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Does your swing work for you?

Works fine for me. I know I have some "faults" but they very rarely show up and when they do I'm confident that I can trust my swing to get me out of trouble. I don't have any one particular part of my game that lets me down. I play as well as I can I think and like most could do better but I think to be better at this point would be more dependent on getting good breaks/bounces on the course if you know what I mean?
 
I certainly have things to work on, but my swing in general is pretty good for me. I've definitely noticed that my short game by far either hurts or helps me the most depending on how it's going for the day.
 
I think my swing is good for me but am having issues with my grip. Once I get that sorted, I believe my ball striking will improve significantly, especially with my irons. I feel like my short game is pretty solid and has been the reason for a while that I have been able to keep my score in the mid 70s to low 80s despite poor ball striking.
 
This is a good topic. For my last 8 rounds im 22% up and down for chipping and 9.1% from the sand. Good news is I'm not leaving it in the bunker but need to getum closer.
 
all but about 10% of it right now.
 
At the end of the summer season I was approaching a game where I might say yes. But right now I've got some off season leakage going on. So no, my swing does not work for me.
 
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Does my swing work for me? Yes but is it the swing I would want? Probably not
 
I fit exactly what you described, for the most part. I'm usually very long off the tee, though squirrely at times. It leaves me fairly easy approach shots, but if I don't find the green, it's rare that I get up and down. My chipping and putting is a complete guess; more so chipping than putting. I might chip to a foot, might chip across the green into a bunker, or hit it 6". I average low-to-mid 90s, but I can count a minimum of 8-10 strokes each round lost on horrible shots in the short game. Throw in a couple errant drives and my 80 turns into a 94.
 
In my opinion, it really comes down to practice time. When you're married and have children, you only have so many minutes every week to practice golf ( long or short game). I know that practicing the short game will improve my score but a lot a guys just want to be able to hit the ball reasonable well ( to start) and then later (when they achieve a certain level that never seems to get better) they decide the way to improve their score is through the short game. At least that was my experience! Interesting thread!
 
This is a great topic Freddie and one I've been thinking about lately. I have a really flat swing, along the lines of Matt Kuchar (not that my swing looks exactly like his, obviously). From time to time, I think about working to get it more upright because I'm sure I'm losing power. But after hitting the ball consistently well all fall, I've decided that I need to be ok with the fact that it just works for me. For me, it's a repeatable swing that gets me respectable difference. Swing-wise, my problems seem to come from two things: (1) getting too flat; or (2) sliding my hips instead of turning them on the downswing. But I can generally recognize and fix both. So at least for now, I'm going to go with what works for me and do exactly what you suggested, Freddie - work more on the art of scoring. If I could hit the ball exactly how I hit it now and work on improving from 100 yards and in, I think I could start shooting scores at and under par instead of consistently being 3-7 over, which is where I ended up pretty much round I played from August on.
 
My swing works for me because it is mine. I've never tried to swing someone else's swing. I'm lucky to have had the same PGA Pro my entire life that wants everyone to swing their own swing, only tweak it a little to fix any flaws.
 
Great post. I started out with a swing like John Daly, flying elbow, lift my hands over my head, shaft point down at the ground so much that I could see most of it with my left eye and would cast from the top. Played all my shots off my front left big toe because I needed to go after it. When ever I would make contact it would go 300 +. with the gum balls of the 60's and 70s. I could not hit an iron to save my life. Of course I was very supple to do this. It had to change to score. I tried swinging like Hogan, no luck, tried like Jack, nope, tried like Lee, wrong again,
tried using the Ballard method, it did get me to stop doing the chicken wing, but no. I finally ended up with a swing much like Tom Watson's which wasn't bad. It got me into the slot. I did not do this myself, I took lessons from Jamie Mulligan. He started with the hole, showed me how to take the hands out of the swing from the putter to the driver. Instead of the 3 foot circle I tried to hole out every chip, putt, sand shot, pitch. Aim small, miss small. I spent months on just the short game.
I used Tom Kite's 3 swing method which gave me control over distance pitching the ball. I would practice 3 times to one round of golf. The only thing to think about on the course is the score. Pre-shot routine is so important, it's your best friend.
Once I settled on one I would do it for every shot, be it on the range or on the course. I would practice it every hour at home watching TV during the commercials. I always had a ball and club next to the TV. Was I obsessed? yes I was. I was shooting in the low 70's all the time, could not believe it was actually working. One day I walked up at twilight to play just before the high school team was going to play. Played with the two coaches and a coach from the local JC. Missed a birdie putt on the first hole, damn. Had a 7 iron on the second which has a ridge front to back on the right side where the flag was. I needed to fade it about 12 feet but it went straight so it ended up on the wrong side of the ridge. As soon as I hit it I was screaming at the ball FADE FADE FADE and waving my arms, threw down my club, the ball ended up hole high about 18 feet from the hole. The coaches must of thought I was out of my mind, I just hit it hole high on a tough hole. The JC coach asked where I lived and offered me a place on the golf team. I said did you look at me? I am 46 with a family. Short game is the quickest way to lower your scores. Your never to old. If you found it later you could have found it sooner(Mark Baker, Pro Bowler).
 
After my pre-fitting today, I'm learning that my swing does actually work pretty well for me. The fitter commented that he thought I was a mid single digit capper after watching me hit balls for a little while - when I told him I was a 15, he was utterly shocked. Just another reaffirmation of the fact that nearly all of my practice time needs to go into short game and putting.
 
