Driver Fade -----Heeeelp

[Rowen]

Hey Guys

Hi from sunny South Africa . Great site!

So I'm going to jump straight into it.

I need some advice. I've been playing for the last 4 months or so, and I'm making steady progress... currently playing in the mid 90's (on a great day)

Lets start with the Driver.

A month ago i couldn't hit the driver at all, I will hit it fat, i would simply just miss the ball etc, which is rather embrassing, when there are a line of people waiting to tee off

so i have progress from there and now in a position where im making constant contact, making a clean connection etc, but with that comes a huge fade to the right.

Im using a Taylor Made R7 - draw bias - 10.5. The driver is great and most importantly i feel comfortable with it.

To try and correct this, i have attempted the following...

1. making David Leadbetter dvd's part of my daily life
2.I have changed grip position, form inter locking to over lapping (ensuring i can see the knuckles etc)
3.Changed ball postion from the middle of my stance to the in line with my left thigh.
4.tried hitting "down" at the ball instead of "up"
5.Tried coming more for the outside of my swing.. bla bla bla..the list goes now.

even tried to get the driver in front of the hand just before impact (by flciking the wrists)..still nada...i cant see to get this right.
When i do strike the ball cleanly i get 200 / 220 m...

Guys what can try? any help will be apperciated.!

[TyCobb]

"4.tried hitting "down" at the ball instead of "up"
5.Tried coming more for the outside of my swing.. bla bla bla..the list goes now."

Wait, I thought we were suppose to hit the driver up on the ball and inside to out.

[Rowen]

so number 4, is basically swinging down at the ball
slighty if that makes sense?

[Zeph]

Huge fade, or slice?

For the ball to travel right, there are two options.

1: The clubface is open at impact.
2: The club comes from the outside to the inside.

Shouldn't be a problem to figure out where the problem lies with some practice. You could be falling behind, weight on the right foot at impact. The clubface will be open and your shot balloon over to the right.

[Hidalgo]

For the ball to travel right, there are two options.

Good info.

Instead of concentrating on hitting UP or DOWN on the ball...I would encourage you to hit the ball with the driver on more of a "sweeping" path. If you have to hit either up or down...your driver loft and possibly shaft choice is incorrect. But that's hard to know until you get the correct swing path and a more shallow delivery of the clubhead to the ball.

[HytrewQasdfg]

The first thing you have to determine is what kind of fade you have, because the cures are not the same.

Fade - ball starts TO THE LEFT then curves back to the right (really a slice, just not as exaggerated.) Caused by an OUTSIDE-IN swing path with open clubface.

Push-Fade - ball starts TO THE RIGHT then curves to the right. Caused by an INSIDE-OUT swing path with an open clubface.

If you have a fade, you should be trying to fix your outside-in swing path. If you have a push-fade, you should retain you inside-out swing path and work to turn it into a draw (ball starts out to the right and curves to the left, a desirable ball flight) since you are already half way there. A draw is produced with an inside-out swing and clubface that is perpendicular to the target (or ever so slightly closed.)

[ks8829]

hitting the ball without a fade

1) make sure that you have the proper club face at the contact point, most beginner golfers think that the face never closed at impact or just after with the follow through and create the open club face.

a) the back of your left hand on your backswing is facing in front of you and on the follow through the whole left palm is facing in front of you and the club face does close automatically just after impact. make sure that your grip pressure is on the light side instead of too strong.

2) Make sure that your backswing path is correct and not starting from the outside.

a) use a board or card board box so that you can create a wall to guide you driver path on the backswing. Place the card board flat surface on the edge of your backswing so that it will guide your backswing down the line instead of starting outside the line.

3) start with the club face slightly closed at your set up, yes this is cheating but why not use what works.

[Rowen]

Huge fade, or slice?

yip, think slice is the better word

[Rowen]

thanks for all the help guys - im eager to try this tips out, will report back on Friday morning.

[Rowen]

this brings me to me 2nd question, while I'm tempted to sort out one issue at a time :), i figue whileim at the range i shoudl try both :)

with regards to irons...i was always under the impression that on the down swing, just before making contact with the ball, one should have the club face slighty foward .i.e. infront of your hand, or should the hand lead the club until impact...

gusy excuse if my wording / phrases are incorrect...as I've just started.

