Driving tips!

Obrieski

Does anyone have any advice on how to stop the ball curling dramatically to the right when in midair after hitting it with a driver?

By dramatically, I mean if the fairway was 50 yards wide and the ball was heading down the left hand side, it could curl the whole way across to the other side of the fairway and more often than not into the rough. This means I always have to aim left which isn't always a good idea.

I also feel it takes serious distance off my drives as they are always looking good and then in the second half of their flight the ball starts to curl and this distance could be more beneficial to me if it was still going straight-ish!

I'm a high handicapper but on the odd occasion my drive doesn go straight it is as long as anyone I play with, I am not often beaten for distance but without the curl it might help me a bit. Sometimes it happens as well with long irons.

Anyway any good players out there that can give a young upstart like me any advice I would appreciate it!:rolleyes:

blackwhite

I've had a similar problem for a while, but took a few lesson lately that have started to rectify the problem.
Slices are usually caused by an "out-to-in" swing, and the key is to try to straighten up your swing plane.
What happened with me was, in trying to overcorrect my slice/fade, I was unwittingly aiming my shoulders to the left of the fairway, opening my posture still further and creating an even greater "out-to-in" swing.
Try moving your shoulders clockwise before your address, so that the line of your shoulders is parallel to the line of your feet, and ensure that your shoulders are aiming at the target. It worked quite well for me, now usually have a managable 10-15 yards fade instead of a high 30-50 yards.

0161allin

Obrieski wrote: »

Does anyone have any advice on how to stop the ball curling dramatically to the right when in midair after hitting it with a driver?

By dramatically, I mean if the fairway was 50 yards wide and the ball was heading down the left hand side, it could curl the whole way across to the other side of the fairway and more often than not into the rough. This means I always have to aim left which isn't always a good idea.

I also feel it takes serious distance off my drives as they are always looking good and then in the second half of their flight the ball starts to curl and this distance could be more beneficial to me if it was still going straight-ish!

I'm a high handicapper but on the odd occasion my drive doesn go straight it is as long as anyone I play with, I am not often beaten for distance but without the curl it might help me a bit. Sometimes it happens as well with long irons.

Anyway any good players out there that can give a young upstart like me any advice I would appreciate it!:rolleyes:

First of all its a Slice, the less loft on the club the more slice, thats why its not as bad with the short irons..First thing you might wanna check is your grip,its v important, the second is your posture is everything square when at the ball at address from your feet,hips and shoulders and is the club head square your body lines should all be parralel, to the line of your intended target, mostly your shoulders could be open at adrress as in lined up to the left,fairly common problem..Then your swing path,its prob coming from an out to in path which would also cause the problem with the slice, a good thing to practise is with the h/cover of your driver,just in front of the ball and slightly back and try swing the club from an in to out path with out hitting the h/cover might be best maybe to practise on the range with maybe a 7 iron for this till you get used to it. There is plenty other things i could add are you turning the club head over after impact,eg turning your right hand over your left.. Best piece of advice i can give you mate is go get a lesson from a pro from 30e upwards, it will pay off in no time and the best thing you can do your game will improve ten fold with it and some practise..

newport2

Obrieski wrote: »

Does anyone have any advice on how to stop the ball curling dramatically to the right when in midair after hitting it with a driver?

By dramatically, I mean if the fairway was 50 yards wide and the ball was heading down the left hand side, it could curl the whole way across to the other side of the fairway and more often than not into the rough. This means I always have to aim left which isn't always a good idea.

I also feel it takes serious distance off my drives as they are always looking good and then in the second half of their flight the ball starts to curl and this distance could be more beneficial to me if it was still going straight-ish!

I'm a high handicapper but on the odd occasion my drive doesn go straight it is as long as anyone I play with, I am not often beaten for distance but without the curl it might help me a bit. Sometimes it happens as well with long irons.

Anyway any good players out there that can give a young upstart like me any advice I would appreciate it!:rolleyes:

What BlackWhite has said above is true. The further left you aim, probably the more you're going to open your shoulders and the more you're going to slice it. You should get a lesson from a pro, there's lots of reasons this happens, swingplane, grip, not releasing, etc. Any good pro should be able to diagnose your problem in a few minutes and give you stuff to work on to overcome it.

One tip that Harrington gave is when you're working on this is to go to the driving range, except use the bay that if furthest to the left. This means you can't aim further left to compensate and hence worsen the issue, otherwise you'll hit the fence.

What type of balls do you use? If it's a high spinning one like a prov1, then move to a lower spin one while you're trying to sort this out. The more side-spin you get, the worse the slice will be.

It's not a permanent fix by any means, but a more lofted driver would probably help you too, if you've got one that you're not currently using. The more backspin you put on the ball, the less effect the side spin that's causing you to slice will have.

mike12

Another common reason for it is casting the club where from the top of the back swing your first movement is to throw hands and arms forward, the only go it can go from there is out to in, utube might be a place to look for a few videos but in the long run only going to see a pro will correct the fault.
Mike

GreeBo

Once you have had your grip checked (or check it yourself in a mirror) and its ok its either a swing plane or an alignment issue between your feet and shoulders/swing path.

Again you can check the setup in a mirror or with a straight edge on the ground.

If all your setup is ok then its purely a swing plane issue.

To solve this try to swing a draw.
This means taking the club inside on the way back and swinging out to the right

Imaging a line on the ground, parallel to your feet running through the ball. You want to feel like you are swinging back on your side of the line, then back down (on the same path), through the ball and out on the opposite of the line.

If you are doing it correctly (and the rest of your setup is ok) the ball will start right of your target and move right to left. (if the problem was/is with your grip the ball will start right and head further right)

mike12

Another common reason for it is casting the club where from the top of the back swing your first movement is to throw hands and arms forward, the only go it can go from there is out to in, utube might be a place to look for a few videos but in the long run only going to see a pro will correct the fault.
Mike