Frank Frieri wrote me about six weeks ago for some advice for a problem he was having with his driver. And since there are a number of key points I would like to make about his situation, I thought it would be a good starting point for today's video tip.
"Hi,
I've been with your program going on 3 years. I was having a problem with my second shots with fairway woods, so I made the mistake of listening to someone and tried going away from the upright swing and back to the round egg-shaped swing. Beware of changing your swing, I learned the hard way!I'm back this year to your swing and manual. I've got the game back and I'm hitting the ball well with every thing but the driver. Can't seem to hit a drive straight, but always to the left, not a hook, but way left of target. I've got to find the answer to this part of my game! I am 5'8 and about 235 pounds with longer than normal arms.
Most course professionals all preach the round golf swing, but I would like to stay with your approach as it does work. What part of your manual should I be into? Thanks for any help."
Well, Frank, to answer your last question first, you should be in Chapters 3-7 which cover Setup and its four key sub-components: Grip, Stance, Posture and Alignment. Why? Because experience has shown me that 90-95% of all swing problems are directly attributable to a problem in one of more of these areas. You want to make sure that you're setting up correctly--with particular attention paid to Alignment. It is a possibility that you are just lining up too far left of your target and when you execute a good swing, the ball goes straight to where you aimed it.
If you can prove to your satisfaction that you are correctly aligned parallel left about 10-15 yards left of your target then there are other possibilities for what is causing your driver problem. One of them could be that you are letting your arms swing too close to your body instead of straight up and straight forward in front of it. But chief among the possible causes is something you've probably heard me say before: "It's your driver!". It used to be that Men's standard length clubs were anywhere between 43" and 44" for a driver. But in the constant drive to find something new to talk about, the OEMs started lengthening the shafts AND making the club heads much larger so they could make outlandish and unsupported claims about "bigger sweet spots" that also produced longer drives. Strapped to a golf club testing machine that can be adjusted to make a perfectly square hit on the center of the sweet spot at the exact same velocity every single time, this could be true. But the actual distance gained over a club with a smaller head is probably only a yard or two in the lab.
However, when you put a 460cc driver with a 45" to 46" shaft into the hands of 98% of the golfers of the world, these claims quickly become meaningless because of the sharp decline in accuracy they experience. A long shaft forces them to have an even flatter swing and therefore they come over the top more often and either hit a huge slice or a dead pull. I am an inch taller than you and I also have long arms like you do. I swing a 43 1/2" driver so its quite probable that your ideal shaft length would no more than that. So get yourself a good three foot rule and set the driver on the ground at the angle it would be at address. The place the rule next to the club head on the ground and have it come up the shaft so that you can determine how long it is. My guess is that it is at least 45" if you bought it at retail in the last 3-4 years and that the head is at the USGA set maximum of 460cc. Since you hit your other clubs well, there isn't a burning need to replace those, but with your body measurements, I would seriously consider getting a custom built driver that will be perfectly fitted to your swing. If you you live near a PPGS Certified Club Fitter, then give that guy a call. He meets our strict standards on what must be done to ensure a great fit. If you don't then try to find a professional club fitter in your area who is a member of one of the major Club Fitting organizations. Ask him to build you a shorter driver with a head around 360cc and a shaft that is matched to your swing characteristics. This can often be done for about the same cost as buying an OEM "latest & greatest" model off the sales floor at a golf retailer. The results, however, will be radically different I would wager.
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
Comments
Gedday DH, Surly things can
Gedday DH, Surly things can only get better in the sunshine department. Planning on a hitout tomorrow morning & hoping my form is as good as my last round. Looks like you had a great time yesterday, on your new course. Is it too late to do the club champs? :-) I bought a practice nett a couple of weeks ago & think its giving me more consistancy on the course. The only good flat spot to put the nett is a bit muddy, so i had to put an old mat down to hit off. Hope you have a good one on Tuesday mate.
Yes, that is a good test.
Yes, that is a good test. Especially if you put tape on the face of the club so you can see the impact mark and start choking down in increments to see where the optimum length is to hit the sweet spot consistently.
Of course that doesn't tell us if the the shaft profile or MOI are what's best for us. Could be that the correct club may have been easier to handle at a slightly longer length than a club totally wrong for our swing at a shorter length.
