Driver loft and distance loss or gain.

[Buckles01]

As a still relative newbie to the sport I’m looking for real life anecdotes to this quandary. Been playing for just 12 months and battled a horrid tendency to slice from day 1. I think this was caused by an over the top swing and a lack of rotation. Since lofting up my driver to 11.5%, using a high tee and dropping my back foot back I’ve somehow tamed the curse. Now see straight drives with a baby fade which are miles more predictable. To my untrained eye I hit a pretty high ball flight now and average a 220 yard distance. I’m wondering now how to gain a few more yards, should I loft up further and drop tee height slightly or crank loft back to standard? My big fear with the natural urge to experiment is that I could undo the progress I’ve made.

 

[Imurg]

I'd stick with it..
220 yards is ok. Lots of people would kill for 220 yards..
Cure the reason you're slicing with lessons and practice - then you'll be able to drop your loft a d gain some yards..

 

[Foxholer]

You seem to be on the right track. Though learning to swing better - with the help of a Pro - would continue the improvement. 220 average is a reasonable distance. Trying to increase that can be a long and frustrating process. Better to gain consistency - which, alone, will increase the real average - than be constantly make big changes, even though now (before it's 'set in concrete') is the best time to sort out a proper swing.
Tee height is important. It should be quite high - at least 'Pink' level imo. There's a reason 'Pro' tees are around 3" long

Monty had a pretty good career with a fade as his natural shot btw!

 

[Backsticks]

What handicap have you reached ? If down to single digits already, which would be great going after a year, then a lesson may find something. If still in double digits, then a 220 yard average is definitely not holding back your scores and you should look at other aspects of your game rather than tampering with something that is a strength in your game : How many putts/round, how many times per round on average to you get up and down from around the green, etc.

 

[Buckles01]

You seem to be on the right track. Though learning to swing better - with the help of a Pro - would continue the improvement. 220 average is a reasonable distance. Trying to increase that can be a long and frustrating process. Better to gain consistency - which, alone, will increase the real average - than be constantly make big changes, even though now (before it's 'set in concrete') is the best time to sort out a proper swing.
Tee height is important. It should be quite high - at least 'Pink' level imo. There's a reason 'Pro' tees are around 3" long

Monty had a pretty good career with a fade as his natural shot btw!

I agree that ideally lessons are the way to go and had a few when I started concentrating on the basics mainly with short to mid irons. Unfortunately with working long hours and a young family time is at a premium, not so much for a lesson but the required practice needed to embed learning, as it is play twice a week and feel lucky to be able to do that. I actually changed from pink to orange tees and saw improvements although I would’ve thought it would have made the slice tendency worse.

 

[Foxholer]

I agree that ideally lessons are the way to go and had a few when I started concentrating on the basics mainly with short to mid irons. Unfortunately with working long hours and a young family time is at a premium, not so much for a lesson but the required practice needed to embed learning, as it is play twice a week and feel lucky to be able to do that. I actually changed from pink to orange tees and saw improvements although I would’ve thought it would have made the slice tendency worse.

Lack of practice time is a very common problem - especially for someone in your position. Just appreciate what time you can have for Golf. Plenty of more important things than a poor score after a pleasant walk in the open air, perhaps with good company too.

 

[Buckles01]

What handicap have you reached ? If down to single digits already, which would be great going after a year, then a lesson may find something. If still in double digits, then a 220 yard average is definitely not holding back your scores and you should look at other aspects of your game rather than tampering with something that is a strength in your game : How many putts/round, how many times per round on average to you get up and down from around the green, etc.

Low single digits if only ? currently play off 18.6 and happy with the steady progress from only picking up a club properly this time last year. I’ve got to admit I’m not really a stats man and just use the simple data off my Garmin watch. Interestingly this indicates that my driver is the weakest area of my game with chipping being the strongest. Although realistically I know that my putting is average at best, not so much line but more distance control.

 

[bobmac]

You haven't actually cured your slice, you've just added a fault to make it more controllable which sadly robs you of distance.
As others have said, 220yds is plenty to be getting on with so I would suggest focussing your limited practice time on your short game. What are you like from 50 yards out?

 

[Buckles01]

Lack of practice time is a very common problem - especially for someone in your position. Just appreciate what time you can have for Golf. Plenty of more important things than a poor score after a pleasant walk in the open air, perhaps with good company too.

You’ve just nailed my main reason for playing. Obviously I want to be the best that I can be, with the limited time I can realistically dedicate but the walk and the company is absolutely the prime motivation. I felt absolutely privileged yesterday to play a round with 3 generations of my family, my 80 years young Dad still playing off 10 and my 16 year old son who towers over me and smashes it miles…..and frustratingly for me, in the right direction.

 

[Buckles01]

You haven't actually cured your slice, you've just added a fault to make it more controllable which sadly robs you of distance.
As others have said, 220yds is plenty to be getting on with so I would suggest focussing your limited practice time on your short game. What are you like from 50 yards out?

 

[Buckles01]

You haven't actually cured your slice, you've just added a fault to make it more controllable which sadly robs you of distance.
As others have said, 220yds is plenty to be getting on with so I would suggest focussing your limited practice time on your short game. What are you like from 50 yards out?

