I have fought this devil for 3 years or more.

[leftsider]

I feel like I am swinging the club correctly, but I hit towering shots that are sometimes 20 yards short of where I am trying to hit. Anybody have a new idea for me to try?

[pgmetcalf]

Re: I have fought this devil for 3 years or more.

That could be any number of things. The first thing I'd look at is where my hands are at impact. I wonder if you get thinned shots too? It's probably because the hands remain behind the clubhead at impact rather than infront of them. See Greg's right hand drill in the Golf Lessons section of the site for this explaination. Another suspect aarea may be that you're not turning your shoulders fully on the backswing which can also lead to an inconsistency in shots - if you can't turn the same every time it's unlikely the shots will be the same every time.

[briandev69]

Re: I have fought this devil for 3 years or more.

I had that problem myself when I started playing....shots that went very high with no power. I could hit a three iron higher than most guys hit their 8 iron. I had 6 lessons and improved a huge amount. There are several things I have changed to promote a lower more penetrating ball flight.....1. Check your ball position, I found moving it back towards the centre of my stance helped. 2. I changed to a stronger grip with more of the back of my left hand showing at address. 3. Insure the clubshaft leans towards the target at impact....this keeps the hands in front of the ball, gives crisp contact, delofts the club which keeps the ball flight lower and longer and compresses the ball against the ground. Finally check that you dont come over the top....this is the demon that i fight and the mistake that stopped me shooting a 79 yesterday. Its easy to do this by sticking an old club shaft or bamboo cane into the ground three feet directly behind your ball on the target line. The shaft should lean back at the same angle as your club...ie parallel to your club when you take your address. The idea is now to swing back slowly and allow your clubhead to tip the shaft when the club is parallel to the ground.Then swing to the top and swing down slowly making sure you keep the club inside the the one stuck in the ground. Doing this properly will give you an inside attack to the ball. Hope this helps in some way.