Driving

[pierreman]

Hello everyone,

My driving has become more consistent but with a consistent fault. Length is ok, trajectory fine but, towards the end of the ball flight a strong fade kicks in generally taking me off the fairway or where it gets a bad bounce in the really deep stuff.

I set up with the ball 1-2 inches behind my left foot and try to keep it straight, not happening. Can anyone speculate as to why this is happening and perhaps suggest a remedy/drill to cut it out?

 

[JustOne]

Do you set up square, open or closed?

Does the ball fly off the face of the club slightly left, straight or slightly to the right?

What is your normal shot shape?


Regards...

 

[Parmo]

Not thought of just aiming left to compensate this>?

 

[CrapHacker]

My driving has become more consistent but with a consistent fault. Length is ok, trajectory fine but, towards the end of the ball flight a strong fade kicks in generally taking me off the fairway or where it gets a bad bounce in the really deep stuff.

I set up with the ball 1-2 inches behind my left foot and try to keep it straight, not happening. Can anyone speculate as to why this is happening and perhaps suggest a remedy/drill to cut it out?

Strong fade ?

Or, possibly a slice ?

Basically the face of the club is open at impact. Your swing path might, or might not be wrong as well.

Open face at impact could be caused by a bad grip, ( often a weak right hand ), or it could be caused by gripping the club too tight. Or getting your body too far in front of your hands. Or swaying.

It's a toughie, though. Affects me as well. I've pretty much decided that I'm not going to be able to fix it until I can find out what causes it. If my commission cheque comes through this month, I'm having a lesson. If it doesn't, I'm taking a 3 wood off the tee until it does

 

[birdieman]

Pierreman it sounds like a slice rather than a fade. A fade starts left but moves back to the right to end up on line. A slice starts toward target but then curves badly right as you describe.

Slicing can be caused by a few things but generally the clubface is open at impact and the swing path is moving from outside to in. The worse these 2 factors are the worse the slice.

Practicing hitting from a sidehill lie (ball above feet) seems to be a good drill to fix the swing path. Get your grip checked too.

read this as it explains things simply - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/skills/4242940.stm

 

[The23rdman]

Pierreman it sounds like a slice rather than a fade. A fade starts left but moves back to the right to end up on line. A slice starts toward target but then curves badly right as you describe.

Slicing can be caused by a few things but generally the clubface is open at impact and the swing path is moving from outside to in. The worse these 2 factors are the worse the slice.

Practicing hitting from a sidehill lie (ball above feet) seems to be a good drill to fix the swing path. Get your grip checked too.

read this as it explains things simply - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/skills/4242940.stm

Surely a fade starts straight but then tails off to the right? You aim left accordingly.

A slice can start straight and then curve more visciously right or a pull slice starts left then curves right.

 

[RGDave]

pierreman, this doesn't sound too bad to me.

If it starts more or less straight, then chances are you are swinging on a useable path, so you just need to get the face square.

My personal choices would be
1) during a proper game - strengthen your grip and hope
2) practice hard at the range crossing your right hand over your left thought impact (2 or 3 "air" drills between each real shot)
3) if it's starting left, do any of the well known drills to improve path.

I know where you are coming from, although my bad shot rarely costs me other than being just off the fairway. If I try tip no.1) I start to pull and sometimes "smother" the ball, so I tend to just accept the wee slice.

Time to decide if it's just the face, in which case, the cure is not such hard work.

 

[Benntec]

A fade is when you start the ball left then ends up on your target line.
Sounds like your coming over the top of the ball on your down swing then trying to compensate by holding it off, hence your getting that tail. A simple drill when you at the range is to try and hit some draws or hooks.

take your stance aiming the clubface at your target straight ahead.
then align your body to a target to the right, exaggerate the right foot by bring it further back a bit.
then swing along that path and try and attack the bottom right of the ball & dont get infront of the ball either.

This make you start your downswing from the inside.
You should find the ball drawing or snap hooking.
Pay attention to the feeling of where the club is on the downswing. and then try and take your normal set and hit some balls and try and get that same feeling

Also make sure your backswing starts of plane, if you get that right it makes the downswing so much easier.

hope this help some.

 

[The23rdman]

What I'm saying is you don't want to be hitting over the top to hit a fade. You open up your body lines leaving the clubface aimed at the target. You then swing as normal but with the clubface open to your straight swing path the ball starts left and fades back. If your ball starts left and cuts back and your body is aiming straight then techincally it's a pull/fade.

 

[Yerman]

Try slowing your takeaway to maintain an in to out path.

 

[bobmac]

Do you have a picture of your grip please and a video of your swing if possible?
It sounds to me as if your swing path is good but the face is open at impact. This is normally caused by a fault in the grip. Can you see 2-3 knuckles on your left hand when you hold the club?