Erratic Driving

Lawrence22

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Oct 6, 2010
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I was playing on Monday and had a pretty good round, but unfortunately some very wayward drives cost me a lot of shots. When I started back in September everything I hit with the driver went right with a lot of slice. I left the driver out of the bag for a while, but after some lessons and improvement in my game I went back to it about 8 weeks ago.
Mondays round was very strange. I used the driver 12 times, I had 2 complete miss hits, both went fairly straight but scuttered along the ground to about 150. Of the other 10 I hit 5 perfect, long(for me) and straight and the other 5 were huge slices ending up on the wrong fairways or OOB. My problem is when I was slicing everything I knew I had a major problem, now it's obviously something I am getting wrong 50% of the time and I have no idea what it is :D Most other poor shots I hit I have a good idea what went wrong immediately but with the driver I've no idea. The slices all felt and sounded like good contacts and it is quite demoralising watching them suddenly turning right. For the first part of the ball flight it usually looks like it is going to be good but then they just start turning.
Any ideas what may be going on?
 
If you are hitting some straight then that's good news.
The one's that sailed off right were probably caused by a slightly faster swing, resulting in the body losing it's co-ordination
OR
some sort of trouble on the right...oob, pond, bunkers etc etc
OR
lack of concentration and you're slipping back into your old pre lesson swing.
 
Out to in swing
Open Club Face
Shaft too stiff
Swing too slow
weak grip
gripping too hard

man many many things could be the cause of it.

Suggest as I am doing due to similar issues, is too work on the range or see a pro...
 
I think I can rule out swinging to slow and too weak a grip, but it could well be any of the other reasons. I had a few weeks beforehand where I had practically eliminated the slice from my driving, so I'll probably just have to go back to the range and see if I can sort it.
 
I can be hitting the ball well off the tee and then throw a real wild one in. I can't be sure if it'll be a huge carve right usually as a result of spinning the hips out of the shot too quickly or a low duck hook which is normally a real tempo issue for me. It kills the card and frustrates the heck out of me
 
I had an absolute howler of a round yesterday,1st hole
started with a huge slice that went oob,tee'd off again same
thing happened,but kept in play,2nd hole did the same,used my 3 wood on the 3rd ,197yds par 3,went straight as a dye
onto the green but still managed to 3 putt,next hole,big
slice took a 6 on a par 4..took me 7 holes before I actually
some decent golf,by that time I left the driver in the bag.
Ive gotta get some help.
 
I think part of my problem may be that I haven't had the same amount of time at the range in the last couple of weeks. It is that time of the year where HID has found lots of little jobs for me to do around the house. Fitting carpet tonight but I may get to the range tomorrow afternoon.
 
If you are hitting some straight then that's good news.
The one's that sailed off right were probably caused by a slightly faster swing, resulting in the body losing it's co-ordination
OR
some sort of trouble on the right...oob, pond, bunkers etc etc
OR
lack of concentration and you're slipping back into your old pre lesson swing.

My bad drive is a big old slice and is always, as Bob said, caused by me swinging to quickly with my arms.

Before every drive, I take a couple of slowish practice swings to ensure I am in sync and to make sure I'm not swinging with my arms alone.
 
I played well again today but three wild snap hooks with the big dog off the tee, where I'm getting too quick from the top resulted in three lost balls and three doubles, suicidal golf which you just cant recover from.

I just need to think about my tempo a bit more.
 
I played well again today but three wild snap hooks with the big dog off the tee, where I'm getting too quick from the top resulted in three lost balls and three doubles, suicidal golf which you just cant recover from.

I just need to think about my tempo a bit more.

Sounds just like my killer shot. Lost a ball in the hazard on our 3rd on Monday. Way too quick and a low hook. I can't offer any sustainable advice other than you know you're a decent player and hit it well most of the time so just try and find a way to keep the tempo going nice and smooth
 
I can't offer any sustainable advice other than you know you're a decent player and hit it well most of the time so just try and find a way to keep the tempo going nice and smooth

Oh I wish I was a decent player.
 
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