Got it. Curious to know why they didn’t put the KBS in your Mack Daddy as well.

Did you try any custom shafts in the hybrids?

Whats KBS? And I have no idea what I tried lol

I'm guessing that you have trouble when you put it on a tee but you hit it well when hitting out of the rough or in the fairway? This is from coming over the top and hitting down on it instead of sweeping it.

Golf is difficult because you have to fight the urge to do what your instincts want to do. This is because golf has right handed and left handed equipment backwards. RH clubs should be for left handed people and vice versa. Take your normal set up, (you can do this in your living room without a ball) since your right side is your dominant side and it's also stronger than your left side. So when your dominant side takes over, you "pull" the club back which "pulls" the club on the inside. Try setting up but as if you were going to swing left handed (dont worry about the face because its just to get the feeling and you could even use a stick) and just make a backswing. The first thing you will notice is how now your right side is "pushing" the club back and putting the club on the proper plane. You don't have to sell your clubs and play left handed but just do this to get the feeling of a proper backswing and then just take your normal set up and try to recreate that "push" with your left side being dominant. You will notice how much lighter the club feels and how much easier it is and how at the top of the swing your arms and hands are more in front of you instead of behind you which is key. Then just set up with your normal right handed set up but recreate that feeling using your left side and "push" the club back.

If anything doesn't make sense or you have any questions, just let me know. GL GL.

I meant hit my driver off the tee (a club I didn't get fitted for and am awful at). I hit my hybrid fine off the tee. I'm still going to do the drill you showed me though

I don’t know if that would be advisable.

First off, he’s dead wrong about sweeping the ball off a tee. No matter if a ball is teed up or not you still hit slightly down on it with every club but a driver.

Second, without ever seeing your swing he think he knows what is wrong. Which of course is impossible. If you don’t know what’s wrong you can’t begin to fix the problem.

Third, don’t blindly follow advice from randoms on the internet. Think carefully before you do.

Lastly, look at his posting history. Of course one can believe in rigged games yet still have knowledge of golf. But it’s something to consider.

KBS is the brand of shafts the fitter selected for your irons. They're one of the major shaft manufacturers. The selected model is the C Taper Lite.

No shaft is identified for your sand wedge, so presumably it's a stock shaft (probably the KBS Hi Rev 2.0 model)

It's also a little curious that you aren't getting the Mavrik SW that matches the rest of your irons, but ... /shrug.

Just out of curiosity, can you post what driver you are using? Brand, model and if you can spot it on the shaft, what type of shaft (there might be a manufacturer like Aldila, Project X, Fujikura, etc, plus a model name. There is also likely a weight (like 50g, 60g or 70g) and flex (A, R, S or X).

Not suggesting you can or should be "fit" by randos on the internet, I'm just curious whether what you are using is way off given that you now have some specific iron specs.

I would say great advice when it comes to taking advice from randoms on the internet. So I agree there. The rest of it you are dead wrong.

First, I don't need to see his swing to know what's wrong with it. I've given lessons for 15 years. I am a certified PGA Professional with the PGA of America and I spent three years working at the Butch Harmon School of Golf and I am also a Jim McLean Certified Instructor. Those are 2 of the top 3 instructors in the world and it's difficult to find two better people to learn from. I don't need to see his swing because 99% of all golfers do the same thing. When you listen to someone describe the shots they hit and what their misses are. You don't need to see it because the ball has to do what it's told to do. Therefore, I know what he's doing by his description of his misses and what he struggles with. It's science. I have zero doubt what he is doing with his swing. Since he slices, he is putting left to right spin on the ball. This comes from coming over the top and when he talks about having trouble with his driver and likes hybrids that also tells me he's coming in too steep. I've seen it a thousand times.

I was trying to help him by getting to the root of the problem. Once he learns to hit his irons, then I don't think he'll have much use for the hybrids. A lot of pros care more about making $ instead of helping the player improve. I don't think anyone who can hit a 5 iron would want to hit a hybrid because the hybrid is going to be harder to control and you won't be as consistent/accurate.

