LI Hacker

See VillaFranca's swing thread, especially the part about taking my advice with a grain of salt But you can see that you loop the club over the top and come into the ball way from the outside which is where that slice is coming from, work on the club coming more from the inside on the downswing.

Well to be careful, you can hit the ball right and very far right coming from the inside as well. If the ball is starting straight or left and then curving right you are most likely still coming from the outside. There are a bunch of threads here about ball flight laws, do a quick search and take a peek there's a lot of valuable stuff in there. I would prioritize getting your posture fixed first because without a good set up it's hard to do a lot of other things correctly. Also, at least for me I used to try to fix everything at once and it's best to focus on one thing at a time and work through things slowly. There are no overnight fixes in golf, to get changes to stick it takes a long long time. Best of luck though, keep the videos coming

I am going to defer to some of the more advanced guys here on this but I will give it a shot. A lot of people like the idea of swinging more out towards "right field", like in baseball shooting the ball between 2nd and 1st. Also, it looks like you're sucking the club in too far to the inside in the takeaway and then you come over the top. You could try to keep the club more "in front" of you on the backswing and combine that with the drills and thought of swinging to the right above. Again, hopefully some of the more knowledgeable guys come in and add to/correct my tips. P.S. I went from slicing over the top to now hitting some blocks/push slices, so fixing the path is only part of the solution however most people if they can fix the path can straighten it out nicely as they usually have no usually with the clubface

Relatively new to the game myself but in your driver videos you can see you're coming OTT which will absolutely cause your pull slice/slices. Your posture is also very upright, you should try to work in some more bend from the hips. This is probably priority one but something you can easily watch in a mirror. You will need to work on your path coming more from the inside, a popular drill that is easy to do is to place a head cover maybe 6 inches behind and 6 inches to the right. Basically "behind" and "outside" the ball, in order to not hit the head cover you'll have to swing from the inside. This is a very basic drill and I'm sure some of the more experienced guys on here can offer up something more advanced.

Agree completely, I actually stumbled upon an old thread started solely around the premise around keeping the right arm "straight". I've recently been working on this and the change in the right arm angle will yield a straight (er) left arm. Has really improved my contact.

I fall on the other side of the spectrum of most. I've always been naturally thin so I workout to actually put on some size. Equally frustrating being on this side because it can be very difficult to put on significant weight and size. Also, its a tough transition but I'm proud to be one of the few people my age (25) to say that I'm in the gym at 530 AM 5 days a week before I head into manhattan for work. Morning workouts really are one of the best ways to start the day.

I may be biased since I live nearby but the Black at Bethpage should be at the top of that list for places in the NE. I'm down there almost every weekend (not playing Black) but there are always times available, the first of the day you need to camp out for but you can easily walk up and book an afternoon time. The red course is also no slouch and could help you out with hitting multiple courses. I've only been playing for about a year so I've never played the black but its absolutely beautiful and I've played the red and that thing makes for a long day as well. The Blue and Green courses are fantastic as well. Obviously east end of LI has some great tracks as well.

I prefaced with the grain of salt comment. Also, I was just judging from the video as we can't see the ball flight. As someone else noticed it certainly looks like he is about to come OTT but may end up dropping to the inside, without a lower frame rate its hard to really tell exactly whats happening. At least in my eyes.

Take my advice with a grain of salt as I am relatively new to the game (about a year or so) but it looks like you're coming OTT. That could explain both of those misses. Try to pause the video and you can see it.

Just as a little bit of an update, I realized my problem was the clubface being wide open at impact and after having tons of people including an instructor tell me "turn your wrists/hands over" and that only causing me to cast the club including with the irons which I had previously been striking well I videotaped some practice swings and noticed my forearms/wrists were rotating coming off the ball in my takeaway. That little move was causing me to come into impact with the face wide open. Went to the range last night and worked on taking the club away in one piece and trying to have the face "look" at the ball for as long as possible and of course no more push slice/fade. My driver is far from perfect still but last night was the first time in a long time my drives would have all been in play. My reason for updating it is because of a thread I stumbled upon where I think it was Zeph calling out that strengthening the grip or quick fixes like that are merely band-aids and hiding a larger issue, most likely forearm rotation in the takeaway. This may not help out any of you guys but I have always read, specifially on here, that the release should be natural and at least for me problems in my takeaway have caused my downswing to naturally square the clubface without any conscious actions. As usual, a big thanks to everyone who contributes. Hopefully someone is suffering from something similar and this helps out

Well that's the other thing, more than enough times the guys I get paired up with are just as bad if not worse. Even when I've played with good players and some of my buddies at times take the game seriously they all have been supportive and I know when to not spend 10 minutes looking for a ball. I definitely understand your friends' apprehensiveness but at some point everyone sucked and even good players think they aren't "good". The game is about having fun and I think even if I was a better player I wouldn't mind with playing with someone who's still learning. Certainly won't let it stop from me playing when I am lucky enough to have free accomodations in MB.

