Generally, feel comes into play when you need to do something other than hit a standard shot with full power. If you need to adjust the distance that the ball is going to travel for a particular shot, or if you need to alter the shot in some other way that makes it different from a typical shot, feel will come into the picture.
Full Answer
Should golf clubs be light at the top of the swing?
If you don't have the feeling that the club is light at the top of your swing, you need to work on doing a better job of setting your wrists in the middle of the backswing. Many amateur golfers never quite get the club set going back, and the club feels heavy throughout the swing as a result.
Why is having feel in your golf swing so important?
Having feel in your golf swing will help to make you a better overall player, and it will make you a better player under pressure. If you are just trying to make a ‘paint by number' swing where you check off each position as you get to it, your mechanics are likely to fall apart when the nerves set in.
Why does my swing slow when I Grip my golf clubs?
An overly firm grip causes swing-slowing tension; grip too softly and you'll lack sufficient control of the club. In either case, your feel for the clubhead will be short-circuited. Here's a simple way to understand the concept: Take any club and grip it normally.
What is feel at address in golf?
Another important element regarding feel at address relates to the timing of getting your swing underway. Commonly, amateur golfers will stand over the ball for an extended period of time, thinking about the shot or trying to decide exactly how to start the swing.
What is feel in golf?
Feel contributes to rhythm, and it is rhythm that will allow you to perform well even under pressure. Before getting further into the discussion on feeling the club head in the golf swing, there is one point that needs to be made right off the top – it is important to have a light grip pressure while swinging the club.
What is feel for irons?
Also contributing to feel is the force felt in the hands during the swing and this is basically a function of the club weight and flexibility of the shaft.
Why do my irons feel dead?
Sometimes when you feel that an iron is dead, it's simply because your swing needs a few adjustments or the new irons on the market are just that much better.
Why do my irons feel so heavy?
If your irons shaft is too stiff, it will negatively impact your game. Signs that a iron shaft is too stiff is when your golf club feels too heavy, or your golf balls travel too low. Signs that your golf iron shafts are too stiff: Your golf ball flies too low.
How hard should you swing your irons?
Never swing with more than 80 percent effort.
Do forged irons feel softer?
forged irons question held by many golfers — perhaps most golfers — is that forged irons feel softer than cast irons. That is, that forged irons have a noticeably softer feel at impact with the golf ball than do cast irons.
How do you tell if your irons are worn out?
If the crown of your driver is literred with dents, or the face of your irons/wedges have no grooves because of so much wear, then it's time for new equipment. McKee says that when irons and wedges lose their grooves, the ball will lose spin going into the green.
How often do you need new irons?
every five yearsUnless you are playing extremely irregularly, you should be replacing your irons every five years to make sure you are getting the most out of them.
Are 20 year old irons still good?
There is no evidence that golf clubs deteriorate over time. Well maintained clubs will last a lifetime. 10+ year old clubs should be checked for better options but clubs less than 5 years old do not need replacing except for wear and tear issues to which wedges and forged irons are most vulnerable.
What happens if irons are too stiff?
Is Your Golf Shaft Too Stiff? If your golf shaft is too stiff and your swing speed is too slow, your well-struck shot will be limited on both carry distance and shot trajectory; a too-stiff golf shaft will most often lead to weak fades or slices.
Are lighter irons better?
Usually, lighter clubs produce higher spin rates. And with spin rates that are too high, you might actually lose distance. Second, a lighter club is sometimes more difficult to control and can wreak havoc on your ability to make a smooth, rhythmic swing that accelerates through the ball.
What happens if your iron shafts are too soft?
Using an iron shaft that's too soft for you will also affect the flight of your golf ball. Your golf ball will consistently fly much higher than you intended if you use an iron shaft that's too soft for you. This is because of the extra amount of flex caused by using an iron shaft that's too weak.
Why am I getting no distance with my irons?
This can be a symptom of body rotation or club head speed. There are drills you can do to increase your body rotation and your club head speed, generating more power behind your swing and allowing you to hit longer irons.
What causes weak golf shots to the right?
According to Golf Digest 50 Best Teacher Hank Haney, it's mostly because of a bad grip and a steep angle of attack. "Make your grip stronger, so your hands are turned away from the target and your palms are parallel to each other," says Haney. "Also, gripping it too tight keeps the hands from releasing through impact.
How do I Deloft my irons?
5:1431:49The Pro's Guide To Delofting Your Irons | Compress The Ball - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd rotate around now i'm really exaggerating. Here this would be taking that club face and bring itMoreAnd rotate around now i'm really exaggerating. Here this would be taking that club face and bring it to outside of the club. That would be a big time snap hook if i really did.
Why cant I hit my irons as far as I used to?
One reason you might not be hitting the ball very far is that you have too high of a spin rate with your driver and irons. An easy way to spot this is watching how high your shots go in the air. Golf shots that get hit with high back spin rates tend to climb higher into the air.
Why is feeling important in golf swing?
