Help with severe slice.

LCgonnakillme

Hey guys, long long time lurker first time poster on this board.

I was playing golf with two friends of mine yesterday and I was back to my usual tricks. I'm not familiar with how far I was striking the ball yesterday but lets just say I could hit it 300 yards (I can't :rolleyes:) I'd say it goes 140 straight and then 170 right. In other words I say I lose 50-60% percent of my distance on my drive, I end up either out of bounds or two fairways across the course which is so embarrassing. And that's just my drive and fairway woods.

With my irons the ball just cuts straight to the right- as in it won't/rarely changes direction once it takes flight. My two friends were giving me advice all day looking to see what was causing it but nothing really worked

I decided to post up here to see if anyone has any idea's of what I can do in my own time to correct it. I felt like I was wasting they're time yesterday as they were both playing blinders. I know this is probably incredibly hard as you can't see my swing, but i thought I'd put it out there to you guys.

WH BONNEY

Rather than getting advice on here, some of which will be good and some bad, why dont you just book a leeson with a local PGA Pro.

For an hours tuition (probably cost €50) you will get sound advice. The Pro shold give you a few things to work on and off you go.

I really think you are just going to tie yourself up in knots by taking advice from various people.

LuckyGent88

WH BONNEY wrote: »

Rather than getting advice on here, some of which will be good and some bad, why dont you just book a leeson with a local PGA Pro.

For an hours tuition (probably cost €50) you will get sound advice. The Pro shold give you a few things to work on and off you go.

I really think you are just going to tie yourself up in knots by taking advice from various people.

I'd agree with you there WH Bonney. By the sound of how bad the slice is for the OP, he will need expert tuition because there must be a number of things wrong with both his set up and swing that is leading to as severe a slice as he has implied.

One of the main reasons for a slice or block i find is just my timing, where my body starts the downswing faster than my club and therefore gets stuck behind me which means the clubface will be open which lets the ball go right.

stockdam

It's very hard to slice if you get your setup correct. Ask a pro to teach you to draw the ball and your slice will be a thing of the past.

d2ww

+1 on bonney's post, but as someone who hits the odd wild one myself, I find that the real banana slices are due to me forgetting to use my arms through the ball, because I'm focusing too much on all the other stuff beforehand. Leadbetter suggests following through to a textbook finish with hands behind your head, hips facing target etc. The logic being, I presume, that you can't have a nice looking finish without all the earlier stuff being right.
Anyway, try to get the sensation of hitting the ball more with your arms.
My 2c, for what it's worth.

mr.mickels

Rather than simply tell you to go to a pro, which I assume is not the answer you are looking for here I will attempt to offer thoughts that might make some improvements, but without seeing the swing we can only guess. However many golfers suffer the same swing setup problems. There are any number of reasons for chronic slicing, but most problems in golf can be down to the first 3 roles in golf, Grip, Setup/Address position, and thirdly the initial takeaway. Even minor problems in these areas cause serious problems because you will never reach a good position at the top of the backswing if these are not 100%. And when these are even slightly off the body and hands (unconsciously) are then trying to make adjustments to the clubface on the downswing, but as the club is simply moving too fast on the downswing such adjustments rarely hit a straight shot, hence alot of inconsistency.

