Advices on my practices, swings etc

Hi,

I just came back from driving range and today's practice is worst then ever.

This is my 2nd or 3rd month learning golf. Managed to hit the ball to 100m with iron 7 but inconsistent
and most of time the ball landed right side.

As i have problem hitting straight balls consistently, my coach had asked me to practice the basic half swing to get back the "feel". Went practice with his advice the day before today and I am managed to hit consistent 65 to 75m with 7iron. After that practice, went down to Mandai exe course for a game. I felt that i had improved as balls are straight and most important is consistent.

With the above in mind, today just went range, and gosh the swings were 75 to 80% bad. Even when i did a basic half swing, i can't get the nice sweeping carpet. Somtimes, miss the ball, slice the ball or hit the carpet first. When i tried practice swings only, same mistakes happen And it seem i can even forget how to properly swing up my club and down.

Had learnt only the iron 7 and tried hitting driver (cannot make it). Am wondering any practice advice for my case?

last wednesday I lost my feeling for my swing and ended up hitting 350 balls for the session.
yesterday I got it back and I understand what went wrong.

It's all about gettting to know your swing, just be patience and you will be there. This can happen to anyone, even some pro golfer sometimes has a swing feel problem.

Get back to basic, check your setup, grip, allignment and then try to swing again. A word of advice don't be so fixated on your hand or hitting the ball as hard as you can, that will only screw up your swing plane. It's a swing, so relax extend your left arm away on back swing then do the downswing, starting from hips and then accellerate through by keeping the left arm away from the body and extending (pushing out) your right hand, at the moment of impact both left and right hand are straight to get the most of the radius which generates speed = distance.

Let gravity and the club head weight do their work, the more natural the swing, the more repeable it is.

HTH.

i will say if you want to improve you got to have specific swing though with a lot of detail. when you actually hit the ball you should always check the fundamental such as grip . posture and aligment . i will advice you to put a club in the ground as the aligment is essential to create a good swing . As an example last thrusday my aligment was off by meaning i was 10 m right of my target and only way to go to the target was to coming accross which make it a pull draw except of a straight or fade.

i'll advice to hit maximum One ball per minute . if you practice a drill i normally hit 20 practice swing well though for one ball hit. you better . every time you hit the ball make it as you will one the course with pre-shot routine . try not just hit the ball like you stand before as you may have your fundamental especially posture and aligment a bit off line.

But mate , there is no golfer is happy even the best have something wrong on their game.


cheers

bro, take it easy. in golf, the more composure you have the better it gets. don't let your frustration gets the better of you. a good warm up will loosen up your body and a couple of drill will help you to regain the muscle memory.

the try to compile a checklist things to do before hitting the ball. i always go by alignment, grip, posture, empty swing then go into the ball to hit. well mine may not the best around, but you can always create your own list in mind. run through that for every shoot.

btw, i'm not sure which driving range you are at but if the matt condition not so good, don't push it. it can cause injury if you hit hard and fat.

chances that your swing is good just that the matt is not forgiving.

good luck.

Bro, just remember the acronym for GOLF is Go On Learning Forever. As a 3 month old beginner, don't expect too much. I am an 8 year old season beginner and I still don't hit my iron straight. So how much you expect after only 3 months? Just keep slogging at it and remember what your coach taught you and I am sure you will get there in the near future. Your improvement will depends solely on your own effort, resilience and determination. Some people are able to catch on very fast while others may take a while longer. I don't know which group you belong to but you will get there. All the best and don't be detered by inconsistency at this moment.

titu

Tiger Woods played golf since the age of 3 and he still can't hit the ball straight..you played for 2-3 months. Give yourself some more time..golf is a difficult game to pick up, learn and master.

Like an old saying, "To play like an angel, you have to practise like the devil"

There's no short cut especially in the game of golf.

My coach used to tell me to practise swinging 3 times before hitting the ball. This is for rhythm and feel.

Most importantly, Have fun!

Cyp_PGA wrote:

But mate , there is no happy golfer. even the best have something wrong on their game.

I like this phrase. Makes much sense to me.

Hi Simon1982,

I don't know about the rest, but just to share, my own progress in golf has not been a linear improvement, i.e. every session is better than the previous session, every next game is better than the previous game.

It has been more a journey of getting it (or the perception of getting it), then losing it, then working hard to get it back again.

Think up it more like a wave than a ramp, although both are inclined upwards. There will be ups and downs, but overall your game will improve over time (and with practice and proper instruction).