Since you brought up my other posts about Winning Poker Network being rigged and how that's a ridiculous thing and makes me not have any credibility then simply show me proof that you play on that crooked site. You tell me how many of your bluffs work, how many of your value bets get called, how many times your Aces get jammed on. It doesn't happen on that site because I believe they are super users. If you refer to my comment above, you will see that I am someone who doesn't say things without a reason and am someone who uses science, math, logic, and common sense when forming opinions. I have studied poker for the last 5 months and the more I learn, the more I believe that WPN is rigged and I was trying to warn others to stay off the site as well so they don't lose money like I did because I believed the people who said it isn't, I ignored my gut instinct, and kept trying to study and improve and was not going to let anything stop me from becoming a winning player. Then when I realized they can see my cards, I knew that I was trying to accomplish the impossible. I wouldn't make an accusation without a valid reason for believing what I do. Playing over 200K hands and then going back through my HH and looking at the hands with the thought that they can see my hand, then it all makes sense.

I like the information overload. I'm in the 1% that push slices from time to time unintentionally when trying to hit it pretty straight with 4 iron through 3 wood. I'm pretty sure its a lazy right hand grip thing. Occasionally I come over the top but the result is always a straight pull about 10 to 20 yards left of starting line target with no slice(very rarely I'll pull hook when trying to hit it straight).

Driver is a different beast.

Also I think discussion about different experimentation on the range is fine. Of course any swing change should be done by the individual at the range as a process of trial and error. Isnt that how we learn the swing without a coach? By focusing on the fundamentals and experimental tweaking on the range we actually learn about our swing instead of practicing our mistakes.

Of course, nobody can tell you exactly how a good (insert your worst club here) feels. Its something very personal. It cannot be conveyed in an internet post. I dont believe this means we cant discuss how it feels and how the different fundamentals contribute.

The push slice is caused by an open face at impact while swing from in to out or too far from the inside. I'm not sure what you mean by a lazy right hand grip but you want the V made by your right thumb and forefinger to point between your right shoulder and your right ear. It needs to be in the fingers, and not in the palm.

If you hit a straight pull then your face was square at impact but came over the top so if you can make that same swing just coming down the right path then you will hit it straight. Which is the hard part right, so without seeing your swing or giving you a lesson, the best way to do that is to pay attention to your divots and they will tell you where you swing path was. If your divot is pointing left of the target then you came over the top and if you divot is pointing to the right then you came too far inside. Another key point when doing this is make sure you set up correctly because if you are aimed too far to the left and swing right down the line, then you might think you are coming over the top when it's your set up that is the problem.

The set-up isn't talked about as much as it should be but you have to be constantly checking your set up and making sure your alignment is correct. You want to aim parallel left of the target. So if you are aiming at the middle of the green from the middle of the fairway then you want your feet aimed at the left side of the green. Imagine railroad tracks running from the ball to your target. If you don't continue to check it and work on it, then it will quickly change. Always put a club down when hitting range balls to make sure you are aiming correctly. A lot of players struggle with their swing because their setup is wrong. Set up is key and it is impossible to have a good swing with a bad set up.

This is why I highly encourage anyone who wants to get better to get a lesson from a PGA pro. If you don't have the budget for it, that's understandable but with golf it is impossible to do it on your own. I got a few lessons but my pro never would show up for them when I would ask for one. I worked there even but he was something else. Anyway, so I spent countless hours on the range trying new things and it's like playing the lottery. If I tried something that I read in Golf Digest or heard on TV and it worked it was random luck and it's like trying to find an address without a map. Having the right instructor is like having Google Maps tell you to turn right and left instead of driving around aimlessly for hours on end. I recommend asking around if anyone knows of a pro in your area or go to the pro at your course and ask him about a lesson and see what he says. I would pay attention to how he answers your questions and to see if he cares about helping you improve or wants to sell you a package deal or something like that. Stay clear of any instructor pushing a package deal unless you know and trust them.

You are right about trial and error when it comes to improving without a coach. If you can afford it, then I would highly recommend getting a lesson or two because you will get better so much faster. The phrase I use more than any other is "feel vs real". What you feel like you are doing is never what you are really doing. I always record my students because when they make a change, they will think they have made a big adjustment but haven't hardly made any change at all and usually don't believe me until I show them on video.

For example, most players pull the club too far to the inside on the backswing. I tell them to imagine their left foot being west, their right foot being east, behind them is south and straight ahead of them is north. I tell them to make their backswing and move the clubhead north and while turning their shoulders. The club now moves on the proper plane. Even when doing this they are never doing it enough and it takes some time to learn the correct way. So trial and error on your own is a lot harder to do. It's not impossible to be self taught and be a good player. It takes a lot longer, and the longer you have a hiccup in your swing, the harder it is to change it. Most self taught players have a move that they've always done and don't even know they are doing it.

