Depending on who you talk too, selecting the proper 3 wood is a challenging task. Some styles are designed to fit your eye and others are like having a useless stick in your hand. After going through my fitting, I think I have an understanding on how to pick the proper loft of 3 wood for your game. It is not a difficult chore, but does take a bit of effort.
Continue readingdistance
How Far Do You Hit your 7 Iron?
This was a very popular question during my recent Twitter poll. The 7 iron is my favorite club in my bag and it is one that I have the most confidence hitting. Not sure why this is, but it is a fact I accept and use to my advantage. Recently, I started to wonder if I was getting the most distance out of this club and started to muse on whether I should try to increase my hitting distance. As I am always trying to improve my game, I thought this might be an area I should explore.
Continue readingDo You Club Up and Swing Easy?
On my road to recovery, I am not a physically strong as normal. This is a by-product of my treatments and something I cope with every day. My fatigue and weaker state has not stopped me from playing golf, however I have modified club selection to account for my inability to crush the ball! Continuing to play into the fall, I realize that I am clubbing up more often than not to achieve the same mid-summer distances. After some thought, I realize that changing clubs to adjust for conditions is a fact of golf most amateurs likely avoid. Continue reading
How High Do You Tee Your Ball – Revisited
In 2012, I wrote an article about the proper height to tee up your ball when hitting a driver. I used different sources and provided the 80% solution for the average golfer. If you read the research, you will find that most teaching professionals recommend a higher teed ball for making better contact, increased distance and more control. However, after 5 years of trying the various tee heights, I am not convinced there is one proper tee height for all the golfers. Are you? Continue reading
Launching for Distance
Recently, my golf ball is travelling 20 yards further off the tee. It only started two weeks ago and I am extremely grateful for the extra distance. Every reader will agree that being 20 yards closer on an approach shot is a gift from heaven. To accomplish this wonderful feat, I only changed one thing in my swing – the launch angle of my ball! Yup, that is it. Nope, nothing more complicated than that.
In an earlier post, I brushed over launch angle by discussion how high to tee my ball. But this is not the case this time. All I did was drop my right shoulder! I dropped my right shoulder and continued to swing the same way. The result was to catch the ball on the up side of my swing that results in 20 yards further….I am gob-smacked to say the least.
Stephen Salzberg at Forbes discusses launch angle and the optimum for the driver; Brent Kelly at About.com defines launch angle very well, Leaderboard.com also defines launch angle, but is slightly different, and Golf AcademyOne explains Golf Science and its relation to distance; all these articles are a great read if you want to see how a simple change can make a monstrous difference.
The video below is great to explain about launch angles and how they vary depending on swing speed, set up, etc. It was very helpful when I made my adjustment.
Hitting the ball further has really helped me enjoy the game of golf more….I wonder what else I can fix. I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 