6 iron=150yds/driver=150yds help!

[slater170]

hi guys,
im looking for some advice here. i had to replace my driver the other week (freak accident) and after testing a few in my price range i settled for a macgregor mactec nvg 10.5* reg shaft i was hitting it really nice 200yds+ with a very left to right flight.i have corrected my grip but other than that my set up is the same now i cant manage anything over 150yds the same distance as my 6 iron!
help! please?

[GoNavy]

Re: 6 iron=150yds/driver=150yds help!

Sounds like the old joke...I hit 300 yd drives..100 yds up, 100 yds out, 100 yds down...lol

My guess, usually with serious lost of distance like you describe, you are swinging too steeply with the long stuff, you can get away with this using mid to short irons, somewhat. But no way with the driver, try using more of a sweeping motion with the driver, fairway woods and long irons, should be able to regain your distance. Side note, over the top swinger are very steep coming into the ball, which is why OTT is not very desirable. Flating out the downswing brings the club more from inside out and a shallow angle of attack.

[slater170]

Re: 6 iron=150yds/driver=150yds help!

hi gonavy,
thanks for you quick reply mate,
i am really working on my takeaway at the moment and so far its working great with every club barring driver. i have had all my irons chopped by 3/4" and am hiiting those really sweet at present(knock wood) so could it be that my distance from the ball is incorrect somehow or should i consider having the shaft cut down to say 43.5" from its present 45"

[gord962]

Re: 6 iron=150yds/driver=150yds help!

45" is WAY too long for most golfers to begin with, but if you have cut down all your irons, I would suggest that may be one problem.

Also, is your ball flight extremely high? Many times I see this happening because of a reverse pivot where you start with your weight on the front foot and finish with your weight on the back foot. Just a thought.

[slater170]

Re: 6 iron=150yds/driver=150yds help!

45" is WAY too long for most golfers to begin with, but if you have cut down all your irons, I would suggest that may be one problem.

Also, is your ball flight extremely high? Many times I see this happening because of a reverse pivot where you start with your weight on the front foot and finish with your weight on the back foot. Just a thought.

hi gord,
my ball flight is quite low probably 8 to 10 feet max. maybe the length is the problem my old taylormade e200 steel head/shaft was probably more like a 3 wood in length and i was hitting that solidly until its sad demise!
finding this frustrating as ive got my swing going good at present

[Neil18]

Re: 6 iron=150yds/driver=150yds help!

Bonjour Slater170!

Are you sitting comfortably?! I've been known to go on a bit but I hope you find this little ditty/story/essay/dissertation/autobiography useful!

I have had a similar problem to yours in the past. The usual approximate increment between irons is about 10 yards of carry. I used to carry my 7 iron about 150 yards, but then get my 3 iron out and struggle to carry 165!

It baffled me for ages and got worse for a time. Until very recently I couldn't drive the ball as far as I could when I was 15 years old! I'm 26 now and supposed to be nearing the prime of my physical condition! "Ha!" I thought!

Anyway, not being able to crunch a drive further than you hit your irons is a demoralising thing. I'd like to share with you what I have discovered in the last week since watching the Masters, and applying it to my own game.

Of all the players I loved to watch last weekend, it was Freddy Couples who caught my attention. He was occasionally surpassing Mickelsons drives with the most wonderfully timed, relaxed swing I've ever seen.

Now, on taking this and applying it to my own game, I would like to share with you a genuine fact. It goes as follows, and I would like you to see if it applies to you if you are willing to try it: Before last week I would average as follows (averages dependant on the strike):

Driver carry: 200 - 230 yards
3 iron carry: 170 -185 yards
6 iron carry: 145 - 155 yards

Having watched and learned from Monsieur Couples and applied simplicity to my swing, I can now categorically state:

Driver carry: 250 - 270 yards
3 iron carry: 195 - 210 yards
6 iron carry: 165 - 180 yards

I fully expect to improve on this as well. I don't mean necessarily just in terms of maximum carry distance, but also that the range of distance will become more like 175 - 180 yards for my 6 iron, rather than 165 - 180. This will come because a) I've not even been doing it for 1 week (!), and b) my timing is slightly out because of the change in my swing so it's not always a clean strike, but boy is it better than EVER before.

