Stryker
#NothingFeelsLikeAMizuno
So a quick little background, I just started about 8 or 9 weeks ago as a brand new to the sport, never swung a club in my life, golfer. I picked up a cheapo set of Nike Covert 2 Irons 4-PW, a Nike SW(forget which model), and a cheap TM RAC AW. I hit all these fairly consistently and pretty straight without too much difficulty but of course not overly far as I do not have a super fast swing speed and just try and be smooth. The problem came in because I was having problems with my hands and wrists being very swore after hitting a bucket of balls at the range to the point that I did not want to pick them up again for at least 2-3 days after one bucket. I do have smaller hands and all my life have suffered having weak wrists to the point that I get mild sprains in my wrist regularly by simply pulling hard to open a heavy door.(weird I know)
I thought that maybe the problem with the soreness could be resolved by eliminating as much stinging vibration by switching from steel shafted irons to graphite shafted irons. I did go buy and see a local pro and hit both my old Nike 7 and a graphite Callaway XR 7. The graphite did feel better on my hands and I hit it longer as expected. He checked length and lie for me and suggested I order a set of used XR OS graphite shafted clubs. Taking his advice, I ordered a set of 4-5H and 6-PW, SW, AW all graphite XR OS irons. Now this is where the problems all started compiling so bare with me. At the same time, I was having some issues with slicing my driver so I really started working on that more then focusing on irons which I had been hitting well. I finally worked out a few issues with my driver and realized that I really had a death grip with all my fingers and thumbs on both hands on the clubs. I started noticing that I was having difficulty hitting my irons around this time as well and assumed that it came from putting too much focus on the driver. I first thought it was due to having a really bad back that bothers me at times and was causing me to top balls quite regularly but I was not seeing distances I was expecting when making good contact and balls were pretty erratic in direction.
My problems have persisted for a couple weeks and I have been taking lessons every week and specifically trying to focus on this problem. I especially seem to struggle with all my wedges for some reason but none of the irons are very good. We have worked on my stance a bit trying to make a few small adjustments to help with my bad back and a few other things as well. Nothing seems to be helping and today I played 18 with my cousin's husband again struggling all day with my irons hitting mostly low flying runners, topping them, or smacking them all over the place even though my back felt great. I did hit my hybrids reasonably well and of course I did occasionally hit a decent iron shot but by occasionally I mean like 2 and both with the 8 iron if I remember correctly.
So I started thinking that maybe I should pull out my Nikes again and see what happens. I am wondering if my death grip on the clubs was causing the majority of the discomfort in my hands and wrists. I got home and had a bunch of crap balls laying around so I decided to go behind the house and hit my wedges to see what would happen. I very casually grabbed the PW and without any changes in what I had been doing with the Callaways, I hit the first ball a beautiful high shot through some trees in the back yard. I figured it was just luck so started hitting more and almost every time I could hit them straight and get them up off the ground like they should be. I tried both my old SW and AW and found the same results. I figured it can't be the clubs so I got out the Callaway PW and sure enough, could not get it in the air or hit it straight at all. I also grabbed my Nike 5i and again was able to consistently get the ball up in the air high and straight. Now please keep in mind my definition of consistently is I did occasionally hit one bad one but it was rare.
Now I am so confused on what to do. Everyone says its never the clubs its you but what in the world is going on? I don't know if its the extra weight from the Nikes that is helping me or if the oversized heads on the Callaway XR OS are hurting me or what the deal is. Obviously I have a decent amount in the Callaways but got them from Callaway preowned so I can trade them in for most of what I paid. I have an open house to tomorrow and the home sits on a golf course right around the corner from their clubhouse and driving range. I am thinking about loading up the Nikes and taking them with me and see how my hands feel after a bucket of balls. Outside of that I am at a loss as to what to do and why this may be happening. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
I thought that maybe the problem with the soreness could be resolved by eliminating as much stinging vibration by switching from steel shafted irons to graphite shafted irons. I did go buy and see a local pro and hit both my old Nike 7 and a graphite Callaway XR 7. The graphite did feel better on my hands and I hit it longer as expected. He checked length and lie for me and suggested I order a set of used XR OS graphite shafted clubs. Taking his advice, I ordered a set of 4-5H and 6-PW, SW, AW all graphite XR OS irons. Now this is where the problems all started compiling so bare with me. At the same time, I was having some issues with slicing my driver so I really started working on that more then focusing on irons which I had been hitting well. I finally worked out a few issues with my driver and realized that I really had a death grip with all my fingers and thumbs on both hands on the clubs. I started noticing that I was having difficulty hitting my irons around this time as well and assumed that it came from putting too much focus on the driver. I first thought it was due to having a really bad back that bothers me at times and was causing me to top balls quite regularly but I was not seeing distances I was expecting when making good contact and balls were pretty erratic in direction.
My problems have persisted for a couple weeks and I have been taking lessons every week and specifically trying to focus on this problem. I especially seem to struggle with all my wedges for some reason but none of the irons are very good. We have worked on my stance a bit trying to make a few small adjustments to help with my bad back and a few other things as well. Nothing seems to be helping and today I played 18 with my cousin's husband again struggling all day with my irons hitting mostly low flying runners, topping them, or smacking them all over the place even though my back felt great. I did hit my hybrids reasonably well and of course I did occasionally hit a decent iron shot but by occasionally I mean like 2 and both with the 8 iron if I remember correctly.
So I started thinking that maybe I should pull out my Nikes again and see what happens. I am wondering if my death grip on the clubs was causing the majority of the discomfort in my hands and wrists. I got home and had a bunch of crap balls laying around so I decided to go behind the house and hit my wedges to see what would happen. I very casually grabbed the PW and without any changes in what I had been doing with the Callaways, I hit the first ball a beautiful high shot through some trees in the back yard. I figured it was just luck so started hitting more and almost every time I could hit them straight and get them up off the ground like they should be. I tried both my old SW and AW and found the same results. I figured it can't be the clubs so I got out the Callaway PW and sure enough, could not get it in the air or hit it straight at all. I also grabbed my Nike 5i and again was able to consistently get the ball up in the air high and straight. Now please keep in mind my definition of consistently is I did occasionally hit one bad one but it was rare.
Now I am so confused on what to do. Everyone says its never the clubs its you but what in the world is going on? I don't know if its the extra weight from the Nikes that is helping me or if the oversized heads on the Callaway XR OS are hurting me or what the deal is. Obviously I have a decent amount in the Callaways but got them from Callaway preowned so I can trade them in for most of what I paid. I have an open house to tomorrow and the home sits on a golf course right around the corner from their clubhouse and driving range. I am thinking about loading up the Nikes and taking them with me and see how my hands feel after a bucket of balls. Outside of that I am at a loss as to what to do and why this may be happening. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.