Joe,
I can hit my irons fairly straight, but I am always missing the green short or long. What should I do?
Srini
Hello Srini,
It is time to look at your thought process for club selection. Pay more careful attention to which club you can count on to hit the ball 150 yards. Most courses have a marker for 150 yards to the middle of the green, not to the pin, so you need to trust your club for specific distances and be sure to adjust at least 1 club for pins that are not in the middle of the green, either front or back. For example, if you usually hit a 7 iron 150 yards, use that club when you have 145 yards to the pin because you might not hit it perfectly every time. In other words if you hit it perfectly, you will only be 5 yards past the pin, and if you do not hit it perfectly, you still may be short of the pin, but at least you have a better chance of being on the green. From this 150 yard reference point, add or subtract one club for every ten yards of distance required. Also add or subtract one club for gentle wind, and at least 2 clubs for stiffer wind. Also add or subtract one club if the green is elevated or downhill. If your ball striking is fairly consistent, just trust those adjusted distances and you should soon be hitting more greens.
Joe
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Joe,
I do not seem to play well with regular shafts, but I am told my swing speed supposedly is not high enough for stiff shafts. What would happen if you get shafts that are too stiff for you?
Sara
Hi Sara,
With older stiff 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 preferable because they theoretically would reduce an unwanted variable of a flexing and twisting shaft making it harder to square the clubface at impact, 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 precisely matched sets of clubs, just sticks with hunks of metal on the end, playing on scruffy fairways and greens with golf balls that were far inferior to what we have today. Wow, these guys must have been really good.
Joe
I do not seem to play well with regular shafts, but I am told my swing speed supposedly is not high enough for stiff shafts. What would happen if you get shafts that are too stiff for you?
Sara
Hi Sara,
With older stiff 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 preferable because they theoretically would reduce an unwanted variable of a flexing and twisting shaft making it harder to square the clubface at impact, 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 precisely matched sets of clubs, just sticks with hunks of metal on the end, playing on scruffy fairways and greens with golf balls that were far inferior to what we have today. Wow, these guys must have been really good.
Joe
