slinkee

Here's an update after working on my grip a little and 3-4 good range sessions working on getting my weight shifted. I know I probably still require a TON of work getting those hips laterally shifted but just wanting to see if it looks like I'm trending in the right direction. I've gained a horrible push / slice though. Not sure what's causing that. Any other glaring deficiencies in this swing?

Like at address? Keep it forward?

To be honest, I've weakened it from about a week or so ago. It was a bit stronger, I may need to go back to that.

I've been Playing Golf for: 8 years My current handicap index or average score is: 12+, it's actually gotten worse it used to be a 9 then I started trying to "fix" my swing. My typical ball flight is: Push / Fade / Fat / Thin The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Push, improve contact Videos: This is me in my yard just hitting some whiffle balls. A few things I'm working on is really trying to eliminate the hands. I read that it's the shoulders that open square and close the club face throughout the swing. Problem is, I know that I'm still handsy and armsy through out, I feel tension almost constantly. My problem I've had for my entire golf career here is an underneath swing plane and miss to the right and I just simply have run out of ideas to try and fix this and get on plane. It can't be that hard, right? Is there any hope for me here? I'm all out of ideas. Grip:

You are very correct on the follow through. No matter how hard I try I'm having to try and save the shot with my hands and arms. When I try and have more passive arms it seems to result in a massive slice most likely due to the open club face. I think my backswing is a huge part of this problem?

I've been playing golf for 7 years. My current handicap is 10 My typical driver ball flight is a fade, but lately it's turned into a huge, ballooning slice. My irons are much more consistent, although my typical miss with those tends to be either a slight fade or slight draw. The shot I hate the most and what I'm trying to get rid of is this enormous slice that I've suddenly acquired with my driver over the past few weeks. Looking at my own swing video I see several faults, but wanted to see if you pro's here could point them out and how to correct them. :) Videos: Face on (I apologize apparently I trimmed off the last half second or so of this video, but hopefully it's enough to work with): Down the line: Think you guys can fix me?? These two drives were the only ones I hit straight all day, haha ... figures. Still seems like there's some very apparent, horrendous problems, though!

This is most common with my driver. I film my swing regularly trying to figure some things out, and today I noticed that my belt buckle points pretty far left of my target (I'm a right handed player) in my follow through. Among some of the other common causes of a slice, I'm wondering if this could be a contributing factor? I know you always hear about "pointing your belt buckle at the target" so I'm just seeking some information on this It's too dark to be out hitting balls now to test this theory out so I thought I'd drop by here and see what you all thought and if it's something I should concentrate on.

Well I've been trying to figure out this fade/slice issue I've been dealing with ever since I started the game 2 years ago. I haven't played all summer and got an opportunity to head out the other day and was happy to come home with a 95. However, I realized that my lower back was hurting ... a lot ... and for some reason I noticed it now, and was wondering if it was an issue. To be honest, I've always known that I've done this. Just this time, after taking a few months off, I thought to myself, this doesn't feel right ... I slowed down my swing and what I believe I'm noticing here is as I'm arching waaay back coming through impact, this upper body reaction seems to keep the club face open as it impacts the ball. In my follow through, think the reverse C position ... really exaggerated. So the question is ... how can I stop doing this? And, is my assumption right that the upper body reaction, to whatever it may be (counterbalance maybe?), is keeping the club face open causing my oh-so-reliable banana slice?

