The Harder I Swing the More I Slice (Driver)??

[SwingPlane]

There are many factors that come into play when it comes to ball flight.  I am a golf professional and work as an instructor and am a former Asian Tour professional.  If you think it is your swing then take a lesson or two to straighten it out.  I am a big believer of getting fitted for golf equipment and it is quite possible the shaft is wrong for you.  I recently started playing a new driver and it took several shaft changes before the ball flight was acceptable.  A weak shaft will generally cause the ball to fade or slice when making a full swing.  Now do not confuse a full swing with swinging hard, a full swing is one in which you can hit the ball solidly(hard) and still maintaing a connected swing and balance.  I always recommend to my students to use a stiffer shaft on the driver, because generally a stiffer shaft will be straighter but not necessarily longer.  I agree with the other posts that talk about tempo and the best gage of your tempo should be the tempo you hit your 5 iron.

[Jameson]

My 2 cents, and agree with all previous replies: when I swing smooth with my driver it works. And with the irons actually is the same. I was listening yesterday some opinions of pros on how to maximize your distance with the driver, and they all agreed: smooth.

And by the way, 250 yards with the drive is great!

When I have a teacher that tell me to swing harder, I quit automatically.

[metbid]

I played baseball/softball for over 50 years, played golf casually, without any lessons.  Now my knees are no longer good enough to play softball, so I have taken up golf seriously.

I could really smack the ball, but I always had a big fade/slice due to casting at the ball with my baseball swing.  Now that I have had some lessons and put them into practice, I hit straight to slight draw drives about 230 - 250 yards.  Sometimes when I am playing pretty good, I think I can hit it a little harder to get that 'extra' 10 yards........and back comes the slice.  I know for me, it is caused by coming over the top  that causes it (even a slight amount hurts). The tendency is to start the hands coming down too early and then they get too vertical giving a little outside in at contact.  Add the tendency to grip a little tighter when trying to accelerate more and....,,,,,away it goes.

I swore I wasn't coming over the top, but my pro videoed it and even though it wasn't much, it was there.

My dad used to use this quote a lot: "Short and straight will beat long and wild every time."

[Buckeyebowman]

All the above suggestions makes sense. Here's another one. Sometimes, when trying to hit the ball harder, guys get out of sync by letting their legs, hips, and bodies outrace their arms and hands. The arms and hands get dragged along behind, and never have the chance to square the clubface.

And there were several references to "swinging harder". I once watched a Haney vid where he was coaching an older guy (in his 70's), trying to get him some extra distance. He kept telling him to swing "faster". After one of these admonitions, the pupil says, "OK, I'll try to swing harder." Haney immediately corrected him. Harder implies tight, tense muscles! He wanted him to swing with loose, supple muscles which are faster.

And, since we have no idea what the OP's clubhead speed is when he's hitting it well, it could be that his shaft isn't right for when he tries to bomb it!

[EverythingGolf]

Proper technique will get the club to go faster, and you wont have to try and swing faster to do it.

[Jameson]

On 19/6/2009 at 5:15 AM, BirdIsTheWord said:

