Ask the Top 100: Help me, T.J.! I'm pushing my irons
E-mail askgolf@golf.com to cure what's hurting your scores with advice from the very best teachers in the game. Please include your name and hometown. Do you have a video of your faulty swing? Upload the video from your digital camera to a service like YouTube and send us the link. We'll send it off to a Top 100 Teacher for help ASAP.
T.J.,
I was wondering if there are any practice tips to help me correct a push with my driver and my irons. I am not slicing, I am just hitting it straight right. Any help.
Allen T., via email
Allen,
The first step is to make sure your clubface is aiming at the target. Here’s how to check. Lay down three clubs, [1] one club along your foot line and [2] one on the target line in front of the ball and [3] one on the target line in back of the ball. Leave about 12 inches between the ball and the back shaft [3]. After you make sure that the shaft on your foot line is parallel with the other two shafts, remove the shaft in front of the ball [2] and then actually hit the ball, making sure your downswing is along the back shaft [3]. Hit balls until your divot is in line with the back shaft. That will take care of your push problem.
Good Luck,
T.J.
Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher TJ Tomasi, Ph.D., a Class A PGA professional, teaches at the Nantucket Golf Club in Massachusetts. You can learn more about TJ at tjtomasi.com
Posted by: slicer | Mar 6, 2009 9:41:15 PM
Swing more out so it draws, very simple really. No one guy on tour has a square face, not one
Posted by: doubleoverlap | Mar 9, 2009 1:14:42 PM
I am a big guy 6'3, 270lbs with large hands, most double x-large gloves won't fit. I'm 64 with a 5-7 handicap. Hit 10-12 fairways/round. I taught myself to play and use a double-overlap grip. Would it benefit me to change to a single over lap grip?
Posted by: Frankie C | May 10, 2009 12:39:12 PM
I'm going to take the time to write to all of the top golf teachers (or as many as possible before the back nines of Tiger's and Lorena's bids to win their respective tournaments from 5 shots back) to ask this question.
As far as I know, my Over The Top Golf swing is the only method available that teaches you how to swing over the top correctly instead of trying to fix the renowned swing flaw.
It has been said that 80% of all golfers swing from over the top and most instructors concede that they always will.
As no golf instructor is willing to admit that they really can't help these (mostly) 15-35 handicappers, what, from a practical standpoint, can you do for them?
Frankie C
Over The Top Golf
Posted by: Matt | May 16, 2009 11:16:25 PM
When i first started playing i was taught a slight fade. I have been trying to get that back, but my swing become to compact and i got flatter and flatter on the back swing. So now i play a slight draw. Which i have to accept now because i been trying to fight it. My point is find a swing that is repeatable and play that ball flight. My dad plays a power fade (which he never learned its his natural ball flight, lucky bugger) or a slight slice...
If you want to know what your ball flight is, go to a golf shop that has a ball flight monitor, not the video one, but the sonic sonar ones. They can tell you exactly what your ball speed is, launch angle, back spin and tell you how far left or right the shot will go. I hit about 10 7-iron shots and got 2.0-2.5 yards left. Also make swings the fell natural, thats all i did, now i will accept the shot that i never wanted, the draw. half my golf life playing a fade and the past three months i have been fighting a natural draw and shooting double my handicap.