This relates to your question because I believe that at some point, for whatever reason, we start to hit a few drives short, and both consciously and subconsciously, as men of the world, we just don't like it and want not only to get our old distance back, but to increase our maximum distance in order to prove our manliness. Sad but true!

As a result, and is certainly the case in what happened to me, naturally my dominant side (right side - right handed) wanted to take over and put some more "oomph" into it. Golf being the paradoxical game that it is, doesn't take kindly to excessive physical effort. And so we stumble into an ever winding downward spiral of thinking that more of the afore-mentioned "oomph" will get us more distance until our dominant side gets so controlling in the swing that all sorts of odd things are happening and you end up hitting driver, 3 wood, 3 wood to the par 5 you used to reach with driver, 4 iron, wedge. Basically, all our clubs distances get shorter, and hence the increment between irons is negligable and taking the driver out becomes an embarrassing but thoroughly necessary ritual. Like cavemen trying to prove to their neanderthal mates that they can kill a tiger when they haven't got any spears left, and have only a leaf to throw in its' general direction. Never gonna happen, but they throw it anyway!

Paradox: To get more out of your swing and your clubs, try less.

MAN THIS IS HARD TO DO BUT, BY GOD, IT WORKS!!!!!

When my dominant side took over, I stopped swinging the golf club. Probably more than that, I've now realised that I've never properly swung it. I believe now that not many amateurs and a possibly a few of the pro's don't fully understand swinging the club rather than hitting at the ball. My right shoulder shoved forward giving me a vastly out - in swing, and of course the harder I tried the worse it got. My right shoulder shooting out destroyed my spine angle and by the time I got to impact I was almost standing up straight there was so much effort and rigidity in my "swing".

Try this and see if it works for you: go to the range and relax. Completely and utterly relax. It's hard at first, but try to trust it. After all, there's nothing to lose. Relax more for your golf swing than you ever thought you would. Be as relaxed as you are when your on holiday or lying on the sofa watching telly. Any tension will kill what we're trying to achieve as golfers, and that is one continuous flowing build up of speed in the clubhead. The clubhead alone. Speed through of your body/muscles will not produce speed in the clubhead. It will hinder it. Take the speed out of your body movements and think of only creating speed at the business end - the clubhead.

Now, if your situation is anything like mine, you'll find that if you video'd your swing and put it next to a professionals, your dominant shoulder takes a different path to that of the pro's. The pros dominant shoulder drops toward the ground, rather than across the chest in an effort to create power. What rotating the right shoulder underneath you does is lead the arms and hands downward to a shallower angle in preparation to swing the clubhead into the back of the ball. Whilst doing this of course, we are shifting our weight to the left to give ourselves room to swing through.

If you pause a DVD of any top pro at impact, he is relaxed but his body position almost looks crunched up, still wound. The sucker punch hasn't been delivered yet. Start to think of the backswing as nothing. A gentle cocking of the gun. If the ball is the event, then the swing is nothing before-hand and everything afterwards (not literally, but I hope you understand what I mean!)

Anyway, back to teh downswing just before impact - The trick at this point is to stay as relaxed as you were at address. No effort whatsoever. Right up to the back of the ball and beyond. No tensing of any muscles or sudden movements in an effort to pick up speed. All the power and speed you need is created by swinging the clubhead and creating that flowing powerful arc. What you will the find is that you'll feel that instead of tugging the clubhead through impact, the weight of the clubhead will pull you through (quite rapidly) to your finish position.

It will take a while to get used to. Expect to catch the turf/mat before ball a few times first, but your hand-eye coordination will sort this out as you get used to the new rhythm.

Several things will result:

More distance. To hit further, put less effort in.

Better accuracy. Less sudden movements = less chance for the clubhead to deviate from it's natural path and open/shut at impact.

The "clubhead lag" that we all see the pro's attain is yours without any conscious cocking/uncocking of the wrists. It all happens through timing and centrifugal foce.

Improved balance.

Less strain on your body.

Lastly, you will get an incredible sense of effortless power as the clubhead is naturally released and your hands, arms and right shoulder come through completing the circle, all following the ball - target line.

The feeling I got from striking the ball in this way was nothing short of sexy! Now I know why they refer to golf shots as "strokes"!