As Terry said, there is no
As Terry said, there is no good reason you should be having that problem if the person fixing it knows what they are doing.
Should I start the swing with
Should I start the swing with hips or my shoulders. Is there any thing that i'm missing to drop the club in the slot--skip the rock or hitting up at the top of the backswing. I always come over the top or around like a baseball bat.
Think about it.
Think about it.
If all OEM clubs were fit properly to begin with, Doc and all the other fitters would be out of business.
Yes, not all 42s are created
Yes, not all 42s are created equal. I've had some pretty good days of ball striking where I shot that.
Some days more putts find the hole than others. I figure all I can do is make a good roll on the line I pick.
It's actually pretty rare when I miss my line or make a bad roll. I can't do anything about the misreads (unless someone knows of a "smart pill").
LOL
I still think maybe I should cut down on the amount of break I read a little. Of the ones I miss I would say that 90% or more miss on the high side, but I absolutely HATE to miss low. ;-)
I prefer reading the text
I prefer reading the text then listening to the video; saves me about 9 minutes.
You've made a closer study
You've made a closer study of the videos, so I'll trust you on that. Whatever the proportions, his arms are in a great position to make a vertical ellipse around the base of his neck, where many of us end up making a much more tilted ellipse. (For others reading this and not following, I'm not talking at all about the club in this, only about how DJ's left arm swings on a very vertical plane that runs approximately from his toes up through the base of his neck).
Sounds like you had a good
Sounds like you had a good experience at Tanglewood. 91 is likely a good score on a tough course like that. My driver is actually what's kept my scoring desent. I usually give myself alot of opportunities. We played the Lexington at Revere in Henderson, Nv. a couple weeks ago and it is a radical layout with more hills and valleys and side hill lies than I've ever seen in this part of of the country. Managed a 39 on the front nine and 44 on the back (and due to a couple of doubles). Again, having my drive in the fairway and fairly long sets it up and then we have to make get it done with the wedge and putter.
The shoulder is improving and seems like it will be okay.
Stupid is as stupid does. You
Stupid is as stupid does. You probably wasted that whole 9 minutes posting your asinine comment. Here's your sign!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
What are you doing? The green
What are you doing? The green is that way." Comical .
I have never done that and surprised that I haven't playing courses that I have never played before in tournaments. I think next year I should know all the courses but they probably will through a few new ones in.
I played today about the same as yesterday we had to go off the back first shot 39 on the back and 35 on the front. We did not add the scores up until we were done. I whined the hole round I new I did not play well the first nine the back which is the easier of the two I had no idea that I shot even on the front 9 pars until my buddy added up the scores. He said I don't know why you are so pissed you shot even on the front for a 74. I was oblivious of making nine pars until he told me. Im just not hitting my irons solid right now for some reason. Hopefully we get to play next weekend there calling for rain all ready plus the end of summer fireworks or next weekend and it usually rains so we will see.
ok, Thank You,,,,
ok, Thank You,,,,
Go to the search box ,above
Go to the search box ,above to the right,& type your questions in there. Maybe "start back swing" or "skip the rock ". That will give you all the stuff we have done before & may answer some of you questions
Lynn, if you have those
Lynn, if you have those videos, slow them down and take a very careful look at your right leg as you go through the BUS. Most likely you see at least a slight straightening of that leg, rather than a slight settling and increase in the flex.
I play at a muni where the
I play at a muni where the putting mantra is if you play a break it won't and if you don't it will. A by product of really slow greens, 6 or so on the stimp. The course did hold a big time mid amateur tournament and had them rolling at 12. The break you saw was what you got. The club players couldn't make anything until the greens reverted back to really slow.
