I've had 5 weeks away from the fairways and the range and finally got to play yesterday. I'd planned on a casual round with my low-handicap mate so that if the weather was rubbish we could bail and if the golf was rubbish then I could feel free to express myself through the art of club throwing and expletive hurling.

However, we ended up making a 4 with a couple of other members. Contrary to my fears, though, I mostly played well and drove like a demon (by my standards, that is). My point being that, as discussed elsewhere, the S&T swing seems to enable a player to have a lay-off without having to worry that he or she has lost the timing required of a swing that takes you off the ball. And if anyone continues to suggest it's a less effective swing because it's simpler, I'll take this opportunity to emphasise, yet again, that the S&T swing has enabled me to gain a lot of distance as well as consistency.

So, on to my one and only problem yesterday. Ok, just in case my mate's reading, I had two problems, but one was my complete lack of putting feel and that's not an S&T issue so we'll mention that one no further. However, I also had a lot of trouble with my LW yesterday. I did hit one glorious 50 yard shot, but aside from that was trying to muscle a few shots in from about 75 yards and each time sent the ball rocketing through the air on a low trajectory. In one case I hit behind the ball and moved a large piece of carpet further than the ball. Whoops.

My question is this : do I need to do anything different for the lob wedge ? I'm not sure why I would. After all, my PW and SW went ok. Or is 75 yards a bit too far for a LW ? Maybe I simply tried to hit it too hard ? Setup ? Advice and practice required ....

Slingshot

I tend to swing downwards slightly with my LW and other wedges, instead of the conventional method of scooping the ball. I got sick of doing what you did, ie low tradjectory.

The plus to this swing is i'm farmore accurate, but the downside is less distance. I also find the ball tends to roll alot less than it did before (flop shot) but thats a bonus if the ball lands where you want it to.

I'm not sure that it's conventional to "scoop" the ball, but I think I know what you mean. I've always tried to ensure I get a descendnig blow on the ball as you suggest. It's a bit counter-intuitive when you first start golf, but I remember waaaaay back in my first group lesson and the pro saying "whatever you do, don't think about trying to help the ball up into the air !".

Anyway, as for my LW woes on Wednesday I think I had too steep a downswing, possibly exacerbated by the attempt to hit the ball 75 yards and I strongly suspect that my setup had the ball too far over to my right foot, thus emphasising the steep angle of impact. The final part of the cause of my very low trajectory lies in the need to keep the hands ahead of the club-head at impact (but at least I was hitting them clean !).

Silngshot

1) Make sure you have 75% weight on your left side at address.

2) Make sure you have a good spine angle at address. If you are standing too tall at address the tendency will be to take the club too far to the inside, too flat, and subsequently 'loop' over the top in a downwards chopping motion

3) Don't put the ball TOO FAR back, try just right of center and experiment from there.

Hope that helps.

Thanks James - I think that point 3) might have been my biggest issue ... I'll work on that when I get out next ...

Slingshot