Question:
2 – No wrist action at the bottom of the swing. Fixing that problem really cranked up the range. How did you fix this? According to my pro, that’s my problem with my driver too. I’ve gradually managed to stop casting my short- and mid-irons. The result has been much crisper and longer iron shots. But somehow, with the driver, I can’t get the "feel" of when to uncock those pesky wrists. With the irons, I feel like a golfer; with my driver, I feel like a hockey player. <grin
You don’t get the "feel" of when to uncock those pesky wrists. If you try to uncock them, you will most likely release them too soon, add loft, and hit it high, weak and right or pull it dead left. Relax your arms and hands, focus only on cocking them, they will uncock by themselves if you’re relaxed and swinging properly, IMHO. Art
Response:
Ditto. I’d been fighting a nasty slice, to the point where I almost started to learn to play with it, aiming way left (I’m a righty). A friend of mine who plays most rounds with me suggested, out of the blue, that I loosen my grip. Amazing! I guess the wrists just weren’t releasing at the bottom. I still tighten up, almost instinctively, every so often and the results are always the same… Bullet straight ahead with a nasty right turn about 150 yards away from the tee-box… ugly… Good luck!
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – How did you fix this? According to my pro, that’s my problem with my driver too. I’ve gradually managed to stop casting my short- and mid-irons. The result has been much crisper and longer iron shots. But somehow, with the driver, I can’t get the "feel" of when to uncock those pesky wrists. I’ve found that loosening my grip with the driver has helped with my wrist release. I think I unconsciously tighten my grip on my backswing, creating tension and preventing the wrists from uncocking properly. When I take a very light, almost loose feeling grip, I find that it winds up being closer to "normal" in the downswing and my wrists release much more easily on their own. — Don Porter Newspaper Reporter & Webmaster Web Page: http://www.datacruz.com/~dporter
Response:
2 – No wrist action at the bottom of the swing. Fixing that problem really cranked up the range.
How did you fix this? According to my pro, that’s my problem with my driver too. I’ve gradually managed to stop casting my short- and mid-irons. The result has been much crisper and longer iron shots. But somehow, with the driver, I can’t get the "feel" of when to uncock those pesky wrists. With the irons, I feel like a golfer; with my driver, I feel like a hockey player. <grin – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –
Response:
How did you fix this? According to my pro, that’s my problem with my driver too. I’ve gradually managed to stop casting my short- and mid-irons. The result has been much crisper and longer iron shots. But somehow, with the driver, I can’t get the "feel" of when to uncock those pesky wrists.
I’ve found that loosening my grip with the driver has helped with my wrist release. I think I unconsciously tighten my grip on my backswing, creating tension and preventing the wrists from uncocking properly. When I take a very light, almost loose feeling grip, I find that it winds up being closer to "normal" in the downswing and my wrists release much more easily on their own. — Don Porter Newspaper Reporter & Webmaster Web Page: http://www.datacruz.com/~dporter
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Anyway, the bottom line is I want ,say, an extra30 yds off the tee and I don’t care how I get it….
Maybe an extra long shaft (48 or 50 inches). Should give you more distance and may very well test the rest of your game too. dsc – acssysdsc
Response:
Hi Gloops (love the name – where’d that come from?) Anyway, the advice about the professional help is IMHO the best advice here. I’m 53 and hit the driver 240+, and the 7i 155. You need to increase the swing speed without losing accuracy – the only way I know how to do that is to see a good instructor. Good luck, and tell us about the name.
Geez, I played with a threesome of guys from Phoenix Country Club (I think) one day. Probably between 55 and 65 years old and the worst of them was maybe an 8 or 10 handicap. Meanwhile the other two were hitting their drivers 260-280 straight as a string. I damn sure wouldn’t want to play those guys for money without a little research beforehand. -joseph — Joseph N. Hall … perl, golf, music, and so on Music – http://www.digitalweapons.com Book — http://www.effectiveperl.com The Usual Crap — http://www.5sigma.com/joseph
Response:
Sorry for the reposts. My server is playing up today. 
