Joe :
I have a problem when I go to the driving range I can hit all my woods fairly well . Most shots are straight with good distance but once on the course I have great difficulty getting off the tee I top the ball.slice or hook . There is no consistent pattern. My second shot with a 3 wood (off the ground is usually fine ) any suggestions ? It seems the harder I try to relax on the tee the worse the shot?
Ernie
Hello Ernie,
You are not alone. Many people, myself included, hit great on the range and then get much different results on the course. I can think of 4 possible reasons for this.
First, maybe you are hitting off the synthetic mats instead of the natural grass. The tees on the synthetic mats are a constant height. When you hit off the grass and tee it yourself, maybe you are not being careful enough how high you tee the ball. The standard rule of thumb is to tee the ball so that half the ball is above the top of the driver. Also, although nobody has ever proven this, I have a sneaky suspicion that the fat rubber tees on the synthetic mats may be taking away some of the side spin that causes slices or hooks (you heard it here first). So the first solution is to use the natural grass at the range whenever possible, and tee the ball higher and higher until you start hitting popups, then lower it a little and take careful note of your optimum tee height.
Second, check your ball position. Whenever the ball is on a tee, you may get better results by playing the ball off your front toe. If you are already doing that, try halfway between the toe and center of your stance. Experiment.
Third, there is no pressure on the range, if you mess up a shot, it does not affect your score. On the course, you are aware that the shot counts, and the nerves start twitching. On the range, put some pressure on yourself by picking a target and betting yourself (or your friends) that you can get reasonably close to it.
Fourth, on the range, you are hitting a ball every few seconds, so you can easily get into a good rhythm. On the course, it may be several minutes between shots, and each shot is with a far different club. That is why on the range you should take your time between shots, and vary the clubs the same way you would on the course. If you take too many consecutive swings with the same club, you might lose your swing with the other clubs. Good luck, and let me know if this helped.
Joe
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Joe,
Ever since I took up golf, I've battled the shanks when hitting my irons....even from the tee. If I understand correctly, a shank is when you hit the ball near the hosel of the club. I only seem to have this problem with my irons, but not my driver or fairway woods. A buddy of mine who played collegiate golf looked at my swing today at the driving range and told me to step closer to the ball. It made my hands almost touch the fly on my pants! The first few hacks felt rather odd. I had to grip down a bit further on the club because I started hitting it fat. After about 10 hacks, I started striking the ball pretty well with some consistency. The 7-iron started going on average about 150 yards with an occasional shot of about 170. Whenever I got the shanks prior to this, I always adjusted by stepping further away from the ball. This never did seem to help. My question is this: Why would stepping closer to the ball help me with my case of the shanks? Sincerely, Darren
Darren,
I also have experienced the shanks, and I found a couple of ways to cure them. I my case, I was standing with too much weight on my toes. When I put a little more weight on my heels, the shanks disappeared. In your case, standing closer to the ball forced you to put your weight on your heels. So now you can try standing a little further away as long as your weight does not go to your toes. Another possible reason for those who have a rather flat swing plane is that the harder you swing, the more the clubhead extends further from your body, so there is a better chance of striking the ball on the hosel. If you like swinging hard, try a more upright swing plane, and let me know the results. One more thing, since you apparently are not striking the ball on the heel of your woods, maybe your irons are not fitted properly to your body build, better visit your local pro shop and check this. Good luck!
Joe
Ever since I took up golf, I've battled the shanks when hitting my irons....even from the tee. If I understand correctly, a shank is when you hit the ball near the hosel of the club. I only seem to have this problem with my irons, but not my driver or fairway woods. A buddy of mine who played collegiate golf looked at my swing today at the driving range and told me to step closer to the ball. It made my hands almost touch the fly on my pants! The first few hacks felt rather odd. I had to grip down a bit further on the club because I started hitting it fat. After about 10 hacks, I started striking the ball pretty well with some consistency. The 7-iron started going on average about 150 yards with an occasional shot of about 170. Whenever I got the shanks prior to this, I always adjusted by stepping further away from the ball. This never did seem to help. My question is this: Why would stepping closer to the ball help me with my case of the shanks? Sincerely, Darren
Darren,
I also have experienced the shanks, and I found a couple of ways to cure them. I my case, I was standing with too much weight on my toes. When I put a little more weight on my heels, the shanks disappeared. In your case, standing closer to the ball forced you to put your weight on your heels. So now you can try standing a little further away as long as your weight does not go to your toes. Another possible reason for those who have a rather flat swing plane is that the harder you swing, the more the clubhead extends further from your body, so there is a better chance of striking the ball on the hosel. If you like swinging hard, try a more upright swing plane, and let me know the results. One more thing, since you apparently are not striking the ball on the heel of your woods, maybe your irons are not fitted properly to your body build, better visit your local pro shop and check this. Good luck!
Joe
Monday, September 29, 2003
What happens if you get shafts that are too stiff for you?
With older shafts you would lose distance and hit the ball too low, but you might be a little more accurate. I used to think that stiffer shafts were always preferrable because they theoretically would reduce an unwanted variable, that being the flex translating to variations in clubface positions, but now the shaft technology has introduced the low-torque concept which helps keep the clubface square while the shaft is flexing but not twisting. This allows us to take advantage of the shaft's spring-effect without sacrificing accuracy. So now it is less dangerous to optimize your swing speed by experimenting with different amounts of shaft flex. It makes me wonder how in the world did the old time golfers ever shoot par with wooden shafts? It gives you a sense of how good those guys really were. No technology, no matched sets of clubs, just a stick with a hunk of metal on the end, playing on scruffy fairways and greens with golf balls that were far inferior to what we have today. Wow.
With older shafts you would lose distance and hit the ball too low, but you might be a little more accurate. I used to think that stiffer shafts were always preferrable because they theoretically would reduce an unwanted variable, that being the flex translating to variations in clubface positions, but now the shaft technology has introduced the low-torque concept which helps keep the clubface square while the shaft is flexing but not twisting. This allows us to take advantage of the shaft's spring-effect without sacrificing accuracy. So now it is less dangerous to optimize your swing speed by experimenting with different amounts of shaft flex. It makes me wonder how in the world did the old time golfers ever shoot par with wooden shafts? It gives you a sense of how good those guys really were. No technology, no matched sets of clubs, just a stick with a hunk of metal on the end, playing on scruffy fairways and greens with golf balls that were far inferior to what we have today. Wow.
