Question:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ugh. I’m making the worst shots ever. Background: I’ve been playing since late last summer. I’m 31. My wife, who’s been playing since forever, showed me a grip and a stance and the basics of a swing, and then left me to go it on my own (something about it being like teaching your kids to drive). This season, I bought a set of clubs (cheapo nonames), and started hitting the range and the local goat track pretty regularly. I was making decent, but by no means good or long shots, but I had no consistancy whatsoever. My wife told me I should take some lessons. I’ve had two so far, and I have achieved consistancy. I’m hitting consistantly much worse than I did before the lessons. I’m slicing everything. Even my 9-iron and wedge. My best shots are pull-fades, which at least get somewhere close to where I was aiming them. My worst are abrupt midair right turns. To make matters worse, I always seem to hit fat or thin – never dead-on. I top the ball fairly regularly. Could the lessons actually be making me worse? My wife says everyone gets worse before they get better. Is this true? — Joe Merlino _ | / . ,|,
Joe, Hang in there…..it will take a while to get the hang of it. When I started to golf I enrolled in a Jr college near me just to get the hang of golf and to see if I would even like it. After the classes were over I ventured out onto the golf course. After awhile I decided I was at a point I needed private lessons. Well…the instructor informed me that everyhting I was doing was wrong!! So he had me thinking and when I went back out I was absolutely the worst! Once I was golfing with a friend….she was in front of me and to the left……safely I thought. Well to her surprise while she was bent over her bag looking for something my ball (on a bounce and not very hard) caught her right in the tuchy! After we saw that she was fine (she barely flinched!) the rest of us contributed to slow play and rolled on the ground laughing! That was a few years ago and I have improved since then…..anyway I’m still out there and I haven’t hit anyone since then. — -taylor
Response:
Joe: The drill mentioned by Sam below is a great drill. I’ve started to use it more and more. The most likey reason for your fat and thin shots is that instead of your body turn staying centered you are probably swaying your body to the right consequently changing where your swing bottoms out. The other thing this drill does is to train your hands, arms and body to stay in sync. So from what I can tell the drill is working in that it is telling you that you are not doing something right. So work on keeping the body centered and level during when rotating as if your in a cylinder just a little wider than your shoulder width. Anyway, just my opinion after using this drill for a while and from words of advice from my instructor. I hope this makes sense you and is of some help. By the way, if your pro just keeps saying "swing plane" without explaining what he is talking about I suggest getting another pro. Nick Tristani Assuming your grip, posture, and alignment are not too bad; I would suggest you take a 7 or 8 iron, place your feet about 4 to 6" apart, and start hitting range balls with little 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 swings. Keep doing this until you can get consistent ball flight and contact with the 7 or 8 iron. Once you start making consistent contact, try some full swings.
This is essentially what I’ve been doing. I do fine until the club comes above my hips. Once I go past horizontal, everything starts to fall apart. I’m not thinking distance at all, except that all those slices mean I’m not hitting anything much farther than 75 yards or so, no matter which club I’m using. I’m trying not to think about the ball at all. The ball is just something that happens to be in the way of my club. It doesn’t seem to matter. Fat, thin, left, right (mostly right), anything but a true shot. I have my thrid lesson tonight. I’ll ask my pro what’s wrong, but he’s just gonna say "swing plane".
Response:
: Ugh. I’m making the worst shots ever. Impossible. *I* make the worst shots ever. :) <snip : My wife told me I should take some lessons. : : I’ve had two so far, and I have achieved consistancy. I’m hitting : consistantly much worse than I did before the lessons. I’m slicing : everything. Even my 9-iron and wedge. My best shots are pull-fades, which : at least get somewhere close to where I was aiming them. My worst are : abrupt midair right turns. To make matters worse, I always seem to hit fat : or thin – never dead-on. I top the ball fairly regularly. Sounds like the pro is working on one particular aspect right now, and once you get that he’ll give you the next step. Your symptoms describe either a reverse pivot or body sway (weight moves to outside of right foot) during the backswing. Ask your pro about practicing with a golf ball planted underneath the outside of your right foot, just above the heel (if you wear shoes with heels). This will give you the feeling of having your right knee stabilized with the weight on the inside half of your right foot. : Could the lessons actually be making me worse? My wife says everyone gets : worse before they get better. Is this true? Generally. Sounds like you’re not practicing with a well defined purpose, though. Ask your pro what you should be trying to accomplish. — Chris Bellomy Flashnet Communications Senior System Administrator Fort Worth, Texas "Cogito ergo paupertas"
Response:
Could the lessons actually be making me worse? My wife says everyone gets worse before they get better. Is this true?
