Sport Today

I was constantly hitting everything on the toe since last August.  In July
of 2000 I was around a 9 handicap and had been as low as seven.  Since then
my iron game got increasingly worse.  They went everywhere.. off the toe to
the right, low lines left, no distance, topped shots , the whole bit.  It
got to the point that I hated to pull one out of my bag.  I had the iron
"yips".   Lately I have had trouble breaking 90 which I didn't do too often.

I posted my problem about a month ago and received quite a few suggestions.
Well I tried them all and nothing really worked.   Then I saw a "pro" and in
a few minutes he spotted my problem.   I hope this makes sense but my left
arm was pulling up on impact and into a follow through.  He had me
accelerate my left arm 12 inches past the impact point and made me keep it
low going through.  He told me "twelve inches past and keep it low" .Presto!
solid shots when I can do this.  When I achieve it I feel my follow through
is delayed and not quick, my right shoulder comes through low, I am staying
behind the ball and at times I do  not spot the ball until it lands ..
especially with 3/4 wedges.

Unfortunately I have developed a really bad habit and it is going to take
time and practice to eliminate it.  The m***of the story is: "If you are
having major problems and can afford it see a pro".   I can't wait for
tomorrow to hit some.

Who you think you are, me?

I made a brace for my left arm and swung it a bunch of times each
night for about a week.  The first 50 swings felt like my hands were
10' away from me at impact.

I'm still working on it as I play and have it about 75%***ed.  As
simple as it may seem this was one of the hardest faults for me to
correct.

David Laville, G.S.E.M.
The Golfing Machine Authorized Instructor
Contributor of spam free golf advice

<snip>

Have you considered why you are doing this?

I had this problem with one of my drivers......I checked this thoroughly using
the self marking club face stickers (I think you can get them thru'
Golfsmith....I had some from Henri-Grifitts lying around). After repeatedly and
persistently seeing the ball mark towards the toe I logically came to the
conclusion that the club could be too short (by about 1/4"). However, I hit
other drivers sweetly in the middle and they are the same length. I started to
think about this and considered my stance, could I be standing too far from the
ball? It didn't feel any different to any other club..indeed, moving closer to
the ball felt quite wrong. It then occurred to me that I was moving away from
the ball during the swing. Sure enough....I soon discovered that I was moving my
weight back onto my heels as I hit thru' the ball. I had recently adopted a
relatively flat swing in connection with my change to softer shafts. In
'working' the flex, (unloading through the ball) I was unconsciously reacting to
the centriputal force with my body weight, thus moving back from the ball
slightly at impact.  The fix was simple....set up with my weight more evenly
distibuted between toe and heel, with some 60% towards the heel. This pre-sets
my reaction to the swing force. The results have been remarkable and have
resulted in improved shots through the full club range...I seem to be striking
the ball with far more authority for seemingly no effort. Setting up with your
weight more onto your heels feels a little awkward to start off with, you tend
to take wider stance and tee your ball further back. You tend to remain
flat-footed through the swing, but you are restrained from swaying off the ball
and you are forced into a compact body turn. So far it is working for me!
Perhaps I was setting up with my weight too far on my toes to start with!

It is amazing what you can learn with a simple piece of self marking paper on
the club face.

cheers
david