Joe,
When I begin to feel really good off the tee with 3 or 4 well placed and consistent drives the dreaded pull happens. It is well struck and travel straight , but usually in the deep left rough or woods. How can I maintain that drive down the middle of the fairway drive? This pull to the left really causes me doubt and my whole game goes to crap. Tom Bolko
Hi Tom,
You are not alone, many people have this occasional problem, even the pros on TV. Nobody hits the fairway every time. If you miss it badly, you can attribute this to a momentary lack of concentration. Since you have already hit a couple of good shots in a row, you might feel there is no further need to concentrate as much. You can’t wait to see where the shot goes, so you might cut short your follow thru, and without proper extension down the target line, the tendency is to pull. Try concentrating on completing a full follow-thru down the target line and let me know if that helps.
Joe
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Joe,
I' ve been golfing for 5 years and still trying to find the proper ball for my ability. At the age of 52, with a handicap of 18, and above average swing speed, I've used 2 and 3 piece balls with 36 to 67 compressions. My questions are: Can compression ever be too low ? What is a good compression ? Is there a good combination of multi - layer / compression ?
Wayne
Hello Wayne,
The worst that can happen if you use a ball having too-low compression is that you lose a few yards on your shots, but that may be counteracted by allowing better feel for the short game. So the net result, in my opinion, is that your handicap will probably not be affected much by your ball selection. However, if you really want to find a ball that maximizes your distance, find a facility that has a computerized hitting bay and try hitting balls having different construction and different compression, and view the computerized results, and then you will have a better idea. If you want to lower your handicap, you must look beyond the long game. The type of ball does not really matter if you have inconsistent ball striking. It is nice to seek every advantage you can find, but in my opinion, the handicap seldom gets lower unless you work more on the short game than the long game.
Joe
(see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)
I' ve been golfing for 5 years and still trying to find the proper ball for my ability. At the age of 52, with a handicap of 18, and above average swing speed, I've used 2 and 3 piece balls with 36 to 67 compressions. My questions are: Can compression ever be too low ? What is a good compression ? Is there a good combination of multi - layer / compression ?
Wayne
Hello Wayne,
The worst that can happen if you use a ball having too-low compression is that you lose a few yards on your shots, but that may be counteracted by allowing better feel for the short game. So the net result, in my opinion, is that your handicap will probably not be affected much by your ball selection. However, if you really want to find a ball that maximizes your distance, find a facility that has a computerized hitting bay and try hitting balls having different construction and different compression, and view the computerized results, and then you will have a better idea. If you want to lower your handicap, you must look beyond the long game. The type of ball does not really matter if you have inconsistent ball striking. It is nice to seek every advantage you can find, but in my opinion, the handicap seldom gets lower unless you work more on the short game than the long game.
Joe
(see www.geocities.com/golfwithjoey)
Monday, January 26, 2004
Joe – I live in Pennsylvania and last week I was out in my back yard in the snow. I had my seven iron and I drew a line in the snow and took easy swings to see if I was hitting it fat or thin. I always hit the ground before the line. This tells me I am hitting it fat on the golf course. I even tried to slow my swing down and also to keep turning my body thru the shot and still hit it fat. Any tips as to what I can do to hit it crisp?
Tom
Hello Tom,
You made no mention of whether or not you also hit a lot of fat shots on the course last year. If you did not, don’t worry about your snow drill. There is a possibility that you are not really hitting it fat, the snow may be cratering outward when you strike it. Also remember that the top of the snow is higher than the ground on a flat lie That kind of reminds me about Chi Chi Rodriguez chunking one while giving a demo, and then joking that this happened because the ground there was higher than the ground in Puerto Rico where he came from. Also remember that hand-eye coordination is a factor. When you are swinging at a ball, you are not looking at the ground like you were when you were trying to hit the snow, instead you are swinging at an object that you are seeing above the ground. You are not trying to hit the top of that object, you are trying to hit the lower half of that object. Your hand-eye coordination has trained you to swing a little lower than the top of the object that you are looking at. That being said, if you really did have a lot of fat shots last year, try a more aggressive forward weight shift to start your downswing.
Joe
Tom
Hello Tom,
You made no mention of whether or not you also hit a lot of fat shots on the course last year. If you did not, don’t worry about your snow drill. There is a possibility that you are not really hitting it fat, the snow may be cratering outward when you strike it. Also remember that the top of the snow is higher than the ground on a flat lie That kind of reminds me about Chi Chi Rodriguez chunking one while giving a demo, and then joking that this happened because the ground there was higher than the ground in Puerto Rico where he came from. Also remember that hand-eye coordination is a factor. When you are swinging at a ball, you are not looking at the ground like you were when you were trying to hit the snow, instead you are swinging at an object that you are seeing above the ground. You are not trying to hit the top of that object, you are trying to hit the lower half of that object. Your hand-eye coordination has trained you to swing a little lower than the top of the object that you are looking at. That being said, if you really did have a lot of fat shots last year, try a more aggressive forward weight shift to start your downswing.
Joe
