Figuring out my new shot shape

[brg1875]

TL;DR - figured out my stance was way open, straightened stance out, started drawing ball consistently now I'm fading and drawing 

 

Over the past 6 months for the first time in my golfing career I've actually made an effort to hit the range and practice at least two days a week. I had a huge over the top swing and was fighting the slice especially with the driver. Fixed the overswinging/over the top move and started playing a consistent fade (been playing a fade my entire life) although the driver would be sporadic at times.  

 

Went to the range a week ago and I have never paid attention to my alignment and noticed my feet were extremely open left of my target. The next day I put down some clubs for alignment and I started to do something I only dreamed of hitting consistently, a draw. About 90% of my shots I was hitting had a decently tight and consistent draw to it, even my driver! Next day went to the course to play 18 and to try out my new draw. I set up all of my shots assuming the draw and that's where things started falling apart. I maybe hit a draw 10% of the time, not once with my driver. My fade came back and since my targets were to the right side of the fairway and greens I was missing right with my fade.  

 

Frustrated, I went back to the range and did the same alignment drills that I did the first time and the results were sporadic with no real idea of which direction my ball was going. I would really love to develop the draw as my stock shot as I now know what I was doing to consistently hit a fade (open stance). 

 

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

[Rainmaker]

Without knowing anything specific I'd say it's a totally common occurrence.    It goes like this . .you work something out on the range.  You go to the course, you revert to your old behavior.  You bring your old behavior back on the range. 

There's probably nothing wrong - you just need to go the range, get it back . .and try again to bring it on the course.  Then repeat.  Video helps. If you can video your swing, you can more easily see what you're doing wrong.  If you can't see it - you can create a "my swing thread" on this site and I'm sure somebody will be able to point it out.

 

Good luck!

Edited April 17, 2016 by Rainmaker

[brg1875]

Thanks Rainmaker, I figured I was just reverting to my common tendency that I've had for 15 years. It helps to get some reassurance since it was driving me crazy. I'll try to hit the range today after work and get some videos.

[Emtee]

Let me just get this out of the way: it's impossible to diagnose without a video, sorry if you posted one I'm on my phone at the moment. 

Second, I didn't hear you talk about grip which is massively important regarding where your club face is at impact and throughout the swing which will obviously influence ball flight. It's good that you're looking at basic things e.g your stance and alignment but let's get even more basic than that. I want you to check your grip, even post some pictures here if you can. I have used Ben Hogan's grip from the five fundamentals over the last 3 or so years and have much more control over my shot shape, I typically get the ball to do what I want it to do. Hogan's grip allows for a great connection between your hand and the club face.

 

if you want to play with some training aids check out the swingyde I believe it's called. It will show you if you are manipulating the face at all/not releasing the club both of which will influence ball flight. Seriously I'm not into swing aids, but that thing is essential IMO. It does not lie and will probably also help your wrist cock and lag. Best of luck

[brg1875]

On 4/17/2016 at 0:11 PM, Emtee said:

Let me just get this out of the way: it's impossible to diagnose without a video, sorry if you posted one I'm on my phone at the moment. 

Second, I didn't hear you talk about grip which is massively important regarding where your club face is at impact and throughout the swing which will obviously influence ball flight. It's good that you're looking at basic things e.g your stance and alignment but let's get even more basic than that. I want you to check your grip, even post some pictures here if you can. I have used Ben Hogan's grip from the five fundamentals over the last 3 or so years and have much more control over my shot shape, I typically get the ball to do what I want it to do. Hogan's grip allows for a great connection between your hand and the club face.

 

if you want to play with some training aids check out the swingyde I believe it's called. It will show you if you are manipulating the face at all/not releasing the club both of which will influence ball flight. Seriously I'm not into swing aids, but that thing is essential IMO. It does not lie and will probably also help your wrist cock and lag. Best of luck

Emtee,

 

Thanks for the feedback and advice, see below for pictures of my grip and a few swings.

 

Grip:

http://imgur.com/a/ap92L

 

Here is my down the line 6 iron:

 

[Emtee]

I'd really like for your right hand to be more "on top of the club" as in the V on your right hand pointing more toward your chin, **this is just my opinion and preference** I think that your strong right hand is causing the face to be shut at the top (from what I can see in the video) which will lead to erratic ball flight (most likely a hook) depending on how well you're able to time it. The grip I'm talking about in Hogan's book will probably cause you to slice a little when you first try it as it is weaker than your current grip. I say weaker but I mean neutral, I feel that your right hand is on the strong side but that's just me. Attached is Hogan's grip which I consider to be neutral. If you use it you will most likely be slicing a decent amount but I think it will lead to more overall consistency down the line. There are some videos and other in depth explanations (especially in the 5 fundamentals book).

 

[iacas]

On April 19, 2016 at 11:13 PM, Emtee said:

I'd really like for your right hand to be more "on top of the club" as in the V on your right hand pointing more toward your chin, **this is just my opinion and preference** I think that your strong right hand is causing the face to be shut at the top (from what I can see in the video) which will lead to erratic ball flight (most likely a hook) depending on how well you're able to time it. The grip I'm talking about in Hogan's book will probably cause you to slice a little when you first try it as it is weaker than your current grip. I say weaker but I mean neutral, I feel that your right hand is on the strong side but that's just me. Attached is Hogan's grip which I consider to be neutral. If you use it you will most likely be slicing a decent amount but I think it will lead to more overall consistency down the line. There are some videos and other in depth explanations (especially in the 5 fundamentals book).

