Longer clubs

[James]

Hi

Day 30 of training and enjoying the repetion. I seem to work the irons from wedge to 6 iron really crisply with nice loft and a baby draw. However as I go to longer clubs (Hybrid/3 wood/driver) my strike becomes very bad and a cut or slice appears. Can also hit very low straight or dipping duck hooks. When I then go back to irons it affects the irons. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[David]

I’m Day 25 and I’m having similar issues with my driver. Bad duck hooks or wide pushes/slices. Does not have the same crispness of the shorter irons – which are becoming deadly accurate. Slowing down helps a bit though. Primarily tee shots too, not so much the woods or longer irons/hybrids off the ground.

[David]

Was able to straighten out my shots by focusing on the mechanics with the longer club – straight arms with club parallel to target line, left arm punch at top of swing. Seems to take a fraction longer to execute than with short irons. Might have been rushing the shot before. I also moved the ball position(teed) forward slightly, since my former mechanics had me lining up on a standard 7-iron in the middle of my stance, so the drive needed to move up correspondingly.

What about that Brian/Alex? Should the ball position change for each club per conventional training? You are always referring to a “Standard 7-iron” shot.. I’m having great success with all my irons with ball position at the left ear position, btw.

[David]

Count me interested in this question, too. In searching for potential answers, I did come across this video, which has a tidbit about arm/hand position at impact: http://legacy.tathatagolf.com/video-library/club-on-eyeline/

I also found this video tip specifically for driver: http://legacy.tathatagolf.com/video-library/adjusting-to-driver/

[David]

James and David – I also came across the Q&A below with respect to the driver. The question is somewhat different but perhaps there is something here that helps.

Question: “I am on day 24 and while movements are starting to feel natural with 7i and shorter clubs I am still not comfortable with longer clubs and driver. Should there be any adjustments with driver or do I retain exactly the same pressure and movements when hitting my driver?”

Team Tathata Reply:
“Although we will start to touch on the driver and wedges ahead on Day 31 in Chapter 4, I can attempt to help answer your question right now. Although you don’t want to rush the building of pressure especially in the backswing, you may notice it helps your driver to dramatically accelerate the pace you work through the pressure scale as you move through and out of impact. To apply this concept to the driver, don’t be afraid to go from a 5-9 as rapidly as you can as you move through and out of impact. You should notice your club head “jump” as you do this as long as you are still at a 5 in your downswing and not already at a 9 at this point. Since the swing is bigger, it may help to slow down the building of pressure in the backswing and downswing compared to a 7-iron but again be as aggressive as you can through impact applying pressure to help the driver. Let us know if this helps or if you have any other questions. Happy training! “

[ross]

i’m on day 30. i’ll throw in my two cents.

i’ve experienced the same issue – great with the short irons, trouble with the longer clubs, trouble carries over back to the short irons. as i said, i’ve experienced this, but i’ve also been able to get past it. that’s not to say it may not come up again, but as i get more aware of my own movements, i think i may be able to get past it then, too.

surf the knees has been helpful, but along with that is the impact/through impact training. i find that when i hit longer clubs, but hands/arms tend to move away from my body, this breaks the connection i have with letting my body be the driving factor (no pun intended) in how my hands/arms move to and through impact. and once i’ve broken this connection on the longer clubs, i do the same with my shorter ones.

i go through the training that helps me establish that i’m not doing anything with my hands – turning the club, moving the face – that does not occur as a direct result of my body moving to/through impact.

i feel like i’ve made a mess of an explanation, but that’s what i’ve got for now. hope it helps.

[Clement]

Hi Guys, my two cents. I used to be one for smashing the longer irons and drivers. With this new training though i learnt to trust my clubs and body a lot more. The longer irons have a longer shaft and lower lofts. They WILL fly further even if you hit them at the same strength. It’s more important to focus on achieving the right pressure and follow through motions. I’ve not lost any distance althought i “FEEL” like I’m swinging the long irons slower. The main difference is I’m hitting them SQAURE on the centre of the club face with a pressure of 8/9 AFTER impact rather than BEFORE impact which made my swings very inconsistent.

[David]

James – Any progress with your driver and other long clubs? I would love to know how things are going and any feedback you may have with respect to aspects of the program that are working (or not).