still occasionally "stepping-out" of some shots

It has gotten much better since I started playing golf, but it still happens a few times a round, especially with the driver off the tee.  My practice swings are fine, and then I go to hit my shot, and instead of being balanced and having a nice follow through with proper weight transfer, I will "step-out" out of the shot.  After impact my left leg (I'm right handed), will step to the left. 

Usually it's with the driver but sometimes will happen with irons/woods during the round.  Not all the time but several times per round this occurs.  Anyone else ever have this issue?  If so, what did you do to fix it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dak4n6 

What a coincidence, I just posted a reply to a thread on baseball and golf swings:

 

 

OP, if you finish with ALL your weight on your left leg, you can't lift your left foot and step out! Range drill: hit your driver and hold your finish, and lift your right foot off the ground completely. Repeat until moving your weight onto your left foot becomes comfortable and ingrained.

Thanks for the feedback.  It's frustrating because the only time I can practice this is if I am actually hitting a ball.  I do not have this problem in my practice swings at all. 

Do you think that by stepping out of the swing that it affects power and where the ball ends up?  Or is this more of a cosmetic thing?

Yes, slicing has been a problem, with the driver and woods, not so much with my irons.  I did not have a slicing problem when I first started playing golf almost 9 months ago.  Then towards November or so of last year, I obtained a bad slice with the driver and woods too.  I was tinkering with my swing which is what caused it.  The whole time I was getting better at not stepping out of my swing but it still happens from time to time, mostly with the driver. 

Last weekend was the best driving day I had in a while.  Instead of standing too close to the ball, I made sure that I was fully extended and focused on bringing the club back oustide first (if that makes sense), because before I think that I was bringing it too much inside which was causing an OTT move and thus a slice.  It definitely worked as my driving was much better and my posture was better too.  I had a few step outs but not as many as before.  I also found myself actually pushing off the right foot in order to get all my weight on my left leg at finish which is helping.

Also, before I obtained my slice, I was driving the ball very well and very far.  When I got my slice, I lost a lot of distance.  I'm sure that a lot of this was due to the slice but the colder weather also played a role I'm sure.  Last weekend, while making sure my arms were fully extended, I noticed straighter drives and drives with much more distance, despite the fact that the weather was still cold.

Update:  I played a round on each day of this past weekend.  Temps finally were in in the mid 40's which felt nice!  Anyways, I kind of had a "breakthrough" on the course.  It started on the first tee shot of the round on Saturday with my driver.  I actually shifted my weight from back to front as I swung and it was like a miracle.  The ball flew off my driver like I had not seen in months!  I used to drive the ball pretty far and fairly straight when I first started golfing last summer, but from about November until recently I lost distance and obtained a slice.  All of this while "stepping-out" of shots, mostly with the driver.

Throughout the two rounds of golf this past weekend, I did not step out of any shots with my driver.  I no longer had a slice either.  I had a few pushes and pulls, but it was so nice and refreshing to see no slice movement at all on the ball.  I even had some draw spin on a few of the drives!  All because I actually was just shifting my weight like normal.  It was a great feeling to finish the swing with the driver with all my weight on my left foot and actually be able to pose when I hit a nice drive instead of stepping out of the drive and always having slice spin on the ball even if I was able to keep it in the fairway.

It is a work in progress but I really needed this past weekend for my confidence.  I finally hit my 3W over 200 yards from the fairway because I shifted my weight.  No more slice spin which was obviously somehow connected to me not shifting my weight properly and coming over the top.

I did have a few step-outs with my irons, but this was mostly on shots with really uneven lies, so I will have to continue to work on this.

Thank you all very much to those that commented on this thread, it helped a lot.  The numbers say it all as I ended up tying my lowest score ever at my country club, as I shot 86 on both days, with temps in mid 40's, windy, with yardage of 6333 yards from the tees I played from, 70.5 course rating and 128 slope.

Thanks!  I'm hoping that I keep it up and continue to learn more and more.  Nothing is better than executing something that you have been working on.