Baseball causing me to slice my driver?

**brettwasbtd** · January 21, 2009

I know that nothing will be better then for me to get a lesson, which I plan on doing in a couple of months when it is warmer, but I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for me. I slice often with my driver and can't seem to straighten it out. On my straighter hits I end up with a fade. I feel this is caused by me rotating my hips prior to my club face making contact with the ball, leaving the face open. If I try to focus on getting the arms out before turning my hips the ball does not travel very far. Anyone else have this problem and fix it?

**trjohnson2** · January 21, 2009

do you use a ten finger grip? as a former player myself it felt right when I started. Using a baseball grip also allowed me to explode with the wrists at impact, like I was swinging for power with a bat. You may want to give an overlapping or interlocking grip a try. It may help you hold your wrist angle through impact a little better, making for square contact and straighter shots.
And you may want to think about relying more on your shoulder turn for power than a hip turn. By coiling in the upper body, you can worry less about getting your hips square and more about transfering your weight in the direction of the ball. You wont stop the hip rotation totally, to be sure, but it can be much quieter.
Take a look at the down the line shot at this link and you can see what I mean, he keeps his lower body pretty square, but gets a lot of rotation in the upper body.
http://www.golfdigest.com/instructio...s_cink?slide=5

**brettwasbtd** · January 21, 2009

do you use a ten finger grip? as a former player myself it felt right when I started. Using a baseball grip also allowed me to explode with the wrists at impact, like I was swinging for power with a bat. You may want to give an overlapping or interlocking grip a try. It may help you hold your wrist angle through impact a little better, making for square contact and straighter shots.

I do have an interlocking grip. I will definitely try and focus on my shoulders more

**TyCobb** · January 21, 2009

I played baseball all my life and started golf up with a nasty slice. It's because of my baseball swing. I was a pull hitter, so I always swung outside to in. But in golf, for the driver, you want to swing inside to out. That has cured everything and now I do not have a slice any longer.

tonyq217 · January 21, 2009

I remember last year I was in a softball league and after that started, unbeknownst to me, I started shanking irons due to the flying elbow. Not that this has much to do with you, but I focused on keeping my arm triangle together (I think it's the Haney training aid that is like keeping a towel under your arms, but it loops over your arms instead). It helped to straighten me out.

**mrserv0n18** · January 21, 2009

You need to plant your lower body solid to the ground and swing, dont worry about your hips or anything , make a very loose relaxed swing without worrying about hips legs, plant your feet. Its about impossible to slice, then once you get comfortable incorporate your lower body into the swing, Stand Still until you hit the ball and its on its way, if your slicing I can pretty much guarantee your body is not where it was at address at impact.

**Dub** · January 21, 2009

I remember last year I was in a softball league and after that started, unbeknownst to me, I started shanking irons due to the flying elbow. Not that this has much to do with you, but I focused on keeping my arm triangle together (I think it's the Haney training aid that is like keeping a towel under your arms, but it loops over your arms instead). It helped to straighten me out.

I agree. The

towel under the right elbow trick is a great warm up drill at the pre-round range. Draws will result!!!!

**DavidFehertysBike** · January 21, 2009

Im also a former baseball player, i played through college. So i know your pain, hahaha. When i first started playing, i made a similar swings with my driver. I found it had alot to do with the different weight shift.

In baseball, we're taught to turn and drive off of that back leg, and to turn over the trailing forearm as we realse to hit those line drives. It becomes ingrained after awhile. But you do that with a golf club and youre going to come striat over the top. Which would produce alot of slices and pull hooks. I had to learn to transition my weight onto my front foot properly before i could even begin to work on swing stuff. So maybe you're having a similar problem with your game.

**mountaineer08** · January 21, 2009

I also played baseball until I got to college. I had a bad slicing problem when I started, I think alot had to do with standing too far away from the ball and reaching out and then trying to pull it. The wrist action is also a little different. Just make sure that you "backhand the ball" and that should help close your clubface

**TheNatural** · January 21, 2009

One bit of advice from a beginner, if you are at a range that has a batting cage, dont try to go in and start hitting the old 90mph cage pitch, better yet dont enter any cage, or it will set you back for months.

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Baseball causing me to slice my driver?

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