I'm crap at Golf!!!!!

[neildawson]

When the summer comes I do spend a lot of time studying the game / my own game. I have read MANY books and watched MANY instructional vids but the Peak Performance Golf Swing (which you'll find plastered all over the internet) has helped me most most recently. It covers the fundamentals well enough and if you're starting off, this will stop you filling your head with some of the stuff 'traditional' teachers recommend and give you good reasons why.

I know this sounds like a plug for them, but I can assure you I am in no way affiliated with them. I was a 5 handicapper who's struggled to break 80 consistently for the past two years and as a result went back up to 7. I was thinning and hitting it fat regularly and was ready to jack golf in in frustration. I bought this in May as a last resort almost and I'm SOOO glad I did. Learning the correct grip, correcting my stance to suit the limits of my own body and limiting my back-swing has REALLY helped my ball-striking and as a result I'm going out there each and every time with so much more confidence. I'm back down to 6 and hope to be back at 5 by the end of the year (typically, as soon as I got the long game 'sorted' I lost a putting stroke that had served me well for so many years).

There are 10 free trial vids available and some others you can find on YouTube - OBV try then first. I bought the downloadable series straight away (it was cheaper and easier than a lesson for me) safe in the knowledge that it comes with a money back guarantee I have no intention of cashing in.

Keep us posted and all the best!

[sovietsong]

Buy some really expensive clubs, ones that are tailored to you.

[Tiger-flash]

First and formost, get your clubs custom fitted, buy books, videos and practice. I bought a practice net with a target for chipping which i use in my garden.This saves you (in the long run) a lot time and money instead of going to a driving range and just blasting a lot of balls and not knowing what you are doing. Get a few lessons too as i was playing to 23 handicap and realised that my grips were too small. I also bought some plastic 30% balls and used them on the park near my home. Since ive changed my grips, had lessons etc i now play of 18 comfortably and beat an eleven handicapper after shooting 3 over at morley hayes tower course. I also won my works compitition playing off 24 after scoring 37 points off 3 quarter 18 handicap stableford.  I shot 17 over so it can be done! like poker, football, golf or anything in life if you fail to prepare, you will prepare to fail. Hope you do ok and lets us know how you get on mate, regards TIGERflash c",)

[anthonyl]

do you have steel or graphite golf club shafts?

also, go round a course with just a 7 iron, thats what the golf course pros made me do with them in the first few lessons

[Mango99]

I'm an avid golfer myself (have just started taking it more seriously) playing off around 21 at the mo. I also have a terrible slice though, especially on the woods and longer irons

ty for the tips on this thread I'll put some of them in to practice. Going to check the Peak Performance golfswing thing now. Would be great if they had an iphone version so you could take it with you to the range.

OP, how about uploading a clip of your swing? I downloaded a great golf app on the iphone called iSwing. You can film your swing (get a mate to do it, or balance the phone somehow), then play it back in slo-mo drawing lines all over it. I've found it useful to compare my setup and swing with that of a mate who plays off 12 and with the included pro golfer clips (you can compare side-by-side).

[neildawson]

Going to check the Peak Performance golfswing thing now. Would be great if they had an iphone version so you could take it with you to the range.

It is downloadable to your iPhone

[Mango99]

Going to check the Peak Performance golfswing thing now. Would be great if they had an iphone version so you could take it with you to the range.

It is downloadable to your iPhone

Awesome. Thanks Neil. I'll get on to that right away

edit: I can't find it in the appstore. Is there somewhere else I have to download it from?

edit again: Found it now.

[Herbie H]

In my deluded opinion the most important thing to learn is how to hold the club properly, just practise the grip in your living room with a round tube or something and just get used to holding the club in a correct grip.

[Mango99]

Just back from playing 2 rounds at The Players in Bristol (an extremely hard par 72 course). Played a bowmaker comp in the morning, where our team scored 88 stableford points (I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but we seemed to be birdieing all over the place, so I'm guessing good?).

My shot of the day was hitting a 135 yard 7-iron off the fairway on a S.I. 1, Par 4, into wind, into the hole(!) for a net albatross and hole-in-one! That was my best, and most satisfying golf shot ever! (the previous was a 95 yard fairway PW to in-the-hole) Get in

I think, as John Inverdale says every time he's on telly discussing golf, that's what makes golf so addictive. You can play a horribly shit round, but then hit such a peach of a shot that would have been at home in the US Masters, that you keep coming back for more. I know I do anyway!

[Tiger-flash]

Just back from playing 2 rounds at The Players in Bristol (an extremely hard par 72 course). Played a bowmaker comp in the morning, where our team scored 88 stableford points (I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but we seemed to be birdieing all over the place, so I'm guessing good?).

My shot of the day was hitting a 135 yard 7-iron off the fairway on a S.I. 1, Par 4, into wind, into the hole(!) for a net albatross and hole-in-one! That was my best, and most satisfying golf shot ever! (the previous was a 95 yard fairway PW to in-the-hole) Get in

I think, as John Inverdale says every time he's on telly discussing golf, that's what makes golf so addictive. You can play a horribly shit round, but then hit such a peach of a shot that would have been at home in the US Masters, that you keep coming back for more. I know I do anyway!

top man! c",)