Proper wrist action (fix the "swing" first)

[Go Low]

Posts by Go Low in this thread have been deleted.

Go Low

[travisthetiger]

Go Low, and everyone else,

Great topic! Well worth the read. I am new to golf, and have been frantically searching the web for anything that might help me learn how to do it right. This site has been my #1 stomping ground and I appreciate all of the tips and lessons I have read. You make it easy to understand, and hopefully I will be able to use what I have learned on the driving range and course.

Keep up the great work!
Travis

[Golfbald]

Go Low,

Great bit of technical writing. Had to go on hiatus from the forum lately. Too many irons in the fire. Finishing up 4 projects soon. I'll be back. Don't get frusterated with your writings, this site is like the field of golf dreams, "If you write it, they will read." I gave up wondering if anyone was listening, they are you just don't see it. Keep up the good work Go Low, I'll join you shortly!!!

I would add on the stationary head post the knee action on the downswing. The right knee comes inbetween the body and hand position. If a golfer comes in with a straight right side it will push the shoulders into a right side high and turn from an incorrect position resulting in tops, misses, and worm burners. The right shoulder must go from a high position to low position as you have described.

I beagan teaching 3 new students. All three have said this action is not natural. I agreed with them, but when asked how else can it be done, they stood stupified.

I showed them slo motion footage of many different swings and they all agreed on one thing the head and shoulder movement it critical and wanted to know more about that. New students keep your fundamentals sharp.

Gotta run,

GolfBald

[trishthedragon]

Well I'm glad Travis understood all that cause I was completely lost . As he said, I too am VERY new to golf but luckily my husband reads these forums and since he understood, he can show me. Right Travis honey? Hehe

Keep up the good wook Go Low cause the more he understands, the more he can show me!!

Trish

[travisthetiger]

Uh oh....the dragon has found me. (Hi Honey!)

I guess since the cat is out of the bag, so to speak, my wife and I are BOTH new to golfing and we are both glad we found this web site. We have been to the driving range a few times and tomorrow we will make our first attempts at the course. I have been a few times in my life (many years ago) and this will be her first time. My only hope is that when I tee up on hole number 1, I don't lose ball number 1. I also hope (which means my last hope was not my only one...) when I'm standing there, with my ball on the tee and my club in my hand, that I don't forget everything I have learned and try to clobber that poor little golf ball into oblivion. Breathe in....breathe out. Release the death grip. Now swing the club...nice and easy....

Sounds great now, but we'll see what happens.

We'll be sure to let you all now how we do out there. And if she beats me....she'll DEFINITELY let you know.

Going to go snoop around the other threads and see what other trouble I can get myself into.

TTYL,
Travis

[mtibt]

Just a hint

Travis and Trish:
Great you have found the game. This is the beginning of real quality time together without all the phones, faxes, tv's etc. My wife and I have enjoyed the past twenty years playing golf with each other and others as well and its special.
One hint, please keep the pace of play as you go out. I see too many folks well meaning but slowing others up because they do not understand the phrase....."Want to play through."
Have fun but please be considerate of others.

[travisthetiger]

mtibt,

Advice well taken. I have read about most of the courtesies, and I know that a slow group on the course often causes frustration for the group behind them. We will do our best to remember that out there. And due to the fact that we will either be in a tree line or wading in a pond looking for our golf balls most of the day, others should have no problem playing through.




Are there any more tips or advice you all could give us before we go out tomorrow? We really could use it.

Thanks,
Travis

[trishthedragon]

Yeah... Don't get mad and throw your clubs in the water when your wife beats you. *giggle* I don't know about you hun, but I'm more worried about playing in the "sand box" then the "swimming pool". Sure, you lose a stroke but you don't have to get into the water to get the ball out like you do a sand trap!! I can bet if I end up in the sand it's going to take me more then one stroke to get out...

mtibt: Thanks for the advice. And like Travis said, knowing us we'll be fairly slow since it's our first time so we will definitely remember the play through "rule". I know years ago when I golfed I used to get so mad at the slow people in front of me. By the time I got to the windmill I was ready to throw them under it! Hehe

But seriosuly, if anyone has any other tips or hints for us, bring em on! We WANT to learn and that's why we're here. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated by both of us!!

Trish

[trishthedragon]

Nice to meet you mtibt. My turn to share... Since Travis and I are married you're gonna get 2 for the price of one. I'm 27(28 in Jan but I refuse to grow up) and Travis will be 30 in February. I am former Navy and he is current Navy. We were on the same ship together, met and the rest is history. We've been married 7 1/2 years and together 8 1/2. We have a 6 year old daughter. We live in Virginia(not on base).

He golfed a little back when he was a teenager. I on the other hand, never even picked up a golf club until a few weeks ago. He's played a couple courses but I have only been to the driving range I believe a total of 4 times(this morning being number 4). Tomorrow will be our first game together and should be fun and interesting.

Thank you so much for the tips and advice. I knew you didn't mean to come off "rude" in your first post. It's a valid concern to more seasoned players that us "newbies" don't know all the courtesies etc. It's the same with bowling. I get frustrated if the person on the lane next to me doesn't know the etiquette of not throwing their ball at the same time so I do understand the importance of knowing the "rules".

