Causes of a pushdraw?

[jl923]

Alot of my teeshots start right and then draws back alot, like 10-20 yards at times. And when it hits the fairway, it bounces left also. Is that normal? I havent been playing long, so excuse me if this is a newbish question. What causes this? Is it an alignment issue (meaning i align right and my clubhead is closed at address)?

My ideal shot shape would be a baby draw where the ball bounces forward (instead of to the side)

[Arthur]

As I understand the ball flight rules a push-dray is caused by an open club face (push) and an in to out swing (draw). As a rough guess I would suggest moving the ball a touch toward your front foot to lessen the curve.

[glbrum]

I do this sometimes with my 3-wood. I have a tendency to block my woods off to the right a bit so I think it's similar to what was said above. A block [or a push, whatever you wanna call it] + the closed club face at impact. I focus on a smooth [read: slow] backswing and a complete follow through to help eliminate the block, which in turn keeps the ball straighter with less draw/hook.

[MJP]

If you're ball is only drawing 10-20y, that basically is a baby draw (well, 10y is). I can't see how the ball would bounce sideways unless you were hooking it (drawing it like 30-50y). If you are having trouble holding a fairway then you are probably hooking it. Either you are massively hooking it with a push or you are just hooking it with no push at all. If you're swing plane very inside out (I don't know how likely that is), the ball will draw less (but push more) with a more open club face at impact. You can achieve this by strengthening the left hand grip/weakening the right hand grip or by having a more forward leaning club shaft at impact. The 2nd is much harder to achieve (as it's not a quick fix) but is preferable.

[jl923]

can you explain what you mean by having a more forward leaning shaft at impact? The times i dont draw the ball back to the fairway, it is a dead push, sometimes as much as 50 yds to the right. I almost never pull it. I believe i block it to the right also.

Why is that? I think its because my lower half is getting too quick, leaving my upper body behind?

[MJP]

a forward leaning club shaft at impact is when the grip and entire shaft are pointed more toward the target. this is achieved by the hands being ahead of the ball at impact. the further ahead the hands are, the more forwward leaning clubshaft.

take a normal stance and square the club at address. then push your hands toward the target while leaving the clubface on the ground. Notice how the clubface opens as you push the hands toward the target. This is the correct way to hit the ball anyways as it ensures minimal flipping.

If you are hitting a push draw then I would say you aren't far off. But the fact you are overdrawing the ball (if the ball can't stay on the fairway because it hops and rolls left) simply means you're swing path is too in to out relative to your club face. It would be hard to tell without a high FPS down the line swing what you are really doing. But if you insist that you really are pushing the ball, but it is drawing too much, then you likely have a very flat in to out swing.

But really it's hard to believe you could hit a BIG push draw (you say sometimes you are pushing it as much as 50y. are you really, or are you push fading it 50 yards?) and still be over hooking it. Maybe I am misunderstanding you're problem. I think I am.

To be honest, a push draw is an ideal shot because you are coming from the inside, which in my experience gives me a lot more powerful lag and I hit the ball farther. I also noticed the times I am losing my lag and flipping I am swinging more out to in.

To be even more honest, the shot shape I am working towards right now is the one you claim to have. A draw that pushes 10y/20y (irons/woods) and draws back 10y/20y. If you can get your hands on a video camera, record a swing of yours from down the line.

Refer to this link for a detailed explanation on how to film your swing for the best results.

http://thesandtrap.com/playing_tips/filming_your_swing

edit: no one can really help you anyways unless you film your swing or get lessons from a good instructor. people on here will be glad to help you if you film your swing however :)

[jl923]

i definitely will. Need to get that camera. i think you're right about overdrawing the ball. I push the ball alot, so i close the clubhead slightly with a strong grip to compensate. so what should be a good shot ends up drawing too much. makes sense. thanks.

[MJP]

I actually have this problem with the driver. I close the clubface down sometimes when I already have a pretty nice in to out path. Then the ball starts straight (or even pulls) and just hooks into the rough left. The more PUSH, the less draw. So if you really are over drawing the ball try to get that face even more open. I already stated two ways to do so (that I know of) but I am still working on this myself. But don't open the face too much or you will start push fading.

Yeah once you get a camera and film your swing you can make a thread called My Swing (jl923) and its likely a lot of people will help you out.