Subconsciously open clubface at impact - What to do now?

[skillzwhogolfs]

So as the title says at impact I subconsciously open the club face (what I believe) causing my slice or bigger fade. (I even had a huge push fade that worked for a little while) I have been trying to square the club face consciously but as you all know that only works with good timing.

What now? what do I change to make squaring the club face natural? I have tried some things (like closing/opening club face at setup) but I am unsure where to go with this. Thanks for any help.

[Jimdangles]

I strengthen my grip slow down my tempo. My usual swing speed is 105 but I feel like I slow it down to 90 or so. can hit a dead straight shot that still seems to go like 270 or so (leading me to believe I am still swinging hard) but I am real slow through the first half of the downswing then I crank it the second half and It seems to help me.

[Adam Young]

personally, I try to do it consciously in practice until it happens subconsciously. For example, I have always been a drawer of the ball, for the last 13 years. But recently i changed to a new driver with a much stiffer shaft and for the first couple of days using it, it was a huge block slice.

I resisted changing anything, hoping my conscious knowledge of clubface would just feed into changing it subconsciously (which it did a little). But after 2 days i got a little pissed, as i hate seeing the ball go right (being a drawer of the ball naturally). So i just spent half an hour over doing my release - club rotation (a seemingly deadly word on this site) hitting huge hooks. Then i worked it back to a draw.

Although at first it was conscious, i now hit that baby draw without any conscious effort. So basically, something that is conscious at first, with practice becomes subconscious, even squaring the face. Obviously with a weak grip, this would be harder (but still very possible).

I personally believe that if we experimented more with creativity such as intentionally drawing and fading, we would be able to convert those conscious thoughts into feels much quicker

[skillzwhogolfs]

Thanks a lot so I am out to consciously square the face untill it gets natural! I figured it would hopefully become like that but was unsure of what approach to take.

[Adam Young]

you could always send a video of your swing and we could see if there are any blatant obvious causes, such as fanning the face open or a weak ass grip - but yeah, make a few waggles focusing on bringing the face back square or even shut, let your body try and figure out how to do it and see how it goes.

Try overdoing it for 10 shots, then hit 3 with no thought. Keep cycling that process until your shots without thought are how you want them.

[Aquaguru]

I tend to do this as well. I fix it by doing one of two different things. 1) I will close off the face at setup and take my normal swing. Or 2) will open the face setup and "try" to draw the ball. Either way one of these things end up working

[skillzwhogolfs]

I tried doing this today but played 9 holes instead of the range and the best shots I had was when I had a swing (on purpose) out to in and tried to square the club face, I hit two great drives (obviously with a fade and last drive of the round) but they were down the middle and far. the rest of the day was pretty bad.

[Adam Young]

yeah, trying to learn to do something consciously on the course is usually a bad idea, I would hit the range first and do the 10 ball drill I said.

If it doesnt change anything before you play, you are just going to have to play with what you have, or make a quick fix adjustment, like a stronger grip or a closed face at address. you could potentially try and introduce a swing thought at practice swing level, but I have learned, through many years of playing, that you are better off going with what you have on the day.

With anything, a technical body motion change or a simple swing feel, it takes a little practice for it to happen automatically, that is not going to happen so easily on the course

[skillzwhogolfs]

So I found a clip on youtube that helped me out a lot and squaring the clubface does seem more natural now. I went out yesterday and shot 73 (par 72 with 6 birdies) best score ever and a 37 (par36) today so I can definetly tell it is helping!

[Adam Young]

what clip was it? what information helped you? good score btw

[skillzwhogolfs]

Originally Posted by Adam Young

what clip was it? what information helped you? good score btw

http://youtu.be/KKUNm8San9g

For my preshot routine I swing once with face open, once with face closed, and two the feel like straight on, then waggle the same way to have the straight/middle feeling. seems to be working.

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by skillzwhogolfs

http://youtu.be/KKUNm8San9g

For my preshot routine I swing once with face open, once with face closed, and two the feel like straight on, then waggle the same way to have the straight/middle feeling. seems to be working.

That's an old video, Josh knows the Ball Flight Laws now.  What ball flight pattern are you looking for?  Just to be clear, the club face at impact, for the most part, determines start line.  So if I'm hitting a draw that starts right of the target, I need that face aimed right of the target at impact.  None of the best players in the world have the face "square" to the target at impact.  That would mean the ball would be curving the ball away from the target.  And think how much harder golf would be if a good shot was determined by having the face square at impact ;-)  Good links to check out.

http://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/ball_flight_laws

http://thesandtrap.com/t/61391/shaping-the-ball

[skillzwhogolfs]

I like a little fade and always play it. This may be old but it definetly helped me out somehow and hitting better than a looong time and even shaping the ball when I really need to. Hit big fade in order to hit fairway that is really tough, and hit a nice draw to a par 5 green around a branch for a 15-20ft eagle putt.