunately i started drinking at weekends/girlfriends etc and started playing less and less and missing weekend medals etc, stopped playing in the club team. But even though i played an average of once a week my swing was pretty tuned up i could still get around in the low to mid 70’s depending on the short game. But in 2003 stopped playing altogether unfortunately but would like to start playing again soon.

HMHB

It was the best decision I've ever made. It's hard work at the moment but will pay off I'm sure of that.

I used to play regularly, but not to a good standard, I had a handicap of 18 or something like that but mostly played worse than that.

I stopped playing completely and I haven't been on a golf course for over 15 years now! Even though I've been going to the driving range, I've still not been on the course. I want to be able to go out there with a decent swing for every club and not make myself look a complete dick

I still have 3 lessons left out of the course of 6 that I booked and I'll be interested to see the video of me on my first lesson compared to what I will be like after 6 My grip and stance are now exactly how the pro wants them to be so I'm concentrating on getting the swing right now.... but as we know that could take a whole lifetime, especially when you get to 51 years old like me

stucarblne

Plenty time to improve. Getting the basics right is the most important thing and it's good you are receiving lessons. The worst thing any golfer can do imho is practice faults. As they become ingrained and are more and more difficult and take longer to iron out as time go by. That's at any age btw.

Practice getting the basics from the ground up right, and anyone can and will improve. Aim, stance, ball position and grip being the most important. Then the rest will click with time.

Keeping the right knee flexed but anchored is hugely important and it's the pivot for turning (torque)... and transferring the weight over to the right, then pushing off and  down and though the left side through impact

gken74

I had a lesson at the beginning of this season with a top pro David Burns Golf Academy after a couple of mates who were scratch & 2 handicap both had lessons from him and raved about the results.

David gave me 3 simple things to work on strengthen my left hand grip, turn my left hip away from the ball and keep a wider take away at the start of the swing. He said if I could crack this it'd make a huge difference to my game.

I always hit the ball low with my irons and naturally hit a fade, I could draw my irons but not my driver/woods.

The first thing I noticed was the difference in my ball flight, even before the lesson had ended...I was hitting my 6i much higher but the flight and trajectory were great, no ballooning. It's been hard to get use to the grip change the most and even now 7 months on I still have to concentrate on gripping it correctly but the results have been great, I've got cut from 7 to 5 after being stuck on a 6-7 handicap for 3 years and can hit a draw with all my clubs without any issue and best of all I won a couple of big comps at my club.

These simple changes made a huge difference and I'd seen a couple of different pros before and they weren't up to much and didn't spot the errors in my swing like my current pro did....

Good luck and make sure you get recommendations from so people who have been getting lessons.

HMHB

I know what you mean. On of my major problems was a narrow swing and my swing was also collapsing a lot on the way down from the top. Slowing all this down has made it easier for me to stretch backwards fully for both the backswing and the way down.

It makes total sense because you're following the same path down as you did on the way up and so should hit the ball properly ...... in theory