Is this okay for my age?

[Gohan2005777]

I'm 14 years old. 6'1" - 6'2" 230-240 lbs. (scale is messed up because I left some things on it for a while ) and I hit my driver about 245+ yds.(can't tell because we practice from the back of the driving range and the marked distances aren't facing us and they are wrong even if they are facing us so I use the set distances from the holes since I play from the back tees and the white stake signifies 150 yds. to the front of the green) and when I am having a good time I can hit it very straight but at other times I will have a draw or fade of about 10 - 20 yds. I hit my 5 iron about I don't know maybe 160 and my PW about 100. I really don't think it should be like that but I think it is because of my big draw. BTW I made it to the varsity team at my high school and I am the only freshman on it. Plus I am the tallest on my team and my coach is super short. THEY EVEN CONFUSED ME AS THE COACH AND HIM AS THE TEAM MEMBER AT A TOURNAMENT!! Even though i am the tallest, everyone else outdrives me by a little bit. There is a junior or senior(not sure) but he can hit it about 300 consistently and he hardly ever goes to practice and he is the best and he is even better than the coach. Since there is no golf class offered at my school, he is in baseball. Don't get me wrong but when I said there was no golf class, I meant there was no class offered during school hours but it is offered after school. Any pointers to help me get rid of my draw in my irons and how do I rank up with other people my height and weight?

[Martin Levac]

Re: Is this okay for my age?

So you know how far you hit your clubs. Do you know how close you hit them too? By how close, I mean how close to your target do you hit your clubs. The closer to your target you can send the ball, the better you can score. The alternative is that you send the ball far from your target.

What about the other players on the team, how close do they hit their clubs? What about that guy with the 300 yard drive, does he send the ball close to his target?

Start by sending the ball close to your target. You will find that what you must do for that is precisely what you must do to send the ball far.

[Gohan2005777]

Re: Is this okay for my age?

So you know how far you hit your clubs. Do you know how close you hit them too? By how close, I mean how close to your target do you hit your clubs. The closer to your target you can send the ball, the better you can score. The alternative is that you send the ball far from your target.

What about the other players on the team, how close do they hit their clubs? What about that guy with the 300 yard drive, does he send the ball close to his target?

Start by sending the ball close to your target. You will find that what you must do for that is precisely what you must do to send the ball far.

Thanks for the quick reply.

I can hit the fairway every time on a good day and I just might top it or I might sky it on that day but on bad days, I can hardly hit them. On my approach shot to the green, I will usually top it or hook it. Once I hooked it and it was about good 20 yds, away from the hole. So I am not very good at hitting my target.
But the other guy is just WOW! He got a 74 from the whites at a super tough course designed by a professional which is I think the first or second hardest golf course next to my home course and at other courses he usually gets mid to high 70s. He usually makes pars with some bogeys doubles and birdies to balance them off.

[Martin Levac]

Re: Is this okay for my age?

So you are not good at hitting your target but that other guy, he is. You may not know it yet but the closer you can send the ball to your target, the farther you can hit the ball.


Send the ball close.

To send the ball close to your target, you must strike the ball properly. To strike the ball properly, you must swing the club properly. It's a hierarchy of sorts. The most important is to send the ball to your target. The next important thing is to strike the ball properly. The least important thing is to swing the club properly.

Let's put this another way. If you can send the ball to your target, it doesn't matter how well you struck the ball. If you can strike the ball well, it doesn't matter how well you swung the club.


Strike the ball properly.

To strike the ball properly, there are a few things you must do right. Strike the ball in the center of the clubface. Strike the ball with the clubface square to your target line. Strike the ball with the clubhead moving in line with the target line. Finally, you must strike the ball downward.


Strike the ball in the center of the clubface. When you strike the ball anywhere else on the face, the club will not transfer as much momentum (speed) to the ball. Also, it will not send it as straight if it strikes it on the toe or on the heel. You may have noticed that the club twists when you strike the ball badly. That twisting is energy that could have been used to propel the ball instead. So, strike the ball in the center of the clubface.


Strike the ball with the clubface square to your target line. When you strike the ball with the clubface open, it will send it outside your target line and it will spin it further outside. That's what we call a slice. The opposite is to strike the ball with a closed clubface. The ball will start inside the target line and spin further inside. That's what we call a hook. So, strike the ball with the clubface square with your target line.

Spin. As the ball spins, it will curve to one side or the other. The ball will go the opposite side of the spin. So, if you spin it left, it will go right. If you spin it right, it will go left. Look at the club, it has loft. As you strike the ball, it spins it downward (or backward). This downward spin makes it go up.


Strike the ball with the clubhead moving in line with the target line. Just like loft, when the clubhead moves so that the clubface is not square to the target line anymore, it brushes the ball and spins it sideways. It's not as pronounced as when you strike the ball with an open or closed clubface but it does affect the ball and sends it off line. So, strike the ball with the clubhead moving in line with the target line.


Strike the ball downward. When you strike the ball upward, the ground is in the way. So, don't do that. Instead, strike the ball downward. As you strike the ball downward, it will strike the ball first, the ground second. As you've probably noticed already, when you strike the ground first, it slows down the club and it twists it. So, when you finally strike the ball, you never know where it will go. It's best to avoid all this. Strike the ball downward.


The most important (center, square, in line) thing above is to strike the ball with the clubface square to your target line. It's simple. Even if you hit it on the toe, the ball will mostly go where you aimed. Even if you hit it with the clubhead moving off line, the ball will mostly go where you aimed. But if you hit it with either an open or closed clubface, it will begin off line right away and probably continue off line as well. So, learn to strike the ball with a square clubface first. The rest will be much easier after that.


Swing the club properly.

Things that help. Plant your feet firmly on the ground. The feet are the foundation. A solid foundation means better control. Control means you can strike the ball properly. Focus your eyes on the ball. You aim with your eyes, aim for the ball. A firm grip on the club. You control the club with your hands. So, control it with your hands.


The alternative is that you don't swing the club properly, you don't strike the ball properly and you don't send the ball to your target.


Practice.

With practice, you will develop, improve and maintain skill. So, practice. Practice the long shot, the short shot, the chip, the pitch, the approach, the fairway wood, the tee shot, etc. But most of all, aim for a target. Practice with the clubs you will play with. That way, when you do play, you are confident that you can use the clubs you play with. Conversely, play only with the clubs you practice with. If you can only play well with two or three clubs, all the better. You won't waste time selecting a club. You won't make mistakes with clubs you don't use well. You will score better.


How good are you with the 7i? Well then, use that and a putter just for kicks. See how well you score. Oh and don't worry how you will look. Think of how you look now scoring over 100.


Have fun.

[gatorguy146]

Re: Is this okay for my age?

Well basically if you hit the ball in the fairway its going to go farther. The problem with most amateurs is that they get so caught up in how far they can hit it when all they need to do is realize theyre max distance and then get very accurate with the clubs they're going to be hitting into greens. So if you have 7-PW into greens you need to get really accurate with those clubs and not worry about how far you can hit the big stick. And then ofcourse the one club that everyone must use no matter how far or short you hit it, accurate or inaccurate, is the putter. The only way to score well is to make putts.

I know this sounds like a general reply saying forget the long ball focus on the short game. But believe me, it's the only way to score better.