How to stop pushing the ball

[Mr_Change]

Re: How to stop pushing the ball

I had a major problem with my driver where I always pushed the ball, (blocks I call it) What was happening I was always starting my swing with my hips only and the club was being left behind my body. To fix the problem I now start my down swing using by left tricept muscles and pull the club down.

I sort of have this feeling in my swing now where my left side starts the swing with a pulling feeling and I complete the swing with my right side pushing through the impact area. The results more of a draw and longer shot. hehehe I can now aim to the right side of the fairway instead of the fairway left of the one I'm on.

[AlanN]

Re: How to stop pushing the ball

I don't know whether this will help as I'm moving into another area, viz a viz blocking. The points which I raise are somewhat different to those that have been covered previously.

I suffer from this quite frequently. According to my instructor, the cause, in my case, is that, sometimes, I fail to make a proper shoulder turn. The arms and hands don't have time to get into the correct position for impact. This is further compounded by a tendency to get slightly ahead ahead of the ball coming into impact. Hence the block out to the left (in my case being a leftie).

Any comments on this would be welcome.

Thanks

[mainstream]

Re: How to stop pushing the ball

I don't know whether this will help as I'm moving into another area, viz a viz blocking. The points which I raise are somewhat different to those that have been covered previously.

I suffer from this quite frequently. According to my instructor, the cause, in my case, is that, sometimes, I fail to make a proper shoulder turn. The arms and hands don't have time to get into the correct position for impact. This is further compounded by a tendency to get slightly ahead ahead of the ball coming into impact. Hence the block out to the left (in my case being a leftie).

Any comments on this would be welcome.

Thanks

I have this problem with my driver from time to time. In fact, my bad shots with the driver are either the block fade, or a swooping hook that starts out to the right and hooks back 10 - 15 yards left of the intended target. When I hit it well I have a nice little draw that starts out just right of the target line and comes back to end where I intended it to.

I feel that both of these shots are due to speed of rotation in the upper body. Either I'm slow in the upper body (block) or I'm fast (hook). One thing that I've tried to work on is keeping my line of sight (angle) with respect to the ball (at address) relatively consistent throughout the swing. I want my body/swing to rotate around my head. Also, I have to make sure that I don't grip the club to tightly.

As a poster mentioned, the root cause of the block has to be an improper swing path. For me, this usually means that I haven't got through the shot for one reason or another. The main culprits are:

• tight grip (not releasing - which messes with your wrists' natural motion at impact)
• sliding
• intentionally trying to change the swing path for a desired shot (eg. ball start to right and draw to avoid object in flight path) and doing either #1 or #2 above.

What usually helps is proper grip pressure (should feel like holding warm butter or a baby bird), the angle of sight at address thing mentioned above (to stop sliding), and of course, tempo.

I work on my tempo by hitting full swing shots with my feet together. The trick is to not lose your balance. You will be amazed that you don't lose a lot of distance because it forces you to swing smoothly and you end up hitting it on the screws most of the time.