After 46 years of looking at golf from many different perspectives - I believe it is taught incorrectly. No matter how you look at it - it is still Face/Path/angle of attack. (FPA). It doesn’t matter what club or shot. You’ll note I did use the ‘S’ word where 99% of the emphasis is on. That - comes after FPA. Pros alter their motion to adjust their FPA. I’ll go into it a little more later. Thinking ‘swing’ first is how we open up a can of worms - spinning all kinds of ideas and theories (thinking)… ‘this is the perfect way to play golf’. The swing ends up being a giant scam of confusion.
Golf help
- Thread starter QDOG5
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The main issues in golf ( am golfing in 2 hrs ) is this:
1. Club face (open, closed, flush) at the point of contact
2. Direction of your hands/club after contact - straight, to the left or to the right.
Pro's use "shot shaping":
If you want left to right - slightly (like millimeters close the club head on contact - slight turn in your grip to see it, but end your swing with your hands and club out a little to the right.
If you want right to left - just reverse this - open the club slightly and finish slightly to your left.
Ball follows your club head contact first, then the direction of your swing.
Straight would be club contact is straight (e.g., perpendicular to the ball) and you finish hands and club straight.
Takes practice especially on the finish. Good luck!
PS - for that range 120-180 that should be a 6 iron hit 3/4 power. A 5 at full should crush 220 yds so a 6 at full should be 190 but depends on where in that 60 yard diff you want it. Closer to 180 means likely on the green else a chip shot, while closer to 120 means a good pitching wedge to get to the green.
1. Club face (open, closed, flush) at the point of contact
2. Direction of your hands/club after contact - straight, to the left or to the right.
Pro's use "shot shaping":
If you want left to right - slightly (like millimeters close the club head on contact - slight turn in your grip to see it, but end your swing with your hands and club out a little to the right.
If you want right to left - just reverse this - open the club slightly and finish slightly to your left.
Ball follows your club head contact first, then the direction of your swing.
Straight would be club contact is straight (e.g., perpendicular to the ball) and you finish hands and club straight.
Takes practice especially on the finish. Good luck!
PS - for that range 120-180 that should be a 6 iron hit 3/4 power. A 5 at full should crush 220 yds so a 6 at full should be 190 but depends on where in that 60 yard diff you want it. Closer to 180 means likely on the green else a chip shot, while closer to 120 means a good pitching wedge to get to the green.
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This won't help your golf game, but maybe your attitude about playing with others? I golfed for many years and my handicap tended to be between 12-15. For a few beautiful months I got to single digits -- 9.7. One time I was playing with 3 friends and I shot 74, tying my best score. The other 3 shot 104, 107 and 112. As you can imagine, that meant a lot of waiting for me, but I did not mind as they were friends. Now, if you are talking about playing with good golfers who are strangers, it's possible they might find your game a bit annoying. (But screw 'em! lol)
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The number one rule in golf: You can suck, just suck quickly
The objective is the face first - to make solid contact. (It doesn’t matter where the ball goes at first - just hit it flush going in any kind of forward direction. 45 degrees left of direct aim - or 45 degrees right of direct aim. It can be picked off the ground/tee or covered and compressed as the best players say. The ‘motion or wind up’ to obtain clubhead speed should get you reasonably back to address. Address (basically) simulates impact. The head of a moving tool that gets the face back to where it started. The reason is - a square face will compress the golf ball. Any other position of the face will cause a glancing blow with little compression. The require ‘distance’ - through compression to play. I can play a 550 yard par 5 by chipping my wedge perfectly straight down the fairway - i just need 150 of those to get there. So i had a 152 on the part 5 and never missed a shot. Every shot was solid and went straight where i was aiming it. Okay, the motion (to achieve clubhead speed must increase in order for me to get there in at least in 5 shots. My face was good, path was good, angle of attack was good (for the club). But, whatever motion i used - the clubhead was not going fast enough to make the ball go very far. I need a bigger motion where the clubhead can now approach the ball a little faster than 3 mph. So it compresses the ball and makes it go 100 yards or so. I know the clubhead must go further than 3 feet from the ball so I have the time to increase the clubhead speed. (so the ball goes further). I start by taking the clubhead back about waist high and see if i can get the face back to the ball (square on a reasonable path and angle of attack. Dang - i can now hit it 50 yards going in that direction. Things are looking up. Maybe i can get to the green in about 10-12 shots. Oh my ego and testosterone just engaged and i swung really hard and hit the ball off the very end of the club. It went 50 yards into the trees on the right. I guess the Face, Path or angle of attack changed. Damn this game doesn’t respond to my ego very well.
