New and having problems

[dannyboi91]

I am new to golf and the forum only been playing 2 months or so and have played about 6 rounds. I went for a lesson on Friday and the PGA instructor completely changed my grip which is making me hit more consistant and straighter with my irons but I cannot drive at all. Lucky if I can hit 100yds with my driver as I cannot seem to get under the ball. Can someone please advise anything to help me out with this. I will be getting another lesson but I am going for a round this afternoon.

 

[Region3]

Welcome Danny

I'm not the best person to advise, but just in case no-one else does before you go out...

You don't have to get 'under the ball'. A driver will still have somewhere around 10° of loft, so unless you're leaning the club forward by a significant chunk of that loft, the ball will still get airborne.

The trouble with the driver is we want it to go as far as possible.
If you hit a 7 iron you want it to go x yards. A pitching wedge you might want to go y yards. If you have 150yds to the flag you choose the club that goes that far and there's no prizes for trying to bust it 10 yards further.

With driver, every yard further you can hit it means a yard less to go to the green for your next shot, but going for distance most of the time leads to an uncontrolled swing.

Something I've seen suggested, is to pick a target in the fairway at what you consider to be a reasonable distance away. It might be level with a tree, bunker or anything else.
Then aim to hit the ball that distance with a controlled swing. A lot of the time you will find the ball goes further because you make a better contact with it.

The other thing which in my mind would prevent you getting the ball 'up' would be if you were moving too far in front of it on your downswing.
In one way it's a good thing as a lot of beginners leave their weight on their back foot which is wrong. As your weight moves on to the front foot in the downswing your hips will move towards your target, but what you must ensure is that your top half doesn't move too much with them. Try to keep your head behind the ball until it's on it's way.


I hope some of that might help, but what I really hope is that someone who knows what they're talking about also posts before you go out!

 

[G_Mulligan]

I am new to golf and the forum only been playing 2 months or so and have played about 6 rounds. I went for a lesson on Friday and the PGA instructor completely changed my grip which is making me hit more consistant and straighter with my irons but I cannot drive at all. Lucky if I can hit 100yds with my driver as I cannot seem to get under the ball. Can someone please advise anything to help me out with this. I will be getting another lesson but I am going for a round this afternoon.

the best advice I can give you is do not take driver with you today, leave it at home and hit 3 wood, hybrid, or long iron off the tee.

You have to trust your coach is changing your grip for a good reason and stick with those changes whatever the short term results on the course. Practice your new grip with driver on the range. The problem is almost certainly that your hands were compensating for a swing flaw with the driver which made you feel like you were getting under the ball.

Your new grip will mean you can no longer compensate and have to swing correctly to hit the driver well which will take time and effort on the range to get right. If you try to take it on the course you will just switch back to your old grip and old swing compensations which will just undo the work you have done.

 

[Sid Rixon IV]

I am new to golf and the forum only been playing 2 months or so and have played about 6 rounds. I went for a lesson on Friday and the PGA instructor completely changed my grip which is making me hit more consistant and straighter with my irons but I cannot drive at all. Lucky if I can hit 100yds with my driver as I cannot seem to get under the ball. Can someone please advise anything to help me out with this. I will be getting another lesson but I am going for a round this afternoon.

Read what Region3 says.
I'm a high HC.
There's a par 3 on our course that, for me, is always my 3 wood.
Yesterday when we reached it I found I'd removed that club and left it at home.
I thought about hitting harder with another club but eventually took my driver and swung fairly gently.
I hit the green.

Or do as G. Mulligan says, leave it alone until next lesson.

 

[pbrown7582]

hello and welcome.

if you had a grip change on friday it will take quite a while to bed in and feel comfortable, having lessons is the way to go but doesnt help you playing in the mean time as its quite normal whilst trying to change things to struggle to hit the thing at all never mind any distance!
stick at it though and hope you enjoyed your game. Speak to your pro at your next lesson too.

 

[dannyboi91]

Thanks for all the replies, was out yesterday afternoon without my driver and beat my previous round's score by 8 shots. Was teeing off with my 5 iron, the distance was not great but would say I was averaging 200yds which was better than I was driving last week. I will just be using my 5 iron until I book my next lesson.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

the best advice I can give you is do not take driver with you today, leave it at home and hit 3 wood, hybrid, or long iron off the tee.

I'd go with this advice. And stick with your 3 wood for a good while if you get it going - as you will. Don;t be tempted back to your driver - you don't need it. In fact I'd take it out of my bag if I were you - it's what I did - and got down to 6h/cap using a 3 wood for drives. Get's your confidence going - and you need to be on the fairway not 30yds deep in the undergrowth.

And 5 iron - great - the business. And you are striking well getting 200yds as a starter! That's great.

 

[Ethan]

I am new to golf and the forum only been playing 2 months or so and have played about 6 rounds. I went for a lesson on Friday and the PGA instructor completely changed my grip which is making me hit more consistant and straighter with my irons but I cannot drive at all. Lucky if I can hit 100yds with my driver as I cannot seem to get under the ball. Can someone please advise anything to help me out with this. I will be getting another lesson but I am going for a round this afternoon.

Patience, my son. Some people go through a golf career and never figure out how to hit the driver. After 2 months, some have barely figured out how to hold onto the golf club so it doesn't go flying down the fairway.

Most players, even with years of experience, would be better off hitting a 3 wood anyway, so don't worry about it for now, and when you have a bit more experience under your belt, go back to it then.

 

[SocketRocket]

5 iron 200 Yards! Strewth, a good distance for a man would be around 170 yards.

 

[williamalex1]

Welcome Dannyboi . good distance for a forum 5 iron. the pipes are calling.

 

[dannyboi91]

You guys are definitely making me doubt I was hitting 200yds I may be really bad at judging distances . I will retract that statement and just say I was hitting it far .

 

[Deleted member 18121]

You guys are definitely making me doubt I was hitting 200yds I may be really bad at judging distances . I will retract that statement and just say I was hitting it far .

lol mate don't worry, everyone has their "forum yards"..... I only took the game up about 18/19 months ago and went through a 2 month stage where I hit a 4 iron off of every long hole, was getting 180-190 yards and that was fine to get me around.

I'd work hard on your iron play and devote less time (for now) to the woods/driver....once you start making good progress with the irons then spend a little more time with the big stick. Driving really isn't the be all and end all in golf.

 

[dannyboi91]

lol mate don't worry, everyone has their "forum yards"..... I only took the game up about 18/19 months ago and went through a 2 month stage where I hit a 4 iron off of every long hole, was getting 180-190 yards and that was fine to get me around.

I'd work hard on your iron play and devote less time (for now) to the woods/driver....once you start making good progress with the irons then spend a little more time with the big stick. Driving really isn't the be all and end all in golf.

That is my plan, I am happy to be hitting 50yds less off the tee for now as my short/iron play seems to be improving by every round.