Taking My Turn at Golf

[GoReds33]

Well I've recently decided to try my hand at golf. So far, I've broken three clubs, a driver, and both of my woods. They were very old clubs, and I'm sure my inexperience contributed as well. However, this has left me in a pickle. I'm not quite ready to dedicate any large amount of money to the sport. I purchased a driver off of Amazon, for around thirty dollars. It had a lot of great reviews as being a great value buy. However, I already would like to step up my game to a better driver.

Golf for me is as much about competition as it is the actual joy of the game. My friends and I are always looking to out-drive eachother, and I'm sure that a new club would put me over the top. Is there anywhere I would be able to find a good driver at a reasonable price? I'm going to be paying for college shortly, so 80-100 dollars would even be a reach. But I'm willing to look.

[Redhook]

How far do you hit your 7 iron?
How far do you "think" you hit a driver?
Do you hit the ball high or low?
If you miss it, does it curve to the left or right most often?

There are plenty of great drivers for a good price on eBay. I can help you out once you answer those questions.

[Bumstead]

How far do you hit your 7 iron? 160-170 yds
How far do you "think" you hit a driver? I don't hit one right now, 240+
Do you hit the ball high or low? High
If you miss it, does it curve to the left or right most often? Left, left, left

There are plenty of great drivers for a good price on eBay. I can help you out once you answer those questions.

I tend to hook my woods pretty bad so I almost solely use my irons. I'm 43, but I do swing a little hard, so the "noodle-ish" shafts become a problem. I use Ping G10 irons which I love. I'm not the original poster, but I would like to be able to hit with the new equipment...

Jeff

[Redhook]

I tend to hook my woods pretty bad so I almost solely use my irons. I'm 43, but I do swing a little hard, so the "noodle-ish" shafts become a problem. I use Ping G10 irons which I love. I'm not the original poster, but I would like to be able to hit with the new equipment...

Jeff

Look for a Taylor Made or Cobra driver that's a year or two old. This will save you a lot of money. eBay is great for buying old clubs. It appears you need a stiffer shaft in your woods if you're hooking them. Try demoing some at a local range with a stiff shaft to see if that calms down the hook.

[Buckeye33]

Look for a Taylor Made or Cobra driver that's a year or two old. This will save you a lot of money. eBay is great for buying old clubs.

This is very true. I just picked up a '10 Taylormade Burner Superfast for $87.05.

[GoReds33]

How far do you hit your 7 iron?
How far do you "think" you hit a driver?
Do you hit the ball high or low?
If you miss it, does it curve to the left or right most often?

There are plenty of great drivers for a good price on eBay. I can help you out once you answer those questions.

I've never hit a 7 iron on the range, but I will update when I have.
I had a very old driver, and hit around 200 yards.
I hit low on the ball, so I have a lot of loft. I prefer less loft though.
It usually curves to the right more often.

And I was just given a TaylorMade R7 quad driver.

[Redhook]

I've never hit a 7 iron on the range, but I will update when I have.
I had a very old driver, and hit around 200 yards.
I hit low on the ball, so I have a lot of loft. I prefer less loft though.
It usually curves to the right more often.

And I was just given a TaylorMade R7 quad driver.

You never hit a 7 iron on the range? Wow. If you want to get better, you should be hitting about 1/2 of your balls with your wedges. A 1/4 or so with the rest of your irons and a 1/4 with woods and hybrids. It makes no sense to hit a lot of drivers on the range. I know it's hard because of the ego factor, but you shouldn't hit more than 10-15....tops. The more you hit, the worse you'll hit them because of fatigue. Think of it this way, how many drivers do you hit during your rounds of golf? 14 right? Try to make practice more realistic and you'll score a lot better....if that's a goal.

Hopefully, that driver will work well for you. Your ball goes high because you're swinging too steep into the ball from the outside. This causes the high slices to the right.

Try this to help that: On your downswing, try to swing more towards 2nd base instead of the SS. While doing this, rotate your right arm over your left sooner.

