Evertything goes high, right, and short

[Fromthecoast]

Looking for a little help with a problem that I have developed over the last month or so. All my iron shots and most of my driver shots are going very high, right, and several clubs short. I am occasionally able to hit the ball straight or with a slight draw with my driver, but this is becoming less and less possible lately. Sorry I don't have any video I can upload at this time. I've hit the range several times and tried to shorten my backswing and follow through and attempt to hit some draws with absolutely no success. At most, everything goes dead straight. In fact, if I just shorten my backswing, everything is going dead straight although still very short. I am still getting a lot of trajectory on the ball. I'm not sure exactly what I am doing, but I do believe that I am not closing the clubface for one thing. I'm probably also swinging from out to in, which has been a real issue for me and difficult to correct. Any suggestions on where I should start? I'm thinking that I must have something pretty serious going on after the halfway point in my backswing. If I stop my swing and half or shorter, everything goes straight.

[JetFan1983]

Might help to feel some palmar flexion aka wrist bowing aka wrist arching aka the move you make with your wrist when revving a motorcycle.

This closes the face relative to the path more, sends the path more the right, and delofts the club. Should help your problem, although, as you said, we have no swing video to work with, so I'm just using golf theory here.

This is what left wrist palmar flexion looks like:

Picture on the left here:

On the right is the exact opposite wrist motion: dorsiflexion (or wrist cupping in golf). It opens the face. It's possible that's what you're doing at impact, which is why you're hitting high rightward shots.

A final tip when doing this is to make sure the divots remain shallow. You don't want to be digging trenches here. If you are, you're swinging too steeply and could possible tweak your wrist doing that.

Hope that helps.

[boogielicious]

Palmar flexion feels like revving a motorcycle throttle.  I do it from the top, A4, to A5, arm parallel to the ground, during the downswing.  For me, it also helps flatten the shaft.  If you decide to try this out, you may need to open the face of your clubs up at address a bit more to prevent over drawing the ball.

Try it out slowly at first as described in the thread below.

[Ernest Jones]

  Fromthecoast said:

Looking for a little help with a problem that I have developed over the last month or so. All my iron shots and most of my driver shots are going very high, right, and several clubs short. I am occasionally able to hit the ball straight or with a slight draw with my driver, but this is becoming less and less possible lately. Sorry I don't have any video I can upload at this time. I've hit the range several times and tried to shorten my backswing and follow through and attempt to hit some draws with absolutely no success. At most, everything goes dead straight. In fact, if I just shorten my backswing, everything is going dead straight although still very short. I am still getting a lot of trajectory on the ball. I'm not sure exactly what I am doing, but I do believe that I am not closing the clubface for one thing. I'm probably also swinging from out to in, which has been a real issue for me and difficult to correct. Any suggestions on where I should start? I'm thinking that I must have something pretty serious going on after the halfway point in my backswing. If I stop my swing and half or shorter, everything goes straight.

On the bright side, you've got your Shot Zones mapped out!

[Fromthecoast]

Thanks guys. I am definitely "cupping" the wrist but have a lot of trouble when I try to bow it. Any tips for how to actually incorporate it into the swing.

And yeah, I do have my shots mapped out as long as I don't mind going up two clubs and aiming to the left of wherever I'm trying to go.

[rob0225]

Sounds like you may be coming over the top.

[mchepp]

I had this problem for a while about 10 years ago, and I had it compounded by also hitting the ball on the toe a bunch. For me it was a very weak grip and a reverse pivot. Sadly my advice is sort of useless unless we can see your swing. Get a camera and take some videos so we can determine what the problem is.

[MiniJeffrey]

I've had some similar problems. My shots used to be very high (in fact they are still very high lol) and tended to go right. In the beginning this was so extreme that it was a nasty slice. At the moment I've reached a point that I do not slice anymore, it's dead straight or a small fade. I can live with that. So what did I change? I use a stronger grip and my backswing is shorter. This has helped me a lot to eliminate the slice and change it into a fade. What I still do: hitting out-in (causing the fade) so now I focus a lot on changing that but it sure isn't easy.

As for the height of my balls, I don't really mind. It's true that I lose some distances but I can live with that. The only problem is playing in cross wind where the high trajectory can cause severe problems.

[colin007]

My money's on a flip.

[Ernest Jones]

  colin007 said:

My money's on a flip.

Smart money.

[colin007]

  Ernest Jones said:

Smart money. ;-)

Lol, I know it from personal experience. I'm a master flipper.

[JetFan1983]

Good call on the strengthening of the grip, guys, assuming it's weak. Forgot about that.

I'd do that and then feel some palmar flexion on the downswing.

[Gboroman]

My suggestion is to feel like you are taking the club back with the right hand.  At the top, feel like the right wrist is cupping, like you are holding a serving tray.  This will pull the left wrist into a bowed position.  Additionally (or alternatively) you can also try hinging your wrists earlier in the takeaway.  A full length mirror is useful to look at your wrist position at the top.  Ideally, you want a flat left wrist at the top, but you might want to try the bowed left wrist while you work on the problem.

On the downswing, make sure you aren't releasing too early (casting).  To do this, just do a pump drill before you hit - bring the butt of the club down towards the ball and the right elbow to the right hip, then back to the top, then complete your swing.

If you find it's not the wrist cup or cast that's causing the issue, make sure you are getting onto your left side to initiate your downswing.  Hanging back on your right side even for a split second too long can cause the same ball flight.

[inthehole]

when this happens to me (most often with the lob wedge on full shots) ... it's because I'm flipping, and not lagging the club head.

[FooFader]

  inthehole said:

when this happens to me (most often with the lob wedge on full shots) ... it's because I'm flipping, and not lagging the club head.

I do the same thing at least 50% of the time. Feels so silly taking a full swing at the flag ~75yrds about only to see the ball go "out of orbit high" and then land about half way to the target in what seems like several minutes time

[MiniJeffrey]

  inthehole said:

when this happens to me (most often with the lob wedge on full shots) ... it's because I'm flipping, and not lagging the club head.

Second. However I can't seem to find how to lag instead of flip. It feels so unnatural (lagging) while flipping feels so normal to me...

[Fromthecoast]

I took a lesson yesterday from a local pro that I trust. I've got a lot of things going wrong, and I was a little upset to find that I am doing all the things that I suspected were an issue. Swinging out to in, and not getting the clubface back to square. Not squaring the clubface was do to me over rotating the club and opening it way up on the backswing but not coming through during the swing. Currently working on a combination of things: Swinging less around my body and more upright, keeping the clubface more closed in the backswing, rotating my forearms so that I quit "holding off," and realizing that I need to stretch my legs much more because it is limiting my swing. Got a lot of homework to do, but hopefully will get back on track.

[iacas]

  Fromthecoast said:

Currently working on a combination of things: Swinging less around my body and more upright, keeping the clubface more closed in the backswing, rotating my forearms so that I quit "holding off," and realizing that I need to stretch my legs much more because it is limiting my swing. Got a lot of homework to do, but hopefully will get back on track.

That sounds like a lot of stuff. What's the priority?