Drive it farther or Hit long irons better

For hack golfers like myself, it is a lot harder to put a 3 iron shot onto the green than it is to put a 7 iron up there.  Unfortunately, my drives usually leave me in a position where I am much longer than a 7 iron out on my approach shot.  I figure there are two solutions to this problem.  The first one is to drive the ball farther.  For me, it seems the harder I swing with my driver the less desirable the result is.  The second solution to the problem is to hit my long irons better.  I told a 2-handicap friend of mine that I could not hit my long irons and I was getting to the point that I was afraid to pull them out of the bag.  He simply said “choke up”.  This advice helped me get over my fear of the 3 iron but that doesn’t mean that I can put it where I want.  Here are a few videos which may help you do one or the other better:
Drive it Farther:

Hit Long Irons Better: Watch video and read this article.

A big slice of life…

Photos courtesy of golftipsmag.com

If you’re a big slicer like I am (sometimes) you are always looking for a way to cure your slice.  So far, the best way that I have found to straighten out my drives to to aim way to the left to compensate for my slice.  It seems like every time I try to do that my ball goes straight into the woods or the water instead of slicing back to the fairway.  The pros over at Golf Tips Magazine have written an easy-reading article with some pointers that may help to cure your slice:

Golf Tips - Slice No More

Try this to cure your slice....

If you like to slice your drives off of the tee than one of the potential culprits is an open club face at impact.  This video shows a couple of drills to try to cure your slice. 

Free Lesson with a PGA pro

You can get a free lesson from a PGA pro golf instructor all month long.  May is free lesson month and you can find a participating pro in your area here.  The free lesson you get is only 10 minutes long but that could be long enough to pick up a few tips on some of what you are doing wrong.  Here is a list, according to Golf Digest, of ten things you could learn in a tem minute lesson:

1. How to stop slicing off the tee
2. How to check where you’re aimed
3. How to get in a good setup
4. How to slow down your swing
5. How to hit it solid off the turf
6. How to play out of the rough
7. How to use a hybrid club
8. How to get out of a bunker in one swing
9. How to chip with different clubs
10. How to develop a feel for putting distance

How I shaved 2 strokes per round without investing any time or money…

There are a lot of reasons that I stay a Hack year after year.  I would say the number one reason is the lack of time to practice.  During the golf season, I rarely get in more than the 9 holes per week that the league I run requires.  Here in Michigan we have a pretty lengthy off-season and I usually hit the range about two times a month during the winter.  I would guess my clubs would be the second thing on the list.  I love playing with the Tommy Armour 845s that I have been playing with for the last ten years, but I am sure that a new set of cutting-edge, custom-fit clubs would shave at least a few strokes off a round for me. At least that’s what I tell myself. 

Picture from paid version, free version
only shows distance to green center

There are myriad reasons why I keep hacking away, and somewhere on that list is my inability to accurately approximate distances.  I can’t always see the yard markers (if there are any) from where my shots sometimes end up.  There have been countless times when the stars align for me to get great contact with my 6 iron, only to realize—as my rare, straight shot soars over the green—I needed great contact with my 7 iron .  This year I downloaded the free GolfLogix app for my HTC Evo smartphone, I would estimate it has shaved at least 2 shots off each of the 9 hole rounds I have played this year.  I know of no other way to shave 2 strokes off a round without spending any time or money. 

I am already paying an arm and a leg for my smartphone so I like to get as much “free” stuff from it as possible.  The free version of the app shows you drawings and satellite images of each hole, as well as precise GPS distances to the center of the green.  In addition to distances, it also functions as a smart-scorecard for up to 4 players.   It will let you track fairways hit, GIR's, penalty strokes, chips, sand chips and putting.  You may not want to know that you only hit 6% of greens-in-regulation or you average 3.1 putts per hole, so you can turn all of those options on or off.  It will store your stats and save your scores.  If you upgrade to the paid version, currently $19.95, you get distances to hazards as well as distances to any part of the green or fairway by touching the screen.  The paid version also gives you the ability to track the distance of shots made with each club and display the landing zones of your clubs over the picture of the hole.  That being said I have only used the free version and I am completely happy with the results, but I am considering upgrading.  The free version allows you to play two rounds with the upgraded benefits to try them out.  They offer versions for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows phones.  I have played only 4 or 5 different courses this year and everyone of them has been available on the app, so they seem to have a good portion of courses mapped out.  You can see if your favorite course is available here.  I know that there are other free GPS apps out there for smartphones, and in the interest of full disclosure I have not tried any others.  That fact in itself shows how much I like this app.
On the rare occasion that I actually hit the ball how I want to, its nice to know that I have the right club in my hand.  On the common occasion that I hit to ball into a hazard, it sucks to know that it was my poor skills which caused me to hit into the hazard, but at least I know that I had the right club in my hand.  If only the app could use its GPS to help me track down the balls I shank into the woods or knee high grass it would be absolutely perfect.

I've been doing it all wrong...Big Suprise

The weather was so nice when I was driving home from work yesterday, I decided to stop off for a medium bucket of balls at my local driving range. Once I got my little plastic bucket my range routine went as follows:

1. Tee up a range ball

2. Grab my driver and start pounding away

3. Scratch head about lack of consistency

4. Almost as an afterthought, I used about the last 1/3 of my balls to work down through the rest of the clubs in my bag

5. Spent a few minutes on the putting green

6. Went home

Since it was such a nice day outside I decided to roll down the windows and take the scenic route home. As I was driving home I started thinking about my time at the range. I have played hockey since I was 5 years old (oddly enough I play hockey lefty and golf righty, but that another story) and I realized that when I had a hockey practice we always followed a set routine. We would start off stretching, and then do several other drills to get warmed up. Our drills would focus on all of the fundamental skills that we needed to work on, not just on taking slapshots which was always the most fun. We had a good sweat going before the coach ever let us touch a puck. When I went to the range, I didn't stretch, I didn't follow a routine and I mostly worked on only one fundamental skill.  I came across an article by Teresa Justine Kelley which lays out a pretty good routine for the range.  She recommends that after stretching you should start hitting your sand wedge and your pitching wedge first, focusing on aim and making solid contact. Then go to your mid-irons (5,6,7) and hit a few balls with each.  After the mid-irons you move to the fairway woods and finally the driver-only swinging about 80% strength.  Finishing up on the putting green was about the only thing that I did right, and I should have mixed in some chipping as well.  I don't think that everyone should have the exact same routine at the range, but I think everyone should have a routine.  My next time at the range I will be sure to stretch and follow a routine that makes sense for me, working on all of the fundamentals of the game.

Driving Range Tips for Beginners | GolfLink.com