As for lessons, the guy that owns the driving range we go to is a pro and does give lessons. From what I've seen and heard while he has been giving them to other people, he knows what he's talking about and makes it easy to understand. Why, just today when I went to the range, I asked him what a chip shot was and he was kind enough to take 10 minutes and show me exactly how to do it and how to not flip my wrist. Depending on how much I suck tomorrow, I will probably be taking a lesson next Monday! LOL

Anyway, we will be sure to come back and post how we did... If I can shoot under 180 I'll be happy! LOL Take care and thanks again for the advice!!

Trish

(I hope this doesn't post twice since I got an error the first time)

[Golfbald]

Travis and Trish,

Just have fun. If ya get in the woods, try to get it back to the fairway and hit from there. It'll save you a few in the long run. I've been trying to get my wife to play but have been unsuccessful so far. Who knows only time will tell?

Trish, in the sand box, play it forward open the clubface until it's about flat aim left and hit the sand first, it'll pop right out. The cat box is a good place to be!!!

Please, tell us about your outing!!!

GolfBald

[trishthedragon]

Thanks Golfbald! I'll be sure to come post about our outting as soon as we get home!

[trishthedragon]

Ok I'm confused... mtibt posted with some advice and "getting to know you" info and now it's gone... I know I wasn't just seeing things!! I wanted to read through the advice and tips he gave again with the hubby!

[Golfbald]

Trish,

Click on the (1) on the top of the page and scroll down. We are on page 2.

GolfBald

[trishthedragon]

I did that Golfbald.. The post is completely gone. As soon as I replied to it.. When the page refreshed it was gone.

[travisthetiger]

You may be wondering why it's been over 24 hours since Trish and I went golfing and we haven't posted about our trip. That's because I was franitcally searching for the politically correct way to say WE SUCK AT THIS GAME!!



Seriously, we didn't do as well as we had hoped, but we do know that this was our first outing and that we have a lot of work to do. All in all we enjoyed the round and can't wait to get back on the horse and try again.....after a few more trips to the driving range, of course.

OK, here's the story:

We got to the course a little early so we could practice a little on the range. This course doesn't allow woods on the range due to it running parallel to a major road. (That's the only reason I can see they wouldn't allow them, since the range is about 500 yards long, and I haven't heard too many people being able to whack the ball THAT far!) So we get about 20 balls a piece and get started. Trish did really well on the range. Most of her balls were getting good loft and distance, and going fairly straight. This was very good considering she had never hit off of the bare ground before (she always used the tees at the other driving range we go too). I on the other hand had a few good hits with my 9 iron, but when I moved to my 7, I couldn't get the ball up in the air at all. It skimmed along the ground on the first try, and I thought maybe I just pulled my head up or something. So I hit another ball and the same thing happened. Ok, now I was a little upset. My 7 iron is usually my favorite club. I've never had trouble with it before. I even checked to make sure the clubhead was firmly secured to the shaft. It was fine. I tried again. Same thing. Now I was getting upset and Trish could tell. I knew getting frustrated this early would not be good, so I stepped away for a minute and took a deep breath. Came back and tried again. I tried the "just walk up and hit it without concentrating too much" approach. It didn't help. I tried the "make sure everything is right, don't hit until you're sure" approach. Didn't help. I was getting more frustrated with every shot, and the day was not looking good at all.

Anyway, I've talked way too much about that experience already...moving on...

Tee time arrived and we had 2 people join us. One I knew already and the other guy was by himself and was added. First hole, Trish had a great drive off the tee. I sliced a little right, but it wasn't too bad. The other guys hit straight down the middle about 100 yards further than both of us. From that point on, things got worse.

The course was pretty busy, so we were often reminded of mtibt's advice of moving quickly so as not to hold anyone up. This is not easy for beginnner's, as we found out. Thank you mtibt for giving us a head's up on that.

I will say that my iron shots on the course were much better than those on the range. I realize now that my short game really isn't all that bad. I can hit the green, or pretty close, from about 125-130 yards out or closer about 75% of the time. My chipping isn't bad. My putting needs a little work, but that'll come with practice. My major problem is driving, both from the tee and from the fairway (when I'm even in the fairway). If the hole is 350+ yards, I'm lucky to get on the green in 5. That is mainly because the first shot goes into the trees on the right. I have been trying to fix this slice, but it still needs work. I'll get it eventually. Just need more practice. Need to work on long shots from the fairway as well. Next time we go to the range I am going to work on hitting shots from the grass instead of the tee. And maybe a few drives to work on my slice.

Overall, I finished with a 110 and Trish finished with a 122. But those scores are kind of an estimate because if we hit it more than 6 times and still weren't on the green we marked it an 8 and moved on. This happened a few times.

Trish wanted me to mention that her 3 favorite things about the trip were:

1. The drive off the 1st tee.
2. Hitting out of bunkers (Thanks for the tip, golfbald!)
3. Driving the golf cart. (she's easily amused.)

My favorites:

1. Missing the water on hole 2.
2. A decent short game, including a 20 foot putt for par.
3. Figuring out what I need to work on for next time.

Well, I think I've rambled on long enough. If I can remember anything else of importance I'll let you all know. Until then I'll be learning and practiceing for the next round.

Take care,
Travis