Pushing irons and Driver....

[ericstamper]

Will bending my irons more upright help? Sometimes the driver has a nice perfect draw but the majority of the time it is a push left into the tree line??? I consider myself a decent golfer. My swing is repeatable but I don't feel comfortable aiming right to compensate! My chipping was horrible then i fixed it with alot of practice but now my wedge to three iron push with solid contact. Im 5'8 with standard mp 57 mizuno irons. tried rolling hands over more and that just left me still pushing shots and they are starting to cut??? I don't feel like moving the r9 settings i just wanna fix the problem. for thoughts the driver sometimes goes low and hooks also? Dont have time to hit 600 range balls a week but if that what it takes i guess ill lose sleep!!!!!!!!! Heeeeeellllll-pppp

[uttexas]

Pushing shot=club open at impact, swing path square to club face angle=straight push
quick fix=close clubface slightly.
real fix=Because I believe having the clubface slightly open at impact has great benefits in most situations, I would have the club approach the ball on a more in-to-out path.
Having the club approach the ball on a more in to out path can be as easy as holding your wrist angle through impact longer (so you're not throwing the club out at the ball at impact)

[senorchipotle]

you say you've got an r9. tell you what, i'll make you a deal. i need a good driver, and yours doesn't want to cooperate with you. how about you send me your driver, problem solved.


seriously though. i'll bet a million bucks your shoulders are either open to your target at impact or you're coming over the top.

[MikeLowry5]

Pushing shot=club open at impact, swing path square to club face angle=straight push

Wouldn't bringing it from the inside accentuate the push even more?

One reason the club may be open at impact would be him getting stuck coming too much from the inside and leading with a very open face. Personally I suffer from this and is a great recipe for bouts with shanks and everything is pushed.

[uttexas]

Coming from the inside more (keeping the club face angle the same) would change your ball flight from a straight push to a push draw. Initial ball direction is determined by club face and ball flight is 85% determined by swing path. The more you swing in to out, the more the ball will draw. The more you swing out to in, the more the ball will fade.

[iacas]

Coming from the inside more (keeping the club face angle the same) would change your ball flight from a straight push to a push draw. Initial ball direction is determined by club face and ball flight is 85% determined by swing path. The more you swing in to out, the more the ball will draw. The more you swing out to in, the more the ball will fade.

That's true, but most people say they're pushing when the ball's going 20 yards right, not five or six, and to get a push that's 20 yards right the path is already about as far from the inside as you want.

So I don't think he should come MORE from the inside... he should examine his grip and the face angle at impact and see about squaring it up a bit. He can still hit a little push, but the "openness" should be cut in half so it draws from there.

[ericstamper]

moved irons 2 degrees upright and it fixed everything. a couple fat shots tho...maybe due to lack of play tho

[kilbyman]

I'm also suffering from pushes with the driver. I'm hitting the ball in the middle of the clubface, and the ball just goes straight to the right, sometimes oob, mostly in the trees. I think I have a pretty good swing path as far as in to out goes, especially because I am hitting straight pushes. My irons normally push-draws. An observation: sometimes when i take the driver back much lower on my body and aggressively try to turn my right hand over my left before impact, I get the same flight with my driver as my irons. I am on the right track here? And if so, what should I practice to get my straight push into a push draw? (I'd even take a pull fade)

[RC]

Far many good players, the push is a result of the club getting trapped behind them on the backswing. This topic has been covered in detail here many times, but the short version is if the club works inside ahead of your hands, then you will have a hard time on the downswing, You will either push it or come over the top and flip your hands through impact and pull hook or pull fade it (depending on clubface angle.) The fix is always the same... keep the club in front of you on the backswing and the hands about in line with the right shoulder. There is a lot more to this than this simple answer.

[Stu.C]

I have a question! I am the same height as you (Eric) and also a lefty, I thought that the standard manufacturer's setting for irons favored those who were slightly taller than you or I, me being the same height. I have in the past wondered about getting my clubs fitted but thought that I would have to get them changed to flatter rather then more upright. Also, am I correct in saying that these settings can have a different effect on low irons than they would have on a wedge or a nine iron say.

[delav]

moved irons 2 degrees upright and it fixed everything. a couple fat shots tho...maybe due to lack of play tho

Did you have anyone check you with a lie-board? That should be the only reason to bend an iron, as pushing can be caused by a ton of things.

[NCSU_MSE]

Far many good players, the push is a result of the club getting trapped behind them on the backswing. This topic has been covered in detail here many times, but the short version is if the club works inside ahead of your hands, then you will have a hard time on the downswing, You will either push it or come over the top and flip your hands through impact and pull hook or pull fade it (depending on clubface angle.) The fix is always the same... keep the club in front of you on the backswing and the hands about in line with the right shoulder. There is a lot more to this than this simple answer.

BLESS YOU!!! You have just described 90% of my drives towards the end of last season - I'd either hit a 20-yd push OB to the right (and I mean dead straight but right) or a nasty low snap hook that went about 150 yds. I'll work on keeping the club more in front of me. Question - I also seem to push my irons, but I think that is due to cupping my left wrist (as opposed to cocking it). Is that possible? My normal shot (when I'm not hitting a push) is about a 5-7 yard draw, which makes right-sided pin locations scary to go after.

[RC]

Sorry... did not see this question. One cannot really tell reasons for things without seeing video or the real swing. You can only talk about general tendancies and cause and effects. In general, I would say 90 percent of golfers get the club shaft pointing right of their target line on the backswing when the club gets to parallel to the ground. Some call this the 3:00 O'clock position and others call it the 9:00 O'clock position (depends on who is looking at the clock face.) A pushed iron is very close to a good shot. But if you hit normal draws and a few pushes, my guess is you are compensating for the inside club position by doing a little hand action on most of your shots. When you don't time the hand action just right, you push it or if you flip hard at it, you pull hook or pull fade it. Usually pushers hit pull hook misses. Pull fades are the result of rerouting the club and coming over the ball from the trapped position. The fix is to hit a lot of balls where the clubhead stays outside the hands as it works back and up on plane. Then you don't have to make any adjustments coming back down. All this assumes you shift weight well and turn through the shot with good mechanics. A good drill is to keep your right arm close to your body and hit 3/4 shots. That forces you to take the club away with a shoulder turn rather than pushing the hands outward while the club swings inward. You want the opposite, the hands working around in front of you and the club when it reaches parallel to the ground either pointing right at the target line or slightly left of the target line. I like left because it gives me plenty of room to shift and turn through the shot without any thought of my hands doing anything but hanging onto the club. When I want to be sure to hit a draw and not push the shot, I really try to be sure the club is slightly left pointing at waist high. If I want a big hook, I even take the club back so it points more left -- because that gives me room to swing more inside out. Many golfers don't agree with this approach, but check out Ricky F's back swing in the most recent golf magazine. While not a classic swing, it gives him room to do a super extended down release through impact.