Ask the PGA Professional

This is your opportunity to have questions about golf in general or your golf game in particular answered by a PGA Professional.

Having swing trouble? Still fighting that slice? Missing short putts? Ask the PGA Pro!

Approximately once a week, your questions will be answered here by one of the participating PGA Professionals from Golf in the SouthWest.

This week, Kim Brown, PGA Master Professional at Keeton Park in Dallas, Texas will be answering your questions. Brown is also President of the Northern Texas PGA.

Simply go to this form, to ask the PGA Pro your question.
Thanks for your participation!

Q & A

Last Updated: Feb 1st

Kim Brown:
That is pretty normal for a beginner, as you mentioned. The primary reason for this is that most folks like that are not making good contact with the ball, nor is the club traveling on the correct "angle of attack".
I cannot go "that deep" in the limited time to reply by E mail, but the following fundamentals should be in place to alleviate that problem:
* Learn to swing the club by coiling and uncoiling your torso (the hips turn 1/2 has far as the shoulders) and de-emphasizing the role that your hands and arms play in the swing
* Learn to swing with the correct balance - weight on the back foot on the backswing, weight ends up most on the front (left foot if you are right handed) and the end of the follow through.
* "Feel" like once you have coiled into a "tight spring" condition on the back swing, gradually uncoil the body on the downswing and feel like your hands "drop" straight down towards the ball which will create a steeper angle of attack but your power will be generated from your large muscles, not your small (hands, etc.) muscles.
* Maintain the "radius" of your swing (left arm stays straight, not stiff, until after impact with the ball).
Seek a PGA Professional to actually guide you through this process. Good luck.

Kim Brown:
Depends on what your "goal" for getting custom clubs is and whether you make consistent enough contact to benefit from improved equipment. Do you have some unique physical characteristics that would suggest equipment other than standard lie, etc. is needed?
You should be fit in both a "static" approach and a "dynamic" approach. The first involves measuring length of fingers, length from wrist to the floor, measuring your lie angle while at address,, grip size, etc.
The second involves having you hit shots from a lie board with lie tape on the bottom of the club to see how much your swing habits tend to "flatten" the swing path. If the club keeps contacting the ground towards the toe of the club for example, you would need a different lie than if you are hitting "heel first".
You should also be careful what people consider to be "custom clubs".....Although clone clubs can be readily adjusted for lie angle, grip size, etc., they may or may not be of the same quality of name brand, pro line equipment.
It is, however, more important to have your club fit than is the exact name brand of the club. Most manufacturers produce a line or many lines of quality products.
It is like buying a car ..... read the reviews, ask your friends, and "drive" the car first! Good luck.

Kim Brown:
Have you actually taken lessons, or just received a tip here and a tip there? Look for an ongoing relationship with a PGA Professional who is sincere and who will take the time to establish a "program" for you. A lot of us "give lessons", but the number of folks that will establish an organized program for you with written objectives and a lesson plan are limited in comparison. I would suggest making an "investment" of your time and money to identify who this "mentor" or right Professional may be in your area.

Kim Brown:
None, unless that other hole is identified under local rules as "out of bounds".

Kim Brown:
Very easy to suggest, much more difficult to do. The real "secret" to more consistency from a mental perspective is to focus "one swing at a time". Do not place as many expectations on either a particular shot, a certain hole, or on your score itself. If you can learn to not worry about your score, the ironic part is that your scores will be consistently better. Good luck.

Kim Brown:
Assuming that you liked the way you played before your forced layoff, then it will come back to you as a simple bi product of practice and playing. Do a lot of "swinging", even when you don't have time to go back to the golf course to play or practice. You might look into buying some "cayman" balls to hit "out behind the house".
I am afraid there is no simple solution to the fact that what took time to "lose" (your feel, etc.) will take time to recover. The good news is that the ratio of losing it to getting it back is about 2 to 1. For every two weeks you lay off, usually it will take you one week to recover the "feel". Good luck.

Kim Brown:
There is nothing wrong with a consistent fade if it is truly a "fade" and not a "slice". A lot of great players fade the ball (Bruce Lietzke hits a BIG fade). The key is are you getting sufficient distance? If so, then never worry about the fade again. If you have poor control of distance and don't seem to be sure what line the shot is going to "START" on, then I would suggest working on reducing the fade.
Get a PGA Professional to check out your setup fundamentals to insure that your shoulders are not too far OPEN, which would tend to cause the fade AND would promote the occasional pull. Good luck.

Kim Brown:
Only if you hit the ball REAL HIGH now. I would recommend finding a place to demo or try a friends club. Try the 6.5 or 7 degree first and if you still hit those "too high", then ok. The shaft flex is important but the only real advice I can offer is to have your swing checked out by a PGA Professional first. Generally, if you generate between 95 - 105 miles per hour of swing speed, then the "firm" would be appropriate. Good luck.

Thanks to Kim Brown, PGA Master Professional for answering these questions.

Simply go to this form, to ask Kim your question.

Northern Texas PGA

Golf in the SouthWest