Need help correcting my swing!!!

[snoopdoug]

About 60% of the time when i am hitting an iron (especially my short irons) they start off going straight but then hook to the left.. What can i do to fix this? Then when i hit my driver or 3 wood its the opposite.. Start off straight but go way right! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated..
Thanks,
Doug

[rotator]

Re: Need help correcting my swing!!!

Hi snoopdoug,

It's important to know if the balls really start straight ahead, or if they start left although straight and go further left, and if they start right although straight and go further right. This may give an indication what the paths of the swings are. It would help if you would answer this.

The flight of the ball tells you what the errors are. The hooks to the left with the short irons might indicate you are closing the face, and the driver shots which slice might indicate those swings are with the face open.

Here's the Ball Flight Laws:

http://www.buddyallingolf.com/images...FlightLaws.pdf

Ted

[GregJWillis]

Re: Need help correcting my swing!!!

Start by making sure your shaft flexes and lengths are consistent. Nothing worse then trying to change your swing around your equipment.

[snoopdoug]

Re: Need help correcting my swing!!!

Ted,
To answer your question, my iron shots i guess would be considered more of a pull than a hook. Like you said they seem to start out a little left although straight and go further left as the ball carries. I have noticed that on these shots i kinda have the outside-in swing path sometimes. As for my driver/3wood, about 30% its more like a fade shot and the rest of the time (except for the straight shots of course) its more like push slice with an inside out path. I always try to keep the clubface as square as possible to my target line. I hope that this helps.

Doug

[snoopdoug]

Re: Need help correcting my swing!!!

Greg,
From what i have been told i think that my clubs are of the right length but maybe not the right flex. I am about 5'8" tall and my wrist to floor is about 34". My driver has mid'flex low torque graphite shaft 460cc titanium head about 45" long,3 wood same shaft 44", 3iw same shaft 41 1/2", 4iw same shaft 40 1/2", my irons 5i (39") thru SW(36 1/2") all steel half inch difference between each iron. Hope that helps....

Doug

[rotator]

Re: Need help correcting my swing!!!

Hi snoopdoug,

It's what I suspected, I think you have an over the top path, which with the short clubs, if you come in with the face square it will result in a pull, or if you have the face closed, the result would be a pull hook. With the longer woods, the same OTT path, depending on the face being square or open, will result in a push slice or slice.

You can check for OTT, by placing a shoebox or your headcover about 3" outside of the ball and taking swings. Use a 8 iron teed up slightly. If you have the OTT, there are different drills to work on that.

If you can hit balls, without hitting the shoebox or headcover, the ball should go reasonably straight. If the ball is still hooking or slicing badly, it will then likely be the face angle, which may be grip or improper arm and wrist movements problem.

Let's see what happens.

Ted

[snoopdoug]

Re: Need help correcting my swing!!!

Ted,

I'll try that out tomorrow assuming the rain holds off. If i am still pulling it without hitting the headcover should i try to open the face up a little with my irons? Can the over the top path result in alot of topped balls (or worm-burners) or is that just a term to describe a certain type of swing? I played 9 the other day with a guy i'd never played with before and he noticed that i was slicing alot of my drives and he said that on my grip if i rotated my left hand slightly clockwise (while keeping my thumbs in line) until i could see two of my knuckles i could straighten my drives out. And what do ya know on my next drive i hit it almost dead straight! I was just wondering if you had heard of this or if it was just by shear luck that it helped me?

Thanks,
Doug

[rotator]

Re: Need help correcting my swing!!!

Ted,

I'll try that out tomorrow assuming the rain holds off. If i am still pulling it without hitting the headcover should i try to open the face up a little with my irons? Can the over the top path result in alot of topped balls (or worm-burners) or is that just a term to describe a certain type of swing? I played 9 the other day with a guy i'd never played with before and he noticed that i was slicing alot of my drives and he said that on my grip if i rotated my left hand slightly clockwise (while keeping my thumbs in line) until i could see two of my knuckles i could straighten my drives out. And what do ya know on my next drive i hit it almost dead straight! I was just wondering if you had heard of this or if it was just by shear luck that it helped me?

Thanks,
Doug

Hi Doug,

Try the headcover thing, but I'm wondering if you might already know. Do you take big divots with the irons, and regardless of the size, are the divots mainly in line with the target or do they cut from right to left? Do you top balls or hit wormburners? OTT is the swing where your right shoulder comes up and around, your right elbow separates from the body, on the downswing, basically making the club cut from outside to in and very steep.

Not sheer luck. The grip you describe is a strong grip and would help fix a slice. When the hands are turned under like that, when you come through the impact, the hands will have a tendency to roll over and close the face. As you know, the slice comes from an open face, usually accompanied by an out to in swing. When the face is closed, the out to in path will cause the pull.

I'd be interested to find out about the path first, then as I said we were going to look at grip, etc.

I have a game tomorrow, so will get back to you later in the day.

Ted

[golfblogger]

Re: Need help correcting my swing!!!

Not sure if this is any good but a few people find it useful

http://vur.me/doublermarketing/The-Simple-Golf-Swing

Let me know what you think

[snoopdoug]

Re: Need help correcting my swing!!!

Ted,

Ok i did the head cover thing and i only hit the headcover once out of about 25 times. About 60% of the time the ball went straight. My iron was still on the outside to in path and the driver was inside to out the rest of the time. I tried closing the clubface on my driver a little bit and it seemed to keep them from slicing really bad. To tell ya the truth i normally dont make divots on my swings and when i do they arent very big and they seem to be relatively straight.

I seem to top the balls with my irons more than anything but i think the reason for that is that i pull my head up on my downswing sometimes.

[rotator]

Re: Need help correcting my swing!!!