— The Sea Ram – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – My short game is more or less ok, and any shots up to around 160 yds I can usually get direction and length onto the green,or therabouts. Some of my carry distances read as follows:- 9 iron …..120 yds 7 iron ……135 5 iron…. 150 The problem is my driver ony gives me around 180 carry. It is a Biggest Big Bertha with a R80 shaft, (I think). and 10 deg. loft. Gloops my advice would be to try some other drivers with more loft than 10 degrees. When my playing partners hit their drivers the ball seems to "stay hit", if you know what I mean. I am 50 yrs old and I know my swing speed is not as fast as a younger man but I reason that a ball always bounces of anything that has the most resistance to it,(whatever the swingspeed is),therefore the strongest flex shaft I can find will be the best. I’d disagree. Find the shaft that suits your speed and tempo. You WILL lose distance and carry by using too strong a shaft. It may not go straight down the middle but the rest of my game can take care of that. Am I right ? Anyway, the bottom line is I want ,say, an extra30 yds off the tee and I don’t care how I get it…. Well, keeping the ball in play is the best route to lower scores unless you have a magical short game and talent for impossible recoveries! Use the tips I’ve already given and work on producing more speed at the bottom of your swing. Practice swinging the butt end of the club and really try to feel you’re increasing your speed at the bottom. Combine this with a longer and smoother golf swing and you WILL hit it further guaranteed! The Sea Ram
Response:
Problem 1 – I was not shifting my weight with the drivers – just swinging with my upper body and arms. Once that was fixed, the swing felt a whole lot better and was much easier on my back. 2 – No wrist action at the bottom of the swing. Fixing that problem really cranked up the range. Only happened with drivers – go figure.
I’ve run into the same thing in hitting my own driver, Ken, so it may not be all that unusual. I think there may be some psychological factors at work. Given the length of the driver shaft compared to the other clubs, I think it’s easy to start imagining you’ll get way out of control with too much lower body action. So you can sort of let the upper body take over. The swing may be more "in control" that way, but the results obviously aren’t very exciting. Also in my case, I think the lightness of my driver compared to my other clubs tends to cause problems with proper wrist timing at the bottom of the swing. At times I almost have to make a conscious swing thought to uncock them at impact. Of course, developing a proper weight shift with the lower body helps greatly there as well. — Don Porter Newspaper Reporter & Webmaster Web Page: http://www.datacruz.com/~dporter
Response:
The problem is my driver ony gives me around 180 carry. I am 50 yrs old and I know my swing speed is not as fast as a younger man but I reason that a ball always bounces off anything that has the most resistance to it,(whatever the swingspeed is),therefore the strongest flex shaft I can find will be the best.
I don’t think that’s necessarily the case, Gloops. It’s not so much the resistance offered by the clubhead as it contacts the ball, but the speed at which the clubhead is moving at impact that creates distance. So changing the flex on your driver shaft may not make a whole lot of difference. It could even reduce your clubhead speed. Based on my experience, one of the biggest drains on power and distance with the driver is an improper timing of the uncocking of the wrists. It’s that uncocking just before impact that gives the ball that extra oomph you see in the folks you play with. Mistime it, and you’re left with a clubhead that runs out of gas before contact. I’d suggest you work on your swing timing and not start on a quest for a better driver. Once begun, it’s a search that will probably never end. — Don Porter Newspaper Reporter & Webmaster Web Page: http://www.datacruz.com/~dporter
Response:
Hi Gloops (love the name – where’d that come from?) Anyway, the advice about the professional help is IMHO the best advice here. I’m 53 and hit the driver 240+, and the 7i 155. You need to increase the swing speed without losing accuracy – the only way I know how to do that is to see a good instructor. Good luck, and tell us about the name. David
Response:
My short game is more or less ok, and any shots up to around 160 yds I can usually get direction and length onto the green,or therabouts. Some of my carry distances read as follows:- 9 iron …..120 yds 7 iron ……135 5 iron…. 150
We both have the same problem. Or I had it. I am 53 and my ranges match yours pretty well, but my driver range was so short that I was using my 2 iron off the tee. Decided it was time for professional help. Problem was fixed in two sessions. Problem 1 – I was not shifting my weight with the drivers – just swinging with my upper body and arms. Once that was fixed, the swing felt a whole lot better and was much easier on my back. 2 – No wrist action at the bottom of the swing. Fixing that problem really cranked up the range. Only happened with drivers – go figure. Once those two items were fixed I started rolling balls against the fence about 225 away. That’s not going to cause any applause from the gallery but I am happy with it.
