Thanks mac, robbo.
I reread my post, and I didn’t make it clear that all my bottoming out was while doing the “hit from the knees” drill.
When I was swingin’ upright, I didn’t hit anything anywhere near fat.
One curious point, though. I used the same tee for at least a dozen shots before cracking it, normally I bust the tee with every swing.
Oh well, back at it tomorrow.
Cheers,
hawg1
Hawg,
Even more evidence that your shoulders are tilting and not turning level. Swinging on your knees isolates issues to the torso and above. Hitting a few feet behind the ball tells me your right shoulder is moving below your left as you move into and past impact.
Trust it,
robbo
Yes, that is some good advice.
Hitting off your knees is a great way to learn to rotate level, and once you start cranking a few out there… you will notice how difficult or even impossible it is to get OTT and pull one left. This can give you the big lightbulb moment about the advantages of flat lie angles… It is simply very difficult to start the ball off line… push or pull.
I would also check the shaft flex on your persimmon. If you are hitting the long irons well, you might have too loose a shaft in the persimmon. Make sure the shaft has a similar flexibility as the long iron you are hitting well. I like my persimmons even stiffer feeling than my long irons… so I usually tip them an inch or two.
This is absolute fact.
If you play modern gear, do so, but not because you can’t hit persimmon and blades. If you can hit the old stuff, you can hit the new stuff.
Thicko question here (so apologies in advance), what’s the difference between a level shoulder turn and a tilted shoulder turn?
ZM.
Z,
Nothing thick about that question (especially the more I think about what I said).
Level shoulder turn would be one in which the shoulders rotate parallel to the ground, much like the main blades on a helicopter. The torso needs to be more upright to achieve it with shoulders rotating perpendicular to the spine.
Tilted could be shouders that are rotating relatively perpendicular to the spine but too much waist bend has them rotating “tilted” in relation to the ground. It could also be shoulders that rotate AND have an up and down “rocking” element to them.
robbo
Robbo, that’s what I thought, and thanks for the clarification.
ZM.
Funny how things work out…I was playing a few early morning holes yesterday and found a Titleist Tour Balata 100 sitting in the middle of he fairway on the penultimate hole. It had definitely seen better days (a nice lump on it!) and I suspect it had been discarded from the the nearby practice area. So out of curiosity I hit a 5 iron which felt great and it found the green. Then on the 18th I hit a nice driver and wedge to 10 feet. So I thought it might be fun to play a competitive round with a balata ball. I have picked up some new Titleist Tour Balata 90 and Titleist Professional 90’s from ebay in the last few months so I thought that I might as well give it a try.
I have read that balatas lose their zip over time and certainly the ball I used on the first 9 holes didn’t seem to have much zip to it, less than the chewed up one I was using the morning before! It wasn’t too bad to play with but I was losing even more distance off the tee than I was anticipating and I struggled to get more than 200 yards from my driver. Perhaps I just wasn’t swinging well, not sure.
So I switched to another new balata on the 10th tee, hit a nice 5 wood to 20 feet and holed the putt. This ball definitely seemed to have a bit more pep about it and I played the second 9 in +2 for an 80 which placed me 12th in gross scores out of 80 competitors using persimmon, blades and balata. I’m quite proud of that 
I did think that the feel of persimmon is enhanced by balata. When you get it right its a great feeling, nicer than using premium modern balls. I also felt it enhanced the feedback that you get from persimmon and blades as if you hit a poor shot he ball it really didn’t go anywhere if you slappped at it at all. It was fun around the greens as well. Anyway it was a fun day.
Cheers, Arnie
Good playing Arnie! If you can get a hold of some 100 compression balatas you would probably like those even better. I have found that some of the 90s I have been able to get are hit or miss and some are like marshmellos, where 100s have still retained a great solid feel.
Cheers,
Fred
If someone happens to have one of those old balata winding machines out in the back shed, do let me know. Fire that thing up and you’ll sell heaps of them around here!
No doubt that the feel of the balata off persimmon is a perfect match. With a higher spin rate, and softer feel around the greens, it’s a technology that was fine tuned for 60 years.
I really don’t know where they are going with the modern balls. They certainly are not about feel and shot shaping. Once the distance thing is halted… as it seems they finally are doing something about it with limits on COR, and clubheads (a little late)… I don’t what their marketing ploy is going to be.
I hope the future of a softer high spin ball might be something like the old Spalding Tour Edition that Norman played. It felt and played like a balata, had a soft cover on it that would cut, had a high spin rate but had a solid core if I remember. It was an interesting ball.
I would appreciate some input on the following questions, because I’m getting numerous opinions from the folks I ask locally. Question 1: If I hit range balls with my persimmons am I risking breaking them? Question 2: I have 2 drivers I just love, should I not practice with them?
Played the first medal of the year yesterday, was quite happy to get in with a 79 considering how many 3 putts I had. I have to admit, it was pretty hard to keep the faith seeing my playing partners hit wedges and 9 irons when I had just hit in a 4 or 5 iron. Went out for a few holes before dark tonight with my flat velocity stick and I could feel my swing turn into a slash from the top within just a few holes. The quest goes on for that perfect driver.
Gotta love persimmon golf Up early today for a few holes before work with just early morning mist and the forest deer for company. Beautiful sunny morning. Come to the 10th an uphill par 3 with the flag at the back of a two tier green. Playing off the comp tees for fun so this was playing about 225 yards. A chance to hit a beautiful lagified Titleist 3 wood that NRG had made up for me - see pics. Lucky enough to absolutely middle it and it pitches just before the slope in the middle of the green, skips up to the top level and you can see the track in the morning dew that it didn’t miss by too much. I only post this to share the joy of the persimmon game, it really is so much more fun for me. 
I type this half watching the PGA Tour event in Las Vegas on the tv. I have to be honest and I am finding it a pretty boring watch.
Sweet AA…that sounds like a magic moment. Love the pic of the ball track in the dew.
You clearly pushed it.
Nice shot AA!
Tell us you did make the putt coming back right? With the good read you got from the dew!
The honest truth is that I don’t remember 
I suspect that I would remember if I had putted it whatever the outcome so I probably just picked it up as I was having I was having a bit of a transcendental moment with the beauty of the shot and the scene 
Either that or I was chased off by the greens crew for being out there before they had done their early morning rounds 
I was going to ask if you made your par Arnie. 
Anyway, I just had to get this off my chest. I’ve worked on flattening persimmons for a number of students now. I won’t give any names, but I was told earlier this year that a student had shot a 74 using “my” clubs, which made me very happy. Then another student told us a month or so ago (in the mod 1 forum i think) that he had shot a 75. Today I received an email from another student who shot a 78 with his first round using his flattened persimmons and Lag spec blades, which is very respectable for a first round out. My best round of the year was a 72 on a course I find really tough (Hexham GC).
I’m not sure if any of these scores were PBs, but to quote Arnie from earlier in this thread
That 3 wood you made for Arnie looks amazing, NRG! You’ve clearly become a bit of an expert.
Arnie - great shot, although I do believe the track in the dew is a photoshop job. 