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A couple things of note that don’t deal with the swing itself, play the right tees and don’t play the ball down until you’re ready. Playing with better players as you say means they may be playing the blues or blacks, you play the white or shorter no matter. And if no one is moving the ball (unless a tourney) you move to good lies in order to get confidence in your game, don’t be embarrassed to be different you’re trying to get better.
Lessons are a good idea too these guys can help you find some ideas in order to improve, they will see things your playing partners can’t. I’m not a fan only because I’m a baseball player turned golfer so I don’t want change. When I turned 55 and felt I was losing distance I took my first lesson to grab a few yards. This particular teacher didn’t listen to me about not changing much and kept trying to get me to bring my club back to a different place which I wasn’t comfortable with, so I went to one of the 4 days I paid for. Not for everyone. I do recognize things with guys I play with a lot after playing so long but it’s really hard to help others unless you can break down swings. I can hardly break down my own, lol. I just go play in my mid 60s and enjoy it whether I shoot 72 or 87, so just have fun trying to get better!
Lessons are a good idea too these guys can help you find some ideas in order to improve, they will see things your playing partners can’t. I’m not a fan only because I’m a baseball player turned golfer so I don’t want change. When I turned 55 and felt I was losing distance I took my first lesson to grab a few yards. This particular teacher didn’t listen to me about not changing much and kept trying to get me to bring my club back to a different place which I wasn’t comfortable with, so I went to one of the 4 days I paid for. Not for everyone. I do recognize things with guys I play with a lot after playing so long but it’s really hard to help others unless you can break down swings. I can hardly break down my own, lol. I just go play in my mid 60s and enjoy it whether I shoot 72 or 87, so just have fun trying to get better!
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Can you chip on the green okay if off it a little (say 10-30 yards off green)? Then maybe when 100-150 yards away, just push ball forward- take a 6 or 7 iron and hit an easy line drive straight ahead- just take it back like a chip and just try to make direct contact with ball- it scoots forward enough to give you that 10-30 yard chip shot. Essentially, you are changing that 100-150 yard shot into two easier shots with much higher chance of success. This is good strategy too when sand traps surround green- you avoid them by being short of them, then you have that short chip shot. So, develop or work on that short chip shot. And if you need to hit ball up in air on a short chip shot, just swing at ball and stop swing quickly after contact- in other words, no follow through. Just chop and stop- ball goes up in air automatically. Perfect technique if you have to go over sand traps from short distance away.
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I don't disagree with the approach @Conndog just I've found that people have their "go-to" iron like for me my 5. Others have been 7, 6.
Conventional wisdom says everyone should have hit full power on their irons and know their yardage:
PW - 125
9 - 125
8 - 140
7 - 155
6 - 170
5 - 185 - but I can hit it mild to 140 to full on 210 as my "fave".
4 - 200
That's just me but pros teach to know your full power on each. So if you are 100 away go with a lighter pitching wedge (less back swing - always full after swing) is all. If 150 away have confidence in a full swing of a 7 iron. Ultimately you want to hit 100-150 onto the green, but if you are 10-15 short, get than nice chipping game going.
Conventional wisdom says everyone should have hit full power on their irons and know their yardage:
PW - 125
9 - 125
8 - 140
7 - 155
6 - 170
5 - 185 - but I can hit it mild to 140 to full on 210 as my "fave".
4 - 200
That's just me but pros teach to know your full power on each. So if you are 100 away go with a lighter pitching wedge (less back swing - always full after swing) is all. If 150 away have confidence in a full swing of a 7 iron. Ultimately you want to hit 100-150 onto the green, but if you are 10-15 short, get than nice chipping game going.
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A must for me was consciously slowing my back.swing and making a smooth rather than jerky transition into my swing .
My course had a driving range , putting , green , practice sand trap ( if you can’t hit a bunker shot in AZ it could be a long day)
Although I didn’t hit too many balls before a round . Ct courses are tighter and bring straight off the T Is a must .
I worked on my swing at the range starting with a wedge and using shorter clubs and working my way up to groove my swing . Sometimes I never even took out my Driver if I was making the contact I wanted because I was that confident in my swing .