Thank you, are you saying I’m basically sticking a plaster over a fault? What’s the additional problem I’ve added to mask this, the reason for dropping my back foot back was to aid body rotation, hit on to out with an upward spine tilt.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Thank you, are you saying I’m basically sticking a plaster over a fault? What’s the additional problem I’ve added to mask this

I can't tell you what you are doing wrong, 220 is not wrong by the way, it's a more than decent distance. I can concur with the fault over a fault theme, it's hugely common. I remember having a lesson a few years ago to resolve a problem I was having. The pro took a look at a few swings and smiled. To correct fault A I was doing action B. To compensate for action B I was doing action C. To compensate for C I was doing action D. He corrected A and the various compensations, all causing their own problems, fell away. My eyes were telling my hands to correct faults that I was creating through my own attempts at fixing the problems myself.

I suspect Bob is suggesting you are doing similar, self correcting, whether on purpose or without realising, and creating layers off faults. Unlock the key fault and you are off ?

 

[jim8flog]

So you know roughly what happens the more loft you have on a club the more you reduce side spin. As already said you have not cured the slice just reduced it effects.

 

[garyinderry]

I can't tell you what you are doing wrong, 220 is not wrong by the way, it's a more than decent distance. I can concur with the fault over a fault theme, it's hugely common. I remember having a lesson a few years ago to resolve a problem I was having. The pro took a look at a few swings and smiled. To correct fault A I was doing action B. To compensate for action B I was doing action C. To compensate for C I was doing action D. He corrected A and the various compensations, all causing their own problems, fell away. My eyes were telling my hands to correct faults that I was creating through my own attempts at fixing the problems myself.

?

The modern way to describe what you are talking about and to make it work is called match ups.

If you have A then you need B and c to make it work.

Some are more successful than others .

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Adding a compensation to solve a fix is just masking the problem. At some point it will let the problem rise to the top again. A lesson is the only way to diagnose the fault and the fix. It will take time to get it working but maybe with the lighter nights you could find a way to get a pass for an evening or two

 

[Buckles01]

Naively I believed I’d cured it and may be I’m looking at it too simplistically. I thought a slice was caused by either of or a combination of an open club face and out to in swing path. I felt that I was throwing the club to square up the face. By dropping my right foot back 4 or 5 inches I now get much more room and rotation and focus on striking the ball rear near side quarter. I appreciate that no swing is alike but what I genuinely don’t understand is how I’ve not fixed a slice by improving accuracy and ball strike quality?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Naively I believed I’d cured it and may be I’m looking at it too simplistically. I thought a slice was caused by either of or a combination of an open club face and out to in swing path. I felt that I was throwing the club to square up the face. By dropping my right foot back 4 or 5 inches I now get much more room and rotation and focus on striking the ball rear near side quarter. I appreciate that no swing is alike but what I genuinely don’t understand is how I’ve not fixed a slice by improving accuracy and ball strike quality?

Even with a closed stance it is possible to come over the top or have a face open to the path. Get it looked at

 

[Foxholer]

Naively I believed I’d cured it and may be I’m looking at it too simplistically. I thought a slice was caused by either of or a combination of an open club face and out to in swing path. I felt that I was throwing the club to square up the face. By dropping my right foot back 4 or 5 inches I now get much more room and rotation and focus on striking the ball rear near side quarter. I appreciate that no swing is alike but what I genuinely don’t understand is how I’ve not fixed a slice by improving accuracy and ball strike quality?

Unless you are prepared to devote serious amounts of time to the correction and practice, a quick fix such as the one you have made could well be adequate. The extra effort of moving from adequate to good or better comes at a serious of time! And then the handicap system bashes you competitively anyway!
So decide why you play golf and stick to a strategy that gets/gives the most benefit to that goal.
It's worth stating exactly that to the Pro you decide to have lessons with - if you do so decide to.

 

[fundy]

Naively I believed I’d cured it and may be I’m looking at it too simplistically. I thought a slice was caused by either of or a combination of an open club face and out to in swing path. I felt that I was throwing the club to square up the face. By dropping my right foot back 4 or 5 inches I now get much more room and rotation and focus on striking the ball rear near side quarter. I appreciate that no swing is alike but what I genuinely don’t understand is how I’ve not fixed a slice by improving accuracy and ball strike quality?

Take a lot of what you read on here with a pinch of salt a good place to start. Plenty will relay what theyve been through rather than what you are going through and they are unlikely to be the same!

The easiest way to find out whether you have fixed the problems you thought you had is to get on a trackman machine or similar and find out where your swing path is, what your club face is in relation to that, whether you are delivering the right loft, whether you have the right spin levels etc etc

A video of your swing will also help to see what you are doing rather than what you feel you are doing

The 2 things above along with a decent pros opinion should give you a conclusive idea of what you are doing and what the best way to proceed is

One thing is for sure, for almost all of us, what we think we are doing and what we actually are doing are usually 2 different things and it helps to find out for sure


that or say sod it to all of that and go out and have fun whilst its working

 

[Barking_Mad]

Low single digits if only ? currently play off 18.6 and happy with the steady progress from only picking up a club properly this time last year. I’ve got to admit I’m not really a stats man and just use the simple data off my Garmin watch. Interestingly this indicates that my driver is the weakest area of my game with chipping being the strongest. Although realistically I know that my putting is average at best, not so much line but more distance control.

You can break 80 with 220 yard drives, so as long as most are in play leaving you an approach shot, I'd look elsewhere for the time being.

Look at hitting more Greens in Regulation (wedges from 100 yards in) , reducing 3 putts and getting up and down.

Edit:
It's quite possible that moving your foot back a few inches moved your swing path just enough to to straighten up your ball flight. Don't question it if it's working. ?

Only other thing to work on is your strike with driver and remove those poor strikes that are reducing your average distance.