Had our first outing onto the
Had our first outing onto the hallowed turf for 10days yesterday : - ] First 5 holes not too bad, but the odd forgettable shot. On the 5th one of those," I wonder?" thoughts.On to the 6th hole, the best drive ever on that hole for me. It would have been even better had it not been an uphill fairway and very soggy.From then on the day changed, from happy to be out and about, to BIG smiles all around. Some of the best golf shots I have ever played. Off the tee, off the fairway and the iron shots? Sublime! 6" was my favourite word of the day hahaha. On 4holes my iron shots were 6" from the hole, 1xchip shot and 3pitches. On another, thought, "Ah! well a short chip shot, thinking the ball had gone over the right hand rear of the green. On going forward it was on the green, but 30yds from the pin! Putted it to..... You've guessed it 6" for a tap in [one over]. Another PW shot clipped the very top edge of a tree and rebounded left into thick, wet rough to the left of the green. With same PW in hand, right down the shaft to the metal and hit a short high pitch to the distance of the day : - ] On another hole an 8iron over the edge of another tee [sucker pin placement], power lines above.Thought the ball had gone in! When I got there it was 5'feet behind the flag in line with it. One putt. Off the fairways and from the, wet as they were fairways and rough I was hitting them straight and the ball striking was noticably very solid. So two happy chappies, me and my caddy.
Some of the credit goes to her. She suggested after the first few holes, " Aim at that tree there in the distance." How often do we listen to our wives? Hahahaha. Well I did and was amazed at how accurately the shots were.
Surge dwelt at length on the length of the driver. Have recently had a couple of inches hacked off my 400cc driver and the 3 and 5W's. What a difference a couple of inches make, as the actress said to the ......Naughty me!
This and standing just slightly, very, very slightly more erect at address. That and the "UP AND BACK" [skipping the rock movement] and never had to even think about the 'Bump' etc at all. NO swinging through and around. As the man says, "UP and DOWN, ON-ON-ON"! ABSOLUTELY.
Happy doesn't even come close. Now whether my tiny more upright stance, was compensation for the wrong lie angle or I had been 'bent over too far' at set up, I don't know. All I do know it worked like a charm.
PS. For those of us who use the 'skipping a rock' tip: Wonder how many of us, actually have tried to do so with a golf ball, tennis ball etc? Or do we all remember skipping rocks as kids and don't bother? I was one of the latter. Then I did just that with a soft ball. The "Light went on" and it stopped me going through the ball and then around not ON-ON-ON!
Have a great day where ever you are. Hit 'em long and straight..
Now the penny drop thing
I still occasionally work on
I still occasionally work on trying to do that but not much luck. My swing is definitely changing though. Haven't placed exactly what it is, or if it's something I want, but it's becoming more and more hard for me to hit anything other than a straight ball. When I try to hit a draw there's probably about a 50% chance it's going straight and the same with a fade.
Never had that problem before.
All of the fairway woods I hit yesterday were what Mike calls "P-Rods". Killed and absolutely dead straight. And that was whether I was trying to draw the ball or not.
P.S. I'm only making a guess about whose legs are longer based on nothing. ;-)
Just would surprise me. Maybe if we are ever on the same bus seat we can tell. LOL No way my thigh bone will fit on those things without turning sideways.
I am still using the Nike
I am still using the Nike Method center shafted, left hand low, with a sideways 2-Thumbs grip. I experimented using the same on the Hindsight, but didn't much care for it. It's my L. Room carpet practice club now. I need to get another Nike for indoor practice, because I'm too lazy to get mine out of the truck. I would say my biggest problem is playing on so many different courses it is hard to have a consistent feel for speed. I do well on the two courses I play in leagues, but not as well on the other traveling days. I would imagine that having a day of practice and then 4-consesecutive rounds on the same course would greatly improve my speed by the 2nd,3rd, or 4th day.
The new irons are working out well and I am getting 1-club extra distance with more control. I think the FLO, and a mid bend point has made the biggest difference. I used the Grafalloy Prolite cheapo's but they are really performing well.
http://www.diamondtour.com/gol...
Surge, great tip for me today
Surge, great tip for me today. As a test would it work to just grip down the shaft & swing with effectively a shorter shaft? PPS REALLY works, if only because it is so understandable. Mike H.
Congrats on the 74,
Congrats on the 74, especially the even side. That's pretty good.
Going the wrong way was a first for me. Well on purpose it was. ;-)
On that hole the fairway is straight for about 400 yards and then there is a big ditch full of small trees straight across but the cart path turns left through an open area. I could see four guys up that direction and I thought they were the group playing in front of us so I thought it was a dogleg.
Turned out those four guys were on a tee box for another hole. Good thing they were out of my reach. Ha ha!
The hole is actually straight all the way but requires a second shot over the ditch that I thought was the end.
Mike said it never occurred to him that I wouldn't know where the green was.