Paying attention to the grip is not just at address when you hold the club, that is a mistake most improvers make, they don't realise how important a good grip is, it is crucial, but they also don't realise a good grip means a good grip at impact, NOT just at address. Watch many of the poorer golfers, paying attention to their hands and you will see after griping the club and addressing ball they will then go to change their grip without realising and often more than once perhaps accompanied by waggling the club and moving their weight from foot to foot like some sort of dancee, usually turning their left hand clockwise displaying more knuckles before actually starting the swing. And if they don't change the grip at address they often do it at the top of the backswing/start of the downswing when they feel the weight of the club pulling against their directional change. It is crucial you hold a good grip at this point, a collapsing of the wrist and/or bending of the left elbow can be an indicator of a slight grip change in an effort to get more comfortable at the top of the swing,watch out for this, a cure for this is to make loads of swings with a very tight grip, far tighter than usual, and don't go back to a lighter grip until you have trained yourself to pay attention not to lose the grip at the top of the backswing, try a tighter grip for a few weeks, its only temporary but you will feel the benefits, obviously this is better at the range than on the course. Losing the grip at the start of the downswing causes MANY wild shots in golf, both slices and hooks as the body is trying to manipulate the clubhead on the downswing to get back to square. Keep a good grip throughout the whole swing, the most important point in all of golf, many improvers ignore this thinking its boring and imagine some magic move on the downswing will hit a good shot. You will hear the Pro's and all golf instructors hammer home this point on the grip cos its the most important and often the least considered, and they do mean holding the grip all the way through the swing. Pay attention to the grip and you have taken the biggest step to consistently straight shots.

Next one is the setup, this is best done at the range too, just put clubs or bamboo sticks or whatever across your toe line to make sure they are parallel to the target, make sure the club is actually aimed where you think it is, and the next big one is the hips, don't leave them open to the target line. Most golfers go through a period where they imagine they are aiming straight but are quite a distance off, so pay good attention to training yourself to aim on target and stand square to the ball.

The takeaway is the 3rd, if this is wrong it leads to a whole host of errors. It must be smooth and on the correct path which is a little inside the target line, NOT square to the target line. Trying to take the club back in a straight line causes many slices, or trying to take it too far inside is a big problem too. An excellent drill for the takeaway is the strap drill, and can be done on your lawn at home or anywhere you can swing a club, you don't ever need to hit a ball to work alot on the grip/address and takeaway, and these are the keys to hitting straight shots. Get a simple belt or strap, tie it around your right arm and your chest so the right arm is now tied to the body and the left arm is free. Now take the grip and address position and make lots of swings of the club, you won't be able to swing very far cos of the belt, but if you pay attention to a good shoulder turn you will swing the club back farther, and try to swing down reasonably hard through the ball. Its better if you can actually hit some balls this way, but just make loads of swings. Also try to brush the club along the grass as you start the takeaway so you don't lift the club too steeply. This drill is great for keeping your right elbow closer to the body, a big cause of slices. Now remove the strap and make some full swings, and you should feel a much smoother takeaway that is started and controlled by the shoulders moving in sync with a straight left arm, this alone should help alot.
When you reach the top of the backswing think of starting the downswing with a slight lateral movement of the left hip, and a simultaneous rotation of the left shoulder 90degrees to your spine (not 90 degrees to the ground), while preventing your head moving to the left until after impact. Do this and you will be hitting it straight. And when you get good at it, you will find that by increasing the hip/shoulder turn at the start of the downswing you will also add distance without having to hit it harder with your arms.
Anyhow I would say the takeaway is the most important to work on. Also when you start the downswing check that your weight hasn't moved forward to your toes, another cause of the sliced shot. Even minor adjustments can have a major impact on the direction the ball travels.

dvemail

Best thing to do probably would be go see a pro.

But when i slice the ball it usually is because on my down swing im going from
outside to inside. So to stop the slice i try to almost push the ball to the right
(bringing the club more in to out) which helps me to keep the club more on plane.

Garda S Horgan

Go onto you-tube.
There are a gazillion videos from pros in the US on why you are slicing and how to correct it.
I would look at that first before spending 50 quid on a lesson where they will ask you to take a 9-iron and then try and get you to have a new swing etc etc and you end up needing 5 more lessons.
You tube is your only man if you need to know why you're doing what your doing. Chances are that you know yourself what way you are setting up, gripping the club, aiming feet and shoulders etc etc..

Yours in cheap ways first,
GSH.

mr.mickels

Garda S Horgan wrote: »

Chances are that you know yourself what way you are setting up, gripping the club, aiming feet and shoulders etc etc..

I would very much disagree with that and is the reason so few players are playing off low handicaps. What the majority of golfers think they are doing and what they are actually doing is usually different.

