Playing a straight pull?

[Valleygolfer]

My natural swing is over the top and after studying ball flight rules, maybe I should close my club face and swing over the top naturally. Any cons to this?

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Valleygolfer

My natural swing is over the top and after studying ball flight rules, maybe I should close my club face and swing over the top naturally. Any cons to this?

It depends on how much of a pull you're talking about.

2-3 degrees? Go for it. Just make sure it doesn't turn into a pull that then fades and/or slices. It can be a slippery slope, just allowing your path to go left.

4+ degrees? You're de-lofting the clubs quite a bit, so you're going to have issues with lower ball flights than you should have.

[Valleygolfer]

Originally Posted by iacas

It depends on how much of a pull you're talking about.

2-3 degrees? Go for it. Just make sure it doesn't turn into a pull that then fades and/or slices. It can be a slippery slope, just allowing your path to go left.

4+ degrees? You're de-lofting the clubs quite a bit, so you're going to have issues with lower ball flights than you should have.

So if I go to 4+, I could adjust my driver loft from 8.5 to 9.25 or is the adjustment the same as decreasing rotation?

[mirv]

sam snead played his whole career hitting a pull from a slightly over the top swing.  but like iacas mentioned in regards to low ball flights, snead early in his career couldn't even get a driver off the ground and consequently teed off with a 2 or 3 wood.  he eventually got that worked out and was off to the races, but then, he was one of the most naturally talented players the game has ever seen and could easily do a lot of things that the rest of us can't.

[guyrichie]

Hello All,

I have an OTT swing path (outside-inside).  If I align toes, hips and shoulders parallel to my target line, my driver shots are averaging 20-25 yard straight-fade.  As I work down the clubs (from woods, irons then wedges) my shot path becomes straighter, but a slight straight-fade still arises on close scrutiny.  Reading the modern ball flight laws I too decided to sample the pull-straight as the other posters have highlighted.

At the range I closed my stance to my target line by bringing my right foot back by 1” (I’m a right handed golfer).  However, this ever so slight movement placed my usual driver ball position about 4” further up in my stance (I play the driver off the centre of my left foot, which helps me hit up on the ball with my 8.5* driver).  I therefore shifted my entire stance, maintaining its closed position closer to the target so that my ball was positioned in its usual spot.  I then re-griped my driver to close the club face by a further 3-5*.  I now hit a perfectly straight shot with mis-hits being a baby draw of about 10 yards.  My carry distance appears to have increased by about 10-20 yards and can’t wait to see the roll factor on the course this weekend if one of those draws comes out play.  I trialed this exact regime for woods, hybrids and irons too with the exact same effect at the range.

I was absolutely delighted… then… when getting home I started thinking about the potential pit-falls of this strategy.  The slightly lower loft from closing the face appears to be negligible for me, perhaps because I am always conscious of hitting up on the ball with the driver, and all other clubs in the bag have enough loft and negative attack angle (hitting down on the ball) to launch the ball in the air.  I then stated to think about the PGA and LPGA tour players.  The vast majority of these elite players play with an open stance.  Does this not mean that they are actually hitting a straight-push shot?  To overcome the straight-push are they opening their stance and opening the clubface to sail the ball down centre of the fairway?  In other words (for a right handed player) if they align toes, hips and shoulders parallel to the target line, say centre fairway, and let rip, would they not hit a straight-push out toward the right fairway close or even on the 2 ^nd cut?

Many thanks,

Guy.