Having feel in your golf swing will help to make you a better overall player, and it will make you a better player under pressure.
What is the feel at address in golf?
Another important element regarding feel at address relates to the timing of getting your swing underway. Commonly, amateur golfers will stand over the ball for an extended period of time, thinking about the shot or trying to decide exactly how to start the swing.
How to feel the club head during the backswing?
That last sentence is really the key to how you should be feeling the club head during the backswing. Your feel should quickly go from having a heavy club in your hands to having one that weighs almost nothing. By the time the backswing is fully completed and you are ready to transition forward, the club should be light in your hands and ready to explode down into the ball. If you don't have the feeling that the club is light at the top of your swing, you need to work on doing a better job of setting your wrists in the middle of the backswing. Many amateur golfers never quite get the club set going back, and the club feels heavy throughout the swing as a result. While it should always feel heavy early in the swing, the best ball strikers tend to be those who can make the club feel lighter once they get deep into the backswing and the transition.
How to swing a golf club?
As mentioned above, the backswing should begin with a smooth rotation of your shoulders away from the target. It is extremely important that you don't engage your hands or wrists too early in the backswing, or you will lose your feel for the club head almost immediately. You want to feel the club hanging down as you gradually turn away. As your shoulders rotate, the club will move higher and higher off of the ground and it will start to feel heavier in your hands. At the point where the club shaft is parallel with the ground, the club should feel heavy as it is stretched out on a line that is running away from the target.
Why does my golf swing slow down?
An overly firm grip causes swing-slowing tension; grip too softly and you'll lack sufficient control of the club . In either case, your feel for the clubhead will be short-circuited. Here's a simple way to understand the concept: Take any club and grip it normally.
How to get more feel in your hands at address?
One of the best ways to get more feel into your hands at address is through the use of a waggle. In golf parlance, a ‘waggle' is simply a back and forth motion that is made with the club head prior to starting the swing. To waggle the club properly, pick the head of the club up just slightly off the ground and move it back and forth with your hands and wrists. This is a great way to avoid tightening up before starting the swing, and it can also help you remember to keep a light grip pressure on the club. After just a few quick waggles, you can place the club head back down on the ground behind the ball and start your swing. All players waggle just a little bit differently, so this is actually something you will want to practice on the range until you find a waggle pattern that makes you comfortable and gets you ready to perform the swing correctly.
How to feel the clubhead?
Now lower the club so it points directly in front of you, parallel to the ground. Here you should you feel the clubhead pulling downward, putting mild pressure on your wrists. Finally, hold the club at a 45° angle between the two positions.
Why do I hit my irons so high?
A coach can help you identify the problem and give you some drills to fix this and improve your skills. This is something I highly recommend.
Why do I hit my irons the same distance?
Every golfer should get onto a launch monitor and note his/her yardages with all clubs in the bag. This is key piece of research on your own game but it can lead to you seeing that some of your clubs go identical or very similar distances. This can be a problem and is something you should do something about.
What is delofting a golf ball?
Everyone, with every club in the bag except the driver and the putter. De-lofting is also often known as compressing the ball and it really helps the ball act as it is designed to. By compressing the ball properly at impact, you actually help it get into the air by letting the grooves in your irons work their magic and launch the ball.
What happens if you don't deloft your club face?
If you don’t de-loft your club face then you will put the ball up in the air with a weak flight or even thin it , if you overly de-loft it then you will struggle to get the ball of the ground.
Why deloft a golf club at impact?
The main benefit of de-lofting your club at impact is that you create optimal launch conditions for the ball. That is a fancy way of saying that you send the ball off in the most efficient way in terms of the spin you impart on the ball and the take-off angle that it takes. Both of these factors combine to effect the distance of the resulting shot.
How to get more control in golf?
To gain this extra height and the control it can bring, you need to start de-lofting at impact to get your grooves spinning the ball up in the air. A tour quality ball with a soft cover will respond best to this kind of strike.
Do golf clubs need to be gapped?
Many of the largest golf club manufacturers are actually quite lax when it comes to quality control. You should measure the loft and lie of all of your irons and have them standardised, gapped, so that this is reflected in the distance you hit these clubs. This is a process that doesn’t take much work but will benefit you greatly.
Why is my golf club slice?
Try a more flexible shaft, when a shaft is too stiff the clubface struggles to turn back to square, which will present the clubface open at impact, causing the ball to slice. The more flexible the shaft is the easier it is to turn the clubhead over at impact.
Why does my golf ball come out low?
When the shaft is too stiff, you won’t be able to get enough spin on the ball, causing it to come out very low , and look like it’s falling out of the sky.
What Happens If Your Shaft Flex Is Too Flexible?
If the shaft is too flexible, you will have a ‘whippy’ feeling in your hands, and you won’t be able to feel the clubhead on the downswing.
What Happens If Your Shaft Isn’t Stiff Enough?
When the shaft is too stiff, it’s going to feel hard to swing, it’s going to feel heavy, and make you tired after a few swings.
How Can You Measure Your Swing Speed To See What Shaft You Should Use?