Garda S Horgan

mr.mickels wrote: »

I would very much disagree with that and is the reason so few players are playing off low handicaps. What the majority of golfers think they are doing and what they are actually doing is usually different.

I guess what I'm trying to say is:
A player knows the way he is gripping his club. He can see it. A player knows how he is taking the club back as he can see that. He can also tell which way his feet are pointing and which way his shoulders are pointing.
The problem is that players know this but don't know if it's wrong or not.
Anyone hitting slice after slice knows they are doing something wrong and they know their setup as they can see it but they may not know that their setup is wrong.
I used to move the ball left to right and then I used different online tips and started moving it right to left and now it's ok to do either.
My biggest issue was my grip. I thought I was gripping the club right but I wasn't. When I saw the videos online on how to grip the club it took me 6 months to get used to it.
Thats why I suggested going online. Of course, having video of your swing is very good too and you can compare that against the videos.
It's just my option though.

Yours etc,
GSH.

alxmorgan

One thing you can try with the driver at least is to stand further away from the ball. That'll flatten your swing plane.

One thing you should not do is start to aim further left to sort it - it will only make it worse (its ok to aim a bit left when you have a controllable fade but a banana slice no)

Give it a try

Fourcandle

I developed a similar problem, tried everything and anything to cure it, nothing worked. Drove myself mad in both senses, eventually went to a pro and immediately regretted not doing it sooner as it took him 2 minutes to spot the problem and come up with the solution but took me weeks to undo the rubbish.

Advice: Get to a pro asap!

ssbob

I had the exact same slice this time last year and got four lessons to put a draw on my drives instead, it's been hard work but well worth it, 4 lessons only cost me €100.

Areas that the pro changed were:

1. Where I was aiming
2. My grip slightly(stronger left hand)
3. Flattening my swing
4. Keeping my body still as I had a tendency to throw my body into the ball
5. When following through, over emphasising keeping my head down which forced me to throw my hands through the ball.

I am not saying this will fix your problem but it certainly helped me.

3qsmavrod5twfe

Echo what pretty much everyone has said so far, to see a pro.

That aside, it sounds to me what you are describing is a result of an open club-face at impact as opposed to an out to in swing, which could be a product of several different things. This I know from bitter, bitter experience

I guess start with the basics and get those right

Grip - Do you have a weak grip? Are you hands more inclined to be on top of the club? Try and take them to a more neutral position.

Posture - Are you leaning to the left? Is your weight on the balls of your feet? Is your back straight or are you slumped over the ball? Are your arms straight (but relaxed) at address?

Address - Is the ball in the correct position in your stance? Too far back and impact could be too soon in the swing before the club is squared
Also is the clubface square at address?

Others could be

Rotation - Is your head moving off the ball/ are your hips sliding during your back swing? Try to focus more on rotation as opposed to lateral movement

Starting the downswing too soon - Are you starting the down swing before you have completed the back swing. This will cause your shoulders to be open at impact which you will compensate for by leaving the clubface open

Release - Are you releasing the clubface? Try to feel your right hand come over your left at the end of the swing (assuming you are right handed like all normal people )

Could be a lot of things. You could spend weeks trying to figure this one out on your own and you might get something that works. The only problem is it could be a couple of errors cancelling each other out which will impact the distance and accuracy you will be able to achieve and giving further bad habits. Or you could get a few mins with a pro and a couple of sessions at the range to bed it in and try to get it right - I'd go with the pro route.

Best of luck

henrycellers

try the cobra lv5 driver set to 1 degree closed happy days mate

DamienOB

Just make a friend with someone off 2 and get free lessons off him, thats what i did! Well he was my friend before been off 2, im not heartless

stockdam

henrycellers wrote: »

try the cobra lv5 driver set to 1 degree closed happy days mate

Better to sort out your swing and be able to move the ball either way.....then you can say goodbye to those awful "draw biased" drivers.

MiniGolf

Just had a look at these two videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ9EkXqwsyg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj_8f_ATA04&feature=player_detailpage

If you can filter out the bull at the beginning he makes a lot of sense!!