It comes down to how serious you take golf and what your budget is. If you are a casual player and can't afford a lesson then going to the range and practicing is still better than not practicing at all. Sorry I always go with golf posts and there is so much more that I could write but I'm trying to keep it somewhat short and not making anyone read a novel. Hope this helps and let me know if you have any questions. GL GL

IMO, the last two posts contain a lot of really good information. I like the Google Maps analogy.

I love golf because it combines art and math. I have a strong affinity to both.

The art of golf is in the creation of a shot.

The science of golf is the geometry that determines strategy.

When I was younger I studied Ben Hogans book furiously. I'm aware of the fundamentals, but I'm unable to execute decent shots every time. There are a few things that I do (read: consciously engaged muscles) that I figured out on my own that have meshed nicely with hogans swing. For example I found a nice secure place for my right thumb, for which hogans advice is lacking. I now actively grip the ground with my toes , which activates muscles from hip to toe. I hook too much if I engage the muscles of both shoulders, but just engaging the left shoulder complex has improved path consistency(see previous post about my typical errors; when I get these three focus points accounted for and maintained throughout the swing, I generally hit nice shots if I keep my head down. I need the next step focal point to work on , which will hopefully make the other focal points become unconscious elements of my new swing).

Only other thing ive tweaked recently was the incorporation of left leg extension upon impact when hitting driver. This both added power and height to my shots once I got the hang of it.

Ive been toying with a little pause at the top at the range but havent had enough success with it to take the experimental timing change to the course. Its not ready. I'm open to drills for working in pause at the top.

Thank you ntnBO


Bob148 - Hitting decent shots everytime is something that takes time and not many can do it. Don't feel like you have to listen to me but wanted to help if you were interested in my feedback.

1st - Hogan's book has a very weak grip which I wouldn't recommend for the average player. How do you grip it? Your left hand is what my main concern is as your right hand really shouldn't cause problems unless you have it in a really bad posiition. The left hand grip is the most important for right handed players. The V of your thumb and forefinger should point between your right ear and your right shoulder. Hogan advices for it to point at your chin but that is too weak and causes the player to have to use their hands too much to release the club which I don't think is good. Hogan fought a hook in his earlier career which is why this grip worked for him.

2nd - I wouldn't grab the ground with your toes, this is going to be a power leak and it's also why you have issues with consistency. You want the weight to be on the balls of your feet. The golf swing is an athletic move so you need to have a good base. I'd bet that you have issues with balance. It's rarely talked about but balance is crucial to having a fundamentally good and repeatable swing.

3rd - I wouldn't do the snapping of the left leg. This can create height and a little clubhead speed like you mentioned, but it's also a good way to mess up your knee. Tiger did this a lot in his early career and is why he thinks he injured it in 2008.

4th - I have drills for everything and I do have a drill that would give you a pause at the top but I think it would do more harm that good. The swing should be one fluid motion. Most of the pros start their downswing before their backswing is completed. This creates torque and lag which creates clubhead speed which = distance. I'm guessing that this thought helped you because it slows you down a little which helps you make better contact. When you get the weight on the balls of your feet, then you'll start making better contact while creating more club head speed. You don't have to sacrifice swing speed and distance to make solid contact. You can have your cake and eat it too lol.

Sorry if it is too much information but it will help you and I didn't want to give you something to change without providing a solid reasoning behind it. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for listening and for giving your thought process. That's not an easy thing to do. I just want to help and I am not always the best at communication. It's one of my many leaks that I'm working on. Just don't want you to think that I'm picking on you or beating you up, I just wanted to help and I know that you can do it.

1) my left thumb rides at about 1:30 for straight shots. Just slightly more neutral for a cut. Just slightly stronger for a draw. This is where my swing has taught me to have my thumb through trial and error. My right hand grip is in the middle two fingers with pinky overlap. Index finger muscles are not engaged. Thumb rides along the adjacent hand bone. The adjustment for cut or draw is much more subtle than the pictures in hogans book, which I believe was exaggerated grip positions used to illustrate the concept.