I've been golfing for a year and a half now and have reached the 90's rather consistently, perhaps the low 90's at least over my last many rounds. I had an opportunity to play 6 entirely new courses over my spring break with a buddy of mine and managed to shoot between 92-96 the whole week. I'm very happy with this. Anyway, I'm wanting to improve upon all of that so here's a few things I'm doing and could use some feedback. Last year I spent every waking hour reading golf digest and watching instructional videos online. This meant every time I addressed the ball I had a novel of tips running through my mind and lead to severely inconsistent play. I even took several lessons! I had so many people telling me how to play I never developed a game of my own. After taking about 3 months off from the game over the winter, I came back and thought about nothing more then swinging smoothly and staying in balance. Anytime I get an urge to put a little extra on it, I remind myself of Ernie Els, the big easy! I love his swing and is what I try to be like ... smooth and solid. I'm doing this because I believe starting slow will develop a good foundation of muscle memory provided that the shots I'm hitting are accurate, which is become my primary goal as opposed to my first year where I wanted to split the fairway with a 300 yard bomb every time ... which never happened. The only thing I split were the leaves hanging off the trees to on the right side of the fairway as my huge slice tore through my soul as I re-tee'd for 3. So my only thoughts now are picking a line, addressing the ball, and pulling the trigger. I don't think there is a single thought during the course of a swing that could be positive for the outcome of said swing. A clear mind, I believe, will allow my body to just react instead of plan. I'm trying to make the golf swing a very natural part of me, not something that feels forced. I'm planning on not taking any lessons this year, I mute the television when golf tips come up on the Golf Channel, and I refuse to open a Golf Digest anymore. This year, the game needs be my own. Does this sound like I'm on the right track? I mean I'm sure it does, but is it accurate? Is this how you start on the road to success? Here's what I want ... I want to impress my playing partners when I pull out the big stick and hammer one down the middle with grace and style, so I believe if I have this foundation of a smooth swing, over time I'll become more comfortable with it and begin to increase club head speed and distance and be able to 'swing within myself' faster and still remain in balance. Are these thoughts correct? Or should I be doing something differently? I just don't want to hinder my potential. Maybe I can be good at this game one day, maybe not ... just as long as I'm on the right track to something. Edit: If it helps, I do have a practice net that I can hit balls in to. I've been using it with the only thought of working on rhythm and balance.

Is your ball flight the same?

So a major point here would be to make sure I'm dropping the club in on the inside? Perhaps to the point where a divot taken would point slightly away from me?

Thanks so much for these replies this is going to help. A few questions, however. One, how do you stop using that left leg for a rotational axis? I've been working on "snapping" the left leg on the down swing to get my hips to stop sliding. My instructor told me that my lower body was also out racing my upper body and that this should help. Another question is, do you think my backswing is too far on the inside? I noticed in the video after taking a closer look just now that my right arms is bent half way back. I pulled out Tiger's book and did some comparisons and he retains that triangle where I'm deforming it. Could this cause my problems of push/fade/slice along with the myriad of other issues I'm facing? Bottom line...how do you keep it simple? Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with how much I have to work on that instead of going out and enjoying a round of golf I just head to the range. :(

Hold that thought ... I have a front view coming up right now. :) Edit: Here it is http://www.swingacademy.com/swingana...l.aspx?id=1798

Speaking of the wrists, one thing I do notice is that my right hand tends to gravitate from on top of the club (where I start with a neutral grip) to down the right side of the club (more of a strong grip) when i approach impact, thus leaving the face open. I cannot seem to keep my hand on the club and that's something I've been working hard on.

haha /facepalm

Hey guys I just found this Swing Academy website and slapped a video up there of my swing (facing down the target line). It's just me in my front yard with my wife holding the camera hitting a little yellow practice ball, but maybe you could tell me where abouts I'm going wrong. I tend to do either a soft push, fade, or slice, and one out of every 15 or so will go straight. Some information about me: I started golfing Oct. 2007 I've been averaging in the low to mid 90's, though I had 2 lessons within the past 2 months but haven't been to a real course yet. (By that I mean there's this crappy little 4200 yard par 67 course that I'll go to because it's very cheap as I'm a student and I've shot a 74 there about 2 weeks ago, but being it's 2000+ yards shorter then a regulation course I don't count it). I've been going to the driving range ~3 times a week. I'm extremely passionate about this game and been working very hard to have a smooth, balanced, sexy looking swing like these guys on TV. If you can help, thanks so much! If you need any additional information from me, let me know here and I will edit this original post to include it. Here's the video: http://www.swingacademy.com/swingana...l.aspx?id=1797

This touches on my next question. Why are using foam balls bad? I have some yellow ones from wal-mart that even have the dimples but you're not the first person to say to stay away from those. I hit the range about 3 times a week and usually finish up the day of practice with those in the yard.