It takes a while to get the hang of. The first time I relaxed enough for it to work and sent a drive hurtling into the distance like an arrow I thought two things: "Was that me that just did that?! Cos it didn't feel like it!" and "Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" Needless to say the next one I tried to hit just as far, I tensed up and screwed it royally! That's when it hit me like a train. Both extremeties of shot within 2 goes. And the relaxed one works better by a million yards (almost literally!).

All true.

Gonna stop now. My fingers are bleeding.

[slater170]

Re: 6 iron=150yds/driver=150yds help!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOT A REPLY
hi neil,
thanks for that mate i would never have got input like from any book or dvd. i have really been making some good progress recently with just the driver being the bug bear. i am acutely aware that tension and trying to overpower the swing are causing problems and now your reply has reinforced that! so now ive got a good understanding of the basic fundamentals i will give your swing tip a go. if i can find some improvement in this area i will be pretty happy with my game with the better weather hopefully around the corner!
thanks again for a great read!

[golfonenemesis]

Re: 6 iron=150yds/driver=150yds help!

Lets look at your grip; it should be neutral to allow maximum hinging and release.
Then, make sure you are coiling and not swaying; coiling is upper half of the body turning against lower half stable. Its ok to turn the hips a little.
Then, make sure you remember: irons we hit down to make them go up; we don't scoop, lift, or scuffle them. Imagine a line in front of the ball, that is where you want to take your divot not behind.
Driver: hit it on ascending not descending swing. To do this, set up with ball off left instep, lean a little to right, make sure left shoulder is higher-not alot-but higher than right.
Swing easy---ball go far.

[slater170]

Re: 6 iron=150yds/driver=150yds help!

Lets look at your grip; it should be neutral to allow maximum hinging and release.
Then, make sure you are coiling and not swaying; coiling is upper half of the body turning against lower half stable. Its ok to turn the hips a little.
Then, make sure you remember: irons we hit down to make them go up; we don't scoop, lift, or scuffle them. Imagine a line in front of the ball, that is where you want to take your divot not behind.
Driver: hit it on ascending not descending swing. To do this, set up with ball off left instep, lean a little to right, make sure left shoulder is higher-not alot-but higher than right.
Swing easy---ball go far.

thanks tj,
think your last point is the most important.my grip, posture and coil are pretty good so i think by relaxing arms and swinging slower and easier will remedy this problem eventually.
i live in hope!
be lucky

[pnearn]

Re: 6 iron=150yds/driver=150yds help!

Neil

What a great post. You have discovered effortless power. Well done! It is a paradox, swing slower to hit it further. I posted a few weeks back how I'd used one of those Bel swing radars and when I tried to swing out my socks (which 'felt' really fast) the SS was 15 mph slower than when I swung really easily. Id encourage anyone to try this, to prove it to yourself

The reason for this is lag. Lag comes from the constant acceleration of the club through the downswing, where the speed of your body and arm turn remains the same from transition to impact. Most people (me included sometimes) go at it hard from the top and cant maintain that speed. What happens is that the clubhead then catches up and passes the hands through centrifrugal force. This 'slowing' down' is made worse by tense muslces, tight grip etc. This is why Freddie looks so smooth, he does turn quickly but he maintains that speed

Of course when you swing easily, you also stay in balance, give your body and arms more time to synch up and are therefore more likely to hit the sweet spot!

Freddie does a drill where he delibrately only tries to hit his driver 100 yards. Thats hard to do unless you totally relax

[bloodredsun]

Re: 6 iron=150yds/driver=150yds help!

One way I've found of maximising driver distance on an easy swing is to concentrate on keeping my arms as long as possible at contact. When I try to power a driver, I sometimes find myself shortening my arms as I pull the club through. This gives the feeling that you are swinging faster as your body does actually turn faster. But what happens is as you shorten the radius of your swing, the speed of your club head is markedly reduced.

Maximising the leverage available will ensure your clubhead speed is effortlessly fast and the ball will "pop" off the face and into the distance.

I would also check the your teeing height with a new driver.

[slater170]

Re: 6 iron=150yds/driver=150yds help!

thans for all your responses guys
got plenty of things to look at now. thinking slower relaxed swing and teeing ball up higher should help to iron this fault out
(sorry for the pun)