Yes. Last August/September I was consistently shooting right at or just under 100, but my irons went south on me. So I went back to my instructor in October. She broke my swing, and I shot over 100 for 14 straight rounds. Every lesson fixed my swing during the lesson. Every subsequent practice session at the range resulted in 1 out of 3 good shots and 2 out of 3 low short slices. I haven’t had a lesson since November or so, and I have been slowly slowly slowly coming around to the correct iron swing. I am now shooting consistently in the low-mid 90s, and have seriously threatened 89 on 4 out of 5 recent rounds. I credit the lessons with my long-term success, and I feel that today I have a much better "more pure" golf swing that will serve me as a basis for years to come. It was frustrating, but it was worth it. What finally turned me around was going to a driving range with a video camera and doing the following: 1) Pick a club, hold up fingers to indicate which club I’m about to hit 2) Hit a shot 3) Use hand signals to indicate how good the shot was, slices, hooks, worm-burners, etc. 4) Go to (2) until ready to go back to (1) for the next club Then you can sit at home and see in slo-mo what you did when you hit a good shot and what you did when you hit a specific flavor of bad shot. It also helps to play golf with someone much better than you who has a good swing, and watch them for inspiration. Playing with an 8-handicapper recently has noticeably helped me. Hang in there, it is *definitely* worth it in the long run. Just make sure you are hitting correctly pretty consistently by the end of the lesson and you understand what you and your instructor fixed to get you there, otherwise you may need to find a different instructor. — Curtis Jackson Opportunity is missed by most people because San Jose, CA USA — Thomas Edison
Response:
Assuming your grip, posture, and alignment are not too bad; I would suggest you take a 7 or 8 iron, place your feet about 4 to 6" apart, and start hitting range balls with little 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 swings. Keep doing this until you can get consistent ball flight and contact with the 7 or 8 iron. Once you start making consistent contact, try some full swings.
This is essentially what I’ve been doing. I do fine until the club comes above my hips. Once I go past horizontal, everything starts to fall apart. I’m not thinking distance at all, except that all those slices mean I’m not hitting anything much farther than 75 yards or so, no matter which club I’m using. I’m trying not to think about the ball at all. The ball is just something that happens to be in the way of my club. It doesn’t seem to matter. Fat, thin, left, right (mostly right), anything but a true shot. I have my thrid lesson tonight. I’ll ask my pro what’s wrong, but he’s just gonna say "swing plane". — Joe Merlino _ | / . ,|,
Response:
all at once. My point is don’t give up. You will improve.
I know I’ll improve. I’m just wondering if the lessons are an impediment. — Joe Merlino _ | / . ,|,
Response:
I’m trying not to think about the ball at all. The ball is just something that happens to be in the way of my club. It doesn’t seem to matter. Fat, thin, left, right (mostly right), anything but a true shot. I have my thrid lesson tonight. I’ll ask my pro what’s wrong, but he’s just gonna say "swing plane".
If the teacher does say something that simplistic without any other instruction or advice, you should get a new teacher. If, indeed, your swing plane is the problem, something in your swing (which he taught you) is putting it off line. He should point it out and help you make the adjustment. If your teacher doesn’t give you more specific advice than you can find on the cover of a golf magazine or if he makes it all too technical, get a new teacher. One final word….read Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book. — Bags always packed, ready when the call comes to go to: Buffalo, the "Liberty Hall", Boston, 275 Slater, Halifax, CorelCentre, Asbury Park, Manitoulin, Highway Nine, Sherbrooke, the house that Frank Clair built, the Duke, the Promised Land.