I practice religiously in my front yard. Having golfed for just under a year now at 27 and loving it to death, I can't get enough of it. If it wasn't for my wife not wanting me to spend all of our hard earned money at the driving range, well, I'd be there all day long. Not being able to get enough of the range, I have some foam practice balls I picked up for $3 at Wal-Mart but I'm told it's not really great to use those because you want to maintain the feel of a golf ball. That being said, what are your thoughts on practice nets such as these? http://www.nextag.com/golf-driving-net/search-html The pro's would be that I'd get to work on rhythm and tempo, and do a little move I read about by putting sunscreen or soap on the face of the driver so I can know where exactly I'm hitting it. The cons, however, and this may be huge, is that I wouldn't be able to see my ball flight and thus, wouldn't know if I'm hitting a fade or a slice (which is something I'm still trying to work out, go figure.) Is this red flag that I'm manifesting here really something I should be worried about to the extent that I should absolutely avoid one of these things? Or would being able to constantly set up real golf balls and work on stance, rhythm, tempo, and using the sunscreen move to see where on the face I'm hitting it outweigh those red flags?

That's my exact ball flight right now with my driver. Did you do any particular drills to get you to start pronating through impact? I simply cannot control that part of my swing consciously.

I'm having a lot of trouble getting my hands to roll over through impact. What's happening is I'm letting my right hand stay underneath the club, despite starting out with a fairly neutral grip (right hand goes on top of the club a little more to aid in the release of the club head) and it leaves the face open. I've been doing the waist high drills where I take the club back making sure the toe is up, and then follow through the same distance doing the same thing but I just can't seem to make this work. I know you cannot consciously think about it in the down swing so is there anything else I can do to help me let the club release on it's own?

I golfed with a guy today that preached about the beauty that lies within putters that are just steel, and no inserts unlike say, a prospective purchase of mine, the Odyssey White Hot series. Being some what new to the sport, I've never heard this argument before and the extent of my knowledge of the subject lead me to believe inserts on the flat stick were better then those without because the "grip from the insert makes the ball roll more true" or something to that effect. Is there really a yes/no black and white answer to this or, again, like all putters, will this boil down to touch and feel and how well YOU as an individual use the club and are comfortable with it?

My most difficult thing to over come right now as a golfer that shoots in the 90's and started in Oct. 2007, is over thinking my swing. I play my swing, and not the course is the problem. I know that you cannot think about your swing, I know that the mind does not react fast enough to consciously move every muscle at the right time to allow the club to fall in and square up to the ball. I know that by "just swinging" the club all these little technical details, within reason, fall in to place by themselves ... But just because I know this, doesn't mean I do it. I've gotten to a point where I'm starting to narrow down the things that I think about when I address the ball to maybe 1 or 2 down from, oh I dunno, 6-7. But I have a feeling that's still too many. Things like "take the club back on on the target line, not inside" and "lead with the hips" or "don't squeeze the club too tight", "shake hands with the target." How do you get to a point where you can stop playing your swing and start playing the course? How can you just get up to the ball with a clear mind and just .... swing? Am I still too new of a golfer to be confident in my swing or just too scared to hit a bad shot?

Sow that is a fantastic quote that I can be sure to remember. Will be hitting the range in a few hours and will be sure to take this with me ;)

Now that you mention it yes, sometimes I notice that I'm not "hitting the ball with the back of my left hand." Maybe I'm holding the club too tight? Will that do it? What are some things that would force your hands to not pronate through impact?