My Swing (Fozgolf)

[fozgolf]

I've been Playing Golf for: Learned and played a little as a teen. Played once or twice a year for a couple years in my 20s. Recently been playing and going to the range once a week for past 4 months.

My current handicap index or average score is: Around 95-110 (depending on how many "don't count that's" I take; best legit count every stroke has been 103 so far)

My typical ball flight is: Fade at best to slice off the planet.

The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Slice off the planet. I want to be able to play from the general confines of the hole I'm currently on. I've tried to self-diagnose and I think I'm turning my shoulders at the top of the backswing which immediately is bringing me back down to the ball outside the line. I don't think I'm throwing or casting the club "over the top" but I am over the top or outside in.  Most of my shots are fade/slices down to the 7 iron. 8, 9, wedges generally are straight or straight pulls (again confirming outside in?)

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Most of my shots start straight and then spin off to the right.

Videos:

[Steve Hutch]

I'm not an instructor but I think you are doing a lot of things right and it will only be a matter of practice and time before you are shooting in the low 80s.

Your set up is good. Half way back you are good. But then there is slight tilt. Look at Hunter Mahan. I did. His spine never moves. It spins but never floats around on the backswing. Your head will become more stable too. Keep your spine angle solid and you will load into the right leg correctly. At the top your right leg shouldn't be straight. Your right leg should feel a tension and always stay slightly bent.

You have the capability of hitting a driver 285 yards if you practice and perfect your follow through. Look at Rory's follow through and finish. His belt buckle is facing the target. He pushes of his bent right leg to make his hips twist from a coiled position at the top to all the way around at the end. To get this finish of course his right heel has to come off the ground. You don't do this. At the end all the weight needs to be on your left leg, heel off the ground and you facing the target. To get this you have to loosen up and get a flow.

Right now you are "holding onto the shot" with your arms. This leads to a slice. Look up instructions on how to "release the club head" too. This means turning the club face from 90 degrees open half way down to 90 degrees shut on the follow through.

Go to an instructor for practical drills. But all I can say is think of the club as a whip and practice whipping it so fast (on the downswing) that the weight of the club head naturally pulls you forward into a full follow through. Right now you are swinging like a *****, don't worry about hurting or controlling the ball for now. Swing freely. After impact the club should feel like its coming out of your hands and pulling your weight to the target that you have to take a step forward.

[fozgolf]

Thanks for feedback... lessons are going to happen sooner than later. The thing that has been hard for me is evaluating what's wrong and how to fix it. And when I do read or watch a drill that I think might help its hard to trust sticking with it.

[mvmac]

This would be a good drill for you, weight needs to get further forward on the downswing to help orient your path more outward.

I wouldn't say that you have an issue with "releasing" the club, your face isn't aimed way right, in relation to the target it's probably aimed left at impact. The problem is that the path is very much across the ball.

Compare these two positions. On the right the weight and lower center are forward, evident by the flex in the left knee and tilt of the spine (red line). The golfer isn't tilting his head back, the hips have slide forward kicking in this angle.

[fozgolf]

Thanks... I am going to try to focus on that because I have read the thread about sliding the hips and have tried it before and really feel that it helps drop my right shoulder down to help get me on plane. Also when I was swinging a driver in a simulator at Edwin Watts that sales guy mentioned I had an armsy swing and needed to get my lower body more involved which makes sense.