Why does my driver slice and my irons go straight?

[doobie88]

Hey guys,

I am 24 and have been playing golf for the greater part of 8 years. I have made a choice to play a round at least 3-4 times a month and have been going strong for 5 months now. I made a big purchase 4 months ago, buying a set of irons ranging from 4 iron-Gap Wedge. The model is Taylor Made Burner 1.0.

The irons are working out great for my swing and can hit every green on Par 3 holes. I have complete confidence in these irons off the tee, but from the fairway is a different story.

With the purchase of the TM irons, I bought the TM Burner 1.0 9.5 degree Driver, along with the 17 degree Burner 5 wood.

Now my driver is inconsistent to say the best. I can hit a 300 yard drive straight one hole, and then a 225 yard slice the next. This is really affecting my confidence in my game because I am not showing improvement in my score. I range from low 90's all the way to mid 100's on tough scores.

My question to ALL is : Why am I slicing my driver and hitting my irons straight? I know that it is a different swing in the sense of ending with your weight on the right knee(RH) rather than ending with weight on left knee with your irons.

My stance : The ball is up in my stance with my left leg perpendicular to the ball.

Ball that I am currently using : Titleist 2 core DT Solo. Thinking about trying out the Titleist NXT.

Please help me with this question so golf can be fun for me again. All opinions/tips are welcomed and i will gladly respond with appreciation.

Thanks,

[johnclayton1982]

I'm not sure if this will help, but I play the same driver.  I used to slice the hell out of it until I had it cut down from 46" to 44 1/2 ".  It is really hard to hit a 46" driver correctly.  Think about cutting it down a bunch.  You don't lose much distance, but it is a hundred times easier to hit.  At Golf Galaxy you can get a shaft cut down a new grip installed (I use Golf Pride VDR) for about $8.  If you are 6'5", ignore this.  But my game is much better playing a 44 1/2" driver than a 46".  And my misses were always slices.

Another chief cause of slices for a beginner is that they stand too far away from the ball at address.  A good way to try to check this is, before you swing, drop your right hand off the club and let gravity take it (no muscle, just let it drop).  If it drops straight down, you are good.  If, however, it drops back toward your body on its way down you are too far away from the ball.

[bkoguy07]

Do you fade your irons any? Do even fade the slightest with a 9 and as you get down to a 4I it starts fading more?  Generally, The longer the club the more exaggerated the misses.  Anyways, if you hit your irons straight you're probably just coming OTT with the driver.  Work on not coming across the ball but more from the inside out

[iPutt]

I can think of a couple of reasons that might explain it...

1) A driver puts more spin on the ball since it is the lowest lofted club in the bag (besides the putter of course). This causes it to exaggerate the curve of the ball and turns what may be a soft fade with a 9-iron is actually a larger slice with the driver.

2) For some reason (I think it could be the longer length) amateurs tend to swing a driver more outside in going through the ball either causing a big slice of a straight pull. Work on swinging "out to right field" as some like to say and focus getting more on plane.

3) The irons you're playing are game improvement irons and one characteristic of these irons is that they'll have more offset. Most people believe that offset in a club promotes more of a draw spin, so this may be why you hit your irons straighter than your driver.

Just a few thoughts that I think may help but if not, going to a few lessons would probably shed some light on the problem.

[doobie88]

Thanks for the tips

-Question : I am 6'3 so is cutting down the shaft still a good option for my height?

Great idea about the standing closer to the ball. I will try this stance out on the course this weekend.

[GJBenn85]

Good idea about cutting down the driver shaft.  My driver is long and I also have a tendency to slice it.  Have also been slicing my fairway woods but I can clearly see I have an outside-in swing so it is something I need to work on.  I have been leaving the clubs in my bag during rounds because of my tendency to slice.  It is definitely frustrating when I can hit my long irons dead straight at a distance that exceeds my woods and driver.

[Mizguy]

IMO most people have trouble with accuracy and their driver in general.  Bc it is the longest club in the bag, the club head has the longest distance to travel and the more things can go wrong.

When I was dealing with a slice it was because I was swinging too hard, plain and simple.  I would really try to muscle the ball and my hands would get way outside the ball on my downswing causing me to come outside in, instead of coming off my right hip and firing thru the ball.

Just my experience, hope it helps.

[Kieran123]

Someone will get this surely.