[GoReds33]

Well I already broke the R7. This golf thing is getting expensive already. Does anyone have any idea as to why I break so many clubs?

[Hoosier Red]

Because you're slamming them into a tree after a bad shot?

If that's the case you should definitely stop doing that.

[BuckeyeRed27]

Well I already broke the R7. This golf thing is getting expensive already. Does anyone have any idea as to why I break so many clubs?

You're breaking woods and drivers? Are you hitting the ground with the club behind the ball in some way? Where is the club breaking?

[Redhook]

Well I already broke the R7. This golf thing is getting expensive already. Does anyone have any idea as to why I break so many clubs?

What??!!

It's pretty obvious you're not doing this in anger which is rare, very rare. What you're doing is coming down extremely steep into the ball. You're chopping straight down on the with no body or limited body turn. You need to make a lot of baseball like swings to round out your swing a bit. You absolutely should not hit the ground with your driver. No ground!! Remember that. If I was you, I'd take a golf lesson asap if you want to have any fun with this game.

[15fan]

If I was you, I'd take a golf lesson asap if you want to have any fun with this game.

This.

2 summers ago, I took a couple of lessons for the first time in my life. Prior to the lessons, I hadn't picked up a club in 15 years. As a result, I basically had 0 bad habits to break.

After about 3 lessons, I felt comfortable enough to go out on the range or hit the public links with some confidence that I could adjust my grip/stance/swing when the ball wasn't going down the middle of the fairway.

I ponied up for a new driver, but I'm still using clubs that are older than I am.

(And I'm closing in on my first 39th birthday... )

As a complete novice, I'd say sinking a little money into some good instruction is going to do far more for your game in the long run than trying to hit some new clubs with fatally flawed mechanics.

[bucksfan2]

Well I already broke the R7. This golf thing is getting expensive already. Does anyone have any idea as to why I break so many clubs?

I hate my 9 iron. I have never liked my 9 iron for as long as I have played with my same set of clubs. I actually bought a different 9 iron (of the same set) a few years back and have yet to fix the problem.

Anyway there is one hole at the course I always play that always sets up perfectly for that stupid club. The tees are up and pin is back, the tees are back and pin is up, or tees are middle and pin is middle. No matter what happens I always have to play that stupid club. Anyway I was hitting the ball real well on the back until I came to #14 and my dreaded 9 iron. Of course I miss the green badly with club and slam it down in anger. Well not too self, don't slam a club down on rock hard ground because it will bend the shaft.

So I am with you there with broken/damaged clubs. Its the first one I have damaged since I was playing HS golf. Not exactly a real good feeling if you ask me.

[GoReds33]

Well I went to Golf Galaxy today. They mentioned that I swing too downward as well. The biggest thing they mentioned is that I need to work on hitting the ball on the outside of the club face, as opposed to straight down the shaft. I feel like I take a baseball-like approach and try to hit the ball in line with the shaft. So I will work tomorrow on hitting towards the end of the club face, and staying away from the ground.

In the meantime, I'm also going to pick up some extra long tees, to keep my approach away from the ground.

[SunDeck]

A break through for me was when I started to understand that the golf swing is like a hula hoop. It's always going to be an arc. The more vertical the arc, the "steeper" the swing. That's one of the first things I worked on, learning to flatten that hula hoop arc from vertical to a "plane" that allowed the club to come down at a lower angle.

I try to make it feel as though my spine is a rod, and my shoulders turn on its axis. There are zillions of drills to practice that, and once you get the feel of how your body is supposed to turn in the golf swing, the correct swing arc will follow.

Check out this video, which is actually a drill about keeping the arms and shoulders working in unison, rather than independently. That's a pretty good drill, but watch his body as he demonstrates the swing at around 3:12. You can see how his head remains relatively stationary on the backswing as his shoulders rotate around the spine. It puts him in a good position to start his swing toward the ball.

I think new golfers tend to start their swing with the arms, which is the subject of this video. It's pretty good stuff, from the perspective of someone who also started playing at a late age.

‪Golf Tips tv: Connection Drill will Help You‬‏ - YouTube