I've never run into that with
I've never run into that with modern balls. I remember it happening a lot with balata. The outside would look pristine, and you'd hit it and it would fly like a wounded duck with constipation.
Thanks for that Russty a heck
Thanks for that Russty a heck of a sized net.Will go to trade me too and have a shuftee. Good luck with the 9 on Wed arvo.You are not a serviceman by any chance? They usually have Wed arvo sports arvo's. Tuesday's forecast is looking not too ugly. Had a quiet swing on the deck just before it started leaking again. Here's to consistency and the start of it.
Cheers and thanks again for the info.
The guy who vidioed my swing
The guy who vidioed my swing was familiar with Surge and what he teaches so he understood what I was trying to do. I told him his swing is not that far off from what Surge teaches. It did help to have him offer suggestions.
He's about 5'6" around 140 lbs and hits his 3 wood consistently 240-250 and straight. As DH says it ti-ming and tem-po.
Yes, agreed. Hate to miss low
Yes, agreed. Hate to miss low too. Having said that I missed two this morning especially low. Most putts on this course won't break nearly as much as they appear. (wrong on that today:) Now I am still working with a new long putter (broom). Jury still out so far. I think the sad part is I can miss or make with any putter about as well. Not giving up yet but only a few more misses away from going back to old faithful (a standard putter I've had for 25 years). Love -hate affair for sure. If it was is faithful why do I cheat on it so often? I will give the long putter more time to see if I can get more consistent. I have found that the left elbow out and down the line works best. Style is like Timmy Clark and Carl Pettersson. Heard a good observation from Nick Foldo that helps, The left elbow should move as much as the putter head during the stroke. It has help me improve but consistency is still not there.
Well that's great to here.
Well that's great to here. Being I can't read the above text in 1 minute I will stick to the video. I went to a hillbilly public school in the 60's and 70's and they did not teach speed reading at that point. I read the text and watched the video and both are great.
A couple reasons I'm going to
A couple reasons I'm going to disagree with you. As Steve said, being sure that your lengths, lies, and lofts progress properly from club to club is extremely important so that you can then make consistent adjustments based on the lie of any particular shot. You don't want to have to think, "My seven iron is 2 degrees flatter, so I have to aim 10 yards further left because the ball is going to tend to go right." Also, there's a lot more to a proper fitting than just getting the lies and lofts set. That's a relatively easy and not terribly expensive process. It's a matter of getting the right shafts for your swing profile, and making sure that they've been installed properly so that there is as little offline vibration as possibly for maximum consistency from strike to strike. Off the rack clubs are like playing the lottery. Maybe you'll get a winner, most likely one or two clubs in the set will be good and the rest will require you to make adjustments beyond just the current lie conditions. With a properly fit and properly built set, there's no such problem.
Thanks Surge so much!! My
Thanks Surge so much!! My driver is 43", IM 5'4" and I really choke up on it. IM still looking for a new one, because mine has been fixed three times, just have not found one yet?? I really need to go golf shopping, driver, shoes and GPS, which, just wondering, anyone out there has any idea's on a GPS. I want one that will display any golf course, I don't want to have to put it in. Played today, did well, just need to finish higher on some of my shots. Really with that darn driver, today I had some of my longest drives!!! I just keep at it every day.
Thanks for all of your help,
marilyn
That there's some real funny
That there's some real funny stuff Terry.
Watching the final round of
Watching the final round of the Barclay's today I noted one of the commentators mentioned Sergio's driver was only 43 inches. Not a swing I would ever try to duplicate, but the shorter driver seems to work for him. Ya think Doc and Surge may be onto something? :0))
It was a first for me. Have
It was a first for me. Have had a few times when the cover was cracked and it did that.
If I was really losing 30 yards with that ball (and I believe I was) it makes me wonder how many times I may have been losing 5 or 10 and never would know the difference, and just think I wasn't very long that day.
All Surgites,Just got back to
All Surgites,
Just got back to Oz, after spending about 8 days in the US, Had a ball in
Manhattan New York, then went down to South Carolina to see Greg Macdonell and later for a club fit. Must say, the hospitality I received by every
one I met was absolutely fabulous, made me feel like I was home. Even got
to play on a private course called Belfair, the host and his partner were both
so friendly, I got invited to their home and later they took me back to Savannah airport. After my lesson with Greg I have an apology to make as
I always thought " SET UP DETERMINES THE MOTION" was about half right
but Greg proved to me that is all or nothing, so from here on it's GRIP, STANCE, POSTURE, ALIGNMENT & BALL POSITION. Greg didn't even look
at my swing, just got me setup up and I hit straighter & longer, once again thank you folks for a beautiful experience.
