COMMUNITY

Let's not forget the 2-T'S
TOUCH AND TEMPO.
You can have a Great set-up, You can have the Right Grip. You can have a Great Swing. But it takes Touch and Tempo to work the golf ball.

I agree about the dumb videos. We need to be more highbrow, like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v..

No doubt touch and tempo are important. Glad you brought that up. I also struggle when I begin to take the club back too quickly. I do much better when I focus on releasing all my speed at the bottom of the arc, gradually building speed from the beginning of my down swing. I try not to think a lot about mechanics on the course though, unless i'm really struggling.

Address position . . . isn't that what a GPS is for?

Address positions have a huge impact on what happens when we swing a club. I am amazed at how far off track people get with their address positions.

I played with a guy yesterday that had an extreme case of this. Larry is a 70 year old man that sets up to the ball with an extremely closed stance. His toe line is AT LEAST 45 degrees off his intended target line. Now without any more information you'd expect him to hit a hook. But Larry was hitting push shots to the right all day, sometimes with a slice taking him even farther right. Without getting too detailed, this happened because his feet weren't the only thing in his setup that was 'off' and like many of us his address positions weren't consistent shot to shot.

I suspect Larry 'built' his address position one compensation on top of another, rather than eliminating one address position flaw after another.

Worth noting.

Yep. As in all of us we have different set up and golf swing. Technical isn't always the answer. As you said "Larry had an extremely closed stance". How did he score? I have a buddy with an "extremely closed stance" that looks bad but it works quite well for him. The dude shot a 73 today on a big boy course. I don't think that closed stance was an issue. You can go out to the course/range and see different set ups and swings all day long. Scorecard speaks.

About 20-25 over par.

I guess the original post is more geared for lower handicappers who are more consistent by nature. I realize high-handicap golfers have a lot going on in their address and their swing. Most lower-handicappers are pretty consistent in both; however, i struggle more with my address being off. My swing doesn't change much. Sometimes I forget this, and that is when I struggle. Its so easy to gradually let your address position change. I imagine I was playing a lot of fades with my Driver for a while, and just started to get too open of a stance with my Driver and didn't even realize it. The second I closed the stance slightly I started hitting a nice draw, and making great contact. I had been playing with ball position for a few days, but the address position changed showed immediate results.

This is like the discussion on the "Sometimes it is the small things" topic thread. I find it helpful to literally make a note of my tendencies, specifically in this context tendencies I might have where I drift from the proper set up or stance. This tends to be pretty individual. The things that may drift in my setup are likely different than yours. Having said that these seem to be popular ones.

- Ball drifting forward in your set up
- Stance drifting wide (fee too far apart)
- Feet pointing a different direction
- Not getting your butt back and back flat
- Weight not centered under your feet (drifting toward the toes or heels)
- Not maintaining proper knee flex

No Tiger and Tiger?

Mark, Great list. I think I do at least a few of those. I am usually pretty good at identifying it quickly (after 1 or 2 shots), but some of them are not as easy to feel.

Agreed. From one lesson to another, I think I have random items on that list mentioned, as if I'd never been taught. Interesting to see scratch golfers let these things drift.

No,
It is TIGER TIGER TIGER OR T3

I think often my problems come more from address.

So quit wearing dresses when you play golf.


lol.