Flexibility

Question
QUESTION: Hey Stanley.  My schools golf team recently went to a local course and got ourselves on video there, and had the instructors tell us what we needed to work on.  The instructer was amazed at my swing when I told him I had only been playing for 11 months.  He says it takes most people years to get a swing like I had.  He looked over it and talked with me for about 15 minutes, said my setup was great, and my grip was good too.  He said that I needed to not straighten my leg out on my backswing, because I am 14, athletic, and it is not needed.  I was also told that I hindged my wrists too much, which made my back view look like the club went out, then back inside my head again at the end of my backswing.  He explained that both of these result in my body out racing my hands through impact, which results in a push, which is what i had a problem with.  Afterwards, he said that if i worked hard enough, I could have a shot at whatever I wanted to do in golf, which is play on the pga tour.  I am over 6 feet tall, and I practice every day and video myself at home and analyze it, so I think I have the work ethic for it.  What I am getting to is, do you have any drills or something that would help me with my flexibility?  I don't feel like I can turn my upper body enough to get the power that I need in my swing to hit long drives.

Now that I have worked on what the instructor told me to, I notice that when I dont straighten my knee, perfect!  Straight long, and I can work the ball now if needed.  I notice that if I do straighten my knee, push, and if I hinge my wrists too much, slice.  So this says that this really works for me.

I went and played today as well.  Long drives, decent iron shots,(no upper body rotation on some), but I have noticed a huge loss in distance with my wedges.  I was inside 50 yards, and I wasn't even trying a flop shot, just a pitch lob wedge, and it went about 20 yards.  I had the same situation on the next hole (after driving inside 50 yards), and I took a hard full swing.  The ball went sooooo high, but just short.  What has happened to my distance with my short irons and wedges?  This may just be that now I am actually hitting crisp shots, but I will ask you just to make sure.

I had a OK round today.  I hit great drives and iron shots that came close to the green, but my chipping and putting were horrid.  I guess you just have on and off days, but i dont want that.  I want a day where good driving and irons,  along with a good short game will all come together and I will actually shoot a great score.  It just makes me angry when I have a wide open 50 yard shot, and I don't even make the green or when I have a 2 foot putt and i miss it and it goes 10 feet past the hole and thinned chip shots, and I know i can do BETTER!!!!  sorry.  Im going on a tirade.  Please answer as soon as you can.  

Thanks
Garrett

ANSWER: hello and thank you for the question.  it amazes me to hear that you need to improve your flexibility.  NO YOU DO NOT NEED ANYMORE flexiblity.  no, i have not looked at your swing but i sure AS HELL know that you don't need improvement in flexibility.  being 14, 6ft tall, you have all the flexibility in the world to hit good shots.  you may have some hard time rotating your body but you will see pretty soon and feel the slow, gradual improvement in rotating your body.  it all comes in time.  11 months is obivously not much time...  and even if you have the flexibilty, you may have hard time making good turn.  so let time and patience take care of your "problem"  which i don't think exists...  its good to hear that you are working hard at this game and it does sound like you are on the right track to make some great improvement.  being a 14 years old, i believe you have a good amount of time to turn pro.  i found out that high school golf is a good way for young guys like you to improve your game.  so take advantage.  i can tell that you have spent so much time asking this question.  so i can tell that you really are trying to improve and VERY much serious about this game.   and i really do want to answer the questions.  but having played this game for 11 years, my point of view is that your questions are not hitting your real problems.  
this may sound so lame and so not useful.  but please do take my tips into consideration...
be patient.  you HAVE to know that you are NOT going to have many round when your game is living up to your expectation.  not every part of your game is going to be good on a certain day.  its just not going to happen that often.  thats the beauty of GOLF.  is that you struggle so much on the course and you get angry.  you have to try to play the best you can by relying on which part of your game is solid that day.  thats what so fun about golf.  you have to GRIND it out.  as for your chipping...
it is quite normal that your ball flies pretty high.  when it is high to the point where it seems to be unusally high, then you know you need to control your trajectory.  but its also a good sign as it tells me that you are hitting the ball solidly.  just control your trajectory.  you can do this my swinging a little slower.  don't muscle your pitching wedges. thats one good rule to follow.  the lower the ball goes, the more control you have with your wedges as it can get very windy, etc, etc, etc.  my best advice is to stay patient.  you are going to improve without knowing and the best way to learn is and improve is by doing something called, trial and error.  try something different.  if you think you are not swinging through, swing through!  if that doesn't work, try something else by yourself.  i also recommend that you always take lessons from the club every once in awhile to make sure that you are on the right track.  good luck and if you have further questions, just let me know and i will do my best to help you.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks a bunch Stanley.  I am going to a registration thing tommorrow for the POJGA (Pickens-Oconee Junior Golf Association) because I want to play in the tournaments this summer.  My coach said that it was a great way to get experieance in tournament play, so I figured that was reason enough.  Is this a good idea?  Im pretty sure it is, but just double checking.

Thanks
Garrett

Answer
hey garrett.  its a great idea for you to join things like POJGA or in my case, JGANC.  (junior golf association of northern california)  your coach is right when he said its a good idea to play in tournaments as you gain some more insights on competitive golf and gain more experience.  go ahead and do sign up for POJGA.  but you must understand that 11 months might not be enough time to fully prepare for your tournament.  after all, you want to do well right?  so do sign up and practice hard for the tournaments.  i would like to mention that you shouldn't rush things too fast.  you are 14 years old and you have a lot of time to play in tournaments for POJGA. so my answer is, when you think you are ready to go out and play solid golf, pick and play in a tournament.