Poor driver

[Lollfred]

Hello all .... this has probably been covered elsewhere, so appolgies for that.

I am a poor driver, very inconsistent, and mostly a slicer off the tee (with driver), can any of you offer any advice as to correct set up, and possibly put the swing into simple, easy stages that i can follow.

I am ok with my irons, but for some reason struggle hugely with the driver.

Thanks
Loll

 

[Alex1975]

i would think your not using your right hand/arm enough. goto the range and really make an efort to push your right hand through (if your right handed ofc)

i used to have this and its just being lazy because you have the big dog in your hand, get that right hand through at inpact.

 

[bobmac]

Hello all .... this has probably been covered elsewhere, so appolgies for that.

I am a poor driver, very inconsistent, and mostly a slicer off the tee (with driver), can any of you offer any advice as to correct set up, and possibly put the swing into simple, easy stages that i can follow.

I am ok with my irons, but for some reason struggle hugely with the driver.

Thanks
Loll

Hi Loll and welcome to the forum.
Do you have a video of your swing you can put on youtube and post a link here?

 

[Lollfred]

Hi Bob, i will shoot one when i play on Saturday and post over the weekend.

Thanks

 

[sawtooth]

I would say the opposite is true. For right handed players, if your right hand/arm has too much say in the swing it will destroy swing plane.

The free swing of the left arm is what creates the swing arc. People that slice tend to start their downswing with a turn of the shoulders and have a dominant right arm that throws the club out of line. This causes an over the top out-to-in swing path.

I used to slice the ball very badly. Something to help you build up your left side control is to practice swinging one handed (left arm only for right handed players).

 

[Alex1975]

hmm, i maybe should keep out of things like this for the time being. I have had 2 pros, the first told me what you said, hit the ball with your left arm in practice. My new pro told me he does not teach the left side at all "if your right handed i only teach the right hand" it worked for me, but maybe only cos my old pro worked my left arm.

soz

 

[chrisd]

hmm, i maybe should keep out of things like this for the time being. I have had 2 pros, the first told me what you said, hit the ball with your left arm in practice. My new pro told me he does not teach the left side at all "if your right handed i only teach the right hand" it worked for me, but maybe only cos my old pro worked my left arm.

soz

Sounds to me that one of the pro's uses his right hand too much!!!!



Chris

 

[Lump]

I was exactly the same. 8/10 It was a high right slice. For months I worked on trying to achieve a In-to-out swing plane which for a short while worked but never felt comfortable.

but now I've moved to trying to get a more neutral swing, and chopped my driver down 2 inches. Now I cant miss fairways and I'm out driving 90% of the people I play with.

 

[RGDave]

I am a poor driver, very inconsistent, and mostly a slicer off the tee (with driver), can any of you offer any advice as to correct set up, and possibly put the swing into simple, easy stages that i can follow.

I am ok with my irons, but for some reason struggle hugely with the driver.

What sort of scores are you making? and how long have you been playing?

 

[Lollfred]

Dave ..

Playing for 2 years, my handicap has gone nowhere all year.

H/C 24
Best medal score - 89
Average medal score - 94 - 96

These scores probably say to you my all round game is bad, but tbh it is my driving that lets me down, sort it and scores should drop !!

 

[Basher]

I suffer the same problem.

Went up tonight and some of my drives were woeful!

One thing I did do which seemed to help was to keep my chin down a bit. This prevented me from overswinging (a common fault I have) I also tried to create a wide steady swing with not too much wrist hinge.
The slower abbreviated backswing tended to result in a much more accurate drive.
Like many, I am often guilty of overswinging and trying to smash the ball. This does me no favours as it results in a normally sliced drive.

Not sure if my technique is correct (please advise) but it seemed to work tonight.

 

[RGDave]

Dave ..

Playing for 2 years, my handicap has gone nowhere all year.

H/C 24
Best medal score - 89
Average medal score - 94 - 96

These scores probably say to you my all round game is bad, but tbh it is my driving that lets me down, sort it and scores should drop !!

OK, this helps.

How often do you use the big beast? I only ask because there must be all sorts of strategies to play some of the holes on your course. I don't hit the ball that far and only use my driver as little as 5 times some games. I had a 75 a few weeks ago and used it on 7 holes. The first thing I did (in working out my strategy) was to write off the two long holes on the front 9 and depending on how it's going, maybe the ultra-dangerous 10th hole. The most difficult hole on the course, the 6th (which is only S.I. 2 because there's no OOB) I play 4 iron, 4 iron, wedge (of some sort). Recently, I've been getting an extra 10 yards off my 4 iron, so tomorrow, I shall tee off the 6th with a 5 iron. It's amazing how "unstressed" I am playing from under 300 yards as a par 4. I've made 5 there all year apart from one 3 (where I chipped in) and one 6 when I three-putted. That's it.

Start thinking along these lines and solve the "killer" holes (playing for bogey) and attack the short/easy ones.

When I was off 24, there wasn't such a thing as score-tracking on the internet (our club uses Masterscoreboard) but I can remember playing my 1st proper course in certain ways. The 8th for example was an absolute b******. Most of our low-h'cap players tried and failed to par it on weekend rounds, I just made it into a par 5. 5 wood off the tee to the flattest part of the hole. 5 iron over the ridge, to leave under 80 yards to a raised green. I played it iron, iron, wedge in the club "open" one year (to prove a point, as they'd made the long drive hole). At least 20 players ruined their medal rounds there trying to hit drivers and going OOB.

