Huge breakthrough today!!!

[Bullitt5339]

I usually go play a round on Sunday, but today I decided to take the clubs I've been having the most problems with to the driving and putting range and actually try to improve instead of playing. I also ordered all new wedges (Cleveland CG14's) and they're supposed to be here on Tuesday, so I didn't want to work on my wedges, since I had to get a feel for the new ones later this week. So that left me the 2 clubs that kill me on the course: My driver, and my putter.

I went to the driving range, and got a ton of balls to hit, I figured I'd figure it out eventually if I hit enough balls... On about ball #10, an 85 year old man walked up and asked me how it was going. I told him the truth, "I'm trying to figure out my driver, since I haven't hit it well every since I learned to hit my irons". So he was watching me while I was screwing it all up. Everything was going right, a little slice, but mostly just an open club face on impact.

So he gave me his first piece of advice: "Swing harder" I guess since I learned to hit my irons decent, I applied the same philosophy to my driver, and really slowed down my speed. Swung hard, and it straightened it out a little bit. So he continued to watch me.

Next piece of advice: "Widen your stance, with a narrow stance, you get more clubhead speed, but accuracy suffers. You've got plenty of distance, just need to get it straight". So I widened my stance, and guess what? My drives got a bit straighter. Hmmmm, a little better, but still way right.

The last piece of advice: "I see what your main problem is now. You've got a nice swing, don't change it. But you're gripping the club with your right thumb. Your left hand is fine, don't change it, but take your right hand, and hold it with your fingers, but just let your thumb hang on the opposite side of the club, don't actually put any pressure on it". So I tried that, and the first couple felt a bit funny, but after I got used to the club being kind of loose in my right hand, my drives were straight as an arrow, right at the 250 marker every time.

I'm going to hit the driving range a couple more times this week, so that it feels more natural to me, and it becomes habit instead of having to think about it, and I can't wait to go play on Friday.

I also tried the club length putting drill for about an hour on the putting range, and I'm a believer. I only went 2 club lengths out for today, but man, what a difference!!!! It really gives you confidence in the speed of your putts, even when I missed, they were never more than 2" from the cup.

Good times practicing today, I just hope I can put it all together on the course, and finally break 90.

[pittpanther]

The last piece of advice: "I see what your main problem is now. You've got a nice swing, don't change it. But you're gripping the club with your right thumb. Your left hand is fine, don't change it, but take your right hand, and hold it with your fingers, but just let your thumb hang on the opposite side of the club, don't actually put any pressure on it". So I tried that, and the first couple felt a bit funny, but after I got used to the club being kind of loose in my right hand, my drives were straight as an arrow, right at the 250 marker every time.

Dude, you must have read my mind! My buddy told me the same thing a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday was my first chance to put it in action, and I shot my best round ever: +10 over nine holes. Bogey golf! No more huge slice on the driver.

Basically my thumb and index finger meet on the left side of the club. Index finger is no longer wrapped around the club, and my thumb is no longer riding on top of the club shaft. Feels a little weird at first, but it's comfortable now.

[Bullitt5339]

Awesome!!! So there is hope for my game.......lol

Just getting back into playing, this is one of the big things that I've been struggling with, is pushing everything right. My last 3 9's have been 56, 52, and 50. So I've been cutting a little off every time, but hopefully with the correct grip, so that everything quits pushing right, I can cut that down a lot.

Especially if I learn how to read the greens, so my number of putts goes way down.

[gir]

oh - first I was going to say that I hate unsolicited advice, especially when it comes from some clear hacker. But seems this guy knew what he was talking about, so that's better, even though you still get the creepy feeling that you're being watched.

Basically, I guess we're talking about the grip here. I've found the right thumb towards the left of the shaft helps with freeing up the wrists so they can hinge. If the thumb is over to the right, or on top, I've found that my wrist hinge is restricted by the flexibility of the thumb.

[enduro]

Ben Hogan talked of this actually. "Pincer fingers" can ruin a swing. What happens is you pinch the club with your thumb and index finger not allowing a release. When you take those off the club they stop holding the club back.

Of course, this means that the real problem is you aren't releasing the club properly. Potentially pronating your wrists creating a push and with a driver, a push-slice.

Make sure you're wrists are getting over with your driver.

[chspeed]

Just want to be the voice of golf reason here. Advice like that rarely lasts, especially for very high handicappers. At best, all it does is distract you for a little while which frees your swing up, which then mitigates your major swing faults for a day or two. Major swing faults can't be fixed by a small grip change or stance change.

I'll bet that this fix won't stand up on the course. Sorry!

If you want to fix a slice, go see a PGA pro - I doubt they'd focus on such minor adjustments.

[Bullitt5339]

I don't slice very often, never really did. That wasn't the problem at all.

My problem was that no matter what I did, my clubface was open on contact, and changing my grip has seemed to allow me to be more consistant with that part of my game.