1) Set up with good basics: Grip, Alignment and Posture. 

2) Grip: I’ve changed my grip to an overlapping grip, and increased grip pressure to about 4-5 on 1-10 scale.  My previous grip was intentionally light, in an attempt to stay relaxed and smooth over the ball.  However, video of my swing showed that with that grip I was coming over the top in the downswing…I think the grip was moving around in my hands.  With the new grip, the club and my hands feel more like a one-piece unit, and video shows more of a one-plane swing.  Here’s a good video from Shawn Clement that explains the golf grip:

3) Swing Mechanics:  I limit mechanical swing thoughts to my practice swing.  My focus is on Coiling in the backswing, and initiating the downswing by Sliding my Hips towards the target.  Issues: (A) If the ball flight shows a left to right fade, it usually means I swayed back rather than coiling properly.  A secondary cause of the left to right fade is straightening my right leg in the backswing.  When my coil is off, it helps to cross my hands across my chest and make a few turns into a firm right side; then I can feel the coil build up in my right hip at the end of the backswing.  (B) If the ball flight shows a pull straight left of the target, it means I turned open to start the downswing, instead of sliding the hips to allow my shoulders to stay on the target line through impact.  See this forum discussion on why to slide your hips .

4) Swing Thoughts: After my practice swing, I look at the target a couple times to burn an image of the target in my mind’s eye.  Then looking at the ball while still seeing that image, I trigger the swing by thinking “Send It”, as in “send the ball to the target”.  My body then excutes the best swig it knows how, hopefully similar to the practice swing.  I find that thinking about the target instead of the swing makes for better results.

With these changes, I’ve been hitting the ball better than ever, even on the course.  Sometimes we get into a groove on the practice range, but it doesn’t transfer to the course consistently, because the timing of all the moving parts of the swing gets off.  My current swing feels relatively free of timing issues.  In my last 18 holes, I used the same ball for all 18, the first time I’ve not lost a ball in 18 holes….

Regards,

NG

1) Tilt clubhead up on the toe, to minimize contact with the hardpan.

2) This will require standing closer to the ball, and gripping down on the club.

3) This tends to reduce the loft, so the ball will come out low.  To compensate, rotate the club face open, and move the ball up slightly in your stance.

Leave a comment to let us know your favorite technique for hitting off hardpan!

Regards,

NG

I’ve had several 9-holes scores below 50 (best 48), but rarely play 18 holes.  To increase my rate of learning, decided to play 18 holes 3-4 times a month, instead of 9 holes 1-2 times a month.  Playing 18 after work during the week costs the same as playing the back 9 on the weekend morning, and I don’t have to get up at 5 a.m.  Of course, this only works during the summer and daylight savings time…

My ball striking has improved a lot lately, so I felt really confident going into the round.

What went well:

• Hit 5 of 14 fairways.  Misses were playable, no out of bounds or lost balls.
• Got up and down for par, twice.
• Had 2 pars and 9 bogeys.
• Putts were OK at 36.

Not so well:

Lost a few strokes on two holes where i had to putt to a flag on an elevated tier.  Also had a penalty due to pitching off hardpan, where I lost the ball in a nearby bush.  And bladed a couple chips from uneven lies.  The good news is that with some short game practice, breaking 90 is within reach!

My original goal when taking up this game was to be able to shoot in the 90’s, but I’m officially resetting my goal to be shooting in the 80’s…

Regards,

NG

One putt = -1, two putt = 0, etc.

After 18 holes, was -3!  My lowest score ever for this game. 

Warm-up was hitting 3 balls from different distances to the same hole, to get the feel of speed of the greens.  I’m feeling very confident in my putting right now…

Regards,

NG

Shot 56 on the back nine of the local muni today.  This was a weird experience, as my ball striking has gotten really consistent, but short game and course management let me down.

Highlights include par on a par 4 (4 hybrid off tee, 4 hybrid from first cut to the green, 20 ft putt to 6 inches), and reaching a par 5 in regulation (4 hybrid off tee, 4 hybrid from fairway, 8 iron from fairway to the green [then 3-putt!]).

