Slicing driver but with closed clubface..HELP

Hi, this is my first thread on the forums, I have been reading posts here for a long time but never joined...until today.

I have been playing for around 2 years, most weekends, I got custom fitted for golf clubs towards the end of last year (Mizuno MX-100s) I use V-Steel woods, which I hit really well from the tee or the deck & R5 dual driver.

My biggest problem is I slice the ball with the driver, but unlike a lot of people I have a closed clubface when I do it (I can tell by the tee marks starting in the middle of the face & going towards the toe) sometimes it is a big slice, other times more a fade. I do not know what causes it, I'm guessing it has something to do with my swing plane being out to in (or vice versa, can never remember which is which) If I hit it well I get a high ball flight, carrying around 250-260 with hardly any roll out.

Any suggestions on this are more than welcome.

I'm hitting my irons really cleanly since I changed to a new (new to me) ball position set up, the one where you keep the ball in the same position , but alter the width of the stance, think its the Hogan method. So if I can get my driver going I should be able to cut my handicap :)

[QUOTE=hippyboy;288793]

My biggest problem is I slice the ball with the driver, but unlike a lot of people I have a closed clubface when I do it (I can tell by the tee marks starting in the middle of the face & going towards the toe) sometimes it is a big slice, other times more a fade. QUOTE]


Wouldnt that mean that the clubface is open??? If it were closed, it would seem like the tee marks would start at center and go towards the heel.

Start off by checking your alignment...

Your club face may be closed to the target line, but open to swing path. In other words, if you are slicing, your club face is open to your swing path.

Hence the good suggestion from the previous poster on checking you alignment.

those marks indicate clubpath being from the outside in and/or an open clubface NOT a closed clubface.

swingpath will dictate the ball's starting direction and path, clubface will dictate the balls path... so if your ball is starting left, but quickly slicing back to the right, then you MUST have an OPEN clubface and an out to in swingpath. If the ball starts straight, but fades or slices right, then you have a pretty staright swingpath, but an OPEN clubface. Either way... you are NOT slicing the ball with a shut face.

Go to the range, put the ball more inside your stance. Just left of center but inside your left foot even try center to start.

Try it a few times and then also try not lifting your foot up at follow through
Keep your feet planted like tree trunks and swing. This will definatly cause a draw no matter what pretty much and you can work from there.

I am a weekend warrior too and this is my second season but I drive perfectly straight 95% of the time and can draw and fade the driver if I want by simply changing stances and not my swing.

My driver swing is completely different from my regular swing, but im not looking to win an award on form, Noones going to say anything when your 260 yards out dead center fairway.

I hit into others fairways the entire last season, and vowed to fix it over winter and it worked using the techniques above and adapting a swing from that.

Focus on turning those wrists and impact, and tee up high.

I do that if I am not in my swing. For me, it's because I am raking the clubface across the ball at impact. To correct it, here are the three things I do:

1. Put the ball out a little more away from my body.

2. "Stay in" my swing and not pull up before impact. Weight shift to the back can cause this also.

3. Have a little more of an inside takeaway. Not so much so as to end up hooking!

I will sometimes choke down and shorten my backswing, but that's not really solving the problems, just getting me through the round. I've stopped doing that actually.

How to make a twit of yourself in one easy post of course its an open clubface (I even went to get my driver out of the car to check the marks!!)

Thanks for all the suggestions, in reply to the allignment it is something I have really been working on during the winter so I'm not sure it's that.

I have tried at the range moving the ball further back in the stance but that seemed to make the slice worse, putting it in the middle of my stance caused the ball hitting the ground a few inches infront of the tee before carrying on with a very low trajectory down the fairway.

I have never focused on doing anything with my wrists...

If your're a right hand player imagine hitting the ball with just your left arm (For lefty right arm). On impact your arm and club face should be the same as it was at the starting position. Then hit through at the target line and hold the finishing position. As a practice routine i would hit shots with just my left arm, when you can hit the ball 150 yards with just your left arm and an iron you are doing pretty good... Add your other arm and just hit the ball as if your're still only using the one arm. Also as a warm up routine i will take practice swings with just my left arm and sometimes with 2 clubs, depends how stiff im feeling. I found at one point in my golf i wasn't turning my hips enough on the down-swing, so when i got to the top of my backswing the next thing i would start doing was to move my right knee left towards my target. This hip rotation gave me a huge boost in distance and the flight of my shots changed from low to high prenetrating shots. This may sound or look silly to you, but it does work.

