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hey guys,
I just went 20 days without picking up a golf club, and, finally getting back to the course, the last three times ive played i have had to leave aftger 4 holes because of my horrible play!!! Everyshot goes about 2 yards off the ground, about 40 yards in front of me, and 50 yards to the right! if the shot is not bad, it will go about 10 yards off the ground and 30 yards to the right or I will just hit a strait dribbler.

Before the break, i was pulling and hooking the **** out of the ball, so i went out and tried to take my swing back a little bit more outside, and it worked, but i think ive overdone it a little. I just want to start hitting a high, soft fade.

I really need some fast advice, though and piece will be gratefully accepted and tried.

Thanx,
CG

To me it sounds like you are trying to steer the ball and power it with your arms and shoulders. I'm not big on drills, but one drill I do is to hold the club shoulder high, and make swings using my hips and legs. What this does is it allows you to learn to use the hips to power your swing and take the arms out of it. You will find that as long as your hips power your swing and keep your arms loose, you will feel the sensation of using only 75% on your swing when actually you are increasing power because you are using the big muscles. Smooth power.

Hey, VJ, that's a great tip. I come over the top sometimes, leading with my shoulders, and that should really help. Feels great. Thanks.

i play golf with my girlfriends son,she is older than me,he is 32 i am nearly 46 and took game up again after 28 years abscence last august,her son hits brilliant long drives,crazy nail the pin chips and long nail the pin putts if he was,nt close the first time,i arranged a 4 ball and i knew that one of the guys was as good as my girlfriends son,guess what these guys would play off 5 and i play off 20,i was the best for first four holes,these guys were trying so hard to impress and they were duffing like mad,when they came to life it was a joy to watch but any onlookers on first four holes could have mistaken them for duffers,my point is being all stiff and uptight hinders any golfer at any stage in handicap,i have practised loads since august and my biggest lesson is that golf is played best when relaxed,my best shots are when i don,t force the ball and too much effort at power equals no power and no accuracy,keep your eyes on the ball at contact and swing smoothly with a dance like rythm and tempo and the ball flies better

Go to the practice range with your 8iron and a bag of balls. Grip the club a bit looser than yopu usually do and swing slow and smooth. Many of the problems in hitting the ball come from swinging too hard and/or trying to strangle the club. You might be surprised after a couple of dozen shots.

I'm not sure why no one has mentioned this, but shots that go low, short and straight right are most likely shanks...meaning you're hitting the ball off of hosel of the club.

It could be losts of things like standing too close to the ball, poor weight distribution (weight too far on toes coming into the ball), coming too far from the inside (which means the hosel is arriving at the ball before the clubface), etc. It's hard to tell without seeing what's happening, but those are possible culprits. But if I had to pick, I would start by trying to not stand so close to the ball and make sure your weight isn't falling towards your toes on the downswing.

when I take practice swings though, my divots usually are closer to my body than where the club was at address, making me believe that I am literally not hitting the club on the face but on the outside of the toe

I have problems like that every once and a while....usually stems from me not making a full shoulder turn. I played Saturday after taking an month off and actually played better than before I took the time off. Biggest difference I saw is that I was just more relaxed in general and stopped thinking about 1000 different things.

I'm not the best of golfers, but I know if I go more than 5 or 6 days without at least playing or hitting some golf balls, I take 3 or more holes to get back into the groove. My best golf comes when I can get out at least 3 times a week...but that's not always possible. But I at least try to get out in the yard a couple of times a week and hit some chip shots and swing my driver with a practice weight on it. If I go over a week without playing, I can't hit a northbound bull in the south end with a bull fiddle.

To my that sounds like you are using your arms to swing the club as opposed to your hips. Without sounding too scientific, but the anatomical purpose of the arms are to pull things toward the body. Now when you use your arms to swing the club, you may start on plane on the backswing. But as you start the forward swing with your arms, the natural tendency is to pull your arms toward your body, causing an out to in swing path. Thus a slice is created and a divot is closer to your body than it was at address. I'm taking a guess here, but I take it you either pull the ball or pull-slice it?