Lack of Distance

[quekie12]

Hi All

Started learning golf a few months back and had just gotten myself a set (steel shafts). Been trying to go to practise at the range once a week. So far, my shots for my short irons are fine, or at least I feel that they are. For my PW to 6th iron, my shots' arc are pretty arc and a fair distance. However, once I try on my 5 irons or any other long irons, my shots just go all over the place. Distance wise is even worse than my 7 iron (can now hit ard 100m for my 7 irons).

I understand that the swing for irons should be same except that the ball would be closer to the left foot and the body would be more upright (correct?). Some friends of mine actually recommended me to get a woods-iron (is that what we call a hybrid?). Would it help? Or is there any way to correct my shots for the long irons and drivers?

Thanks

[Ian Hancock]

Re: Lack of Distance

Quekie,

Ignore your freinds advice, firstly you are just starting out so you don't need to be changing clubs.

Seek a few lessons to start the game on solid fundimentals, and stick with the shorter irons at first.

Be patient.........it takes time to learn the swing and build the muscles needed to hit the ball consistantly and a good distance.

Remember this it's a game of timing not brawn, swing smooth not fast.


Hope this helps


Ian.

[LowPost42]

Re: Lack of Distance

What Ian said is spot on. Keep your clubs. Book some lessons. Don't try and kill the ball.

Let me tell you a story.

I was building a deck on my back step. I had just bought a house, and didn't have many tools - hammer, screwdriver, saw, level. So I'm happily (well, not so happily) building away, and my father in law comes over (who just happens to be a master carpenter). He spies me trying to muscle my way through a 4x4 with the saw. He comes over and says: "I dare you to put no pressure on that saw. I dare you to move it as fast as you can, but to put no pressure or weight on the saw".

Best sawing tip of my life. The saw went through the 4x4 like a hot knife through butter (and almost through my leg, but that's another story).

---

Now, what's the moral of the story? Tools are designed to do the work. In carpentry, the saw is designed to cut wood. The less YOU try to cut the wood, the better the job the saw does.

In golf, the tool is the club, and it's job is to launch the ball. And the dare is to be as loose as possible. I dare you to swing as fast as you can, but hold no tension in your upper body (shoulders, arms, hands, neck). This will keep you from trying to kill the ball.

[Ian Hancock]

Re: Lack of Distance

Lowpost,

What a heart warming story.


Gripping the steering wheel in the car is another perfect example of loose control.


The moral of the story should be you act so bad at carpentary and the "father in law" Master Carpenter" does the job for you.

Ian.

[quekie12]

Re: Lack of Distance

Hi Ian and Lowpost

Thanks for all the pointers. Will keep note of it.

In the meantime I'll just keep practising.

[Simon Woo]

Re: Lack of Distance

Hey LowPost42, I really liked that story! It cuts (no pun intended) straight to the point!

quekie12 : work on the swing first. Don't bother so much about the clubs. When you are sure you have gotten all the components of your swing right, then you can move on to the other clubs. I have been restricting myself to the 7-iron in the past 1.5 months since I've started. Been working on my setup, takeway, backswing, downswing, etc... Wanna make sure it looks right before I try the other clubs which will give more distance. Must admit it's really tempting though! Finally unwrapped my M4 (think they call it a mid 3-4 iron hybrid) last night, but still wanted to concentrate on my 7-iron.

It's wonderful though. I have never been able to hit over 100m all this while. Last night, I made a simple adjustment to my backswing (namely my chicken wing right elbow), and guess what, I immediately added 20m to my 7-iron! So now I am hitting 120m with my 7-iron, but the video showed a pretty weird follow-through.. (My right arms bends a lot too soon after impact). Will need to work on that more, and hopefully that will add another 10-20m to my 7-iron :P

BTW, are you my fellow citizen from Orchid Country Club rite? Why don't we arrange some time and meet up at the range?

Cheers!

[LowPost42]

Re: Lack of Distance

Lowpost,

The moral of the story should be you act so bad at carpentary and the "father in law" Master Carpenter" does the job for you.

Ian.

There's a fair bit of that going on when he doesn't want to take the time to show/coach me.

It's pretty nice, most times.