Alot of times it is a rhythm problem. Mechanics as well, but I've never seen you swing...I have a very high swing speed, and while it Looks like I'm swinging out of my shoes sometimes to some people, it is in rhythm and balance. However, a miss hit will be amplified more than a slower swing. On the other hand if you swing slower than what feels natural to you, you may be off your personal rhythm. At that point you might manipulate your swing, rather than letting the club swing freely. Most people will tell you to swing about 85% of the fastest you can swing. But, if your in rhythm and balance, you can juice it up if need be. I often redline it 95%-99% and still keep her straight, or work it left/right through setup. You will know you're in rhythm when most of the force of the swing is just before impact. A great way to test this is to turn your club upside-down (gripping under the clubhead, swinging the grip). Listen for a "wooosh" sound. You want that just before impact, maybe 12-18 inches. Think of the "viking ship" from a carnival, or six flags. The one where you sit and it swings back and forth, like a pendulum. It swings back , kind of pauses briefly at the top, heads back down, and builds speed on the way down to the bottom where it is moving fastest. Same philosophy. Centrifugal force. Well, your body would be it's base, the shaft would be it's arms, and the clubhead would be the screaming people locked in their seats. Swing too fast on the way back and they all fly out all over the park. Noone wants that,lol. Don't leave all your power behind your head, at parallel..
If you feel your setup/swing is fundamentally sound, it may be a tempo issue. If your mechanics are off, tempo doesn't matter. But you can ruin an otherwise beautiful swing with poor rhythm. Like a grandfather clock's pendulum, an in-tempo swing will literally beat time. Alot of golfers count off time while they swing. Or if your on the other side of normal--like myself--find some songs in your tempo, then get them stuck in your head. Pick up a metronome. I know, I know, it sounds stupid. But once you find a rhythm that feels comfortable and produces results, you can always find your way back to your tempo if it gets out of whack. Just make sure you use it in privacy, not in your buddy's backswing!! Tick...Tick....Tick...

I couldn´t agree more. Last time I played the driver wasn´t working until I relaized it was a rhythm problem. Starting counting in my mind 1,2,3, and it worked perfectly. You don´t have to forget your swing mechanics but always keeping the nice and fluid motion. Otherwise, nothing works. 1,2,3. 

[rehmwa]

You are probably not committing enough.

Did you try swinging EVEN FASTER?

 

YMMV

[Ernest Jones]

1 hour ago, rehmwa said:

You are probably not committing enough.

Did you try swinging EVEN FASTER?

 

YMMV

Agreed. Also, from the top, start screaming until you reach impact. 

[rehmwa]

LMAO - with only a weekend or two left, I'm going to start screaming on every swing

just because

[Ernest Jones]

4 hours ago, rehmwa said:

LMAO - with only a weekend or two left, I'm going to start screaming on every swing

just because

It won't help your slice, but I've found that most folks will let you play through. 

[IndianaDundee]

A lot of this has been said (no video so just guessing, shaft might be wrong, timing gets off, gripping too tight, 250 and straight is great) but there are a few other things to look at.  

Is the 250 yards correct. Most ranges miss label yardage so you think you are hitting further.  Even the courses in my area are guilty of this.  One hole for example is labeled 330 yards on the card and I have drove that green.  But my Swing by Swing app GPS says it is 287.  I really got a hold of that ball to drive the green, but I certainly don't claim that I drive the ball 330.  

I saw someone mention starting the downswing with your right knee.  I start my swing by pointing my left knee to the target.  It is a small move but it gets my lower body moving forcing my hips to turn and helps my timing for  swing out of my shoes Bubba Watson type swing.

[Rainmaker]

That;s pretty much how a slice works . .the faster you swing, the more you side spin you put on it, the more it slices.  Same with loft - the less loft, more slice. 

My guess . .and statistics are on my side, lol . .is that you have some fundamental issues in your swing that you can better compensate (ie - correct) for at slower speeds.

[jkelley9]

Methinks this thread is pretty dern old... but

I went from a 200-230y wicked slice to a nice 245-255y, sometimes up to 265 (remarkably, pretty consistent) straight to a slight draw shot by just freaking relaxing and letting the club do the work. I don't don't even take a full back swing nowadays. Today's drivers are insane. I'm also short, @ 5'7" with a 1/2" cut down shaft from standard. I also wasn't fitted for this driver.

When I would try to "hammer the ball straight" it would be a massive over-the-top swing and my club face would be wide open even though my eyes were perceiving straight at impact. I started to have that relaxed swing and rotating the club face closed through impact and letting my swing path swing in-to-out ("right-field") and it instantly did wonders. Not just one-day progress either, it's been a few months now.

For those with this problem, video of yourself helps a lot. Also, there's a lot of good golfers here that will comment on your swing if you create a MySwing thread.