One think I found to be really useful, also mentioned by other forumers, is to check your setup and make sure than it is consistent. It is very easy for the ball position to creep, which can lead to all kinds of compensation (e.g. swaying).

All in all, give yourself some time, no matter how talented you are in other sports, 2-3 months is a very short time to expect to play this game decently.

p.s. If you are swinging very forcefully, give your muscles some time to recover in between practice sessions. Practicing with tired muscles will result in 1) less distance (which is fine) or 2) compensation with some other muscle to generate the same speed (which may not be repeatable when u are fresh).

Hi Simon,

Can share my own experience as well as I have been at this game just slighly longer than you.

When I started I was thinking that I would solve everything in my swing overnight. With every lesson I seemed to be improving during the lesson but once after when I went ot the range I lost it all. Slice, pull, push, nearly killing people around me were very common

Then realised that had to make sure that whatever fault was pointed out to me during the lessons I had to internalise. Grip off a bit cause very bad hit. Swing wrong path also wrong hit....and many more other examples. Hence I decided that have to work on one bit of the game at one time. The more experience players here please correct me if I'm wrong here but this was what i thought was my process of forming my own "swing thoughts" were. Then as time go on I could see what I was doing right or wrong. 6 months down I am happy with my progress but still long long way to go.

I am guessing from your nick you are around my age and I agree with Derek that we definelty need to have a bit more rest in between sessions especially when we mishit a lot at the start and tend to get more aches and injuries. All the best and if you looking for range buddy PM me. I go down to Bishan and sometimes Mandai

All the best!

I used to wonder why I hit my irons ok on the driving range mat but screw up on the course (either topping, duffing or slicing). Then I realised that I have been hitting the mat before the ball, either because the aim was wrong or coming down over the top or a myraid of reasons. I couldn't tell there was mistakes in my swing because the ball actually fly quite straight.

Either way, best is to ask someone to video you.

Dear Simon1982,

Don't be discouraged. I have been at the game for about 10 years now but seriosuly playing on a regular basis for the last 6 years. There will be off days when I cannot figure out what the heck is going on. Yet, there are days where I feel I can do no wrong.

Try practising at the range with an even shorter iron, maybe a 9 or even the P. We tend to make a bigger swing when we have a longer club in our hands (even though this is not the orrect thing to do but sub-consciously, we do it anyway) so practising with a short iron, we may be able to focus on the swing fundamentals better.

Also, I believe as beginners, we do not practice enough. If I could turn back time, I would have spent much more time at the driving range when I first picked up golf. Given our busy schedules, if we had the choice between practice and a round of golf, we most likely will choose to play a round of golf....

Don't give up. Practice makes perfect, more so in golf. And most importantly, enjoy!

Best regards
kevlye

Hey mate

I understand your frustration. Even tour players lose the feel in their swing between rounds and shots especially when they are undergoing a major swing change. However fret not. Here are a few key points I have for new golfers when they practice and I hope they do help.

1. Always make sure you address the ball correctly.( grip, alignment, posture, shaft lean, balance, ball position.)
2.Rehearse a correct back swing position to hip height.( club parallel with feet, club square.)
3.From that backswing position, always practice impact. As I've said this to everyone, impact is the only position in the golf swing you need to be spot on. (hit half shots with a wedge, 9 iron and practice impacting the ball correctly)

Listen, feel the sound good impact makes. Ask your coach if you don't know.

also, I hope your coach has explained to you what impact should feel/look like and how do you go about getting there.

I understand that you are currently working with someone on your golf swing. I hope he/she has been able to put the message across to you in a manner where you can execute during your practice without doubt or confusion. I've started to get my students to take notes from each lesson. Not long ones but just key points. Maybe a checklist would be very helpful. Good luck =)

Hi,

Thank you for all your replies.
i see. I guess i felt the frustration that day as i thought after so many practices, the above should not happen.

My dad saw and advise me saying. I am definately better than my 1st time learning that can't hit 50m. Will definately not give up and continue my practice! No short cut practice and practice

Bro Simon, I am sure you will be a better and betterer golfer very soon....there is no short cut.

The good thing I see is that you are fortunate to have a supportive dad and that is always good.

during my time, my dad only insisted that I play with bigger balls or those with feathers coz its cheaper and also help due to my lack of eye ball coordination......but when I became a blue collar worker....and after being convinced by my peers , I took up this game quite a while ago..and never look back since....coz every time I do, my dad is still laughing..coz I am still very much playing without much improvement for the past 2 years


keep it up !!!