These are called launch monitors , they track your swing speed, loads of other parameters.
When To Move To A Stiffer Shaft?
You should move to a stiff shaft once your swing speed moves into the next bracket, if you can’t track your swing speed here are some signs you need to go stiffer
Why does my golf ball go high?
When the golf ball is struck it will generally have too much spin if the shaft is too flexible, this will cause a ‘ballooning’ effect on the shot and it will tend to go quite high. You might have an inconsistent shot shape if the shaft is too flexible.Having a shaft that is too flexible can also cause the ball to hook uncontrollably, ...
Why do some irons have loft?
The reason? Unlike tour players who deloft their irons at impact, most average golfers add loft by trying to help shots in the air. That could turn a strong-lofted 7-iron into a more traditional loft. Nick Sherburne, founder of Club Champion, a nationwide fitting chain, says if you’re excited about how far you’re hitting that new 7-iron at a demo day, know the facts before handing over your credit card—like having sufficient distance gaps through the rest of your bag.
How much stronger is a 7 iron?
(The 7-iron is what most golfers test first when shopping for new irons.) That means some 7-irons today might be 6 degrees stronger than other 7-irons.
Do 7 irons have more distance?
But to be fair, other design characteristics have changed, too. For example, using materials to lower the center of gravity and thin faces to increase ball speed and height means stronger-lofted 7-irons can produce trajectories like traditional 7-irons—only with more distance. But it’s still player-dependent. The longest club you might be able to hit consistently could have a “5” or “6” on the sole when it used to have a “3” or a “4.”
What does it mean when a golf club feels too light?
If it ‘feels too light’ you might think that you have no control of the club head at all. And of course ‘feel’ is different for everyone. While some golfers are quite indifferent when it comes to swinging different weights of golf club others can feel the difference of even a couple of grams.
What happens if you put the right weight on your golf clubs?
If your golf clubs are the correct weight for you your swing will feel good and let you hit good shots when you get things right . Also if your golf clubs are the right weight you will not even be thinking about how heavy or light they are! Final Thought.
How much does a golf driver weigh?
With the average driver head weighing about 200 grams, a regular flex shaft typically 60 grams and a standard grip about 50 grams, the total weight of the average male golfer’s driver is approximately 310 grams. Ladies clubs by comparison are usually lighter because they have lighter shafts and on occasion lighter heads.
Why are ladies clubs lighter?
Ladies clubs are typically lighter because they have lighter shafts and often lighter heads. As with everything in golf there are some common generalisations which apply and in respect of golf club weight you will often hear the following: Golfers with slower swings and smooth tempos should play lighter clubs.
How to change weight of golf clubs?
The main ways to change the weight of your clubs is to change the shaft and / or the grip.
How many golfers swing with the lightest club?
It is estimated for example that only 12% of golfers swing of golfers get their best club head speed with the lightest club.
What is the dominant factor in golf clubs?
However, when it comes to golf clubs, weight is the dominant factor when we’re talking about performance and a subject where it’s as important to trust your feelings as it is the data.
Why does my golf grip wear?
It is also possible that grip wear can be caused by gripping incorrectly. If your grip pressure is good but you are still finding signs of wear on the handle seek the advice of your pro on creating a more functional grip. Read all about how to get the perfect golf grip for you
How to tell if your golf glove is tension?
Another visual clue to tension is the colour of your knuckles; they need to be the same colour as the rest of your hand, not white. Unfortunately your glove obscures your perception of this, so hit a few drives with it off; just before you take the club away, check the knuckle colour of both hands.
How to hold a golf club with one hand?
Your ideal top hand grip sees the club run more diagonally across the hand , from under the heel of the hand to the index finger's middle knuckle. Fold your fingers around and you'll feel how your thumb pad can apply pressure and stability to the handle. Train this hold by making one-handed swings with the gloved hand; aim to feel solid and set at the top as the body completes its turn..
What is the sole of a golf club?
The soles of your wedges are designed to stop the club digging into the turf. With the rear of the sole lower than the leading edge, the club resists biting downwards, making heavy contact less likely.
How to get the golf driver to move faster?
Hold your driver in front of you allowing your triceps to soften. Work the head to describe a large letter 'O' in front of you. You should feel both wrists hinge at various points. Slowly speed up; the speed that gets the club moving fastest while retianing control represents ideal grip pressure.
What does it mean when a paint mark runs at an angle?
The most common paint mark runs at an angle from the centre of the face towards the toe, indicating a slice path. Trace that angle over an upright tee peg and you can see how the mark was caused by an out-to-in path that cuts across the ball at impact. This is the path that causes slice pain for 85% of club players.
How to hit the ball in golf?
Place a soft object, perhaps a headcover, practice ball bag or even a bottle of water, a foot or so behind the ball, with just enough room for the toe of the club to swing back past it. Go ahead and hit the ball. The simple need to avoid the obstacle on the way down will encourage you to attack the ball from the inside, promoting a more neutral path.
