Why am I hitting it straight?

[DaSportsGuy]

I have a Regular Flex Driver, 3 Wood, and 5 Wood and slice it huge with all three of them. And I recently got the Stiff Flex Nike SQ SUMO Hybrid and I hit that thing as straighter than you can imagine.

My question is am I not slicing it with that club because it's a Stiff Flex or is it something else? I need to figure it out because I don't want to waste my money getting a Stiff Flex Draw Driver to cancel out my slice if I'm going to hit a Stiff Flex straight and then end up with a draw out of the driver.

[clubhousehero]

It is possible that the slice was caused by the shaft...or it might not be.

Go to a simulator and try different shafts out.

[divottool]

The hybrid is several inches shorter that a driver, and perhaps a few inches shorter that the 3 wood.

The shorter the club the easier it is to square the clubface.

[jamo]

it might also be a different property of the shaft (torque, kick point...). I also used to have the SUMO hybrid and i hooked it like crazy so maybe it has a draw bias...

[Lean, Mean, Hitting Machine]

The square head probably helps too a little

[Shindig]

I have a Regular Flex Driver, 3 Wood, and 5 Wood and slice it huge with all three of them. And I recently got the Stiff Flex Nike SQ SUMO Hybrid and I hit that thing as straighter than you can imagine.

I have a guess on this: I think it's your transition from backswing to downswing.

There are plenty of stories out there of people who picked up distance and accuracy when they switched from R-flex to S-flex, and these are typically attributed to that cause.

[LIgolfer]

Why dont you go demo some clubs and see what happens??

[R7Player]

I think the hybrids are meant to be played like irons ie: ball setup.
If that is true, you are hitting it like your irons, which i bet you hit
straight. Your 3 and 5 woods are set up like drivers and are opened up
on the face or at least neutral so they go right because you are making
a strong swing it seems. Those hybrids sometimes have a more closed face
and will go straight. My callaway X 7 wood is closed and I over hit it left, far
from my fading Driver but it goes over the flagstick so I'm not that upset
But you are still left with a fade on your woods, you can
manually close the face on your drivers with your grip and should straighten them out.

[yygolfnb]

Better fix your swing before fixing the clubs. It is remotely unlikely to use a stiffer shaft to fix slice.

[colin]

It's certainly important to match up your swing type with equipment but that can be overdone a bit mentally. A slice is a slice and it's in your swing not the shaft. You can fix a little bit too much l to r action with a shaft but not a true slice. And I'm not being critical, because I've been down a similar path, but your not going to fix a slice with a "draw" driver. Nothing wrong with draw drivers, but they don't "fix slices." Dig in, fix your slice and you'll be 100% more reliable and 100% more rewarded.

[jambalaya]

Proof is proof. Changing to the new driver straightened things out for you. There is certainly a difference swinging a stiff compared to a regular shaft. More flex and different kick point on the shaft can be significant. Think about your shaft as you come into the ball. There should be a bow in the shaft with the leading edge of the arc forward. The harder you swing, the more the shaft bows and the more open the clubface will be. Like some of the others said, go to where you can demo a bunch of drivers with someone who really knows the shafts and their characteristics and experiment. I guess you could get some fancy swing speed analysis done too. You might be one who swings the club really hard which really flexes the shaft.

[$2 Nassau]

A lot of it could be mental. Your brain kind of getting short circuited temporarily when you have a new club in your and I almost got rid of it, and now it's finally starting to come back. This also happens to me with a new driver. Weird.

[SQ Bimmer]

Proof is proof. Changing to the new driver straightened things out for you. There is certainly a difference swinging a stiff compared to a regular shaft. More flex and different kick point on the shaft can be significant. Think about your shaft as you come into the ball. There should be a bow in the shaft with the leading edge of the arc forward. The harder you swing, the more the shaft bows and the more open the clubface will be. Like some of the others said, go to where you can demo a bunch of drivers with someone who really knows the shafts and their characteristics and experiment. I guess you could get some fancy swing speed analysis done too. You might be one who swings the club really hard which really flexes the shaft.

I'm not so sure about this. Everything I have heard regarding shaft flex and swing speed says that if your flex is too soft for your swing which demands a stiffer flex, the more likely you are to hit a nasty pull hook. I've sort of tested this at the range one time when I was hitting my woods really well, I grabbed my girlfriend's 3 wood (Lady Burner 3) and gave it the same swing, and with every shot I would get huge hooks. I think the idea is that the soft flex shaft has more slingshot effect and when the club changes its bow from a forward bow to a backwards bow, the softer flex bows forward MORE causing a hook.

If he is getting a slice because his shafts are flexing too much, maybe he is holding his lag just a tad too long and going to the stiff shaft is making up for that? My guess is that would account for a slight push, and not a nasty slice. As mentioned, I think the swing should be fixed before the equipment. I used to blame my equipment, which is why I bought all new regular flex clubs and tossed the hand-me-down stiff flex clubs, but I still slice the ball sometimes.

[$2 Nassau]

A lot of it could be mental. Your brain kind of getting short circuited temporarily when you have a new club in your and I almost got rid of it, and now it's finally starting to come back. This also happens to me with a new driver. Weird.

oops, sorry about that. Left out a sentence. LOL. Was just saying how when I got my hybrid I hit it great at first and then couldn't hit it for a while, but then it slowly came back and now I love the club. Give it some time to see how it works out.

[jambalaya]

I'm not so sure about this. Everything I have heard regarding shaft flex and swing speed says that if your flex is too soft for your swing which demands a stiffer flex, the more likely you are to hit a nasty pull hook. I've sort of tested this at the range one time when I was hitting my woods really well, I grabbed my girlfriend's 3 wood (Lady Burner 3) and gave it the same swing, and with every shot I would get huge hooks. I think the idea is that the soft flex shaft has more slingshot effect and when the club changes its bow from a forward bow to a backwards bow, the softer flex bows forward MORE causing a hook.

Seems your right. Got this from a search:

If Your Flex Isn't Stiff Enough And what will happen if your flex isn't stiff enough? 1. The ball might fly higher for any given loft, compared to a properly fit shaft. 2. The ball may tend to go left, or to the draw side, for a right-handed golfer (because with a too-flexible shaft, the clubhead may tend to come into the ball closed). 3. Shots may tend to feel more solid, even when they aren't.

[DaSportsGuy]

oops, sorry about that. Left out a sentence. LOL. Was just saying how when I got my hybrid I hit it great at first and then couldn't hit it for a while, but then it slowly came back and now I love the club. Give it some time to see how it works out.

I think I'm going through that too. The first week or two I was hitting it perfectly, now I'm really struggling with it and pulling it most of the time with somewhat of a hook at times.

[DaSportsGuy]

Unbelievable! I have been hooking my hybrid so badly lately I used my driver off the tee today and got my lowest score of my career!

[SQ Bimmer]

Unbelievable! I have been hooking my hybrid so badly lately I used my driver off the tee today and got my lowest score of my career!

I don't remember your handicap prior, but did you see a handicap drop?