Is it right that a pro wont teach U how to hit a driver without startin on irons

[JustOne]

He tried to show me what I was doing wrong and what I need to change and need to think more in terms of clubface than anything else- for the life of me I just could not get it! Anytime I tried to sweep more on the way up I usually got too far under the ball and it popped up like a PW. I said the tee looked higher than used to but he said it really shouldn't matter as it's the ball we're interested in coming up to not the ground?

Hitting on the way UP will exacerbate any slice a player has (making it worse) until they to control the clubface in relation to the path (and to an extent, the path itself).

Hitting DOWN actually reduces a slice slightly..... it's complicated..... just keep with what your pro is showing you (rather than what he's telling you) :lol:

 

[turkish]

Hitting on the way UP will exacerbate any slice a player has (making it worse) until they to control the clubface in relation to the path (and to an extent, the path itself).

Hitting DOWN actually reduces a slice slightly..... it's complicated..... just keep with what your pro is showing you (rather than what he's telling you) :lol:

Hitting on the way UP will exacerbate any slice a player has (making it worse) until they to control the clubface in relation to the path (and to an extent, the path itself).

Hitting DOWN actually reduces a slice slightly..... it's complicated..... just keep with what your pro is showing you (rather than what he's telling you) :lol:

LOL ok even more confused now!!! To be honest this isn't the pro I had been dealing with- this guy was a massive douche!!!! Good player right enough and could hit the ball miles and straight. He seemed more interested in showing the group this than teaching though.

Got a deal on one of these websites for a trackman lesson followed by 9 holes played with PGA pro whereby he was supposed to review each shot round the course- this did not happen. after the range session tried to sell lessons so think he took the huff when said couldn't afford it at present. Another nice couple he had been teaching for 8 months- they were realy really bad and I think it was his teaching.

I thought at least I came away with something at least with the trackman info but appears not.

LOL one thing I chuckled to myself about was; his own 1st tee shot went into bushes on the right, said he found it, then proceeded to drop it out the crap, hit onto the green from that shot then 2 putted, myself and 3 other scored our cards; I had a 6, the other guy 7 and girl NR'd- she asked so what did you get; and he said a 4 I never even said anything because I knew he was just an ar$e

 

[JustOne]

Do you actually know what causes a slice?

 

[turkish]

The club face cutting across the ball causing spin.... same way if you want to curve a ball with your foot

 

[JustOne]

The slice comes because the face of the club is pointed more right (open) than the direction the club is swinging.

You could be swinging the club a lot left with the clubface only a little left, and that will slice

You could be swinging a little to the right with the clubface a little bit MORE to the right, and that ball will also slice, probably over to the next fairway

The amount of difference between the direction the club is swinging and where the club face is pointing governs just how much slice you will get. The CLOSER you can get the face to the path OR the path to the face then the less a ball will curve.

So if you are trying to fix a slice you either need to fix the club face direction at impact.... or the swing direction... OR BOTH.

The question is WHY is your swing path going to the left of the clubface OR why is your clubface pointing to the right of your swing path, that is something that the pro is supposed to fix.... simply trying to get you to swing more UP isn't the fix by itself, you need the face and the path to be closer matched.

 

[the_coach]

as a general point many club golfers have an out to in, so a ways too steep narrow downswing attack on the ball with their clubs in general. combine that with a face angle that's open you'll get a slice, the less loft on the club the more curvature of the balls flight.

with this kind of an action there will be a kinda more workable result with the irons with the ball on the ground (particularly the higher lofted end of the bag) but there will still be issues of varying degrees even with the irons, such as fats & thins etc plus unwanted curvatures of ball flight.

with the longer end of the bag, lower lofted clubs, particularly with the ball on a tee, good contact will be even more problematic with these swing issues.
often the golfer will because of the results feel both compelled to tee the ball down & aim further left but this will only really compound the issues with trying to get center of face to ball & result in accentuating the problem of the steep angle of attack.

you want in order to be able to get optimum contact, so optimum results with the driver, to have an upwards angle of attack into impact.
the main thing you have to consider is just where in the swing arc is the low point. useful in this respect to visualize that the clubhead travels around the golfer on an inclined circle. (not exactly a circle but it's useful to picture that)

the action you describe through the results, has either the low point being way too far before the clubhead arrives to ball, so much that instinctively in order to miss dumping the club into the ground you have to stand up out of posture & pull the arms/club upwards across the body swinging left, doing this also makes in pretty impossible for the upper body to rotate through the shot, instead there's a lateral tilt, also causes the hands to flip, right palm upwards so left hand collapses both adding loft & opening the face.

or alternatively with this action on the way to ball, the upper body moves laterally left with the lower body instead of turning this puts the sternum & your center right up next to the ball, or even past it.
with a lot of the upper body too far forwards, the arms/club can also only chop down steeply on top of the ball, this action often results in the 'skied shot' goes up but not forwards & puts those little white marks on the crown of the driver/metals even hybrids. even with a driver off a tee sometimes club is so steep that after ball contact the golfer can only dump the club straight into the teeing ground.

with either of these actions the forwards swing is very truncated, left arm often 'chicken winging', no extension or rotation through impact so any end of swing to the top is usually a tagged on afterthought rather than a continuous swing to a balanced top of swing position.

think to focus on is the clubhead swinging around the body on an inclined circle.
that the upper body's movement is a rotary turning motion, both in the club going back to the top & the swing through impact to the finish, the arms should be connected to the body turn back & through.
the hip motion is too primarily rotary, no sway to the right off the ball.

where your sternum is so too will fall the low point of the clubhead during any particular swing motion.
so to drive the ball well your sternum, so center, needs to stay some 4" trailside behind the ball, clubhead passes low point opposite this point then swings on past upwards through the ball.

[video=youtube_share;lnopJFvTa3Q]http://youtu.be/lnopJFvTa3Q[/video]

 

[the_coach]

[video=youtube_share;mfli4ocXFzk]http://youtu.be/mfli4ocXFzk[/video]

 

[the_coach]

couple things that are key to being able to have an upwards driver attack through impact are.
the ball is some 3" - 3&1/2" above the ground, sternum somewhere around 4" behind that ball position.
good indicator to get the ball in the right position with the driver is to have it opposite the left armpit- more reliable than the left foot position can sometimes be.

the right hand obviously lower on the handle, so the right shoulder will be lower too - unless the upper body held wrongly in an artificial more level forwards position - the stance with the driver is wider which further lowers the right shoulder so there can be the secondary spine tilt away from the target.

[video=youtube_share;5Lb3fp5goLc]http://youtu.be/5Lb3fp5goLc[/video]

 

[Smiffy]

Once you get the hang of your irons, and the distances that you are likely to achieve with them, you begin to swing within yourself.
As a "newbie" put a driver in your hand and immediately infinity becomes your aim, and all hopes of a controlled swing go out of the window.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Once you get the hang of your irons, and the distances that you are likely to achieve with them, you begin to swing within yourself.
As a "newbie" put a driver in your hand and immediately infinity becomes your aim, and all hopes of a controlled swing go out of the window.

Never was a truer word (written) spoken!! :thup:

 

[Smiffy]

Never was a truer word (written) spoken!! :thup:

You see. I'm not as silly as I look/act

 

[MadAdey]

Turkish, I can see where the instructor is coming from. You are new to the game and even though feel you are hitting your irons ok, he wants to get you off on the correct footing. Without seeing your swing it is difficult to comment, but I imagine he has seen some problems and he wants you to learn the fundamentals of a solid swing. Thing is the best way to do that is with a 6/7 in your hand not a driver.