Swinging a wood... do I have the right setup?

[Sheekamoo]

I'm a beginner golfer and I've read and watched a lot of videos online on how to swing irons correctly. I'm happy to say that I have gotten rid of my slice now that I swing instead of trying to chop/hit the ball.

The last two days I've gone to the range I've hit my irons very well. However, I'm having a heck of a time with my 3 wood off a tee. I'm still slicing with that club so I'm looking for ways to correct my swing.

1.) Ball position. From my understanding... a 9 iron starts with the ball in the center of your feet. As you move down in irons the ball moves further towards my left foot. For wedges I move the ball back towards my right foot. For a driver (I don't have one yet) the ball should be 2"-3" behind the left foot. So I'm guessing with a 3 wood the ball should be somewhere between where the driver would hit and the 3 iron would hit?

2.) Arm position. When I'm swinging my irons I have my arms pointing straight down towards the ground. Is that the same position I should use when swinging my 3 wood? Or should I push my arms slightly more away from my body?

3.) When lining the ball up to the wood's face prior to swinging, should I line the ball up with the center of the club or the heal of the club? With a lot of my shots I noticed the ball hit off the toe of the club instead of the center (even though I lined the ball up towards the center of the club prior to swinging). I thought maybe putting the ball at the heal of the club could fix that problem... although I also thing it could be a problem with my swing as I'm not being consistent enough or my swing isn't always following the same arc.

4.) With irons you're supposed to lead your hands into the shot (so your hands are in front of where the ball makes contact). Is the same true with my wood? Should I lead through the same amount? Maybe less?

5.) Should I stand slightly more upright with the 3 wood? The shaft of the club is much longer then my irons. If I'm bent over the same amount I am with my irons with my arms hanging straight down, the 3 wood club face doesn't sit flat (it's sitting slightly more on it's heal). The 2 ways I see to correct this are to stand more upright, or push my arms out away from my body so they're not hanging straight down in front of me.

[PiKapp23]

Honestly, the best thing to do is see an instructor. No 2 players have the same swing and the same setup and swing thoughts do not work for everyone. A lot of hitting different clubs well is simple trial and error and to make things worse, what works for you today might not tomorrow. If you get a less or two the instructor will help you understand the dynamics of the swing and ball positions, etc. This not only will help in improving your game, but it also helps going forward in understanding your swing on an specific day, what issues you're having and at least have an idea or two of how to fix it. Being new to the game, this is a great time to see a teaching pro. It will probably be a better investment than anything else in golf for you. Let them help with teaching the fundamentals. Most instructors are very good at getting a new players started on the right path.

[ks8829]

The perfect golf swing

[MRL]

  Sheekamoo said:

I'm a beginner golfer and I've read and watched a lot of videos online on how to swing irons correctly. I'm happy to say that I have gotten rid of my slice now that I swing instead of trying to chop/hit the ball.

All the stuff you mentioned earlier might have a little bit to do with it but I would focus on 2 things right now. First in your setup, -Make sure at address your right shoulder is a bit lower than your left. Secondly, look at your takeaway. It sounds like you may be picking the club up with the hands too much. Think low and slow, meaning this. Take the club back with the left shoulder first, feel like you are dragging it back initially. What this produces is a shallower angle of attack, which is pretty important when it comes to hitting woods. Your arms get extended, important because the club is longer and it eliminates getting to steep. And your angle of attack coming down will be in a better position to hit the ball slightly on the upswing.

[Sheekamoo]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I've checked out the perfect golf swing video a bunch of times and it has really helped me with my irons. But I wish there was a perfect golf swing for woods/drivers.

I can't figure out what my back angle should be at and where my arms should hang. If I bend over like I do with my irons the base of the club isn't sitting correctly on the grass (it's sitting mostly on the heel). If I stand up straighter this gets corrected... but it feels like I'm nearly standing 100% upright (I'm still bent slightly forwarded... but since I'm used to bending over with the irons it feels awkward to only be bending slightly with my wood.

I guess that's the correct setup though? Woods and drivers get less bending of the back? Arms should still try to hand down as vertical as possible (not pushed further away from my body)?

I'm going to call an instructor tomorrow to setup a lesson... but I'd like to correct as much as possible with the basics before I see him so he can help fine tune the smaller details of my swing.