Re: Ball flight?

Then you should take that philosophy out on tour, you will be unique. The only one out there playing that way..lol...hey I am just trying to help people get to a single digit handicap, people who continue to try and hit it straight, and don't play course management, will remain in the double digit for handicap for their entire golfing career. The only exception I know of was Mo Norman. To my knowledge he was un-successful at getting anyone else to raise to the tour level doing as he did, which is more proof that trying to hit it straight, is not very productive. I personally went from a 14 handicap to scratch when I finally gave up trying to hit it straight and started playing the course, rather then a pretty shot.

Re: Ball flight?

Great idea. I just need to practice up ... I'll be on tour in 2010.

Not really proof ... I don't think Moe ever tried to get "anyone else to raise to the tour level doing as he did". Other people have since tried ... Natural Golf ... but since Moe taught himself through insane amounts of practice ... it will be unlikely.

I have recently been watching videos of Moe and IMO, it becomes apparent that he was willing to sacrifice whatever he had to for consistent, straight shots ... primarily greater distance. With the length of courses/holes that the PGA tour guys have to deal with it is not a good trade off. However, if a person is not going to ever be on tour then it may be a good trade off.

Final word on Moe ... lousy at putting ... this was another part of his game he was willing to sacrifice.

Re: Ball flight?

hi
last year i saw a graph, best of the longest hitter v the best short game players. the guys that took the money were the short game players, the guy make the point that even Tiger played the 3 wood more than the driver last year and that he was one of the few with a great long game and a great short game. as for the rest Angel Cabrera was the only one of the long drivers that had won reguarly.
if you look at the longest drivers on tour the top ten apart from the tiger and angel have not won that much.
cheers bill

Re: Ball flight?

I try and hit straight and use course management.

My club and quite a few others I play have some narrow fairway approaches off the tees, no room for hitting out sideways, the greens are also long, narrow and heavily guarded, not best for a ball that skips off to the side on landing.

My natural shot is a pretty straight and I tend to sacrifice distance for it. To draw or fade it I have to play games with my setup and swing, I can do that but prefer not to unless the shot requires it.

I have played with a number of people that play slices and hooks where they hit the ball way off to the side to let it bend back to the fairway, this always seems a risky way to play golf, I couldn't play like that.

Re: Ball flight?

Nicklaus said "If you hit it straight, you hit it wrong." Everyone has their own ball flight, some have a fade, some a draw, the key to playing better golf is to be able to play to that shot and not try to over correct it, but use it and just play to that ball flight. The hardest shot in golf is to hit it dead straight. Tiger plays a draw, if the best player in the world doesn't try to hit it straight, why should we lol?

Re: Ball flight?

hi
Hogan, Nicklaus. Trevino, Monty all fade the ball, Player, G Norman, Faldo, Tiger all draw the ball and have have won for over 20 years of there golfing life apart from Tiger who not been playing 20 year pro golf yet.
if all thet top winner and guy that seem to last at the top all through the golfing life draw or fade then they must know something.
there is not one pro golfer in my lifetime that had played golf hitting the ball straight and won week in and out.
it always pissed me off when teaching pros start of learners by telling them to hit the ball straight and i have had many disagrements with a couple of teachers about this over the years.
Leadbetter teaches at draw and his set up is for a draw. all your top teaching coaches teach a draw first and a fade second. they want you hitting a draw for the extra distance you get, more control if you hit a fade.
if you can hit it straight and do it so it repeats them more power to your elbow, there are three ways to set up to hit a ball, draw, closed stance, straight, square stance and fade, open stance. what it comes down to is ball control and what works for you.
with me if i hit a draw with a driver and it a good one then i dont know if it will draw 5 or 20 feet in the air. with a good fade i know it will fade about 10 feet in the air. if i hit i driver straight then i hope it goes straigh but i dont know if it will fade 10 feet or draw 10 feet on a good shot.
cheers
bill

Re: Ball flight?

Great jumping Jehoshaphats! this is getting hard work.

Let me try again:

I tend to hit fairly straight shots with my irons, now if that's wrong then I guess I can live with it. Mind! sometimes these may become a straight push but not normally too excessive.

Disclaimer:

Now when I say straight I mean fairly straight and not accounting for the effects of wind.

I am quite capable of firing off the occasional hook or slice when gay abandon creeps in.

Still with me

My average driver shot tends to be a bit of a draw although I am normally trying to hit them up the middle and sometimes do.

Now cutting to the exceptions:

I see nothing wrong with golfers drawing or fading their shots and if that's the way they play then all power to their elbows.

I do like to work the ball, jeez you need to at times: Doglegs, under/over/around trees and stuff.

Le Fin, Explanus conclusious, Bono estente mon amigos.

Re: Ball flight?

hi Brian
most people do hit the ball straight with there mid/short irons as the backspin overpowers the side spint to a greather extent, it the woods and long irons that are harder to control. it is easer to set up and hit a draw or a fade with longe iron or a wood that it is to hit the ball straight.
i play a 1 iron of the tee on three holes at my course and i fade all three and its one of the safest shots in my bag, but i could never hit it straight with a 1 iron. with my fade i have a built in error the ball will turn to the right and i can aim up the rough on the left and know i will be somewhere on the fairway and the worst shot i can hit is the ball not fading at all and i end up in the left rough but i knew for sure it will never draw so i aways have the right of where i aim to play with.
that only thing i find wrong (if wrong the right word) is that it much harder to hit the ball straigh and with any error in your swing then its much harder to guess if the error will be to the right or the left.
if you hit your driver and you know the ball will always turn to the right but your never sure how much (talking fading not slicing) then you can set your course managment to suit your game as all shots in a round go right. i think it would be harder if hitting straight and some shots fade and some may draw and i think sometime it works for you but often it will work against you.
cheers
bill