Response:
My short game is more or less ok, and any shots up to around 160 yds I can usually get direction and length onto the green,or therabouts. Some of my carry distances read as follows:- 9 iron …..120 yds 7 iron ……135 5 iron…. 150 The problem is my driver ony gives me around 180 carry. It is a Biggest Big Bertha with a R80 shaft, (I think). and 10 deg. loft.
Gloops my advice would be to try some other drivers with more loft than 10 degrees. When my playing partners hit their drivers the ball seems to "stay hit", if you know what I mean. I am 50 yrs old and I know my swing speed is not as fast as a younger man but I reason that a ball always bounces of anything that has the most resistance to it,(whatever the swingspeed is),therefore the strongest flex shaft I can find will be the best.
I’d disagree. Find the shaft that suits your speed and tempo. You WILL lose distance and carry by using too strong a shaft. It may not go straight down the middle but the rest of my game can take care of that. Am I right ? Anyway, the bottom line is I want ,say, an extra30 yds off the tee and I don’t care how I get it….
Well, keeping the ball in play is the best route to lower scores unless you have a magical short game and talent for impossible recoveries! Use the tips I’ve already given and work on producing more speed at the bottom of your swing. Practice swinging the butt end of the club and really try to feel you’re increasing your speed at the bottom. Combine this with a longer and smoother golf swing and you WILL hit it further guaranteed! The Sea Ram
Response:
I am 50 yrs old and I know my swing speed is not as fast as a younger man but I reason that a ball always bounces of anything that has the most resistance to it,(whatever the swingspeed is),therefore the strongest flex shaft I can find will be the best. It may not go straight down the middle but the rest of my game can take care of that. Am I right ? Anyway, the bottom line is I want ,say, an extra30 yds off the tee and I don’t care how I get it….
I am 55 years old and also have a rather slow swing speed. I also have a short backswing. My iron distances are very similar to yours, but my woods are much longer. I think you are wrong about using a stiff shaft on your driver. I use a senior flex graphite shaft on my Liquid Metal driver and generally get 220 – 230 yards when I hit with control. This is an 11.5 degree loft driver. The other day I used it twice on a 530 yard par 5 and got to the front fringe with the two shots. I nailed the shot from the fairway and hit it about 270 yards. I think you should experiment with more flexible shafts in your woods. Dick Schneiders
Response:
My short game is more or less ok, and any shots up to around 160 yds I can usually get direction and length onto the green,or therabouts. Some of my carry distances read as follows:- 9 iron …..120 yds 7 iron ……135 5 iron…. 150 The problem is my driver ony gives me around 180 carry. It is a Biggest Big Bertha with a R80 shaft, (I think). and 10 deg. loft. When my playing partners hit their drivers the ball seems to "stay hit", if you know what I mean. I am 50 yrs old and I know my swing speed is not as fast as a younger man but I reason that a ball always bounces of anything that has the most resistance to it,(whatever the swingspeed is),therefore the strongest flex shaft I can find will be the best. It may not go straight down the middle but the rest of my game can take care of that. Am I right ? Anyway, the bottom line is I want ,say, an extra30 yds off the tee and I don’t care how I get it….