Draw my woods, slice my irons. Going out of my mind!

Hello, this is my first thread, so apologies if in the wrong place.

For the past 2 months my golf game has taken a massive step backwards. I have only been playing a year and I used to be a massive over-the-topper and would slice every ball in sight. I had worked hard over the winter to sort my swing plane out and was hitting a nice draw with every club come the start of the season.

Now, I had a good start to the season dropping my handicap from 21 to 16, but about 2 months ago I developed a furious case of the shanks. Through hours of practice I managed to shake these off and get playing well again, although this only lasted for about a week (I had my first B Team match during that week, where I shot 5 shots under my handicap and won our game).

Now I am stuck... I am hitting my woods very well with a nice draw/push draw - no problem there, however my irons are terrible. Since I worked so hard on sorting my swing out, I had become a great ball striker for my handicap and had quite high standards of myself. I now probably strike a good ball about 1 in every 5 shots, but the direction is random - I literally have every shot in my bag at the moment, I just don't know when they're going to appear! The most common bad shot is a pull/slice with my irons. I've tried to work on my backswing as I had started to take away too far inside.

I know this points to an OTT move, but on camera my swing plane looks ok.

Grip is quite strong, as it always has been.

Does anyone have any ideas about what might be going on here?

Any good backswing drills would be much appreciated too.

Sorry for the long post - I'm borderline desperate to play some good golf before the season ends!

Welcome to the forums!

Since you mentioned that you have video of your swing the best bet would be to start a thread here:

Member Swings

And while you give the smarter people than me time to look at the videos take a look here:

Introduction to the PureStrike/5 Simple Keys® (5SK) Learning System

@burton9190

It is common for a new player who is making progression in golf to have various swing occurrence's.

Most likely, as you indicate you are now hitting good shots with the driver and woods.

You are probably a bit anxious to hit your approach shots.

Example: You have just striped a good drive and now have high hopes of following it with a shot to the green.

Most likely, the anxiety controls you tempo and you now become a bit quick at the top.

This leads to a swing manipulating which now causes disasters.

One of the best drills is to simply practice on course by hitting multiple shots to a green.

Spend some time in a late afternoon alone when a course is not busy which would allow you to hit a few shots.

I would often hit a drive, then hit the approach and then drop a couple of balls and hit them.

Hit various irons from the same spot is also a good practice.

Then on the next hole, hit a shot, move forward, hit another and move forward again.

Creating a variety of situations will make the practice more fun and a greater experience.

Club Rat

@Club Rat Thanks for the advice mate. It is not just on the course where I am struggling. The range has been a disaster for me recently too. When getting frustrated I do get very quick from the top, something which I am working on.

Heres some swings if it might add some insight.

Cheers

You maybe able to close the club face some to stop your slice. Give it a try.

Maybe a sway with the hips?

Watched your video, it's difficult to tell using an example from heavy rough.

Make a different video and post.

Also, be closer to the cameraman.

I'll try and get a new vid up soon when I hit the range. All my swing thoughts have been in my arms and someone has pointed out that I am all upper body so will try and post 2 different swings and see what you lot think.

For only playing one year, you have a very good basic swing.

From watching the two swings you posted, it did not look "arm swing" in any manner.

If any taken from the video, a bit more aggressive into the ball.

The second swing when you ripped a good divot, look very good.

When you post another video, also capture a view while facing the camera.

Club Rat

Hey I'm impressed OP. I've been playing for over a month now and I still don't even know if I'm swinging right. You looked pretty natural in the video.

• @ vangator thanks for your input man. Any chance you could expand on what you mean by hands 'in' and 'out'?

Video of me hitting a ball for anyone interested: http://thesandtrap.com/t/77007/my-swing-burton9190#post_1051924