Slicer (ex?) looking for an explanation

I started golfing back in April (or was it March?)... bought a set of cheapo starter clubs (Acuity) from Dicks for half price. The driver in there was a SUPER flexible shaft and 10.5 degree loft (at least... it doesn't actually say on the driver). Like most newbs I quickly became a professional slicer, and so I've been working on fixing it ever since. I was also losing a considerable amount of distance with the amount of loft I was getting.

About 6 weeks ago I visited the local golf shop and purchased a used callaway driver (big bertha). It was the only used lefty driver there and it was cheap... 30 bucks. It just so happened to be an extra stiff club with 9.5 degree loft. So I bought it hoping to get a sense of the extremes (super flex vs super stiff).

so here's what's happened. I noticed right away that my super slices turned into sorta slices. I also noticed a great deal of improved distance, and obviously, the trajectory was much improved. Since buying the callaway I hadn't touched the other driver. I still struggled with slices/fades but rarely see the push slice. I've experimented and tried out a lot of different things to get better control over it but haven't seen the consistency off the tee that I would like.... and a draw? you can forget about it.

Long story short, I went to the driving range today accidentally leaving bertha behind and ended up pulling out the old acuity driver. I hit maybe two balls out of 50 that you might classify as a slice. The rest were all draws/pulls/hooks/straights/baby fades. I also maintained roughly the same distance (maybe 15 yards less on average) as I did with my callaway, but that might also be owing to the trajectory difference (shots were a LOT higher today with the old one).

Can anyone chime in here with some ideas as to why there was such a drastic change between drivers? And does anyone think there's merit to serial slicers like myself practicing with an uber stiff club shaft to help fix slicing habits?

It would help if we knew your swing speed. "Generally speaking" swing speeds of 95mph and up

would put you in the stiff category. Also we need to know your shot pattern. When you first started

were you going left to right, straight to right, or right to right? Taking a guess here did you happen

to slow your swing down on your last range session? I would think that would account for the

better overall shop pattern. Gives you more time to get the club face squared up.

Just noticed you're a lefty! Just look in a mirror when you answer!!! Or do your shots

go right to left, straight to left, or left to left. Now I'm lost!

lol thanks for your reply, I know it can be confusing. I'll try to use neutral language here. To summarize:

I started out with cheapo driver - super flexible shaft -  hitting push slices.

I upgraded to used Callaway (super stiff shaft) which helped straighten things out a bit, but overall still hit fades, pushes, baby slices, regular slices. (From a lefty's perspective they start straight then curve left or start a little left then curve even more left).

Monday I pulled out my cheapo driver for the first time in a while and everything i hit was a draw, pull or a hook and I'm wondering caused such a drastic change. Odds are its a combo of better swing technique since I started plus the difference in shaft stiffness, but I figured I'd put it out there to see what the community has to offer.

i'm not really sure what my swing speed is. But for what its worth, I didn't slow down my swing speed at all on Monday, if anything, I cranked it up a little bit.

Confidence could also be a big part of it.  With your old driver, you may have thought you needed to swing a little harder to get it out there and when most amateurs try to hit it further (including myself) they throw their arms straight over the top.  You may be more relaxed and confident with the new stick and have since buying it ingrained a better drop to the inside type move.  Now when you go back to your old driver you have the new swing and that flimsy shaft is snapping through to fast and causing you to hook it.

I think 99% of golf is mental, everyone's swing is different

That's an interesting point. I actually did put considerable effort in improving the path of my swing to be more inside out as opposed to OTT. I'll probably look into a used driver with the regular stiff flex and see how that treats me.

Perhaps this will help:

http://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/ball_flight_laws

read that already... big fan of that article. Its the reason i began to work more on an inside out swing.

Sounds pretty similar to what I'm going threw. I just started back in April and had a bad slice. Tried working on it threw youtube and this website, with small improvements. I started hitting straight drives one round but then next round all hooks. The round after that all slices again lol. Self tuning your swing with the internet is frustrating at times haha. I don't think I'm taking the same swing twice on any drives during a round.

I posted my swing a few weeks back and now my swing looks completely different . Today was totally different also. I hit all my drives with my back foot 4 inches back. This actually added yet another straightening factor to my drive. I also made some poster adjustments today. Being so new to golf its just hard to correct my swing because I don't really have one yet.

One thing I think many beginners discount is the changes subtle differences in grip have. The way most hold and feel the club in their hands at month one is quite a bit different a few months later. It affects everything from swing plane to head position as the ball is struck. It takes a while to develop the hand muscles.

Absolutely agree 100%. Once I figured out the different hand placements on the grip, I have pretty much cured my slice and the hook of a couple buddies of mine.