Course management:

1) On the second hole there’s a temporary green behind right side trees.  Was not paying attention, or I would have played to the left side and given myself a good angle to the green.  Instead, played my typical fade, which put me behind the trees and no easy way to get to the green.

Poor course management - trees block approach shot to green

2) On the 4th hole, with out of bounds right, played a fade even though I was fading a bit much today.  Should have just hit a draw, as there’s no out of bounds left…ball went out = penalty stroke.

Course management - hitting a fade can end up out of bounds, a draw is safer.

Short game:

1) Been practicing lots of putts and short chips and 75 yds full-swing with 56 degree wedge.  However, I’ve not practiced 20-30-40 yd pitches forever (ever?), and I mis-hit  (short or long) 4 to 5 of these.  I think with my new ball-striking consistency, the course appears different: if I miss the green, I have these shorter shots for up and down, instead of 100 yds for up and down.  Standing over these short pitch shots, I was feeling a bit dazed and confused…didn’t know how to confidently handle them.

So the good news is, the thing I practiced improved a lot.  The bad news, now I have something else to practice…

Will work on those short pitch shots and let you know how it goes…

Regards,

NG

In my last round, struck the ball well but lost a lot of strokes to mis-hit pitch shots.

With the shorter shots, my tendency is to take a healthy backswing but deccelerate through impact to try to control the distance.  This is what I used to do on full shots with disastrous effect, but finally cured by practicing moving to a full “posed” finish every time.

Been practicing the short pitch shots, here’s what’s working for me now:

1) Open stance, swing along foot line.

2) Weight slightly on left foot.

3) No swaying.

4) Re-check grip position after practice swing.

5) Short backswing (arms no more than horizontal), through swing to horizontal or higher.

6) Control distance with speed of rotation through the ball.

Let us know what works for you on the short pitch shots.

Regards,

NG

1) Turning, not swaying

2) Setup

Today at the range I was making near-perfect turns but still hitting fat and thin. 

Checking out my grip (i.e. setup), I found that I was gripping the club a little too short (choked down about an inch).  This led to thin shots, then overcompensation and fat shots. 

The root cause of the incorrect grip position was very interesting.  I would grip at the proper length, then make a practice swing.  On the recoil from the practice swing, the club would slide down in my hands about 1 inch.  If I then hit without readjusting the grip, all hell would break loose.  Just by readjusting for the real swing, I started nailing my  4 hybrid on the sweet spot again!

Golf really is a game of inches. When things start to go wrong for me, messing with the swing is never the answer: (1)confirming that I’m turning not swaying, and (2) running through my setup, will yield the answer pretty quickly.

Regards,

NG

For fades, I finish with my hands high, creating a steeper swing and deeper divot.  For draws, I finish with hands lower for a shallower swing.

Just these 2-3 swing thoughts have me hitting 4 hybrid solid >90% of the time, and 5 wood >80% of the time.

Hope to get on the course this weekend…

Regards,

NG

Well, my ballstriking has improved.  So I brought out the driver and hit some balls, after several minutes of hitting 4 Hybrid and 5 Wood very solid.  The driver was unpredictable as usual.  After putting it away, and going back to my regular clubs, I couldn’t hit anything solid!  Slices, chunks etc.  Took me several balls and lots of mental focus to get back to solid strikes.

I think this driver isn’t really right for my swing, and I’m making compensations that subsequently throw off the other clubs.

I’m retiring this driver now.  When I’m ready I’ll just get fitted with a new driver; the club should work with the good swing I have now…

Regards,

NG

I’ve selected sand wedge, 9 iron, an 7 iron.  These have an air time to roll time ratio of 1:1, 3:1, and 5:1 respectively.  Of course these ratios are approximate and depend on green speed, slope, etc.  But knowing these ratios and how much green you have to work with, then you only have to pick a landing spot.  Then using the selected club, make a practice swing and feel the length of swing needed to hit the landing spot.

So far this has worked well in practice, will report back after trying it on the course.

Regards,

NG