Basic Problem - Low Trajectory

air

Ok,
I'm pretty much at beginner level but I've had some instruction which is paying off.
One thing that puzzles both myself & the guy instructing me is that the trajectory of my shots is very low.
This seems to hold true for pretty much all clubs.
I get in or around the appropriate distance for the relevant club but the ball rarely rises above 10-15 degrees.

The only thing that I suspect may be the cause is that I'm just under 6' 3" & am using standard length clubs.
Could this be causing the problem or is it more likely to be due to swing / stance etc?

prospect

air wrote:

The only thing that I suspect may be the cause is that I'm just under 6' 3" & am using standard length clubs.
Could this be causing the problem or is it more likely to be due to swing / stance etc?

It is the same thing. A person using unsuitable club lengths will have an 'unsuitable' swing.
Also you may need to have the grip diameter increased, if you have long fingers.

Best thing to do id go to a golf shop, or fitting shop and they can mock up these things and see if that improves your swing.

A low trajectory on a drive is pretty handy though, when the ground is hard you get more run from a low shot as the impact with the fairway doesn't take as much forward momentum as a high shot does.

air

Cheers Prospect, that's what I've been thinking alright.
I think the fatter grips would definitely be a help as well.
It's true that the low drives are an advantage though, the course I play on is a links & quite windy so it helps to keep it down a bit & as you say it certainly does run on on the hard ground.

TheDoc

Well now im finally unbanned after i slagged of some guy on the personal forums.

Sounds like your clubs are too short, just get an inch longer on em and youll notice the difference,

Go to a pro or shop and get fitted out.

prospect

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote:

Well now im finally unbanned after i slagged of some guy on the personal forums.

I know the feeling. I got abused by a mod, so I told him what I thought of him. Then he bans me for being abusive!!! :rolleyes:

garred

Have the same problem with 6,5,4,etc irons and woods but the 7,8,9 etc the trajectory is fine. As the guys say you'll be thankfull of it in windy conditions.

TheDoc

yeah admins here are usually power trippers that abuse.

air

garred wrote:

Have the same problem with 6,5,4,etc irons and woods but the 7,8,9 etc the trajectory is fine.

I'm not too bad on the higher (numerical) irons either.
Are you of the long variety yourself?

okden

youve delofted your club at impact.

stand in front of a mirror
at start of swing the clubhead should be behind the ball and the grip just over the ball so the shaft leans towards the target a few degrees
at impact it should return to the same angle of shaft lean or just a few degrees more

right now, at impact your shaft is leaning too much, with the grip much closer to the target than when you started, your hands are either way ahead of your hips when you strike or your whole body has moved torwards target too much and brought hands with them

of course you might be starting with too much shaft lean so you might want to check your basics of ball positions, (you might have the ball too far back in your stance, and not widening your stance for your longer irons.

either way its too much shaft lean at impact.

if you lie an iron on the ground and stand on the clubface the shaft will pop up and give you an idea of what trajectory the ball should start on with that iron.

the plus side is that the punch shot is the building block of great ball stricking
so much so that a lot of teachers start with a student by teaching the 1/2 swing punch with all the irons before moving on to the full swing

air

I think you've nailed it there okden, my friend who was teaching me, did indeed start me off with the half swing punch shots and I have been holding my wrists sort of at 3 o clock rather than 12 (as they would appear if horizontal and looking from above) through the swing.

Slightly OT, the value of a competent helper can't be overstated when starting off.
I had played possibly twice a year for the last 8 and naturally enough never improved.
I always struck the ball but after that things got quite arbitrary.
I went out for a round with my friend & it was a bit of a disaster so we went to the range for 3 or 4 hrs the following day.
By the evening I was hitting my drives consistently over 250yds with the odd one 300+
This is someone that had never previously cleared a tee box

okden

thats great news, sounds like your friend knows his stuff.
if i had to start over id spend my first week at the range hitting nothing but 1/2 punches.

swingking

here is a likely option:

You have a strong left hand grip and that is causing your hands to be too far ahead of the ball when you are in your address position. Try this small observation. Turn your left hand until you can see 1 or no knuckles on your left hand and address the ball. In order for the clubhead to remain square, you have to place your hands behind the ball.

In other words, placing your hand too weak or too strong on the club influences whether your hands will be ahead of the ball or behind the ball at your address position.

Only when you have the correct grip can you use the true loft of the golf club.

air

Cheers for the tips lads.
Swingking, I'll try that out at the weekend.

garred

swingking wrote:

here is a likely option:

You have a strong left hand grip and that is causing your hands to be too far ahead of the ball when you are in your address position. Try this small observation. Turn your left hand until you can see 1 or no knuckles on your left hand and address the ball. In order for the clubhead to remain square, you have to place your hands behind the ball.

In other words, placing your hand too weak or too strong on the club influences whether your hands will be ahead of the ball or behind the ball at your address position.

Only when you have the correct grip can you use the true loft of the golf club.

Think that might be nearer the mark...hell with a name like swingking . Will try this out myself...

heffo9

i had similar problem air, instructor got me to line my front foot(left) with ball in address position, so that i hit the ball on the up of my swing. before that,
i used to line the ball up between my feet. also i'm the hurler grip, just cant make the change.

TheDoc

moving the ball foward is standard for driver,woods and long irons but with short irons youll find your start to draw and hook or even shoot them straight left, its a quickfix to get them off the ground.

short irons and wedges are played back in the stance, so if you cant do that with your clubs while achieving a nice lfgiht youve got problems.

okden

@heffo9
IMHO i think the hurler grip is a whole different animal and half the tips hurler-golfers get are just wrong for them, you should look for a pro who played hurling once, i think hurl-golfers need the ball in the center of there stance, feet narrow, and at least 13 to 15 degree drivers.

air

I'd be inclined to agree with TheDoc here I think, moving the ball fore and aft in the stance would be like fixing one thing wrong by doing something else wrong instead of correcting the root of the problem, which I think swingking identified.

As for hurling, I'm from Kerry so I wouldnt know anything about it

heffo9

okden you'd be right about the loft, but off the front does it for me!!

swingking

Remember the most important things in golf are the fundamentals: grip, stance posture and ball position.

If you move the ball position back and forth in the swing, you aren't making a compensation. Likewise, changing the grip is also not a compensation.

One of the best books that taught me this idea was Ben Hogan's Five Fundamentals of Golf

Always check back to your fundamentals when you are having problems with your game.

TheDoc

ball position is a fundamental in your swing. High rions,woods and driver go foward in the stance, wedges go back, mid rions are "mid" stance. Putting goes foward so you catch on the up and get roll.

okden

heffo9 wrote:

okden you'd be right about the loft, but off the front does it for me!!

what loft are you using?
i have a mate, great hurler, great iron player, crap driver, all hurler grip, ive seen lesser (than him) players give him the "standard" tips, they always make his prob worse. so what do you do to hurl the drive?