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ugh. I’m making the worst shots ever. Background: I’ve been playing since late last summer. I’m 31. My wife, who’s been playing since forever, showed me a grip and a stance and the basics of a swing, and then left me to go it on my own (something about it being like teaching your kids to drive). This season, I bought a set of clubs (cheapo nonames), and started hitting the range and the local goat track pretty regularly. I was making decent, but by no means good or long shots, but I had no consistancy whatsoever. My wife told me I should take some lessons. I’ve had two so far, and I have achieved consistancy. I’m hitting consistantly much worse than I did before the lessons. I’m slicing everything. Even my 9-iron and wedge. My best shots are pull-fades, which at least get somewhere close to where I was aiming them. My worst are abrupt midair right turns. To make matters worse, I always seem to hit fat or thin – never dead-on. I top the ball fairly regularly. Could the lessons actually be making me worse? My wife says everyone gets worse before they get better. Is this true? — Joe Merlino _ | / . ,|,I agree with your wife. I was pretty much in the same situation as you
were. Last year I decided to take golf seriously and took six lessons from a local pro. By the end of the season I was occasionally breaking 100 and decided to keep the ball rolling by joining the Ken Venturi Indoor Golf Academy. At first I was reluctant not being able to see the ball flight (you hit into short bays with a swing tech computer and video camera) but it turned out to be the best thing I did. They totally revamped my swing and with significant work practicing about five times a week it all came together in about three to four months. I now have a seventeen handicap and the game is so much more enjoyable. Now that I can go out and practice my short game I’m hoping to improve even more. I’m convinced if I would have done this in summer I would have been greatly discouraged because the ball flight would not have improved for the first few months. The golf swing is just too complicated, or different, to tackle weight shift, swing path, squaring of the clubface all at once. My point is don’t give up. You will improve. Good luck,
Response:
Could the lessons actually be making me worse? My wife says everyone gets worse before they get better. Is this true?
That happens, but, after only 2 lessons, you shouldn’t generalize, or expect too much. The lesson, if it’s from a reliable pro, tells you what you should do. The practice after the lesson provides the brain-to-muscle memory that will eventually allow you to do those things. Don’t look at the lesson as a quick fix. If you don’t go out to a range and practice and practice and practice, and then, when you’re done, practice some more, you’ve wasted the lesson. The last time I attended a golf school, it took 4 months before I got results (It’ll be quicker for you, because you’re younger than me.), but the results were worth it. Don’t give up because of some frustration. -Robby P.
Response:
Could the lessons actually be making me worse? My wife says everyone gets worse before they get better. Is this true? That happens, but, after only 2 lessons, you shouldn’t generalize, or expect too much. The lesson, if it’s from a reliable pro, tells you what you should do. The practice after the lesson provides the brain-to-muscle memory that will eventually allow you to do those things. Don’t look at the lesson as a quick fix. If you don’t go out to a range and practice and practice and practice, and then, when you’re done, practice some more, you’ve wasted the lesson.
That’s exactly what I’ve been doing, and it seems like even the practice is making me worse. That is, each practice session, I hit worse that the one before. My pro insists that I practice at least three times between lessons. That seems reasonable to me. — Joe Merlino _ | / . ,|,
Response:
Ugh. I’m making the worst shots ever. Background: I’ve been playing since late last summer. I’m 31. My wife, who’s been playing since forever, showed me a grip and a stance and the basics of a swing, and then left me to go it on my own (something about it being like teaching your kids to drive). This season, I bought a set of clubs (cheapo nonames), and started hitting the range and the local goat track pretty regularly. I was making decent, but by no means good or long shots, but I had no consistancy whatsoever. My wife told me I should take some lessons. I’ve had two so far, and I have achieved consistancy. I’m hitting consistantly much worse than I did before the lessons. I’m slicing everything. Even my 9-iron and wedge. My best shots are pull-fades, which at least get somewhere close to where I was aiming them. My worst are abrupt midair right turns. To make matters worse, I always seem to hit fat or thin – never dead-on. I top the ball fairly regularly. Could the lessons actually be making me worse? My wife says everyone gets worse before they get better. Is this true? — Joe Merlino _ | / . ,|,
Response:
Hang in there. If golf was easy, almost anybody could get the hang of it in about an hour. Fact is, it takes about two hours. :) <g ….jus, kidding of course. Seriously, the explanation of your present shot pattern would lead me to believe that you are "hitting" at the golf ball, instead of swinging through it. It also sounds like you are not getting back to the ball with a consistent impact position. Assuming your grip, posture, and alignment are not too bad; I would suggest you take a 7 or 8 iron, place your feet about 4 to 6" apart, and start hitting range balls with little 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 swings. Keep doing this until you can get consistent ball flight and contact with the 7 or 8 iron. Once you start making consistent contact, try some full swings. Don’t worry about distance, instead concentrate on accuracy and consistent contact. You may even want to place the ball on a short tee. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ugh. I’m making the worst shots ever. <stuff snipped I’ve had two so far, and I have achieved consistancy. I’m hitting consistantly much worse than I did before the lessons. I’m slicing everything. Even my 9-iron and wedge. My best shots are pull-fades, which at least get somewhere close to where I was aiming them. My worst are abrupt midair right turns. To make matters worse, I always seem to hit fat or thin – never dead-on. I top the ball fairly regularly. Could the lessons actually be making me worse? My wife says everyone gets worse before they get better. Is this true? — Joe Merlino _ | / . ,|,