Go Back   Golf Rewind > The Clubhouse > Golf Tips

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)  
Old August 10th, 2006, 12:14 PM
Novi's Avatar
Novi Novi is offline
Weekend Duffer
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Virginia
Posts: 24
Former College baseball Player....

I played babseball most of my life (15 years). I'm 29 now and taking up the game of Golf.
I have a problem with driving as I am incorporating too much of a "Baseball Swing" into it and end up duffing balls or skidding them 20 or so yards off the tee. I occassinally have a great drive but for the most part my drives are horrible. Any advice anyone could lend me to correct this?
Right now I am just looking to make the game more fun for me. I can play my irons "alright" but when it comes to driving... I pretty much dred walking up to the tee box
Reply With Quote
REGISTER and browse with less advertisements! It's FREE!
  #2 (permalink)  
Old August 10th, 2006, 02:41 PM
jwaldrop's Avatar
jwaldrop jwaldrop is offline
Tournament Winner
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Anahuac, TX
Posts: 611
A friend who was a fine baseball player and I were discussing the comparison, and we decided that the best approach was to think of hitting the golf ball like you would hitting a curveball...stay back, be still and hit the ball to right field. Helps him hit a real pretty draw.
Reply With Quote
  #3 (permalink)  
Old August 10th, 2006, 04:33 PM
TwillDog's Avatar
TwillDog TwillDog is offline
Tournament Winner
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: New Orleans, LA
Posts: 643
Welcome to my world... I started playing golf at 21, after 1 1/2 years of college ball (thank you, mr. blown out shoulder). It was very hard at first to get the baseball out of my swing, and regardless of the comparisons, they are in many ways very different techniques. Few people start a baseball swing with a fairly straight leading arm, or have that long a swing arc coming through the ball (Albert Belle did, but he's a freak of nature; Pujols starts with a straight-ish arm but his actual swing is fairly compact, and another freak of nature). It will be difficult to gain that concept, but once you do, you will likely be at an advantage over other golfers because there are similarities in the swing that baseball players can take advantage of. Jwaldrop really makes a great point with the curve ball theory. If you swing like hitting a fastball, you will likely hit low runners, slices or dead right shots due to bad timing. Your hips will likely want to move very quickly through the hitting zone, so you will have to think of hitting the off speed pitch that you know is coming, weight back, keep the front shoulder closed, then explode into the ball and try to drive it to the right side or back up the middle.
Good luck - I've been at this now for many years since the ballpark days and still haven't found exactly what I'm looking for. One note - you know how hard you work to be a proficient ballplayer. After I finished playing ball and took up golf, I said I'd never work as hard again at anything to attain that level of play... until golf came along....
Reply With Quote
  #4 (permalink)  
Old August 10th, 2006, 07:35 PM
Billyg's Avatar
Billyg Billyg is offline
Senior Golfer
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Pensacola, FL
Posts: 2,000
The wrists are used differently in golf than in baseball. Place your hands on a golf club grip with the thumbs facing you, move your wrists to bring the shaft uo toward your face, then move the shaft (and your thunbs) directly away from you to the front. This wrist break is 90 degrees out from swinging a baseball bat and is a big reason why I had such a hard time changing from baseball to golf many years ago.
Reply With Quote
  #5 (permalink)  
Old August 10th, 2006, 08:46 PM
Gary Travis Gary Travis is offline
Tour Card
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Kaufman,Texas
Posts: 333
I have tought many baseball players golf in my career and the only thing different that you have to do is change the timing of your release to earlier because the golf ball is in a different relative position to your body, more in the middle. Your goal is to square up your body and your wrist release to the ball at the same time. The swing is really the same.
Reply With Quote
  #6 (permalink)  
Old August 10th, 2006, 10:24 PM
On in Two On in Two is offline
Tour Card
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: US
Posts: 288
One thing I haven't seen mentioned here which worked well for me was to think of hitting the golf ball more like a singles hitter rather than a power hitter. You just want solid contact and you will be hitting off of your front foot more. I was a power hitter in college and would really shift my weight to my back foot when I threw my hips open to put everything I had into the swing. I equate golf to my 2 strike swing. More in control, hitting with my weight off my front foot, looking to make solid contact and drive the ball somewhere. I should've known I was going to do well with golf because even at 6'1" I was always a good low ball hitter and 'golfed' more then a few over the fences.
Reply With Quote
REGISTER and browse with less advertisements! It's FREE!
Reply
Tags: , , ,



Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Baseball HOF HarleyGuy Sports 32 January 21st, 2007 12:35 AM
NCAA Baseball BamaGolf Sports 3 June 7th, 2006 12:29 PM
baseball trade 4rplay Sports 12 January 3rd, 2006 11:48 PM
Baseball stlcard_25 Sports 33 August 9th, 2005 03:14 AM
Baseball and hotdogs jackamo Fun & Games 23 April 14th, 2005 04:06 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:18 AM.