Driver woes, Driver vs 3 wood, ask me slice

Schecter01

Ok mixed opinions, I drive a slice like nobodies business, so im being told to use the 3 wood as its more forgiving, then when im confident move on to the driver, then im being told to work straight on the driver as it will be more frustrating to start with but you will better off in the long run, ive talked to guys who own €600 drivers and habent used them in years only use their 3 wood, but wouldnt the 3 wood give me false confidence as the driver is a different animal?
P.S. any good tips for curing slice is welcome!

celtic_oz

I changed to a mini driver (strong 3 wood) and dropped 2 shots

takes 15-20 yards off drive but rarely miss fairway now

https://www.donedeal.ie/golf-for-sale/sldr-mini-driver/12941877

https://www.donedeal.ie/golf-for-sale/callaway-mini-driver/12684261

Schecter01

celtic_oz wrote: »

I changed to a mini driver (strong 3 wood) and dropped 2 shots

takes 15-20 yards off drive but rarely miss fairway now

https://www.donedeal.ie/golf-for-sale/sldr-mini-driver/12941877

https://www.donedeal.ie/golf-for-sale/callaway-mini-driver/12684261

but would you ever try go back to the driver? is it a means of just avoiding it altogether or waiting until your confident enough?

ronnie3585

Instead of spending money trying to treat a symptom, why not spend money curing the cause - get some lessons.

Halfprice

Try you tube for some good videos. Me and My golf have good videos on there. But as other posters say lessons are the way to go. Will be heading that way myself as not consistent enough with driver either

Schecter01

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Instead of spending money trying to treat a symptom, why not spend money curing the cause - get some lessons.

I actually am getting lessons on my third, im asking opinions on different methods of treating driver difficulty, but thanks for your marvelous advice!

ForeRight

Aim further left

Corkey123

ForeRight wrote: »

Aim further left

Sorry, but absolutely not the right thing to do. You will further embed the wrong action. Also the likelihood is that the slice will follow you to the 3 wood. The path of your clubhead should be ideally to the right with the club face square on impact. This might seem counter to what you want to achieve but it will encourage a draw. This requires a different set up and will take a while to embed

There is a number of reasons why you (golfers in general ) slice the ball. It is important you establish the reasons why you are slicing, and address the issue.

It is also important that you take the time to embed the whatever remedy you get - that means practice. Playing a round while attempting to remedy a slice will not work as you will revert back to the comfort blanket of your established but flawed swing.

Get a lesson, practice, practice and practice.

As one who has banished a slice from my game (eventually) I can offer the opinion that there is no single solution - otherwise no one would have a slice. There is a route to evolving to a draw but you have to do the hard work.

Folks here are very helpful and will help diagnose the reason you are slicing - if you can post a video

Rikand

Lessons weren't able to cure my slice with a driver, in the end I bought a driver that was offset. This means the head is naturally facing a little to the left by design. Cured my slice and I now hit the ball dead straight or with a little draw

mike12

Rikand wrote: »

Lessons weren't able to cure my slice with a driver, in the end I bought a driver that was offset. This means the head is naturally facing a little to the left by design. Cured my slice and I now hit the ball dead straight or with a little draw

Placebo no such thing as a driver that can cure a slice, u can close the face shut and still slice it.
A face that is closed won't draw the ball either.

Keep your chin up moving off the ball on the back swing because u were told to keep your head down which is the worst advice to give any golfer is the cause of lots of poor shots including the slice, there has to be room for your shoulder to turn under your chin.

alxmorgan

One thing that I think will help is knowing why the ball slices.

Have a look at this and let us know what you think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-89M1vt66FA

Felexicon

I had the worst slice you've ever seen with a driver. Went about 20 rounds without even taking the head cover off.
Went for a lesson and it was cured in 30 minutes (well in theory, still took getting used to obviously)
For me it was a ball positioning issue. It was too far back in my stance and I wasn't giving myself the time to square the face before impact.

