Yes, it's me and I have arrived back on the mainland. Where am I? The golf Meca of the United States. I am in The Villages of Central Florida where there are over 40, yes 40 par 3 courses and 9 or 10, 18-27 hole courses. the par 3's are free all day every day and the larger courses charge very little for a round. I have not played on any of them yet but I am working on it. I really needed to work on that swing and let me tell you what, I am smakin and whackin some very crispy shots that have a hang time I have never really had with one exception. MY DRIVER. I am making some solid hits but they are headed to the right or high in the air. Not like a classic slice where it goes way right, and hits the ground with a spin that makes it go even further right on the ground. sort of like a drastic fade that starts in the middle. I am working on it and just need to spend more time with the driver which is difficult when you are hitting your irons well. Not every time but most of the time. So I have a few questions that are general, here they are.
grass or mats? I have either one to choose from. the only problem with the turf range is that by the time they move the boxes to better grass, I always seem to get there after the duffers have destroyed any chance of hitting off good grass. Yesterday I hit off mats and I was 90% crispy with the exception of my driver which was relatively crispy, just not as straight as I need it.
warm up. I always start with my 9 iron and work down to the driver. Since I am having the most difficulty with my driver should I concentrate on it? The issue is that if I am hitting a lot of schleppers with it, I have to grab another club to hit good ones to keep my sanity
golf shoes for practice, or does it matter? Just cant seem to find a definitive answer on this one.
I am very methodical on every shot. I try to do the same thing, over and over. I seem to know what I did wrong when I hit a bad shot and
try to correct it. I really do believe I am coming over the top, and not squaring my shoulder to the ball. If yesterday's practice session is any indication of how I am going to continue hitting the ball then I will be pleased with the exception of the driver. So good to be back here on the mainland of the USA and back to this group of wonderfully helpful people and last but not least, the best online golf teacher on the planet. Tom Saguto
One last thing. I got back to the States in September and only started hitting 3 weeks ago. had to find a job😁
Good to see you back in the Forum, @Tom Holt!!
I'll simply second everything that @burkholder.ronald said, and here is the link to the Myrtle Beach World Am discussion thread that Ron mentioned. It's really a fantastic and very well-run event and definitely worth looking into.
For those occasions when you have no choice but to hit off a mat - which, as Ron said, tends to do a great job of masking poorly struck shots - here are a couple of different suggestions that can help you discern between crispy and soggy impact:
1) Get yourself an old hand towel and fold it in half. Place it no more than 2 inches behind your ball, thereby requiring you to miss the towel and make ball first contact on your downswing. As you improve, move the towel closer to the ball. The small thickness of a one-half folded towel will not impede your backswing takeaway.
2) If you can, put down a thick chalk line or some inexpensive spray foot powder on the mat about an inch in front of the ball. Try to hit the ball first and then the chalk or powder. The mark on the mat - or lack thereof - will give you instant visual feedback.
Oftentimes when golfers are hitting everything well except for the driver it can be attributed to one of the following:
1) Their hips are not continuing their lateral slide through impact. This is common with the longer clubs as the wider stance means that the hips have a greater distance to travel. If the hips stop moving laterally towards the target on the downswing then their rotation takes over, inhibiting any further necessary forward weight loading (we should be 80/20 forward halfway down, 90/10 at impact, and 95/5 in the finish), changing the low point and rerouting the club into a steeper angle of attack. This can produce a variety of undesirable results including fat and thin contact, topped shots and popups, straight pulls, and “banana” slices. Here is a drill from the Fixing Common Swing Problems section specific to building in more lateral hip slide in the downswing.
Of great importance is keeping your upper torso/head in place (in other words, not moving towards the target from a face-on view) while the hips execute the lateral slide action. This preserves the swing center and the desired shallow angle of attack.
2) They are not allowing the length of the club to dictate the backswing path and are getting too steep as a result. The shaft length of the longer clubs encourages more of an around the body backswing as established by the shaft plane at address. It may "feel" flat as they take it back along the shaft plane for the first few feet, but as long as they maintain the "weight forward, shoulder down, and hands in" components while allowing the club to work around them, it should put them in the proper position at the top so they can attack the ball from the inside. (A good feel for that lead shoulder is "down and in, under the chin".) This KFC Club members video may help in this regard.
This is a common issue that I am regularly asked to fix, so if yours doesn't relate to any of the above causes - or if it does and you are experiencing difficulty resolving it - we can always arrange for a V1 swing video analysis to pinpoint the culprit and offer an appropriate solution.
TS
Welcome back @Tom Holt ! I'll weigh in on your questions.
I prefer turf to mats. Mats will hide a slightly fat shot, giving you inaccurate feedback. Also, too much of hitting on a mat may do some damage to your arms, especially the elbows.
Your warm up routine is a good way to do it. I start with the SW as that is usually a little heavier than the other clubs. If I am warming up before a round, I try to concentrate on the most likely clubs I will be hitting into the greens. For instance, if I am playing a course that measures under 6000 yards from the tees I am playing, after the SW I will hit a few PW shots, then 8 iron, then 5 iron (my worst club), then Driver. If I am playing a longer course, then its 9 iron and 7 iron instead of PW and 8 iron. When warming up before a round, I'm not working on swing mechanics. I'm just looking to get the muscles warmed up and seeing what kind of swing I brought to the course that day. What I just described is my pre-round warm up. If I am warming up before a practice range session, I do the same routine but I focus on swing mechanics and try to master a specific area of SandT such as the 2.8 drill or adding power accumulators to the swing.
I do wear my golf shoes when I go to the range to practice. I want the same feeling and same traction as when I am playing on the course.
Now that you are back, you might consider the Myrtle Beach World Amateur tournament in August. We have a forum thread going for those interested in this. Check it out.
Ron