Saturday Night Mailbag

Good evening everyone and thanks for stopping by. I thought I'd dip into the ol' SirShanksAlot mailbag and answer some reader questions. Tonight we'll talk a bit about lie angles, flying elbows and font colors…First email comes from Tim… Is there a good drill that will help me keep my right elbow closer to my …

Good evening everyone and thanks for stopping by. I thought I'd dip into the ol' SirShanksAlot mailbag and answer some reader questions. Tonight we'll talk a bit about lie angles, flying elbows and font colors…ImageFirst email comes from Tim…

Is there a good drill that will help me keep my right elbow closer to my body?? I have a problem coming over the top on shots and just shooting the ball straight right. Please help!!!

There are lots of different things you can do to help cure this common problem. Probably the easiest and most effective is to simply tuck a towel or headcover under your right arm near your armpit. Focus on holding the item in place and take a swing. If your elbow strays, the object will fall out. Try hitting a few shots like this and then try a few without the object. Need some additional help? Try the Golf Drill Guru's "Flying Elbow Fix ". Let us know if you get it straightened out!

Next is an email that we've seen a few times over the past month…

Is there any way you can darken the website font? I find it tough to read.

You may have noticed that I've darkened the font in recent weeks. One problem… the color of embedded links has changed too. I've been working in the backend but so far I haven't been able to fix the problem. I'll figure it out eventually… I hope.

The next question comes from Scott via our comments section…

I'm about to embark on looking for new irons myself. A couple of questions though:

I'm on the short side (5'4") and was wondering what do I need to take into account to get the proper clubs? I'm worried that hitting the stock irons at the store may not be a fair representation of what a shorter shaft or different lie angle may give me.

What clubs should I concentrate on testing? I play between a 12 and 15 handicap with a high ball flight and want more consistency from my irons. Right now if I miss with my irons it is usually a slight draw left.

Thanks for the questions Scott. I recommend everyone gets fit for clubs, regardless of their height. A proper fitting will go through everything… and shaft length and club lie should be near the top of the list. These two factors go hand in hand and a dynamic fitting will better explain this.

A dynamic fitting involves the golfer being fitted while swinging rather than simply having their measurements taken. The fitter will put some tape on the bottom of a mid iron and get you to hit a few balls off a board. The tape will begin to wear down at the point where the sole hits the ground. You want this mark to be in the middle of the club. If it's towards the toe, the club is too flat. If it's towards the heel (which will probably be the case with you assuming the club is standard length), the club is too upright.

We can adjust the club in a couple of ways…. we can change the length of the club or we can bend the club. You might find in your case that shortening the club will bring the mark closer to middle. It may also make the club a bit more comfortable for you to swing. Try this test with a few different irons and then have the set adjusted accordingly. The fact that you miss to the left leads me to believe that your clubs are coming through in a "toe up" position. This causes the loft of the club to work against you… leading to shots that go to the left. Next time that you're on the range, try choking down on a few irons. This should help get you closer to the ball and bring the toe down. Your shots should go straighter.  

That's all for tonight. We've got a few more in the mailbox that I'll answer via email. If you've got a question, drop us a line! Talk to you later…