Posts tagged "Clubhead"

Golf Clubs: How to Make the Right Choice

There are a mind-blowing number of choices of equipment used in golf today. This indeed makes it much harder for golfers-especially amateurs-to know which products will best fit their individual games’ needs. The fact of the matter is that playing with golf clubs that do not fit a golfer’s particular needs and experience can produce more harm than good, both in terms of scoring and enjoyment.

According to the golf game’s rules a player cannot carry more than fourteen clubs during a game. Thus, most of today’s players do not carry more than this maximum permitted number.
There four basic types of golf clubs: Woods, Irons, Wedges, and Putters.

Woods are usually used to hit long golf shots. Standard woods that are carried in a golf bag are 1, 3, and 5 Woods. A 1 Wood is typically referred to as a ‘driver’. As the number of your wood increases (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) you lose the amount of distance it can go, but you gain a higher trajectory. Recent golf club technology has made higher lofted woods for shorter distances. A standard golfer’s bag will have a driver (1 wood) and a couple of fairway woods (3- and/or 5-wood). A driver is the longest club (typically 45 inches) making it the toughest to handle during a swing.

Iron clubs are mostly used for shots that are expected to go an average distance – typically from 125 to 200 yards. The lower the number iron, the less degree on the face of the club, hence, the farther the distance the ball will travel. On the other hand, the higher the number iron, the higher the degree on the face, and consequently, the loftier the shot will be.
An Iron features a thin clubhead with grooves on it. Experienced players opt for a blade style iron, while beginners get a cavity-back style. A blade-style has a clubhead with a full back, but a cavity back’s clubhead is hollow. It is hollowed out to make a perimeter weighting effect helpful for less-experienced golfers.
Irons are categorized as long (1, 2, 3,4), mid- (5,6,7) and short (8,9). Short irons are the easiest to hit while the long ones are the hardest. The shorter the iron, the more loft there is and for beginners, the more loft, the better.

The most popular irons used are 3 Irons and 9 Irons, however, many companies also manufacture 1 Irons as well as 10 Irons.

Wedges are used for semi-short shots. They are also used for chipping, and sand shots. There are several types of Wedges, including sand wedges, pitching wedges, and lob wedges. These are iron clubs and are used for games played on difficult grounds, and approach shots to the green.

A putter is a golf club that has a low loft. This enables the ball to roll farther. A putter is typically shorter than all of your other golf clubs. Putters are the clubs most regularly used in the game and come in clubhead styles of blade, heel-toe and mallet. Lengths come in belly putters, standard and broomstick (long) putters. Which selection to choose will be based on an individual preference.
Another popular type of golf club nowadays is the Hybrid club. The Hybrid club is a cross between the Iron and the Wood, and is made for people who have difficulty using these other types of clubs.

The physical capability of every golfer is different – stance, posture, size, swing characteristics etc yet golf manufacturers make golf clubs identical as an off-the-shelf product. However with a custom fit golf club in your hands you can be safe in the knowledge that your clubs are personalized for you and be sure that when you make a good swing the club will be square at impact and your shot should soar down the middle of the fairway.

The majority of golf clubs which you can purchase today can be customized to accommodate the individual differences between golfers. The lie angle/loft, type of shaft, length of shaft, grip type and grip size can be modified. All that is required to custom fit these clubs is some simple measurements and a basic analysis of your swing.

The following information is usually all that is required: gender, height, distance from the wrist to the floor, age, handicap/skill Level, and swing speed.

Gender is utilised as the golf industry in general utilises different definitions as to what the standard length is for both a male and a female.

Height and distance from wrist to floor is used jointly so that the fitter can determine the length of club which is best suited for you. For example a tall man with long arms could easily be fitted with a shorter shaft than an average height male with short arms. The majority of golfers however use standard length clubs.

The remainder of the measurements are used to determine what type of flex the shaft on your club should have.

The notion that the more costly the club the better it is purely doesn’t hold water anymore. If you do enough research and read reviews you’ll find a club that matches your degree of interest. Some play for a weekend activity and there are others who’d like to move up in the rankings. If the occasional pastime is your stride, a low- to mid-performance club can work for you. But those of you who intend to play more regularly should seriously consider custom, higher-performance clubs.

Paul Buntrage
http://www.articlesbase.com/golf-articles/golf-clubs-how-to-make-the-right-choice-70564.html

Familiar Story

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Basic Chip Shot Golf Tips

It’s a short low running approach golf shot with overspin or bite used in approaching the green. Other terms used for chipping are:
Chip In – When your ball rolls into the cup after chipping, you hole out with a chip shot.
Chip-and-run – A chip shot intended to run the ball after landing.
Chili-dip – A mishit chip shot, the clubhead hitting the ground well before it hits the ball. 

If you wonder: when chipping? The answer is: in every situation within a few yards of the green. 

Chip Shot Golf Sequence

Basic Chip Shot Golf Tips 

This step by step chip shot checklist will help to drill and improve your chip shot techniques. 

1. Take a 6-, 7-, 8- or 9-iron or pitching wedge. 

2. Use your normal grip for this chip shot. 

3. Address the ball with a narrow stance. The ball placed more towards back foot. 

4. Open your feet and shoulders a little bit, not too wide. 

5. Lean your body a bit to the left of the pin. 

6. Keep your shoulders and your wrists firm, like you should hit with a putter. 

7. Hands ahead of the ball, inside your left thigh. Your left hand has to block the vision of your left knee. Right hand for lefthanded golfers. 