Felexicon

Felexicon wrote: »

I had the worst slice you've ever seen with a driver. Went about 20 rounds without even taking the head cover off.
Went for a lesson and it was cured in 30 minutes (well in theory, still took getting used to obviously)
For me it was a ball positioning issue. It was too far back in my stance and I wasn't giving myself the time to square the face before impact.

I think this shows it's really not possible to cure these things via the internet. I also had a lesson just yesterday on curing a slice with my driver and I had the ball too far forward, I was popping up in my back swing too.

yes there

I would get someone video you swing. I did this and I immediately noticed a few things I was doing wrong and that was causing a slice and losing power. For me it was rotating the shoukders too early on the downswing and casting the club. Its amazing what you will get just from analysing one video of your swing

dan_ep82

Check where on the face your striking it. Honestly , and I know everyone says it, but ask the pro your getting lessons from. Your paying for them so you can ask what you want to work on at the end of the day. He will at least be able to tell you why it's happening.

alxmorgan

Personally I think how your swing looks is irrelevant. We'd all like a swing like Scott or McIlroy but unless you have time, money for lessons, athleticism etc etc I would focus on the only thing that matters - impact.

The ball doesn't care what your swing looks like and golfers can and do (I include myself 100%) get lost in technicalities.

I recommend the practice manual as it focuses on skill development rather than the technical side of the swing. It doesn't mean you shouldn't take lessons. But I think you need to focus on what the club is doing when it hits the ball and play around with changing that.

So mark the face of the driver (foot spray, tape, marker on ball) and see where you are contacting the face - heel, middle, toe, low, high.

Quandary

I used to have a very bad slice with my driver and here's how I fixed it...

First, I went and got lessons from a very good pro. I eventually changed my driver to a Ping K15 which has a weight pad in the heel of the club which helps square the club at impact and reduce your chances of hitting a push/slice.

This club alone, or any other club for that matter will not fix your problems though. You need to understand exactly what is causing your slice. People will tell you it's just an open club face at impact but you need to know exactly why your club face is coming in open.

A good pro will analyse and most likely video your swing. He/She will then show you what things you are doing/not doing which are causing your slice.

If you get your mates to look at your swing for pointers they could and most likely will end up giving you mixed advice which will end up causing more bad habits.

I became obsessed with the technicalities of the swing and thought I could fix the slice myself. At times I thought I had fixed it but I was changing too many things and eventually couldn't figure out the basic reason it was happening anymore.

Bottom line - save yourself the hassle and get a few lessons from a good pro. They probably won't fix the problem immediately for you but at least you will know exactly what to work on and practice getting it into your swing.

It took me over a year to fix my slice. Sometimes I could slice the ball over 100 yards to the right but now (most of ) my drives have a gentle draw and any slices I hit are more pushes.

Best of luck, and stick with it.

Seve OB

ForeRight wrote: »

Aim further left

lol

Seve OB

Schecter01 wrote: »

P.S. any good tips for curing slice is welcome!

Coming from the same boat, well mine was more of a power fade but honestly there is only 2 things you have to and must do in order to solve this problem.
1. Lessons
2. Practice

You say you are getting lessons...... well if you have asked the pro teaching you to help you and he hasn't been able, then I suggest you need to see somebody different.

I was fading the ball off the driver and it was turning into more of a slice. I just couldn't hit the thing straight. Lesson one....... I felt horrible after only some subtle changes.... not unusual after getting a lesson so I stuck with it at the range for a few goes......... it wasn't working, I was snap hooking the damn ball and just duffing it. Way worse than where I was at. But the plan was 3 lessons with the pro. I gave him another chance....... WOW, what a difference. Even though I felt crap, he was happy with my progression and another small change, and I was hitting the driver further and straighter than I ever had done before. And that was after I changed the loft from 9.5 to 12, and changed the face from closed to neutral. Practice was good, course was good, needed to be honed though, but then life got in the way and I stopped the practice... hasn't been good since, I was due to see him for 3rd lesson, but need to get back to the range before to work on it.

So what I'm saying is, it won't be fixed overnight, you may need a few lessons, and most of all, it's all not worth a bollix unless you work at it.