Yosser
Assistant Pro
I've always been inconsistent with my driver but since I gave up trying to fix it and concentrate on practicing with the rest of my set I've been reasonably happy with my ball striking. The effectiveness of my 5 wood and more recently my 3 wood have made my driver redundant both in terms of distance and consistency. I still have bouts of inconsistency whereby I tense up, get too steep, lose my timing then top or fat the ball. I accept those periods as part of the sport.
Anyway after carrying the driver in my bag for over a year without using it, I decided to get fitted, it turned out to be the wrong club for me. Its replacement is great, the ball comes out of the middle of the bat BUT straight left by about 10 degrees, a very destructive shot and obviously a closed face at impact. I thought it was either my grip or alignment but my Pro said in an instant that it was the swing path. I was a little surprised as I've been hitting the 5 wood out of the middle and straight, although my miss with that club has been a hook/slice and the odd straight left has been creeping into iron play, so he must be correct.
The fault seems to be caused in part by my setup, whereby I deliberately only take my left arm back to parallel with the ground. I then point the butt of the club at the ball to set the club on plane. It turns out that I'm not setting it steep enough and I end up swinging more around the body resulting in a casting out-to-in path.
This was a lightbulb moment for me and once this was pointed out I started working on rewiring my brain for the new path and a draw shot shape. After a few shanks I have now got the draw going with a 7 iron using a couple of techniques. Firstly I tried dropping the hands more inside, it works to a point but feels like eventually I'll end up trapping the ball into a duck hook - possibly hands too far foward? Secondly I tried to push my straight left arm further back around my body so in theory the hands start more inside. This seems to work, feels more natural and I can hit a draw shape but I cannot replicate this with the longer clubs. I have actually started to fade the driver and I feel less trapped with it but obviously its still an out to in path. So in summary, I would like to ask the experts:-
1. Given that I am capable of hitting all my clubs upto a 5 wood straight could it be that this swing path fault only affects the longer clubs or is it that the fault is always there but the other clubs are more forgiving?
2. At setup when I get my left arm back to horizontal and set the club plane, how steep should it be? Should it be vertical? Should it be a different angle for each club given that you stand closer to the ball for shorter clubs. My Pro said feel for the lightest weight which makes sense but difficult to feel/visualise.
3. To get In-to-out am I taking the correct approach to start the backswing with my arms pushed further back or should I be dropping the hands more inside.
Anyway after carrying the driver in my bag for over a year without using it, I decided to get fitted, it turned out to be the wrong club for me. Its replacement is great, the ball comes out of the middle of the bat BUT straight left by about 10 degrees, a very destructive shot and obviously a closed face at impact. I thought it was either my grip or alignment but my Pro said in an instant that it was the swing path. I was a little surprised as I've been hitting the 5 wood out of the middle and straight, although my miss with that club has been a hook/slice and the odd straight left has been creeping into iron play, so he must be correct.
The fault seems to be caused in part by my setup, whereby I deliberately only take my left arm back to parallel with the ground. I then point the butt of the club at the ball to set the club on plane. It turns out that I'm not setting it steep enough and I end up swinging more around the body resulting in a casting out-to-in path.
This was a lightbulb moment for me and once this was pointed out I started working on rewiring my brain for the new path and a draw shot shape. After a few shanks I have now got the draw going with a 7 iron using a couple of techniques. Firstly I tried dropping the hands more inside, it works to a point but feels like eventually I'll end up trapping the ball into a duck hook - possibly hands too far foward? Secondly I tried to push my straight left arm further back around my body so in theory the hands start more inside. This seems to work, feels more natural and I can hit a draw shape but I cannot replicate this with the longer clubs. I have actually started to fade the driver and I feel less trapped with it but obviously its still an out to in path. So in summary, I would like to ask the experts:-
1. Given that I am capable of hitting all my clubs upto a 5 wood straight could it be that this swing path fault only affects the longer clubs or is it that the fault is always there but the other clubs are more forgiving?
2. At setup when I get my left arm back to horizontal and set the club plane, how steep should it be? Should it be vertical? Should it be a different angle for each club given that you stand closer to the ball for shorter clubs. My Pro said feel for the lightest weight which makes sense but difficult to feel/visualise.
3. To get In-to-out am I taking the correct approach to start the backswing with my arms pushed further back or should I be dropping the hands more inside.