8. Lean your weight to your front foot. 

9. Aim the face of your lady golf club towards the target. 

10. Make a slow tempo swing with your arms and shoulders. Like you want to put. Your arms and shoulders move like a pendulum clock. 

11. Touch the ground – before you chip the ball. Crisps the grass. Accelerate through the ball and hit it off the toe of the club. Keep your hand ahead of the ball at impact. 

12. The follow through of a chip shot should have the same length as your back swing, as mentioned before, like a pendulum clock. A short back swing causes short distance chipping, a long one a longer traject. 

13. The golf club lifts the ball up in the air. Practice a lot, and you can make a perfect chip shot on the fairway within a reasonable distance to the pin. 

14. And: Don’t look up to early! I think that’s my most important tip for chip shot golf.

Avgolfer
http://www.articlesbase.com/golf-articles/basic-chip-shot-golf-tips-1078954.html

Can a golf pro review my golf swing?

watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxgE6E7cpXU
I am trying to
1. my right elbow in here
2. maintain good tempo
3. maintaining the flex in my right knee
4. easy grip pressure (this helps my tempo)
5. line up the V;s in my grip

is my impact position ok ? are the hips clear ? am i releasing well ? what should be my primary swing thought ? whats wrong here
also look at my wrist at the top ? something off ?

There are two problems that are the biggest issues in your swing.

1. Your club crosses the line at the top, which is cupping your wrists. Watch some slow motion pictures of pros to see the difference. You want to feel like you lay the club off at the top of the backswing to fix this. Just make sure you don’t bring the club too far inside initially when trying to do this.

Drill1: The best way to get this move down is to swing with a mirror so you can watch your club go back and make sure it is on the right plane. You can even do this at home during commercials, etc…

2. Your wrists are overactive, they are already released by time you reach the ball. Try to feel your shoulders and hips move ahead of the hands and clubhead so your hands can maintain that angle longer.

Drill2: Do practice swings of half shots with a wedge, just feeling your hands lagging behind and your chest leading the shot. When you get on the range hit as many half shot wedges as you can stand, that is where you are really going to feel that move working properly.

Another piece of advice which I have learned and was a central teaching of great teachers such as Harvey Penick…

One thing at a time. When you swing you should have only 1 single focus. If you are working on problems, pick one and work on it for 2-3 weeks until its fixed, then move on to the next. By working on more than one thing it poses a real danger of doing more harm to your swing and makes the muscle memory take longer to engrain.

That being said, I would work on the club position at the top of the swing first, then the impact position.

Hope this helps, and good luck!!

My golf shots are slicing IRONS ONLY?

Hi everyone,

I am having some real trouble with my iron shots. I am a sophmore in high school and average about a 53 in our golf matches. The bad thing is i literally chunk 1 to 2 swings every hole. if i can get These shots shaved off then i think i can do a lot better. My drives are about 215 (i shoot a fade driver, not on purpose) and I putt 1-2 MAXIMUM. My Irons are really bringing my game down. I can hit my SW an easy 75 straight and my PW an easy 115 a little to the right. BUT MY DAMN 8 AND 6 IRON ARE CHUNK CHUNK OR MAJOR SLICEEEEE. I dont know what is wrong. Yes i could only afford a SW,PW,8 and 6, i plan on getting others later but for now this must suffice. Any advice???

Sure it has something to do with "coming over the top", also known as making your downswing from the outside in. It also has to do with coming down at a steep angle. It’s the combination of swing path and swing steepness that cause the chunk and/or slice. Here are a couple drills that will help:

(1) Make your swing more shallow.

— Another way of looking at this is to widen your swing, or don’t pick the club up so much with your hands/arms.

Drill – Start by placing a golf ball about 18 inches behind the golf ball you are about to hit. That’s 18 inches to the right of the ball you are going to hit (if u are right handed). Make sure your weight is centered and then begin your takeaway (start the backswing). Brush the grass with the bottom of your clubhead and maintain that until you knock the 2nd golf ball out of the way. This will ensure a smooth, shallow takeaway and minimize the steepness of your swing. Long story short, this will get rid of the chunks.

(2) Reverse swing path drill.

— If you are slicing the ball, you need to try a drill that reverses your current swing path, from outside in (across your body) to inside out…
… and from swinging at the ball, to swinging through the ball.

For a drill, try taking the club back on an outside path (think Fred Couples or Lee Trevino here, and if you don’t know those guys, find a video on youTube of one of them) and dropping it in and around your body as you swing through the ball. It’s almost like you’re trying to block a shot out to right field intentionally. The only difference is, you want to extend thru the ball at impact and don’t be afraid to release the club by turning your body thru to the finish of your swing.

So to summarize, drill #1 – put a 2nd golf ball about 18 inches behind the ball you want to hit. Make your backswing and be sure to brush the grass and knock the ball out the way in the backswing.

#2 Do the same as drill #1, but this time move the 2nd ball away from your body about 2 inches. Try and hit the 2nd ball again in your backswing and in doing so, your swing path should start outside of where it normally does. Re-route the club back to the inside and when you get to impact, be sure to swing thru the ball and release the club, kind of like cracking a whip thru the ball and at your target.

I hope this helps!