I wouldn't do that. He just fought a slice, and even the modern "neutral" is on the strong side.

[Emtee]

3 minutes ago, iacas said:

I wouldn't do that. He just fought a slice, and even the modern "neutral" is on the strong side.

I can agree with that. Although I will say I see people fight slices for a long time, bandage it with a really strong grip and then kind of never leave that grip. I saw his club face as shut at the top but after re-watching it looks like it could be the angle, plus on the downswing it doesn't look super closed at all. 

I mean I guess anecdotal but I personally used to slice at higher indexs, worked it out, and now I play the grip pictured above and it's extremely rare that I would slice now. Not at all saying oh he should do that too, just trying to add some perspective.

[brg1875]

Thanks for the comments and feedback. I actually just got back from the range with my grip reworked. You probably couldn't see it in the pictures but my left hand was extremely strong as well from over compensating that damn slice for so many years. I read up on Hogan's grip and it looks like my left hand was the problem on the grip. It feels awkward as well because I feel very restricted but the club face doesn't feel like it rotates during the swing. I now have to get acclimated with the new grip but so far with the balls I was hitting today half went left and half went right. The Swingyde is in the mail so hopefully I can try that out next week.

[dufferifick]

Please excuse my interjection here, you can take it for what it's worth;  It is very hard to take a change from the range to the course in just a few outings.  Try to in grain what you want at the range, but go play golf. Repeat many times.  The change will finally settle in, until you really try to rip one.  Then work on it some more.

[Emtee]

30 minutes ago, brg1875 said:

Thanks for the comments and feedback. I actually just got back from the range with my grip reworked. You probably couldn't see it in the pictures but my left hand was extremely strong as well from over compensating that damn slice for so many years. I read up on Hogan's grip and it looks like my left hand was the problem on the grip. It feels awkward as well because I feel very restricted but the club face doesn't feel like it rotates during the swing. I now have to get acclimated with the new grip but so far with the balls I was hitting today half went left and half went right. The Swingyde is in the mail so hopefully I can try that out next week.

Its pretty cool that you felt that (where the club face is). I'm not sure if I can attribute that to the grip for myself, but I know the game has gotten a lot easier for me now that I have a connection with the club face as well as a club face that's not really moving a whole lot. I'm coming off an injury, but my index has been trending down as I connect with my club face. I hope you're feeling the weight as much as you can as well because  I think one function of a good grip is to be able to feel the weight of the club head throughout the swing. If you've "cured your slice" you can start going to that next phase of hitting draws/fades/low/high/etc with at least some command. A neutral grip will allow you to do that best all things equal IMO. When my grip was strong I just hit draws or hooks, I have a fuller shot selection now that's executable and I'm excited to see if I can lower my hdcp this year with it.

 

Good luck to you and I hope you find the swingyde as helpful as I found/find it. Make sure it aligns with your club face in a neutral way at address so you're not engraining say always being closed/open. Watch the video and read the guide, you just want to get the feel of "L to L" at least as well as visualize how the release puts your club in a similar position as your backswing as far as the L to L portion of the swing is concerned. The picture below, his swingyde would be perfectly connected at both of those positions. It's possible to make a homemade one but oh well

 

 

Edited April 23, 2016 by Emtee

[brg1875]

On 4/23/2016 at 10:45 PM, Emtee said:

Its pretty cool that you felt that (where the club face is). I'm not sure if I can attribute that to the grip for myself, but I know the game has gotten a lot easier for me now that I have a connection with the club face as well as a club face that's not really moving a whole lot. I'm coming off an injury, but my index has been trending down as I connect with my club face. I hope you're feeling the weight as much as you can as well because  I think one function of a good grip is to be able to feel the weight of the club head throughout the swing. If you've "cured your slice" you can start going to that next phase of hitting draws/fades/low/high/etc with at least some command. A neutral grip will allow you to do that best all things equal IMO. When my grip was strong I just hit draws or hooks, I have a fuller shot selection now that's executable and I'm excited to see if I can lower my hdcp this year with it.

 

Good luck to you and I hope you find the swingyde as helpful as I found/find it. Make sure it aligns with your club face in a neutral way at address so you're not engraining say always being closed/open. Watch the video and read the guide, you just want to get the feel of "L to L" at least as well as visualize how the release puts your club in a similar position as your backswing as far as the L to L portion of the swing is concerned. The picture below, his swingyde would be perfectly connected at both of those positions. It's possible to make a homemade one but oh well

 

 

Got my Swingyde and it has made a huge difference to help myself figure out where my club face is at the top of my swing and also it helped promote a much more consistent inside to out swing creating a nice and tight little draw . I think from here it is going to be practice to ingrain the swing path and feel. I'll definitely be using the Swingyde at every practice session and warm up. Thanks for the suggestion Emtee!

[Emtee]

Haha way to go! I'm coming off a broken rib and got cleared to play, just waiting until finals and graduation is over. Really glad to hear I was able to help. I mostly use it without a ball to just get the feeling. Slow motion a lot too to feel what it's like to store the lag into the ball. Again, glad it worked! 

[brg1875]

Any suggestions for a grip training aid? I keep reverting to my super strong left hand grip.

[Emtee]

1 minute ago, brg1875 said:

Any suggestions for a grip training aid? I keep reverting to my super strong left hand grip.

Theres some golf club with a grip where you need to put your grip in a certain position, the fingers are already grooved. not sure how much stock I would put into it though