azgolfer22

Hello Everyone, After trying many things finally narrowed down how to improve my striking. I don't compress the ball. I have a very high launch angle. I've tried different grips, ball positions, swing planes, etc. The only thing that lowers my launch angle is closing the club face about 30 degrees at address. Ball launches longer, climbs to my normal trajectory and lands and sizzles. Goes straight to. Question is does anyone know what swing fault would be cured or corrected by a very closed face at address? Using a closed face isn't ideal because there is the occasional pull. Thanks,

You don't have to keep your right elbow in front of your body but you don't want it getting way behind you. Watching the "on the range" show on golf channel the day before a tournament I see a lot of pros practicing with a resistance band holding there elbows close together. For righties this helps you get the feeling of keeping your right elbow close to your left elbow at A4 and then if you start your swing by sliding you left hip towards the target your hands will automatically drop into the slot. I don't use resistance bands but when I swing at address I feel that I'm squeezing my elbows together and maintain that feeling throughout the backswing.

when trying to hit a draw the balls are just flying straight right of the target. like a push. i dont know how far right they start but at the range it looks like they are landing about 20 yards right. hard to estimate from 150 away and at night.

i'm completely happy with my grip and swing. i was just wondering that in order to draw the ball the club face must be closed to the path. with my crazy grip and hand position at impact is making it impossible to get a consistent draw. since i'm right handed do you think it would work if i roll my right wrist as i'm swing in to out? and maybe practice by hitting a tee a few inches in front of the ball on the target side and about an inch or so on the outside?

thanks for replying. i get a lot of people that say the same thing. i don't need to adjust my natural swing i just want to add a draw. i'm happy with pars on tough left hole positions. just trying to pick up a stroke or 2 per round by getting closer on those holes by using a draw. so you can get a feeling for how i came to the conclusion that my arms are to far forward try this. stand at address and press the club towards your target until your hands are at least even with the middle of your leading thigh, but don't manipulate the club face. you will see that the club face is open and your trail wrist is very bent. idealy you should be trying to straighten your trailing wrist right before impact and naturally with hands that far forward the face is going to open with a weak, neutral, or normal strong grip. as you can see Sergio's trail wrist is almost straight. he realeases his lag on time or early because he can control that. I can't control it but i can fix what i think is a good problem to have by taking the grip i have. also isn't it correct that the pros can manipulate the amount of lag/deloft they are using. this is a picture of 1 swing and it looks like it is a short iron and the ball is forward in his stance so his body weight is shifting further forward. if it was a long iron then using this same swing or lag would probably cause an amateur to hit the ball fat. the shaft lean is not the same for every club. i don't control my arms. lag, or deloft at all. i swing hard using 100% of my hips. after sliding my hips only 2 inches i'm already half way down my downswing and then my hips and lats take over and i have a very smooth powerful swing in balanced. i put tremendous trust in my eyes and brain that they will control my arms and wrist without my intervention. it works so well that i rarely miss a green in regulation. As for a video of me the camera on my phone doesn't have enough frames per second to clearly see my downswing or release.

Hey buzz, New here but your problem sounds like its right up my alley. Had the same issue. I'm a total lower body swinger that trust in my hands that my eyes will lead them where they need to go. I realized, without thinking that this could be the issue, that my hands where way to forward at impact and I would hit the ball crazy to the left at a 45 degree angle like you said. Just do a normal practice swing and stop at impact and notice where your hands are. If they are well forward of the ball then you want to try my fix. Take your normal grip. You need to make sure that the heel pad (pad on pinky side of hand) is either on top of the club or to the right side of the grip (for a right handed golfer) and on left side of grip for a lefty. At address the position of the heel pad is extremely important. Next you want to close the face. I hold the club in front of me and close the face about 45 degrees and then take my grip. Then at address I hold the same grip and point the club face at my target. If you are doing the grip right then you should have a very strong grip. At address I can see 4 knuckles on my lead hand. As for the other hand at address I just let it hang straight down and then grip the club so my palm faces the target. I use this grip on all my clubs including my lob wedge. On wedges I use to hit the outside edge of the face and you could see the ball marks where I hit. Since using my new grip all the wedge hits are on the center of the face and you can here the difference when I stike the ball. Like I said I'm not a teacher or club pro but I swing with my lower body and I use to hit shots at a 45 degree angle and off the hosel. Hope this helps.

hello, After about a year and to many trips to the range I finally found a consistent swing with a straight ball flight. Everything I read I tried and it didn't work. It didn't work because I found out that my hands are way to forward at impact. By way to forward I mean outside of my lead leg. Being that far forward caused me to open the club face a bit at impact and thus I had kind of a very late low fade or my ball went miles into the air. So to hit the ball straight I have to close the face and take a very strong grip. I can see 4 knuckles on my lead hand at address. I don't want to change that because I am hitting the ball longer and more accurate. But with out changing my swing I want to add a draw for those pins tucked into areas where a draw is the ideal shot. For fades I just use a more neutral grip. For a draw it seems that everywhere I read it says aim right of the target and close club face so that the face is aiming where i want the ball to end up. But closing the face more than I already do is awkward and uncomfortable and my grip couldn't get stronger. Can anyone give me a tip or something I can work on that might help me achieve a consistent draw? By the way I'm right handed. Thanks,