Driving issue - ball going straight left off tee

[Gwilson9]

Hi I'm new to this forum so hope I'm in right area ! I play off 22 but the biggest problem that stops me from improving is ...driving. I have an issue where the ball goes very straight left off the tee ( say 50 yards off line ) despite my set up being right

I've started to aim right to offset but wonder if this is a bad fix of something that is wrong

I know it's difficult on forums but any simple advice would be great



thanks

 

[Steve Coll]

Is the face angle closed?

 

[Ethan]

If the ball is going straight left, then so is your swing path.

A swing which is out to in, i.e. where the clubbed cuts across the ball is pretty common, and often attempts to correct it, by aiming right, only make it worse. Whether the ball goes straight left, or starts left then curves further, depends on the club face.

I would suggest a lesson with your pro, who will advise you on proper alignment and aim, and on trying to swing along the intended line. It may be a lack of lower body action, too much shoulders or something else. It will feel weird at first, but is fixable.

 

[Beezerk]

Yup, is my bad shot as well amongst others. I had a lesson and the pro said the same as Ethan, coming over the top and closing the face causes the ball to go bullet straight left. Is your usual shot shape a fade or slice?

 

[Gwilson9]

Cheers for replies - my normal shot is a slight fade I would say - I had some lessons last year so could do that - as for the closed face I don't think it's closed so it's probably an out to in

My aim is to get to 18 at some stage this year and this is the one aspect killing my game ! Cheers again

 

[Maninblack4612]

If the ball goes straight left the face is square to the swing path (in this case out to in) & closed in relation to the target line. The fault therefore lies with the swing path. If you can get that right & keep the face as it is now, square to the swing path, the ball should go straight. Despite what a lot of people believe, the ball starts out approximately at right angles to the face. What it does after that depends on the angle between swing path & the face, open & you get a fade, closed & you get a draw. This will help you understand https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CddfebJd9wY but Google "ball flight laws" & you'll find loads of stuff.

 

[One Planer]

I'm sure Bob will be along with his excellent head cover drill shortly :thup:

 

[Ethan]

I think one of the most common causes of this is a shoulder-led swing. Rather than starting with good leg action, legs pulling the hips then torso into a big muscle swing, some players are a bit static in the legs and start by throwing the shoulders into the swing. Sometimes they also have the right shoulder a bit forward which makes it worse.

 

[bobmac]

Do you want to hit the ball straight or would you be happy with a little fade?

 

[Gwilson9]

Straight would be great !!

 

[Maninblack4612]

I think one of the most common causes of this is a shoulder-led swing. Rather than starting with good leg action, legs pulling the hips then torso into a big muscle swing, some players are a bit static in the legs and start by throwing the shoulders into the swing. Sometimes they also have the right shoulder a bit forward which makes it worse.

This is what so many amateurs do. They get to the top in the correct position then the first downswing move is to rotate the shoulders anti clockwise, throwing the swing plane onto the outside. It's very noticeable when standing behind the player looking towards the target and it's such a natural move that I'm not surprised many players, including me if I'm not careful, do it. I like to feel as if I'm Swinging back down in the same slot as I swung up in. This helps me stay on the inside.

If the OP swings with the face square to the swing path all the time, which the straight pull suggests, this should be an easy mistake to correct.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Hi I'm new to this forum so hope I'm in right area ! I play off 22 but the biggest problem that stops me from improving is ...driving. I have an issue where the ball goes very straight left off the tee ( say 50 yards off line ) despite my set up being right

I've started to aim right to offset but wonder if this is a bad fix of something that is wrong

I know it's difficult on forums but any simple advice would be great



thanks

Welcome along. Bob is the main man (Or "The Coach" if he sees this). Both offer excellent replies and I suggest you try whatever drills they may suggest. If however you'll still struggling, you need to go back to your pro and ask for more help

 

[the_coach]

Hi I'm new to this forum so hope I'm in right area ! I play off 22 but the biggest problem that stops me from improving is ...driving. I have an issue where the ball goes very straight left off the tee ( say 50 yards off line ) despite my set up being right
I've started to aim right to offset but wonder if this is a bad fix of something that is wrong
I know it's difficult on forums but any simple advice would be great
thanks

for sure the best route to improvement would be regular lessons (with good practice in between) with a pga pro

really cannot stress how important it is to get the basics of hold of the club, posture, alignments in a sound place, if these are not it will affect to the detriment (usually) folks swing motion - as folks instincts are always to try to return the clubface in a position to try to get ball to target but if set-up is a little ways off it will produce some pretty funky movements so shot outcomes

50 yards off line is a pretty big number (if going 'straight flight' leftfield the swing direction/path of the clubhead is from right to left and if no flight curvature at all the face angle is pretty square to the clubheads path through impact)- generally swing patterns/shapes usually don't change a whole bunch during play they tend to fall within folks norm range of motion

so likely bunch of things have got to be going on through full shots with the whole bag - when the ball is sat on the ground are their bunch of issues with solid contact, fats, thins, finding center of face so maybe fairly high percent overall of heel strikes?

good bunch of times the issues start from set-up, grip, alignments, and often times very much from posture issues both at set-up but also posture (vertical height) through the motion not being in a good enough place, and also key - ball position - like say has the ball had to be put a good bunch forwards in the stance with the driver/3 metal(whatever you got) to make ball contact off the tee box?

would say buy some foot spray/dry hair shampoo spray to spray the driver/metals/irons face and see what the average norm of strike location is
to have some idea as to what is happening use a cell fone(or camera) to shoot both a dtl (view from behind, lens directly behind the hands at hand/hip height) plus face on from the same lens height from center position) if cell have the aspect 'landscape'(not portrait/upright) as then there are not big black sides to the recorded image - slow motion if the cell fone has it - both viewpoints framed to capture both the hands and clubhead at the top point of the swing

then check off what the posture looks like at set up and from dtl viewpoint is there a difference in vertical height (so loss of posture angles) as the club is taken back to the top and then is there a further change to impact

from face on check where the ball position really is in relation to both the stance width and the head from this angle check for any lateral movement in the takeback off of the ball (along with any vertical height) in the downswing check is the body and arms moving without much input from the legs
check where the weight is both at the top of the swing and then at and just after impact

looking at this stuff should begin to point to some of the reasons to the issues being experienced

think it's likely that there is a bunch of stuff, hold on the handle, posture, alignments that probably will have to move from what feels comfortable - really useful for this is a couple of alignment sticks one placed the other side of the ball pointing to target the other just off the toe line parallel to the 1st deal easier to line up clubface at 90º and shoulders/hips parallel to the sticks - if you have say a shoe box put that in place of the stick on the otherside of the ball say 2" clearance and in the middle of the box length - helps give a clearer picture where the clubhead has to travel into and out of impact