Golf Tips & Quips

I think The Doctor had a breakthrough today at The Foothills Golf Club. We were joined by "Bryce" whom you have met before, and "Zimmer", another pediatric doctor and co-worker of The Doctor and "Bryce". I posted a few videos of The Doctors swing and Mike Southern was kind enough to offer up some suggestions and drills for him and I to work on.

I have been working with Mike since August of 2010, and he has helped me improve my swing tremendously. Recently, The Doctor has been struggling with consistency in his golf game and I could tell it was staring to get to him.

When I first started working with Mike, he would always tell me, "that I'm close." He assured me that if I made a few changes and tried to understand the mechanics of the swing without getting too technical, I would begin to see the results I desired. I told The Doctor the same thing, and sure enough, Mike was able to help him.

After analyzing our swings, Mike gave us and the rest of his readers this drill and this drill to combat the flaws in our swings. Both The Doctor and I have similar problems in that we waist energy by twisting our forearms during the backswing(The Doctor actually rotates his forearms). The Doctor's "twist" causes him to "chicken wing" on the follow through. My "twist" gets my club too flat on the backswing, which leaves me fighting against what my body wants to do naturally. Make sure you read these two posts, because you will get a good understanding of how to correct a common problem in the takeaway that a lot amateurs face.

The Doctor took Mike's advice to range yesterday, and showed up at the course today a different player. He was a lot more consistent with his ball striking and as Mike predicted, he was able to pick up a few extra yards as well. All that was needed was a simple tweak in his takeaway and it made all the difference.

I was joking with The Doctor during the round that I'm left with mixed emotions now. The Doctor used to kill me by thirty or more strokes. I have just gotten to the point to where I am keeping pace and even beating him from time to time. Now Mike steps in, and The Doctor is back. I've created or better yet, resurrected a monster.

I'll say it again, make sure you read the two posts that I highlighted above. I watch The Golf Fix and School of Golf every week, and I am noticing that a lot of the struggles we as amateurs have stem from a poor takeaway. These drills will eliminate the problem and make the game more enjoyable to play. Have a great round and always hit your target.

"Zimmer"

"Bryce"

The Doctor

I had a chance to go to Phoenix Golf Fest this past weekend with Bryce. The event was held at ASU Karsten Golf Course, home of the Sundevils golf team. Basically it was a huge demo day. Most of the major manufacturers were in attendance showing off their latest equipment and technology. The only dealers that I didn't see were Titleist and Ping. I was surprised that Ping wasn't there seeing as how the course is named after Karsten Solheim, founder of the Ping brand.

This is the first time that I had ever been to a demo day, so I was excited to try out a bunch of different clubs to see if there is really a difference in performance. Seeing as how I have TaylorMade irons and wedges, I headed over to their tent first.

I had to try out the new R11. I tried one with a 9 degree loft and that didn't work out to well. I have trouble getting height on my ball as it is, so I quickly switched to club head with 10.5 degrees of loft. Much better trajectory, but I didn't hit it as well as my Ping G10.

Next I tried the TaylorMade Burner Superfast 2.0. This club suited my swing much better. The instructor told me that since my swing speed isn't super fast, the lighter weight is to my advantage because it helps increase my clubhead speed.

The Doctor is a Callaway guy so I had to try out a few of their items just to see what they were working with. I was impressed with the Razr irons. I hit the ball really well with these clubs. It felt like I hit the sweet spot every time. Great feel off the clubface. I was told that they are very forgiving. The way my swing is sometimes, that's a good thing.

I moved over to the Cleveland tent because I wanted to try out their wedges. I really wanted to see how they performed around the greens, but they didn't have a set up for pitching and chipping. They felt pretty good on the range though, but like I said I wanted to see how the ball would react on those short chip shots.

I also tried out the Cleveland Mashie that they are advertising all over The Golf Channel. These are their version of a hybrid club. I didn't hit these that well. I've find that I hit clubs that "look right" to me, if that makes sense. For example I hate hitting the Nike Sasquatch driver because of the way it looks. It just doesn't look right behind the ball, therefore there is a mental block which keeps me from hitting his club well. This is the case with the Mashie.

Going back to Nike, I tried my first set of blade irons. I use irons with a big cavity back for that extra forgiveness I was talking about earlier. I hit a few that were beautiful. I can definitely see the advantage to using these irons, but I soon found out that I am not consistent enough to use them. Give me a few more months and I will be there.

After I hit the irons, I picked up the Victory Red VR Pro driver and I hated it. It just felt all wrong. The sound, the feel. I wasn't impressed...Until the Nike rep came over and switched the shaft. I never realized that the shaft can make such a huge difference. He changed it to a Fubuki Shaft and it was like night and day. I began to hit the ball a lot straighter and further. Again, I think it was a feel thing. The first shaft sounded like I was hitting a tin can. The second shaft felt a lot more solid.

Since May is free lesson month, they also had a few instructors giving 10 minute lessons. Unfortunately, I had a tee time for that afternoon at Longbow Golf Club and I had to leave before I could get my lesson. This is probably a good thing because I probably would have been thinking to much about changes instead of just playing.

If you ever get a chance, check out a demo day when it rolls through your town. I learned the importance of getting fitted for the right club. It really makes a huge difference. I know it's easy to just buy a set of clubs off the rack, but if you want to play your best, properly fitted clubs are the way to go. Have a great round and always hit your target.