Ted,

Ok i did the head cover thing and i only hit the headcover once out of about 25 times. About 60% of the time the ball went straight. My iron was still on the outside to in path and the driver was inside to out the rest of the time. I tried closing the clubface on my driver a little bit and it seemed to keep them from slicing really bad. To tell ya the truth i normally dont make divots on my swings and when i do they arent very big and they seem to be relatively straight.

I seem to top the balls with my irons more than anything but i think the reason for that is that i pull my head up on my downswing sometimes.

Hi Doug,

It was worthwhile doing the coverhead thing. When you say you did not hit the headcover, I'm wondering why you then say your irons are still on the outside to in path. That seems odd, do you not agree? Did you lay the headcover stretched out parallel to the target line? Matter of fact, put most of the length of the headcover to the rear of the ball from the target and angle the headcover, so it would be a real test of your path.
__
target side O l____ headcover angled left to right

After all this, if you are satisfied the path if OK, there may be other problems.

One of the problems could be losing your spine angle and/raising up with your legs.

You say you top the irons also pull the irons to the left. When you lose spine angle and raise up, obviously that could result in topping the ball. You might also come down steep, and the right elbow may release it's bend prematurely and straighten out to reach the ball and save the shot, and the right arm and hand would roll over, closing the face to cause the pulls with the irons. Make a few swings in slow motion to see if this is happening.

With the driver, if the face is open with an in to out swing, which you say you have (which is strange that you have two different paths for irons and for driver???), the result would be a push or a push slice. If the downswing is steep because of loss of spine angle or raising up, not only will the ball go right, the flight will likely be very high (a floater).

When you say 60% of the shots go straight, is that satisfactory to you, or do you still feel you have a problem which has to be fixed? How bad are the 40%?

Ted

[snoopdoug]

Re: Need help correcting my swing!!!

Ted,

I set the head cover parallel to the target line. The outside to in path that i have is not very drastic. But yes it does seem odd. I'll try movin the cover back and do i angle it towards me? Maintaining my spine angle has been somewhat of a problem for me but ive been wroking on it and it seems to be gettin better but i still have a problem sometimes with raising up on my downswing. I'll try the slow motion swing and see what happens.

Yes i do find it strange that i have two different swing paths. No, im not really sastified with the 60% id like to get it up to 80% if i can. The other 40%, at least with my driver, are really bad pull/slices. As for my irons they usually arent that bad just a slight push push/hook(if any hook). I still would like to get those straightened out a bit.

Doug

[rotator]

Re: Need help correcting my swing!!!

Hi Doug,

You would put the head cover so it the front part is about 3 inches away (from you) from the ball, and the length of it is angled so the back part comes towards you about 6" from the front part. That will make you take a path about 3" from in to out to hit the ball and to miss the head cover. You can adjust these distances to max out your test tolerances. If you have one of those headcovers with the bulbous head and the thinner sleeve, put the bulbous head to the front (near the ball).

The reason I'm asking you to put the headcover to the back of the ball and angled is, if there is any out to in path you will hit the headcover. Remember that the club head not hitting the headcover by going over it is cheating. Matter of fact, you could substitute a shoebox, which will be taller, in the same configuration as the headcover. That will create a taller barrier.

"The other 40%, at least with my driver, are really bad pull/slices. As for my irons they usually arent that bad just a slight push push/hook(if any hook)."

This is the first time you mentioned any indication of a pull with your driver. You previously said it was straight then push/slice. This may indicate then that you do not have a in to out swing as you thought, but the same out to in OTT swing as with the irons, do you not agree? With the out to in path and an open club face, the result would be a pull slice, would you not agree? The slice is from the open face at impact, the pull is the starting flight caused by the out to in path.

Also, I don't think you meant the irons are a "slight push push/hook", as you previously said that your irons are pulls and pull hooks. Just a verbal error, I think.

If you read my previous two paragraphs, and they are correct, it does seem that your problems are due to the out to in swing path, as I first indicated. The adjustment of the grip to strong grip compensates somewhat for the spin caused by your otherwise inherent open face, by closing the face. That's why the shots got straighter with that grip adjustment.

Don't forget, that because of the "barriers", you may be making swings which you consciously try to miss them, whereas your normal swings may not be the same. When you do the test, you have to close your mind and make your normal swing, to get the true result. Let the swing fly, as all you will get is hitting the headcover, which is not going to hurt your clubs.

I'm off for a turkey pig out, so catch you later. Have a Happy Easter.

Ted

[snoopdoug]

Re: Need help correcting my swing!!!

Ted,
Sorry for the misunderstanding it is a push with driver pull with irons. I'll try the shoebox but let me just get one thing clear. Does the box go between me and the ball or on the other side of the ball? And when i did it before with the cover i wasnt goin over the top of it. I very well couldve been doin it wrong though so hopefully you can u can clarify it for me on the correct way of doin it. Sorry its a little difficult for me to understand somethin without actually seeing it done.

Thanks Happy Easter,
Doug

[rotator]

Re: Need help correcting my swing!!!

Hi Doug,

It's away from you, as I said in the previous post: "You would put the head cover so it the front part is about 3 inches away (from you) from the ball, and the length of it is angled so the back part comes towards you about 6" from the front part."

That's so, if the club head hits the shoebox, you will know that the swing path is out to in.

I still have trouble with the fact you have two different swing path swings for the irons versus the driver. That does not seem like a good thing for consistency. Also, usually most people have more of a problem in swinging in to out with the longer clubs, like the driver. But, it seems that you are able to swing the driver on that path, I don't see why it would not be easy for you to work on making that same swing with the irons. An inside to out swing is much more of a desirable path for both irons and driver.

Oh well, it would be interesting to see what happens with the shoe box. If you path is OK, it may be the pulling up as I discussed in my earlier post. Let's see.

Regards,

Ted