New golfer, new member, Florida panhandle

GLPStandard · July 9, 2013

Just dropped in real quick to introduce myself. I'm Chris, I live in the Florida panhandle, and just started golfing about a month ago. I picked up a used set of cheaper clubs (Tigershark Hammerhead) from Craigslist and have been going with a friend from work who's been golfing for a while (though not consistently, and he took a break for awhile).

Though my consistency and distance is improving dramatically (played one 18 hole game, and been to the driving range about 5 times, I went from driving maybe 75 yards 4 times out of 30 balls to driving 150 yards or better 15 out of 30) my form is still atrocious, hence my joining here. My buddy has been giving me pointers, but honestly he hasn't had any professional lessons and is far from good himself (in the grand scheme of things that is) and I feel I need help from someone who knows the game and has perfected their swing. I just feel there's nothing more he can do to help me.

All that being said, I'm going to post a video here in a few days. I know you can't do much to help me until you see my swing, but I thought maybe if I described my issues and concerns, I could work on them for the video and try and improve a little bit more before then. I've read a lot of online articles, watched videos, etc, and I feel I have a fairly decent idea of the fundamentals, but it's hard to remember them all at the final moment when you approach the ball and put them all into effect.

My friend says I need to keep my left arm straight, and learn to rotate my hips/shoulders more. I agree that these are my 2 biggest setbacks. My problem is, no matter what I do, no matter how hard I try to keep my lead arm straight, and bend my back elbow, it feels extremely awkward before I get to the top of my swing. Id say before I get to the top 1/2 of a normal backswing range. I've watched people on YouTube, and they make it seem so natural, but there is nothing natural feeling about it.

Try and stay with me here: I almost feel as though my grip is backwards (though I know its not, it just feels that way) or my arms aren't the correct length to make a proper swing possible. You keep your lead arm straight, and your right arm bent at the elbow. Your left hand is at the top of the grip, right hand at the bottom of the grip. When you swing toward the rear, your left hand is closer to your shoulders than your right hand, given that your right hand is at the bottom of the grip, and is naturally further away from your body than your left hand. Because of this, my left arm naturally wants to bend more than my right arm, since it has a shorter distance between point a and b (ie the shoulder and my hand on the club) than my right arm. I attempt to rotate my hips more after my shoulders are rotated to the max to get that extra distance toward the rear from my left arm so I can keep it straighter than my right arm and it feels extremely uncomfortable, and just causes me to stand up. If I try to bend my right elbow, it pulls my left arm in with it. Also, when I go passed the point where my arms are parallel to the ground, my arms will automatically bend about 20-25 degrees no matter how much I try and keep my left arm straight. The further I go, the more they bend.

If any of that made sense, what tips can you give me to counter what I just described? Im sure Im not the only one who has had these issues, and I'm sure once I post a video it will be easier to give me advice, but in the mean time, any instruction anyone can give on what I can do to improve my back swing? I hit the ball fairly consistently, and I get some decent distance (though I do slice the ball quite a bit) but like I said, my form is hideous, and just feels very unnatural to me.

GLPStandard · July 11, 2013

No advice for a newbie?

nikonut · July 20, 2013

get at least two lessons from a decent local pro. one lesson a week, and play or range hit [b]every day [/b]for the next two weeks.

grip: my thoughts are your left hand grip is going to be strong or weak depending on you, and it's going to take a bit of time to find out. Lesson pro's cant always figure that out for you.

and whatever you do, don't try to learn by hitting the ball hard.

btw, I live in Pensacola for 13+ years

geoangus · July 21, 2013

First, welcome to WRX

Now for the advice: When I started, I hit it farther than you, but it was all over the place, especially with a big banana curve. I took a couple of lessons, and while the instructor was a bit too smug with himself for my liking, he did give me a few pearls of wisdom that I still carry to this day. After two lessons, I went from shooting upper 90's to an 89 (first time breaking 90).

And finally, I never had a chance to play golf with my dad, but I do remember him telling me to let the club do the work. It's designed to get the ball airborne, all the golfer needs to do is put on a good swing. So don't worry too much about swinging hard, concentrate more on swinging smoothly with acceleration through the ball. You'll get it.

GLPStandard · July 22, 2013

i hadnt expected anyone replied, but I came back to check. Glad to see a couple of you posted. I realize it's impossible to give me advice on my swing just from an explanation of how I swing on an online forum. Im still working on getting a video, but I doubt Ill bother at this point. I think Im going to look into taking a couple lessons and then see where I am.

Since I posted this, I hit much better though. I was at the driving range last week, and a gentlemen (he worked there) stopped to watch my swing, and offered some advice. He ended up coaching me for about 10 mins, and at the end of the 10 mins, I went from slicing every single shot, and having very noticeably bad form, to hitting them 200+ yards, perfectly straight, and the gentleman helping me telling me I had a good swing.

Some of the things he helped me with were my grip, the angle at which I swing my club (he said I tended to swing it like a baseball bat, and it should travel straight back and forth like its on a train track), my stance (feet were too wide before, and I stood up too straight) and turning my hands over mid swing (which I never even knew about).

Since, I've tried to remember everything he said, and put it into effect when I swing. When I can get a perfect swing down, the ball flies perfect, but I still have plenty of times where Ill top the ball, or end up slicing it.

Like I said, what I need are lessons, so Im going to see about having a few. I may still post a video of my swing up here and see if you guys can give me any advice. I have no doubt if I had a couple 1 or 2 hour sessions with the gentlemen that helped me I would be much improved at the end of it. The course I was at does offer lessons from a "PGA Professional", so I'm not so sure the guy helping me wasn't him.