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The biggest distance gap of all my irons is sand wedge to pitching wedge. How can I maximise distance with a sand wedge. From Golfbug

A very good question! Sometimes you are better off making a half swing with your pitching wedge rather than hitting a full sand wedge. With sand irons people tend to flick through impact which adds loft, ie the club overtakes the hands, but why this happens more with a sand iron than a pitching wedge I don't know, other than the "bounce" of the club.

Also, the biggest distance gap in irons has traditionally been from the pitching wedge, which is usually 48 degrees, to the sand wedge, normally 56 degrees. So one way to plug this is to buy a gap wedge.

How do I slow my swing down? When I try, I lose distance and when I return to normal my shots fade right. From Heworth1

The reason it fades to the right is nothing to do with swing speed - the club's obviously open and hitting it harder just imparts more spin.

There are lots of gimmicks to slow it down, such as counting to yourself, which I'm not a big fan of. I would look at your balance. You want to swing as quick as you can, so keep the swing speed there but look at squaring the club face. Slowing it down to stop the slice isn't the right way around it. Stop the slice but keep the speed.
Tiger Woods leans into a drive at the BMW Championship

How do I create "lag" to gain more distance? From VanderHelst

Lag - or a late hit as it used to be known - is a consequence of doing other things right, so if you are using your body efficiently lag will happen.

If you use your body inefficiently you tend to cast the golf club (uncocking the wrists too early in the downswing). Lag comes from having good control with your legs and upper body and creating a good coil. There are lots of exercises - such as trying to keep the butt of the club looking at the ball - but they're not really going to work because if the body is the cause you can stand there all year and it won't make a difference. It's the efficiency of the body coil that leads to better lag.

How do you get full distance with your wedges and ensure they don't go skywards? From Paul_Atkinson83

You've got to look at the amount of loft you are putting on at impact, ie the angle of the shaft at impact. If you've got the clubhead approaching the ball before your hands the ball will go skywards. If the hands are leading the clubhead in, then you'll get better distance.

When playing in wet conditions I usually hit my approach shots "fat". Why? FromChrisGorton

It's not the conditions that cause you to hit it fat. The wet conditions just aren't allowing for your faults. When it's dry the club bounces and you can get away with it. The angle of attack is obviously steep. If you are hitting it fat either the path is too much from the inside as you approach the ball or your weight is not transferring from your right side. The club is hitting the ground before the ball and the low point of the arc is then too far back in the swing and you are releasing the club early. So you need to look at the angle of attack and swing path more than just moving the ball forward.

I don't strike the ball cleanly enough and find that I tend to cut/slice/shank. When I try to stand further away I end up hitting off the toe. From bowlhead1984

I would say balance is an issue. Maybe your weight is moving onto your toes as you swing through. The clubface is obviously open because you are getting a slice so the first thing to look at is your grip, but I would check your balance and try to stay on the balls of your feet.

What advice do you give Ross on compiling his schedule when so many big events create conflicts for all but the most disciplined pros? From Kwiniaskagolfer

Ross makes his own schedule and builds everything around the majors as they are the biggest. Padraig Harrington, for instance, likes to play two events leading up to a major so he builds his season that way. There's always a temptation to play lots of events for various reasons but my advice is to concentrate on the majors. The World Golf Championship events fit quite nicely around them.

I'm trying to restrict my hip turn. Do you have any drills I could try? From act383

One way to get the feeling would be to get someone to hold a club across your knee caps and as you swing back, just keep your knees on the shaft so you can't turn too far. That will create the feeling - although it's an extreme feeling, and not exactly what will happen - of how the lower body should stay still.

Something I never see covered in the magazine is how to actually make swing changes. Also, how much can a person change their swing and how much is just natural swing DNA? From WakeyTiger

First of all you've got to find out if you are a visual player, therefore video will help a lot, are you a kinesthetic or feel player, ie drills will help, or a verbal person who wants to hear about it and will digest it that way.

Most people are visual learners - having a look at it helps explain what you're doing so the brain can digest it. It changes what you feel you're doing into what you actually are doing.

If you're a physical learner, you need to find the right drill that works for you. There's maybe 100 different drills to correct each fault. There is no way of testing other than trial and error. In a lesson a pro will assess what type of learner you are and try different things to see what works.

If you don't see any improvement, look at how you are learning, maybe it's not the right way for you.

There's always going to be natural characteristics but people certainly can change their golf swings a huge amount. Nick Faldo's swing changed massively when he underwent his revamp but the amount of effort he put in was huge. It does take time, practice and working on the right things in the right way. A good coach should be able to find out best way for you to learn.

I am having difficulty finding a consistent swing plane. Are there any drills to groove a feeling of being in the correct position at the top of the back swing? From Sir_duff_alot

A very good practice aid is the Explanar which helps with your swing plane. As far as drills go, what's often good is the pre-set drill where you cock your wrists at the start of the swing. Keeping your legs nice and stable, then just turn your shoulders. That's a good exercise to get you into a good position at the top of the backswing.

How often would you recommend a single figure amateur have a session with a pro to check and monitor their swing? From PhilCasey

That's a very good question actually because a lot of people assume the more lessons you have the better you will get. But you can be overcoached, too. The purpose of a lesson is to train your golf swing to go and play golf. A lot of people get into the routine of just becoming good range players - hitting lots of balls on the range and working on technique - and when they get on the course they've lost the ability to play.

For a good player I would say two to three times a month then maybe once a month after that. If you're really serious, maybe see him for an hour a week for a month and then revaluate. It's a very individual thing. As much as you can see somebody too much you can see them too little.

I hit my irons OK but I am hopeless with my driver. Is there something different about playing with woods? From illustriousgandalf

In general, if you are good with irons you've probably got quite a steep angle of attack. With woods that's no good. So you may want to look at shallowing out the angle of attack and making a more rounded swing than a steep up and down golf swing.

In recent years my handicap has gone up from 8-12 and I think the biggest factor is my dwindling enthusiasm and motivation to practice. Have you got any tips to freshen up my approach to practice? From A_Swan_o_Mia

Look at the way in which you practice. If you're just hitting balls at a target you will get bored. Set some challenges or create some games - maybe put a circle of tees around a hole and practice chipping into it, or put a length of rope in a circle on the practice ground and hit into that, rather than just hitting balls aimlessly at a flag.