brassdoss

Went to the range today to fix my slice after reading up a bit. I set up like normal, but made sure to keep my left arm straight during backswing and rotate at the core (bringing my left shoulder under my chin).... straight, draw, or hook every time. Literally zero slices in the whole bucket. I'm pretty sure the rotation and "stiff arm" flattened out my swing plane and helped the release. Try it out! Now, to weaken my slice-compensating superstrong grip. That should straighten things out more.

Right, the driver is just flat and engraved, but the 3 wood is grooved. I'm just hoping to get the same lack of spin from the 3 wood.

I have the EXACT same problem and hope there are others that can help us! When trying to get my hands through the ball I overcompensate and keep the face open as well. I have found that, with me, this is happening because I am sliding during my weight shift instead of turning. I have tried turning the hips more on the backswing, which makes sure that I "uncoil" and turn them into contact and follow through Another thing... slowing down the swing helps too, and checking your arm position at parallel on the follow through. If the forarms are crossed, you're good to go. I'm by no means an expert... as my index will reveal. I just started in June. These are just some things I've read and am trying. Hope it gives you something to think about too.

Hey fourputt , tell me more about your putter!!!!

Thanks for the input, guys. More is always welcome! I'll see if I notice any difference at the range today between my old smooth 3 wood and my new grooved one. If anything, I think it will make me focus more on correct swing mechanics.

Yeah, almost all drivers I've seen have a smooth sweet spot. Hm, never thought about the help getting the ball airborne. It would make sense with the hybrids, hitting on the downstroke like an iron... I pretty much exclusively use irons/hybrids off turf and reserve driver/3w for par 4 and 5 tees. I'm mainly wondering if I'm gonna end up with too much sidespin with the grooved 3w off the tee.

I've read and heard that a smooth striking area helps to reduce spin on the ball, inturn producing straigher shots. I haven't been golfing that long, so my shots aren't consistant enough to see for myself. Is the effect really THAT noticable? I usually look for the smooth faced woods and hybrids so that they can help me out in that respect. Today, however, I hesitantly bought the Cleveland XLS 3w (with grooves), to match my driver. - My old cheapie 3w lost it's head. I really wanted to find a good, smooth faced 3w, but all of the ones I found were in the same price range as my broken cheapie. Most high-end woods are grooved... so I figured that if I wanted a good one, I'd better just suck it up and learn how to golf and not rely on the smooth face. Thoughts?

First real driver I've ever owned. I love it! Just bought the matching 3w. Mine is the 12* model, as it helps me air it a little more with my avg. swing speed. I still slice with it on occasion, but it's usually when I don't go through my mental swing checklist at address and get overzealous. I naturally tend to push (in attempt to send my hands through first), so the closed face does help that a little. I realize that a fancy club won't fix your swing, but I'll take all the help I can get!

I wish my doo doo looked like that!

Mine would have to be the foulfest that takes place at the end of any basketball game. I've NEVER seen it work!

I've only been golfing for a couple of months so... Establish good habits. Break 100. (almost there!) Think before I swing more often!