Ask gol4pro golf questions

[mcb]

1. mcb
2. tee ball up higher or get new driver loft. you arent being very specific so its hard to tell exact problem. what does ball flight look like? ex. hook, slice, fade, draw. slow your swing down.
3. test them out and see which has better feel. i like scottycam. myself

[gol4pro]

1. Who are you?

2. I'm having trouble with my driver, namely I can't hit it high. It's very low. I hit my 18 degree farther than it (250). Tips?

3. White Hot or White Steel?


1) I'm a club pro in southern florida. I post a little in MSNL, but rarely in OOT.

2) What type of ball flight do you play? If you play a draw, this would make sense because it is easy to hit a fairway would with a long, high draw but more difficult to do so with a driver unless you adjust your set up.

My advice-- make your shoulder angle a little more vertical, tee it up a little higher, and move it slightly forward in your stance.

3) Personally, I use a steel hot #2 and love it.


Why is it that I can't keep from popping up most of my woods? I have to hit an 8 degree loft driver just so I don't sky the ball miles high.

Why can I hit my driver 250-275 yards off the tee, but I can't hit my 5-iron more than 160 yards?


1) Based on this description, I'm guessing you play a fade most of the time. Under normal, calm conditions, a strong fade is going to cost you more distance on your irons than with your driver. This is only magnified if you routinely play on dry courses.

The fact that you get decent distance with your driver indicates to me that you have a fairly powerful swing, but may lack perfect technique. I'd say with some fine tuning on your swing plane (i.e. bring it more in-to-out), you'd get a lot more distance with your irons.


On a normal iron shot (say a 7 iron), how open should the clubface be during the backswing? When my clubhead reaches the height of my shoulders, the leading edge of the club is perpendicualr to the ground. Is this too open/closed? Thanks


When the club reaches "parallel" to your hips, the shaft should be parallel to your body. Asssuming a one-piece takeaway, the wrists are also in a similar position.

Although I'm not completely sure I read your question correctly, the clubhead should not yet be perpendicular to the ground at that point. I would say it should be around 1/2 way between "parallel" to the ground and perpendicular to it.



I have been told many times my swing is overly steep, that could definietly by why I hit popups with woods.

What are good drills and methods to change my swing to a better plane?


Imagine the golf club as a baseball bat. Take a few swings with it in a similar fashion to a baseball bat. Gradually, flatten out your swing plane a bit until you're at the normal level of hitting a shot. This should reroute your downswing a bit, and flatten your plain a bit.

Also, the momentus training aid helps with this problem considerably. If you do not have one, I would recommend it to help fix this.



In your opinion, what is the best ball around the greens? I like Pro Vs, but they are a tad pricey. I usually buy Precept U-tri tours, about $30/dozen. I just bought a dozen Callaway HX tour blacks, but haven't noticed anything special. Does the Precept U-tri tour perform favorably compared to these other two?


Although I'm a fan of the Callaway hex series, they really don't spin very much for me. Personally, I play Titleist Prov1x, and am completely satisfied with that ball.

The precept U-tri tour is pretty good. I tried it a bit after I kept getting too much spin with regular prov1's, but didn't think it was as good at the prov1x. On the whole, I'd rather just spend 10$ more per dozen and get X's.

Also, try buying prov1's on Ebay. Many resellers sell near-mint prov1's for around 1$ per ball.

[pdxmike]

1. was a better than scratch player and an apprentice pro in the southwest section of the PGA.
2. move ball forward...tee it high let it fly.
3. havent hit a ball in over 3 years.

[Shoot59]

<------How's my action at the top?
(may look too upright as camera is on the ground and the pic is smashed sideways to fit as avatar, making me look tall and skinny)

[aces_dad]

Last year I drew my short irons and faded my driver, with mid irons going either way. I play a closed stance on long clubs ie driver futher up in my stance and more open for the short irons back in my stance but my ball flight is exactly opposite of what I want. I'm getting too much release with my irons now and not enough with my driver. Any ideas what I should try? Lemme know if you need more details (I'm about a 12 handicap).

thanks, AD

[gol4pro]

<------How's my action at the top?

Assuming I'm looking at this from the right angle, it looks fairly good for the most part. All of your angles look pretty solid.

I guess you could be SLIGHTLY layed-off (a much smaller version of the old sergio garcia move), but it could easily just be the camera angle.

Last year I drew my short irons and faded my driver, with mid irons going either way. I play a closed stance on long clubs ie driver futher up in my stance and more open for the short irons back in my stance but my ball flight is exactly opposite of what I want. I'm getting too much release with my irons now and not enough with my driver. Any ideas what I should try? Lemme know if you need more details (I'm about a 12 handicap).


I would say this is quite possibly club dependent. If you have a heavy driver, then this would make sense. Drivers that have heavier shafts are more difficult to draw because it requires more wrist action through the ball-- which is in turn more difficult to generate because the club is heavier.

Given what you've told me, it sounds like you come over the top. Furthermore, the ball flights you have described are consistent with an over-the-top down swing and a closed stance. You could be fading your drive for a number of reasons, but it likely has to do with the length of the club. A longer club means the wrists have to be more active to create a draw. If this doesn't occur, then you're going to fade the ball.

On the other hand, short irons are relatively easy to draw with this set up because they are shorter and require less wrist action.

I'm guessing you want to be drawing your driver and your irons both? Although this will sound counter-productive, opening your stance should be your first step. Be careful though, because if you're not swinging with a good plane, you will hit a strong cut. If this happens, do some drills to promote a more in-to-out swing path.

to promote such a swing path try;
1) the "baseball bat" drill I talked about earlier.
2) A momentus. This is very helpful for this.
3) The medicus training aid. Also helpful for this.
4) Try taking half swings, where you attempt to make the ball START right of your target, and FINISH left of it while being lined up square. This will promote a good path at the very bottom of your downswing, and the rest should fall into place.

[tuq]

[ QUOTE ]
Last year I drew my short irons and faded my driver, with mid irons going either way. I play a closed stance on long clubs ie driver futher up in my stance and more open for the short irons back in my stance but my ball flight is exactly opposite of what I want. I'm getting too much release with my irons now and not enough with my driver. Any ideas what I should try? Lemme know if you need more details (I'm about a 12 handicap).

[/ QUOTE ]
My first thought is, are your shafts custom-fitted for you, or at least compatible with each other? I have a wacky medium shaft for my driver and much stiffer ones for my irons. This results in totally different shot shapes, but I like it this way and adjust accordingly.

Another question is, how has this thread been going this long without someone bitching about it belonging in Sporting Events? Which is lame, because this is not a thread about a specific sporting event, and nation's superb NBA thread got shipped off to that Siberia and now it can't draw flies.

[aces_dad]

I got my woods fitted about 5 years ago, they are like king kobra knock offs, I'm considering upgrading at least the driver this year. When I initially got them the pro said I couldn't handle graphite meh.

My irons are about 2-3 years old Calloway X16 and they were fitted for me.

[1C5]

I have a couple questions.

So you know my level, I have played seriously int he summers for a couple years now, 25 yrs old and in the low 80s on my pretty tough hme course.

Just last year I have started trying to hit the ball properly (ie, hitting the ball 1stt with my irons). Before that I would just sweep under the ball like most rec players do.

I am encouraged with my new shot and the ball fell great when I hit it properly and I get more spin and distance but I am still having trouble as I will often either hit too much of the ball or hit the ground 1st.

How can I solve this, just lots of practice?


Also, I suck on both downhill and uphill lies but never get to practice them except during the round with is like once or twice a week when I get that lie and then go on to hit a bad shot. What am I doing wrong most likely?

[koffeliane]

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