SkiBumGolfer said:
After my pre-fitting today, I'm learning that my swing does actually work pretty well for me. The fitter commented that he thought I was a mid single digit capper after watching me hit balls for a little while - when I told him I was a 15, he was utterly shocked. Just another reaffirmation of the fact that nearly all of my practice time needs to go into short game and putting.
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I'm glad you had a fitting and it worked for you. But I can tell you, your swing doesn't work for you. I'm not saying you need someone else's swing but your swing needs help. And I mean this in the nicest possible way.

I remember watching you and army hit balls on the range. And thought to myself those swings will break down and cause unneeded issues. If you're on, you're on. But we are human not robots. So we will be off more than on. Having a swing that you can count on, day in and day out, is key.

Yes, short game is key but so is hitting greens and fairways. If your missing those then short game can only do so much. I've commented on your swing and what I feel needs to be changed. It'll take work but will help you in the long run.
 
I know my swing doesn't work for me yet. I need lessons and lots of practice.

But the other thing I need to work on is to stop playing "golf swing" or "golf swing lesson" during my round. Too often I catch myself thinking about mechanics and driving range stuff instead of focusing on putting the ball in the hole with the swing I brought to the course that day. This might not be the same question you asked but I need to work on mental focus (or whatever it's called). I wonder how many other golfers chunk chips & flub pitches & short approach shots because they're thinking 1000 swing mechanics thoughts?
 
Tadashi70 said:
I'm glad you had a fitting and it worked for you. But I can tell you, your swing doesn't work for you. I'm not saying you need someone else's swing but your swing needs help. And I mean this in the nicest possible way.

I remember watching you and army hit balls on the range. And thought to myself those swings will break down and cause unneeded issues. If you're on, you're on. But we are human not robots. So we will be off more than on. Having a swing that you can count on, day in and day out, is key.

Yes, short game is key but so is hitting greens and fairways. If your missing those then short game can only do so much. I've commented on your swing and what I feel needs to be changed. It'll take work but will help you in the long run.
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Thanks fore the comments Freddie. I've just started in my last couple trips to the range to really try and work on maintaining spine angle through the swing and be more upright at the waist - and boy is it tough haha. Lot of thin balls. Do you have any tips for addressing the spine angle issue?
 
SkiBumGolfer said:
Thanks fore the comments Freddie. I've just started in my last couple trips to the range to really try and work on maintaining spine angle through the swing and be more upright at the waist - and boy is it tough haha. Lot of thin balls. Do you have any tips for addressing the spine angle issue?
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Ask yourself why you feel the need to move? Then ask yourself what is causing me to move? When you have those answers you should have your answer and maybe a cure.

I can tell you to maintain spine angle all day. Until you decide to make it permanent you will need to secure an answer on your own.
 
As it stands, no it needs a couple things fixed. I'm not looking for perfection, but there are a couple glaring holes that I want to (and feel I can) fix.
 
Tadashi70 said:
Ask yourself why you feel the need to move? Then ask yourself what is causing me to move? When you have those answers you should have your answer and maybe a cure.

I can tell you to maintain spine angle all day. Until you decide to make it permanent you will need to secure an answer on your own.
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Thanks again. I know others have said it, but it's so great to have someone with your kind of swing knowledge on the forum to facilitate these types of discussions, and I really do appreciate the tips.

I'm going to be working on this for sure. I guess my point in my post in here you responded to was that I've got a swing that generally yields decent results (although as you've said there is room for improvement) - when I am swinging poorly, my scores don't usually climb up crazy high as long as the short game can respond. Whereas if the short game is off, it tends to be way off and no matter how good I'm swinging I often can't make up for it and the scores climb fast. So I need an increased focus on short game while putting most of my full swing work into spine angle maintenance.
 
nope my swing doesn't work for me, it breaks down when under pressure part of that is mental and me not having confidence. I am working my tail of to make my swing solid, reliable and one that when its not ON its not miles OFF.

I have to get over the mental parts holding me back on trusting the swing and the yardage will be there as long as I put the swing on the ball. Today was a good start to trusting it as I saw the results on the range during my long session at the range.
 
Learn to score. Agree 100%

For me 2015 is all about putting the ball in the best position to score.
 
With the swing changes you recommended (and bringing those changes to the attention of my coach), I think I'm okay with my game right now. My biggest impediment right now is time to go out and play (that and making sure I don't thin all my chips into bodies of water :alien: ).
 
Until someone designs a hosel that's flat with grooves on it, my current swing isn't working at all.
 
Interesting topic, Freddie. Right now, I would say no. I feel like I'm fighting my swing. I have lots of room for improvement inside 50 yards--both on and off the green. My short game has improved a lot since I started playing again a few years ago, but it still doesn't touch where I was when I was playing all the time in high school. The glaring weakness in my game right now is my inability to get off the tee. If I could find the fairway and avoid penalty strokes, I'm long enough where I would be in a good position. I'm not as consistent as I would like with my irons either, but like you pointed out to me, I have a feeling I'm just getting a little long with my swing there.
 
Today my dad wanted to take me to his club because they just got 3 Trackmans and new practice/teaching facility. Considering I have only been to the range a couple of times since the end of November I wasn't sure what I would see so after banging out about 40 to 50 shots with the driver here are some average numbers.

Club speed 109.8mph
AOA 5.8
Club face -2.1
Club path 2.0
 
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