Regards NeilofOz.
True enough. My last round,
True enough. My last round, the guy I was playing with showed me his $450 brand name driver that he couldn't hit worth crap, while I paid Doc $350 for the best driver I've ever had in my hands for my swing.
Always throws me for a loop
Always throws me for a loop when I play a nicer course with smooth, fast greens. I do prefer fast and start adapting after two or three holes. Seems that most of the practice greens are never quite the same speed as the actual on a course.
Wow ,a whole 9 minutes saved.
Wow ,a whole 9 minutes saved. Do you have a special account to keep your savings in for a later date? Or do you spend it on something else? Imagine how much time you could save if you did'nt even turn your computer on, and you could have saved a bit by not commenting about your cunning time saving plan. Might be time to start smelling a few flowers, I'm thinking
I don't generally have that
I don't generally have that problem with fades, but I have to really focus to get a good hook these days, and it still only comes off a little more than 50% of the time. Less with the longer clubs, a little more consistent with the shorter irons. When my swing is on, most of my irons have a natural 1 or 2 yard draw, but to get a real turn out of them is more difficult.
Marilyn, It sounds like you
Marilyn, It sounds like you may have more of a repairMAN problem than a Driver problem. I'm not sure what keeps needing repaired, but if it's the same or general area, I'd look for another repairman/club builder. If it's something as simple as a loose head, that's one of the easiest things to fix, provided nothing is actually cracked or broken and it is just an epoxy breakdown. Even if the shaft was broken and needed replaced, a one time repair should have permanently corrected the problem. I hope they didn't charge you every time for their incompetence. It sounds like you like your driver and hit it well, I'd just look for someone who actually knows what they're doing to properly fix it. If the actual head is ok, everything else is permanently fixable.
Dear Surge, hitting a driver
Dear Surge, hitting a driver was a also a problem for me with my old swing but I think its because of the subtle change in the angle of the grip versus forward arm (at address) due to the different lengths of the clubs? There are 2 extremes here, the smaller angle between shaft and forward arm for the short irons which is made even smaller on the downswing (as centrifugal force pulls the wrist even straighter- slight bowing of the wrist hinge downwards as the club moves into impact). With a driver, one needs to swing quicker to keep it moving at speed in a circle, therefore the centrifugal force is greater and the pull on the wrist greater. This will cause the angle between the clubhead and forward arm to decrease even further from the angle at address and invariably cause a steeper path , therefore causing one to hit the ground before the ball. Subconsciously, our mind can sometimes pre-empt this and then cause us to unconsciously manipulate our body to try and get the club to the ball (causing all sorts of errant shots). I think one way around this is to make all long irons, 3 woods, driver shorter in length (with possible changes in lie angles ) and reduce the possible change in angle (between arm and shaft as it was at address) in the downswing and increase the likelihood of our hands returning back to its address position in a consistent way. What do think of my theory here?
I heard them say that today..
I heard them say that today....And I HAVE tried to duplicate his swing...Not a chance in a million years I could do that.
LOL
I remember once in the
I remember once in the ancient days I played in a tournament with my father. I happened to win the long drive competition that day, and the prize was a sleeve of 80 compression Titleists. I gave them to my father because I couldn't play a ball that soft. It honestly felt like trying to play golf with a squash ball. I liked when some of the old-time pros talk about wanting players today to have to go back to the balls they played with. You have a choice between a mushy ball that spins like crazy and doesn't fly very far, and a ball that flies like a rocket, but has no control over where it stops.
Self employed contractor,
Self employed contractor, mainly in the rural sector, so I work when I choose,within reason. You will need to be patient to find a net on trade me, as the 2nd hand or 2nd hand new ones only come up occasionally , but can be got heaps cheaper than new. I've been looking for some months now. Hoping to pick up some range mat next
I think it's called
I think it's called reinventing the wheel. And who can resist buying a nice new shiny wheel? ;0)
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