More than one way to crack a nut.

Our scratch champion played it 9i,9i, 9i once to show me how it's done....and he made a par!
He also played the 475 par 5 16th 7i,7i,7i, as a demonstration.
He was a good guy, very short to play off 1.6, but a master tactician. I never got to thank him for his help in getting me down from 24 to 8.

Food for thought, I hope.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Taking Daves point on a step. Play every hole as a par 5 and what you gain on the 3's and short 4's you'll lose on the tougher par 4's and the 5's. If you can get it round level 5's thats 90 and going to be hard to beat off that handicap.

It also takes some of the pressure off the driver and gives you some freedom to sacrifice distance for position. Say you hit a 5 iron 150 yards (for arguments sake) you can hit 3 of those and be on most long par 4's comfortably in 3

 

[Region3]

It also takes some of the pressure off the driver and gives you some freedom to sacrifice distance for position. Say you hit a 5 iron 150 yards (for arguments sake) you can hit 3 of those and be on most long par 4's comfortably in 3

I agree with you in pricipal as far as not going all out to reach long 4's in 2 if it can wreck your card, but your statement assumes it's a shoe-in to hit the green from anywhere up to 150yds.

I've tried playing holes over-cautiously before, but giving up that much distance means if you miss the green you can be staring at a double without hitting a really bad shot.

 

[RGDave]

It also takes some of the pressure off the driver and gives you some freedom to sacrifice distance for position. Say you hit a 5 iron 150 yards (for arguments sake) you can hit 3 of those and be on most long par 4's comfortably in 3

I agree with you in pricipal as far as not going all out to reach long 4's in 2 if it can wreck your card, but your statement assumes it's a shoe-in to hit the green from anywhere up to 150yds.

I've tried playing holes over-cautiously before, but giving up that much distance means if you miss the green you can be staring at a double without hitting a really bad shot.

Yes, I'm glad you bought this up.
In the odd world of RG, there are things to experiment with and things which are recipes for disaster. 3 x 150 yard irons to a 450 yard hole is a recipe for disaster i.m.o.
It can be done (sure, and for an experiment, why not?) but playing conservatively and leaving too far in to hit the green in 1 over GIR is risky. You can hit 2 great irons, miss the green, chip/pitch on, hit a decent first putt that doesn't go in and what have you made.....a double bogey. In that "6" might be 2 perfect irons, a fair chip and a decent putt, leaving a tap-in.

The most conservative I go is a plan to leave a distance for the 3rd shot that plays to my strengths. Either to leave 80-110 yards or under 50.

We have 2 450-460 yard par 4s. I play them totally differently due to the nature of the drive. One I play 4 iron, 5(?) iron, wedge but the other driver, 5 wood, chip.
It's obvious which one I sometimes make a sneaky par on, but in essence, if someone wants to play golf on a few holes this way (to avoid disasters!) then the choices of club must be in relation to what the problem is.

When I first played our 16th off whites, I was making 7s 8s and even an 11 one day! These days I hit a 4 or 5 iron off the tee a deal with what's left. Sometimes it's a 7 iron, other times even as much as another 4 iron.

I do this sort of thing on 4 or 5 holes and am happy to be 4 or 5 over for those holes. The rest of the course is at my mercy. Hence, my best gross score is 4 or 5 over.....simples.

 

[Hooper]

I am right on my limit on most long par 4s (420 yds+) to get to them in 2 shots. I used to go for them all the time but these were card wreckers. I now try to play these a bit safer and give myself a chance at sneaking a par with a pitch and putt. I have 12 shots to play with and I usually get a shot on long par 4s. I think too many high handicappers (myself included) try to go for the green in regulation on every hole instead of using their shots, building confidence and momentum. Just my opinion.

 

[RGDave]

I am right on my limit on most long par 4s (420 yds+) to get to them in 2 shots. I used to go for them all the time but these were card wreckers. I now try to play these a bit safer and give myself a chance at sneaking a par with a pitch and putt. I have 12 shots to play with and I usually get a shot on long par 4s. I think too many high handicappers (myself included) try to go for the green in regulation on every hole instead of using their shots, building confidence and momentum. Just my opinion.

Yes, and your opinion is spot on to me. It takes nerves of steel sometimes to stick with a plan and trust the result will be OK. I got caught out yesterday on a hole I've been making bogeys on for ages. I did my normal thing, took a 5 wood off the tee (dead centre), knocked a 6 iron down towards the 100 yard disk (4-5 yards right). So far, so good. Had 95 to the pin. Normally 95 is a GW, just relax and hit it straight. But on this hole, the green is 40' up as well. Decided on a PW, nailed it out the middle and came up 3 yards off the back. Chipped to 5-6 foot, missed the putt, made a double 6. Horrible.

 

[sellers]

I am not an expert but I did have a major slice with my driver. My main problem was that i was blocking my wrists when coming through the ball. Ie, not letting the overlap.

I relaxed my wrists and let them wrap over and the slice disapeared. At first I tried to force the overlap which resulted in hooks and straight left shots but over time it felt more natural and now I am quite a big straight hitter,

 

[Lollfred]

Hi Guys .. thanks for all the advice.

I havent had a chance to take a video as yet.

My issue with driving seems to be when i let me hands slide accross the ball (open club face) just before impact, meaning i cut accross the ball, creating a rather large slice. Can anyone give me more help on how to counteract this ?