[tim31x]

when you set up to the ball on the tee, try aiming for the lower left quadrant of the ball(picture the back of the ball in 4 squares). this will promote an inside to outside swing path and will help keep the club head more square at impact. also try slowing your swing down and focus on clean contact vs. distance. the distance will come with better contact and ball striking.

[Zeph]

this brings me to me 2nd question, while I'm tempted to sort out one issue at a time :), i figue whileim at the range i shoudl try both :)

The hands always lead the club, this is where power and distance is created. In the world of golf, it's called

lag , your hands and wrists lag behind. When they reach the ball, obviously you have to release the club to square up the clubface, but up til you reach the ball with your hands, the club stays behind. This also promotes a downward blow, which is essential to iron play. You can look at Tigers swing, it demonstrates nicely how much lag he's got. This is also the key to why Sergio Garcia hits his irons so far, along with amazing shoulder turn. The later your wrists release, the more power you build. If the clubhead arrived at the ball first, you would lose tons of power and distance. While working on lag you must not fall into the habit of not releasing, or release too late, that'll shorten your shots very much. The crips butter feel you get when striking the ball perfect is achieved through the release. It's the important moment in any golf swing. You have turned your whole body back to build power, if you release the wrists too early, it's all a waste. You could try it just for fun, take a backswing without hinging your wrists and see how far you'll hit the ball. Then you try a half swing, wrists fully hinged and release late into the ball. Once you are able to combine the power of turning the body, lag with your wrists and a proper release the ball will penetrate the air like never before. The hard part is to syncronize everything, which is why a half or three quarter backswing is adviced to better control the swing. Since so much of the distance comes from your wrists, that small distance loss won't matter as much. In golf, hitting every iron further isn't as important, but being consistent and knowing how far you hit each club is vital. If someone hits their 3 iron 20 yards further, just use a wood for that shot, maybe grab down on the grip a bit if you hit it too far with a full lenght shot. Distance control and having a club for every yardage is always a huge advantage.

[Rowen]

really apperciate this guys... thank you

[Rowen]

So some feedback as promised...

I spent sometime at the range last night, and tried out most the suggestions you provided.

I really impressed, off all the suggestions about, the tip by TIM off aiming towards the left corner of the ball helped me swing more from outside in... although the fade has not completely gone, it has certainly improved.

I will have a chance to try this out at the course tommorrow,and will report back

thank you again.

[Zeph]

How exactly does the ball fade?

As I said earlier, two things determine the ball flight.

1: The swingpath
2: The clubface

Outside to inside swing = Ball starts to the left
Inside to outside swing = Ball starts to the right
Swing on plane = Ball starts straight

Clubface shut = Ball will land to the left
Clubface open = Ball will land to the right
Clubface square = Ball will land at the target

By combining these you can tell after every shot what your swingpath was and how your clubface was.
Some examples:

Ball starts to the left and continue left: Swingpath outside to inside, clubface shut.
Ball starts to the right and spin further to the right: Swingpath inside to outside, clubface open.
Ball starts straight and spin to the right: Swingpath on plane (at least at impact) and clubface open.

A rule of thumb: The ball starts along your swingpath and lands where your clubface was pointing.

I like to separate a fade and a slice.
Fade = Ball starts left and spin back to the target.
Slice = Ball starts left or straight and spin to the right.
Push = Ball goes straight right.
Push fade/slice = Ball starts right and continue right.

By learning how the clubface and swingpath affect the ball you can easily tell after every shot what was wrong. I found this really helpful when working on my swing.

[jambalaya]

So some feedback as promised...

I think you have the wrong idea of outside-in versus inside-out. I think you may be saying outside-in when you mean inside out. On your downswing, on a normal shot, you should swing from inside to out. Your clubhead should travel from the inside, where you took it when you rotated on the backswing back to the ball without overshooting the ball and having to pull the clubface back from the outside. That is why TIM got you to try to contact the ball on the left inside corner. Sounds like you did things right though.

[Rowen]

How exactly does the ball fade?

Thanks for this...

Well, with me the ball starts of straight and goes right... I have got a vid and a few pic from this weekend...comments welcome, i will have it up in a bit

[Rowen]

here are some pic's, will get the vid up shortly