Well most of my regular golfing buddies are all single digits and have been playing for a long time so I'm used to being the worst one in the group and to be honest I just love to play. I know its a tad different with strangers but there are usually only 2 or 3 of us so I play a lot with strangers now. I'm going to be down there anyways and for someone who loves to play I'm not going to let playing solo stop me. I figure if I stick to the tamer courses I won't get paired with anyone too good/serious and 9/10 times the people I get paired with are great guys and offer nothing but encouragement. I know when to pick-up or drop a ball to keep the pace going, especially when with others.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Wheels - Are the rates at Myrtlewood inclusive of cart as well? If so that is a steal, at least from what I'm used to on LI

My gf's family has a condo at Magnolia Pointe and if I remember correctly it is actually overlooking Myrtlewood which from your post above sounds like where you played. I have never been down to SC myself so I am not sure exactly where Magnolia Pointe is located but if Myrtlewood has solid courses then that would be perfect. $40 is very reasonable as well

Hey Guys - I will be heading down to Myrtle Beach in a few weeks with the little lady and was hoping you guys had some advice for good courses for a new golfer/high handicapper like myself. I'll be playing as a single the whole time if that matters. Thanks

Can you clarify what you mean by extension and maybe what changes you made to your swing?

I too have hit my fair share of the driver flops. Went to the range last night to work on the driver and before heading over I double-checked my setup in the mirror at home and at least for me I try to copy as much of Rory's swing as possible (don't quite possess some of the same athleticism to take all his moves) and noticed that I didn't have nearly enough axis tilt at address. I re-watched some video of my practice swings and noticed along with my lower body moving laterally forward my head and upper body while not moving as far forward was definitely moving forward. This small change in setup, although feels very different right now, I noticed on video with some practice swings had me finally keeping my head steady on the downswing and most importantly behind the ball while also creating some secondary axis tilt. Took this to the range and my driver is nowhere near fixed and I'm just taking swings at a very slow speed but when I swing slow and controlled I was getting a nice push draw to straight draw ball flight. Ball was only going about 180-190 but I figure once I ratchet it up to full speed I will get the carry I'm looking for. Right now then when speeding things up, I fall into bad habits and push-slice or even snap off a few hooks.

Just curious but I have a pretty aggressive move forward with my hips to start the downswing and I am wondering if I actual have too much lateral motion and am moving my swing arc forward which causes me to have the face open at impact. I will try to get a video up today but I do keep my head and my upper body back for the most part but my lower body moves a significant deal forward. This has helped me hit my irons much more flush but I wonder if its hurting my swing the driver. As usual I'm most likely completely wrong here :)

Safe to say I am effectively confused now.....seriously though this is great stuff guys, thanks. I have a lot to learn about the swing.

Ok and I know without seeing my swing its difficult, I was just trying to see like if that ball flight was even possible with an inside out path or if just didn't make any sense. I will work on getting a video of my actual swing up soon.

If it makes sense I've been working on just easing up on my grip pressure so that the hands release naturally as I too am afraid of beginning to flip. I've been taking easy swings like less than 50% and I don't slice those but its obviously a very weak ball flight but then I when I try to go full speed its all out the window and going as far right as possible. Is there a feel or position I should look for in my swing to make sure I am getting the face square?

I'm working on getting a video of myself hitting a ball. I know like most my practice swings are different than when the ball is there. I've read the ball flight laws post a bunch and I've learned a lot but since I'm somewhat new to the game I'm not always sure I'm interpreting everything correctly.

Hey - I'm not sure if its possible but I am trying to figure out if this is my problem. If the face is open relative to the path the ball will slice is what I have always been taught but I also know the majority of beginner golfers slice because of an OTT move. I have worked very hard to swing inside out and believe my path generally does move in that direction yet I continue to slice the ball (horribly) so I was wondering if I just need to work on getting my hands to release and closing the clubface more. My swing unfortunately repeats so basically all of my driver shots are the same, starting right of the target and slicing further right. Is this path possible with an inside out path but a very open face? I know I have a tendency to squeeze the grip and have issue releasing, particularly with the driver but just curious if this is my issue or there is more to it.

I am going to apologize in advance if I should not have posted these here but I wanted to post some videos/drills that have greatly helped my swing. I am by no means fixed completely and a great golfer and as you may know from my previous posts, have a ways to go but these drills done consistently have helped me get into consistent good positions in my backswing. They're old videos and feature Faldo and Leadbetter. The Faldo video for me at least the only though I try to take from it is the position at the top it gets me into as I don't want my takeaway becoming very "wristy" and I like to combine it with the Leadbetter drill to help keep my takeaway in one piece.. Maybe these don't resonate as well with others but for me it has helped greatly in the sense that now when I pick up a club I found it much easier to get into a good position at the top, feels almost natural.

Unfortunately my work day starts very early and ends very late (home between 730-8 pm) so during the week, hitting any course is out of the question and on the weekends unless its raining all of the public courses for the most part are jam packed. I have used my backyard for practice before but I still live with my parents and my dad doesn't take too kindly to the things golf clubs do to his lawn. And I know with these small shots there shouldn't be much of a divot but all it takes is one bad swing. I guess I could try to rig up a small mat or something. The video definitely has a lot of great stuff and to be honest I feel good off of good lies but it seems when I'm out on the course I lose it all as soon as I'm in anything less than perfect. Probably a larger issue of translating practice into on the course, my short game isnt the only piece that suffers but definitely the one that hurts the most.