2) the toe thing isnt putting weight on the toes. Its engaging muscles from toe to hip that are useful in athletic movements. When I think about balance I only have one thing in mind. Keep it simple. This has served me well in athletics , at work(read: hard ****ing labor) and in the weight room. Try moving a ton(literally 2k lbs) of construction stock without using your toes. Lol I digress. But yeah keep it simple for me and my golf swing means balance comes first. I believe power is the result of torque and balance, both of which determine clubhead force at impact to create effortless power. I think the toes help me keep balance better. I can feel the better stability throughout my swing since successful experimentation and subsequent incorporation of the idea.

3) ive been hitting the best drivers of my life. Fun facts about me. Hundreds of innings played as catcher as a kid. Brutal left knee dislocation at 22. Took 8 years to get it to 100%(hello weight room). Now I'm 41 and my knees are strong assets rather than weak points. I'm 6 feet 205, much of which is lower body muscle mass. So when I say I have added some left leg extension at impact, its not exactly a violent nor intense jerking thing for me. Its in balance and totally comfortable.

4) I'm always open to feedback.

Ok cool, I just wanted to help and didn't want you to think that I was trying to belittle you or anything like that, was only trying to help. Glad you are open to feedback, I like talking golf with people and I like how you describe your thought process. Don't have to listen to me, also it can be hard to make these changes on your own. So do what works for you.

Sorry to hear about your knee injury but glad you are better and it sounds like you have a good athletic background which is great for golf as these players learn faster and improve quicker than others.

I sensed nothing but sincerity and fact presentation.

One thing to note about left leg extension with driver. One of my errors is that I slide too much toward target with my lower body at the start of the downswing. Having my left leg consciously ready to take the weight of my body is actually a brace against the slide motion.

I hit 5 drivers yesterday in 18 holes. In order:

Intended cut : ball started low slightly left and sliced a little only going about 200 found left rough. Over the top move was compensating for ball position being too forward. Ball position with new driver is still in experimental phase on the range which results in haphazard setup on course.

Intended cut : well it made it over 100 yards of junk. But never got over 15 feet high. Hit clubface low towards the hosel.

Intended Straight shot. ( note as of this swing in had yet to hit one straight on intended target line with new driver on course there have been straight slight pulls and straight slight pushes. Thus straight shots are not a strength however this par 5 was demanding a straight shot or a draw. Since the draw is more like a low bullet that hooks violently, I chose to go for the straight ball). It started on intended line but flew low and slightly cut about 2 feet too far to the right and into the rough just short of the fairway bunker about 240 away from the tee. (3 wood 8 iron putt from 10 feet got me birdie wheee).

Intended straight shot over 120 yards of water leaving room for cut. It takes about 260 uphill to find a flat lie in fairway. Hit it dead straight right on target line to left fairway and had the flat lie about 190 away from the green. (Card says 450 yards)

Intended straight shot leaving room for cut. Hit it dead straight right on target line to left fairway. Card says 437. I had about 170 left to the green. Hit 5 iron to 10 feet pin high. Tap in par on 18 felt good.

Should probably hit the range before more rounds. Shrug.

Also one thing that occured to me was that tiger probably hit literally thousands of balls per week for a long time, including the period before he gained all that muscle. Its likely that this contributed to the long term effects the golf swing had on his knee. I know I'm not invincible. But including the range and the course, I take less than 30 swings with driver per week. I never hit large buckets at the range. I really dont think theres a high probability of injury for me if I keep it simple.

Glad to hear that. Sometimes I'm not a good communicator.

I made a couple screenshots of Tiger hitting a driver face-on and uploaded them to the link below.

https://imgur.com/KmrBYQs

You can see how much his left hip moves toward the target at impact from address. I also put a marker on the tee marker behind him so that you can see how much it is caused by the camera moving. Hopefully this will give you something to compare to and get an idea of what to do.

Thanks for sharing and it's good to hear your progress. I didn't realize you were somewhere that has a normal winter and me being from North Dakota, I know this all too well. After taking the winter off, the first couple weeks is rough, at least it was for me. I would hit half shots with a PW until I could make solid contact and then worked my way up to a full swing.