[ejimsmith]

for me, when i fade or slice, its always because of an out-to-in swing.   i solve it by flattening my swing plane.. sometimes i just think to myself, start the backswing, and keep it "under" my left shoulder (not literally, but i do put that though in my head).

tempo is important too, if you're killing it at 300 yards, you may have some pent up energy that might be causing you to go forward before you completed your backswing.  that causes the face of the club to not be square.

finally, take a practice swing and see if you can notice if your on plane, going outside-in, or inside-out.  and then adjust your backswing plane accordingly (raise if you're inside-out, lower if you're outside-in).   that works for me, and my driver is easily my most consistent club in my bag.

[pestario13]

I had a horrible slice for years.  I always just played it off the tee because trying to fix it was killing my score.  One day I played a round with the club pro and asked him to watch my swing.  He had me tee up about 3 balls and watched.  Low and behold, I had an outside - in swing.  When I asked him how to solve it, he simply said, "slow down and keep your right elbow tucked".  I am right handed by the way.  As it turns out, it fixed my slice.  I still slice every now and then when I am not paying attention, but if I concentrate on not letting my right elbow "fly", then I typically hit the ball straight.  Now if I could just figure out where to aim.

[glock35ipsc]

Originally Posted by doobie88

My question to ALL is : Why am I slicing my driver and hitting my irons straight? I know that it is a different swing in the sense of ending with your weight on the right knee(RH) rather than ending with weight on left knee with your irons.

Can you elaborate on this?  Do you mean swinging the club, then holding your finish with most of your weight on your back foot (for a righty)?

[TDK24]

for me, when i fade or slice, its always because of an out-to-in swing.   i solve it by flattening my swing plane.. sometimes i just think to myself, start the backswing, and keep it "under" my left shoulder (not literally, but i do put that though in my head). tempo is important too, if you're killing it at 300 yards, you may have some pent up energy that might be causing you to go forward before you completed your backswing.  that causes the face of the club to not be square. finally, take a practice swing and see if you can notice if your on plane, going outside-in, or inside-out.  and then adjust your backswing plane accordingly (raise if you're inside-out, lower if you're outside-in).   that works for me, and my driver is easily my most consistent club in my bag.

This. I'm kind of a big guy too (6'2", 230), and realized that my right arm was fighting against my left wrist. This led to a poor swing plane and the dreaded 30+ yard fade. Check your left wrist at your back swing. If its cocked up, flatten that out. This helped me a lot.

[onesome]

Because of the low loft you put more side spin on the ball with a driver.

[Clint75]

I did exactly the same thing. The way i fixed my driver shots were to stand closer to the ball and not beat the crap out of it. you need to learn to be consistent in where your ball lands and not how far it goes, so try the softer shots and closer to the ball and once you have that mastered then start hitting for distance

[keeps21]

Originally Posted by glock35ipsc

Can you elaborate on this?  Do you mean swinging the club, then holding your finish with most of your weight on your back foot (for a righty)?

This.

Hanging back could be causing you to swing out to in across the ball, getting your weight forward will help you swing more in to out.

[CollegeGolfer]

Pay attention to this video.  This was my problem throughout my early high-school career, and by my Junior year, I was able to have a slight draw.

[LarryS]

I had the same problem for years and finally decided to take a lesson. My coach's advice, and subsequent suggestion from my wife minimized my driver slice a bunch.

The coach's suggestion was that I concentrate on "release" – – that is bringing my right hand over my left as the club head approaches the ball. (I had heard about "release" for years, but really didn't know what it was until my coach demonstrated). Once I concentrated on "releasing" the path of my shots changed from slice to pulling left (not hooking -- just pulling). To adjust for pulling left I went to the driving range and kept trying different release approaches and swinging flatter (my wife's suggestion) until the path of the ball started to go straight. Now I'm hitting the fairways consistently. I still have a slight fade, but when I concentrate on release, the fade goes away in the ball goes straighter and much farther. LS

[moparman426]

Originally Posted by LarryS

I had the same problem for years and finally decided to take a lesson. My coach's advice, and subsequent suggestion from my wife minimized my driver slice a bunch.

The coach's suggestion was that I concentrate on "release" – – that is bringing my right hand over my left as the club head approaches the ball. (I had heard about "release" for years, but really didn't know what it was until my coach demonstrated). Once I concentrated on "releasing" the path of my shots changed from slice to pulling left (not hooking -- just pulling). To adjust for pulling left I went to the driving range and kept trying different release approaches and swinging flatter (my wife's suggestion) until the path of the ball started to go straight. Now I'm hitting the fairways consistently. I still have a slight fade, but when I concentrate on release, the fade goes away in the ball goes straighter and much farther. LS

Sounds like you need a different coach.  Turning the hands over before contacting the ball does not mean "release".  The term release is more related to the breaking of the wrist after impact, not before (from my understanding).    What you are doing by turning your hands over, pre-contact, is shutting the clubface to your swing path.