Shot shape diagnosis - high fade with woods.

[Oddsocks]

Recently I seem to have gone from a soft draw with a decent feeling strike to a shot shape that starts dead straight then at peak flight cuts around 10-20 yards to the right, this is robbing me of distance and accuracy,

anyone got a check list of what I should be looking at.

 

[Lump]

You must be swinging left a fraction with the face open marginally.

 

[Foxholer]

Ball position

Alignment

Grip

Balance/Sway

Takeaway/Coil

Swing Path/Finish

Oh! And Wrists relative positions at/through impact!

 

[Oddsocks]

You must be swinging left a fraction with the face open marginally.

This was a worry, my bad swings I take away slightly flat and maybe throw slight ott at the start of the swing, this coupled with trying to open the face slightly at impact would make a bit of sense I suppose.

 

[Foxholer]

You must be swinging left a fraction with the face open marginally.

That's certainly what the resultant shot shape suggests.

I took his request for 'a check list of what I should be looking at.' to be possible causes/areas to get back to 'normal'!

 

[pokerjoke]

A controlled fade is a good shot to have especially going into greens.
As for accuracy,it will be more accurate than a draw into the green as the distance can be controlled easier.
As for the tee shot a draw as you will be aware will give you more distance,so maybe having both shots
in your armoury would be beneficial.

 

[the_coach]

Recently I seem to have gone from a soft draw with a decent feeling strike to a shot shape that starts dead straight then at peak flight cuts around 10-20 yards to the right, this is robbing me of distance and accuracy,

anyone got a check list of what I should be looking at.

is this with most everything from say 6i up to driver?
with the irons, whats the divot pattern relative to your target line? this will show you what's happening, with your swing path so indicate what you need to do to address it.

how much distance is it taking off the shots? if it's considerable to the norm, there has to be slight connection issue going on in that strike is not at center - buy a can of foot spray check where the ball is coming off.

check aim & alignment - if you don't pick target line from behind the ball, but just got, fallen into a habit of picking target line when you're at side of the ball but when you're standing squarish onto what you think the line is, so more looking over the shoulder to take aim.
it's easy to fall into picking & therefore swinging too a 'target' that's from this side on viewpoint a couple of feet left of where you'd see the target if you were behind the ball. this is easy to fall into for ease & quickness in general & friendly games then easy to also take into it in competition because you get a ways used to doing it.
so will have you swinging left a little ways through impact without you really realizing it.

check ball position hasn't got a little forwards again you'll be swinging slightly more left without maybes realizing it in order to get to the ball.

if this is a 'straight starting direction' to where you've slightly miss-aligned to?
but maybes in actuality it's a little more left of target than you realize, there's not that much difference in the path to neutral & the face angle but just enough to make that missing right happen.
but it's there, the face angle could be almost square to target line or just a tad open with the leftward path it will start more or less straight but when the forward energy from the strike slows down the side tilt put on the ball means it'll fall rightwards to ground.

so swinging a little more to left than you think because you slightly misaligned aim at address, or moved ball a little ways forwards.
or you've slipped back into starting transition from the top (hands/arms/shoulders) going a little ways outwards first off, instead of downwards, as you start transition.

but if you are doing this & also hitting a high percentage of pushes as well, the cause will be the opposite in terms of swing path, could still be linked to alignment or/& ball position.

 

[Oddsocks]

My driving is normally very accurate which enables me to take specific shots especially around dog lets etc but yesterday I missed near enough all fairways bar 3, the misses were either straight left ( throwing at the top wth a square face at impact ?? ) or started straight and cut right at the top

Off the the course tomorrow after work to get it working again .

 

[Oddsocks]

is this with most everything from say 6i up to driver?
with the irons, whats the divot pattern relative to your target line? this will show you what's happening, with your swing path so indicate what you need to do to address it.

how much distance is it taking off the shots? if it's considerable to the norm, there has to be slight connection issue going on in that strike is not at center - buy a can of foot spray check where the ball is coming off.

check aim & alignment - if you don't pick target line from behind the ball, but just got, fallen into a habit of picking target line when you're at side of the ball but when you're standing squarish onto what you think the line is, so more looking over the shoulder to take aim.
it's easy to fall into picking & therefore swinging too a 'target' that's from this side on viewpoint a couple of feet left of where you'd see the target if you were behind the ball. this is easy to fall into for ease & quickness in general & friendly games then easy to also take into it in competition because you get a ways used to doing it.
so will have you swinging left a little ways through impact without you really realizing it.

check ball position hasn't got a little forwards again you'll be swinging slightly more left without maybes realizing it in order to get to the ball.

if this is a 'straight starting direction' to where you've slightly miss-aligned to?
but maybes in actuality it's a little more left of target than you realize, there's not that much difference in the path to neutral & the face angle but just enough to make that missing right happen.
but it's there, the face angle could be almost square to target line or just a tad open with the leftward path it will start more or less straight but when the forward energy from the strike slows down the side tilt put on the ball means it'll fall rightwards to ground.

so swinging a little more to left than you think because you slightly misaligned aim at address, or moved ball a little ways forwards.
or you've slipped back into starting transition from the top (hands/arms/shoulders) going a little ways outwards first off, instead of downwards, as you start transition.

but if you are doing this & also hitting a high percentage of pushes as well, the cause will be the opposite in terms of swing path, could still be linked to alignment or/& ball position.

Will digest that over a coffee shortly, cheers coach

 

[the_coach]

given the latest info re the pulls to the left path swinging left club face square to path, that means club path definitely swinging a little ways left in swing direction through impact, so some degree of out to in.
given it seems to be mostly driver? make sure the ball position has crept a ways too far forwards, which in itself will have you swinging little more to the left, but can also make the shoulder alignment a little more on the open side.

if ball position, alignment can be ruled out of the problem, then your likely starting transition with the hands arm & club moving outwards a little from the start of the downswing.