The Swing Doctor Thread

FrankGrimes

Thought it might be a good idea to have a thread to discuss problems you're having with your swing and get suggestions on what might correct it. It's not a replacement for lessons or practice, but sometimes there might be a bit of advice that can make a difference before you can get to a lesson.

For me, I hit the ball left to right almost every time I use the driver. I've always played a lot of pitch and putt and delibarately used a left to right swing across the ball to get sidespin on it as it worked for me. But now I'm conciously trying not to do that, but my drives always start out looking ok, but then move to the right, which I guess is sidespin. They go pretty far but I need to sort it out.

My mate suggested last night it could be cos I drive with the ball inside the toe of my front foot, so I moved it back to the middle of my body for the last hole and hit it dead straight, but I've tried that before and had the same slice. I'm gonna try and book a lesson for this weekend to try sort it out, but any suggestions are more than welcome.

DIEGO WORST

Of all the publications on slices and hooks I’ve read I think Jack Nicklaus describes it best in his book Golf My Way. Basically the ball moves left to right if the club face is open relative to the swing path. For example, if you and your clubface are aligned perfectly square to the target, but your swing path is slightly outside to in, the ball will move left to right.

A lot of the time the grip is the main source of a slice. If you have too weak a grip, i.e. the Vs of your grip point to your chin (this is called a neutral grip, I think), and your swing path is perfectly straight, for a driver swing it is very difficult to get the club face square at impact with this grip. The club face will be open to the swing path, thus causing your ball to fade or slice.

In your case, it would seem that your swing path is slightly out to in, from your P&P days. You’ll need to see a video of your swing, or get a qualified instructor to look at your swing to sort it out.

For what its worth, the ball position for a driver should be inside the left heel (for a right handed golfer). Have a look at Ernie’s setup http://www.golfdigest.com/flash/swing_seqs/index.ssf?/flash/swing_seqs/els/els.html
It’s inside his left heel for a reason, he wants to catch the ball on the upswing or slightly ascending blow, that’s why the ball is teed so high. Full wedge shots should be hit with a descending blow hence the ball is played back in the stance. I would imagine, putting the ball back in your stance, for a driver, will actually cause more of a slice.

I had a major slice problem earlier this year. My swing path was very flat, very-in to slightly-in, so I should have been hitting draws and hooks. Turns out my grip was too weak. Changed my grip so that the Vs point somewhere between my right ear and my right shoulder, I’m back to hitting draws now.

mox54

www.golfswingpro.ie have a golf simulator that will show you you're swing path in degrees, club face open / closed, club head speed, ball launch speed and much more -

This simulator is very very accurate and it sounds like you're slightly open - it may be in your stance or it may be in your'e grip but whatever it is, this simulator will help you identify the problem and correct it - I've personally seen hooks and slices fixed at this simulator as recently as last weekend in Athlone where it attended Martins Golfworks for 2 days - details on the website -

FrankGrimes

very interesting replies there lads, thanks for that. will take that advice onboard diego and will try hit the range to focus on it before my lesson this weekend.

mox - the simulator sounds class but how much does it cost? Seems like you can only use it an event, can't setup an individual session, is that right?

Am sure there's plenty more swings out there that need a bit of diagnosing

WillyWonka

There's also the golf creche in dundrum where u can set up lessons, etc

johnny_rambo

Hi Frank,

I'll have to side with Harvey Penick on this one.......learn to hit a hook and when you're consistantly hitting it right to left, then fix the hook. It sounds a bit unorthodox but it was the only thing that worked for me. I'm a scratch golfer and had been hitting it left to right for over 3 years. I went to many teachers and none could sort out my swing. I tried Mr. Penick's approach and I was hitting it dead straight in no time. I think his reasoning behind this approach (and I strongly agree) is that its easier to fix a hook than a slice!

mox54

Frank,

This simulator is a class piece of technology - I've seen it first hand fix hooks and slices and it's improved my game, especially my driving - I use a Ping G5 (what a brilliant club) and by playing around with the analysis from the simulator feedback, I'm able to adjust my grip and stance and improve my swing, I can hit them straight now - what a difference!:rolleyes:

You're correct, the simulator mainly attends corporate events but we are more than happy to attend a group event for a day and have the simulator available for tuition or just a bit of fun - we need a space of 10'fthighx16ftlongx10ftwide and we can fit it in snugly and also we are able to do a special rate for hire at private events - pm me if you want to discuss this a bit more.:)