Why did you only hit 5 drivers? Is it that you don't have confidence with it or does the course have some dog legs or holes where you can't hit a driver? If you don't have confidence with it then you are doing the right thing by not using it on the course until you can feel more comfortable with it. Nicklaus did this during a round at the U.S. Open. He snapped hooked a driver O.B. one of the first holes and then used a 3-wood or 2 iron off the tee for the rest of the round even though it was a brutally long course. It could just be that you getting the winter rust off too. Hitting a 260 yard drive down the middle is great and hitting an iron pin high is excellent too. You are right, tap in pars are a good feeling. Hopefully you have a summer filled with them.

Quick sum up: broke driver in May last year. Played a Wilson 5 wood off tee as longest club for a while. Got 3 wood in June and this was longest club through fall. Got 130 dollar used titleist 915 d3 in March this year.

Hole 1 is 448 yards from the back tee box but fairway doglegs right around a bunker on the right corner about 250 yards away. Theres a big oak tree to the left of the fairway surrounded by thick rough. Fairway tightens after dogleg. With ample warm up I would hit driver, but without warm up I prefer to just put something in play with a higher percentage shot.

Hole 2 is 499 yards par 5. hard dogleg left at 240 to 280. Out of bounds left. Definitely driver worthy but too much cut is in the woods. I cant hit a draw with driver yet. And cut works the ball away from the green. So instead I hit 3 wood to take woods and out of bounds out of play and just consider it a 3 shot hole tee to green.

3 is only 297 yard par 4, but theres a pond that invades the fairway on a diagonal starting at 140 yards out and continues all the way to the green, which is only connected to the fairway by a 10 foot wide isthmus to the left. So I played 5 iron to the left side of the fairway.

5 is 412 yard par 4 with river that cuts across fairway at about 260. Tight landing area with thick rough and woods on both sides. Gotta hit 3 wood.

7 is 434. Slightly left angling tight fairway with a river along the right side that the natural slope tends to feed balls into. From the tips I would hit driver. From middle of the back tee box or closer I prefer 3 wood because it increases my chances of holding the left side of the fairway.

8 is 328 yards per 4. Large central fairway bunker. So I hit 2 iron.

9 is 503 yard par 5. Tight landing area between bunkers at 250 bottleneck then takes slight left turn. Ample room for my driver shot shape. Bombs away.

10 is 348 yard par 4. Dogleg right around a pond and trees about 150 to 220 out on the right corner. Water along far left side of fairway all the way. A good 3 wood is over the fairway. So 2 iron.

11 is 370 yard par 4. Slight dogleg right. Good landing area but any pull with driver is in the water along left side. Right rough is thick with lots of small trees and a fairway bunker. So 3 wood to increase chance of putting one in play.

12 is 353 yard dogleg right. Woods along left side and small trees in right rough. 3 wood would reach the woods (straight ahead) so 2 iron. In summer months I've reached the left rough with 2 iron. But for now its safe.

13 is 553 yard par 5. Bombs away.

15 is 381 yard par 4. Driver brings woods into play on right. Dogleg left. So 3 wood draw.

17 is 450 yard par 4. Bombs away.

18 is 437 yard par 4. Bombs away.

Only really questionable hole is 2. Also for posterity, I think I only counted 4 drivers for that particular round.

HAHA holy **** man, you didn't need to be that descriptive lol. That's cool though and I appreciate you making the effort to do that. One thing I noticed is that you know where all the trouble is. Try and play the next round with only focusing on where you want to hit it, not where you don't want to hit it. It's like if I said, "don't think zebras". What comes to mind? Zebras and this is what happens when you are on the tee and know where all the trouble is. I never and I mean never pay attention to any of the trouble, I don't care where the OB is, I don't care if the right or left side is death or not. I always aim at the fairway and I think about that and nothing else. The brain can only focus on one thing at a time, so a person can't have a clear focus on the fairway when it's filled with what to avoid.

I wish you luck on your golf journey as I am not going to be back on this site much longer if ever so just wanted to say GL GL and good talking with ya.

What an interesting single serving friend.

I've always thought this but thought I was a bit crazy. Me being a right handed golfer, I feel myself my right side being so dominant. I'd imagine if you did this though, You'd had a lot of teething problems to begin with.

On a side note, I played with a guy who swings right handed, but putts left handed. Can't say I've seen that before.

5-time PGA Tour winner Blaine McCallister. 4-time PGA Tour winner Notah Begay putted left to right breaking putts left handed for a while.