I could be wrong on this but I think I have seen a number of people hit slices with what seems like a closed club face. I'm talking about extreme strong grips and people toeing in the driver ~30 degrees but then hitting the ball with an extreme over the top motion that produces this really wierd looking low delofted slice shot.

So now I'm confused I was actually under the impression that if you get on plane or below it you can hit a straight show/draw with even a slightly open clubface because the driver coming in on such an extreme inside position puts right to left spin on the ball right? I guess I thought swing plane and face position could actually cancel each other out and that was why some people who always swing over the top can occasionally hit perfect drives because they get the face shut just enough canceling the effect of the swingplane. ???

I found this and it seems true in my experience.

So here's a trick question:
IF YOUR CLUB FACE WAS OPEN TWO DEGREES TO THE TARGET WHEN YOU HIT THE BALL WHICH WAY WOULD THE BALL CURVE?
Answer: It depends!!! You really don't have enough information to answer that question. It could slice, however it also might be a straight ball or a hook. For example, if your club face is two degrees open and your swing path is two degrees from inside to outside then you will get a straight shot pushed slightly to the right. However, if your swing path was straight at the target with your club face being two degrees open then you'd get a slice although is would be a small one. Finally, if your club face was two degrees open and your swing path was inside to outside four degrees you'd wind up with a hook.

With a two degree open club face the following will happen:
If you path is more than two degrees from the inside to the outside you will get a hook.
If your path is two degrees inside to outside you'll get a straight shot.
If your path is less than two degrees inside to outside you'll get a slice. (If you path is one degree inside to outside you will get a very slight slice (fade). The more outside to inside your swing path becomes the bigger your slice will be. If you had a 3 degree outside to inside swing path you'd have a pretty good banana ball. How much will your ball will slice in each of the above examples can be pretty well estimated with the "Rule of Seven".

*Me again* This is what I meant about people slicing with a closed face, same concept. If anything I think the worst thing that can happen to someone is that they start thinking they aren't closing the clubface when the probably are. I will say having watched hundreds of everyday golfers almost nobody is on plane.

i have not been playing golf as long as you have but i have to ask, when you are using your driver are you using 90% strength or 60%? what flex is your shaft? the reason i ask is because when i try to kill the ball, it always slices even when i feel like the club face is close.

I use a S90 for my Driver.

I agree with breezy. I fight a hook most of the time but with driver when it starts going right I'm swinging too hard. All I have to do is tone it down and it straightens out. My irons I feel like I swing 85% or so. Driver only feels like 60% and I still get good distance and better control backing down.

As others have said make sure you're aligned and aimed good

I'm dying to know how they think the same swing path but a clubface that is 2 degrees MORE open will suddenly make a hook when the first example creates a slice(which is true).

If the clubface is open, clockwise spin is put on the ball which makes it SLICE, doesn't matter how far it's open, the more it's open, the more it will slice.

I would guess around 90% strength, but I do have a really bad habit of trying 100% full wammy if either the wind is in my face or it's a par 5! On the other hand if I slow it down too much it can go anywhere, I have to be reasonably quick or I lose all my rythm

I have recently moved up to a stiff shaft, I got custom fitted for irons late last year so tried a few driver swings while I was there, I have an average swing of 97MPH.

So wouldn't someone who was aspiring to be a great golfer some day want to play a slightly open club face so that they can eventually hit that proper in to out swing that is talked about so much?

I always hear pro's say that they get on or below plane and that a 2-4 degree in to outside swing is optimal so does that mean under normal circumstances the driver should be slightly open? *by two degrees*

And for the record this obviously means you can slice with a club face closed to the target line right?
Kind of like in ping pong how you can hit the ball down or straight even though the face of the paddle is pointed up, if the paddle is moving down very quickly. I'm not sure I understand what you are saying about closed to the swing plane though Iacus.