Problem with my wood swings...

Hi,

My iron shots are OK, as in they are pretty straight. However, when I switch to my woods, I usually have this weird problem. At the range, on impact, the sound of the clubface whacking the rubber tee is much louder than the sound of contact with the ball. On the golf course, its as if im uprooting the entiree tee with the ball together. The ball flies up really high and lands a short distance away.And my wood shots are very sliced, as in they would travel forward for a short distance before swerving 90 degrees to the right!!

Any advice to correct this? I've tried different ball positions, different grips..but problem still remains...

Driver has a longer shaft and the swing is a sweeping motion. At impact, the club head is "starting (feel like)" at the upswing and hence the ball is placed forward to allow the shallow arc to start the upswing (inline with your inner left feet).

Iron strikes the ball at downward path and hence your iron swing is ok.

I suspect you are using the same swing for the driver (downward strike) as your iron which is not correct. Uprooting the tee with the ball may mean you are striking downward vs sweeping thru it. Slicing is because you compressed the ball with a open face at impact with the correct path (in-to-in), so the inital path is straight up and when the ball uncompressed, it start to slice right 90 degree.

What I normally do is to take a longer arc at take away(delay bringing up the shaft) and try to hit the golf ball from behind. (Try to place the logo of the ball facing away the target line and hit it)

Try to swing slow to have the feel and see if your driver ball path is straight first. If you can hit 150m with a slow swing, you can progressively increase your swing speed to reach 200m later.

Remember, it is not how hard you swing your big gun but the speed of the swing that mean the distance.

I used to drive only 150m with my driver but I am still enjoying my game because it is the short game that matters most.

Yup, sounds like your clubhead is impacting the ball at a steep angle, which is caused usually by a steep backswing similar to your iron's backswing.

Quick fix: strengthen your left hand grip to see 3 knuckles from address position.

On backswing, bring it back shallow i.e. shaft not to cross your shoulder point, keep the backswing flat.

And swing to out, meaning swing like you're focusing to push the ball to the right of your target.

This will decrease your slice, and may even promote draw type shots.

Please note, this is just a quick fix, the conventional swing instructor will ask you to take your normal backswing and drop your hands to the side before rotating through the golf ball.

ehh...correct me if i'm wrong.

The general swing mechanism should be same be it iron or wood.

In general, due to the difference in club length, the address position is slightly diff and body posture is also diff.

This is the diff that will display in "look like diff" swing plan between iron and wood, but in general, they should be all the same swing mechanism.

just my thought and this is what i was taught...keke

snowman

Hey snowman, there are many different swing methodologies. Some of them keep the mechanics the same, some vary it slightly.

But if a swing is too steep, its almost impossible to hit woods without imparting side spin or a slice, unless with flash hands to manipulate the clubhead.

And especially common in guys, we are eager to hit the ball or we try to hit it as hard as we can. So naturally our swing path from clubhead to ball would be the shortest and quickest route.

In most cases this is known as "the over the top" swing plane where the club descends and approach the ball at an angle steeper than at address, causing fade or slice shots.

I think what you've been taught is to drop your hands to the side for 1 frame delay before rotating through with the rest of your swing. That's the so called "proper" way, if there's even such a thing

haha..hi bro

actually i really had no idea what is the "proper" way...hehe

just that i always remember instructor always scold me for swinging differently using iron and wood..he always say

"it's the same swing, same swing !!"
"dnt change ur swing !!"
"keep ur rthym, keep ur tempo !!"
"dnt force ur swing, maintain ur plane!!"
"head dnt anyhow move !! focus focus !!"

haha..i always kena scolding..so much so that i still remember all these even though it was quite a few years ago liao...haha !!

snowman

Wah kena scolding ah? Nows a day the instructors no longer use that technique, its all about encouragement haha! Your instructor sounds like my swimming coach back in the day!

Well, hope your swing is much better these days snowman! Go get them birdies!

nah !!..my swing still sucks !!...haha !!

i only remember these scolding, the rest..not at all....keke

snowman

Its sometimes hard to find time to practice with work and what nots taking up the entire weekday.

Hey go find back your old instructor, see if he's still using the same scolding method, I'm quite interested to find out

A bit OT, but when I first read the subject of the thread, I thought this is physiological thread....
"Problem with my mood swings..."

ha ha

haha...actually i do meet up with my instructor once a while in the driving range...

and yes, he no more scolding the other student like he did to me...

but i do really appreciate the scolding and i guess, without these scolding, i would have play much worse than now...

sometime, i do disturb him and ask him "why u dnt scold them liao, like what u did to me ?"...haha!! quite fun to do that to instructor...keke[left]

Haha sweet...

Then show him your new and improved swing!

IN YOUR FACE COACH!

haha....i wnt dare to do that..

he can close both eye, tee off with my driver and ball easier go 280m straight...

i think no matter how hard i swing, swing until my arm broken, also cnt go that far..haha

improved swing ??...wait kena left right center from him...haha !!

Haha then I think you wait until he finish his senior years then IN YOUR FACE COACH him

daveaha wrote:

A bit OT, but when I first read the subject of the thread, I thought this is physiological thread....
"Problem with my mood swings..."

ha ha

haha my too...
was thinking what an interesting topic..

chemicalpro wrote:

Yup, sounds like your clubhead is impacting the ball at a steep angle, which is caused usually by a steep backswing similar to your iron's backswing.

Quick fix: strengthen your left hand grip to see 3 knuckles from address position.

On backswing, bring it back shallow i.e. shaft not to cross your shoulder point, keep the backswing flat.

And swing to out, meaning swing like you're focusing to push the ball to the right of your target.

This will decrease your slice, and may even promote draw type shots.

Please note, this is just a quick fix, the conventional swing instructor will ask you to take your normal backswing and drop your hands to the side before rotating through the golf ball.

Hi chemicalpro,

Thanks or the advice.

You mentioned focus on pushing the ball to the right of my target. I'm right handed, so when I swing, my club will end up on the left side of my body. So should it be focus on pushing the ball to the left of my target? Hmm..just found it a bit hard to visualize pushing the ball to the right of my target during my swing..a bit un-natural. Won't that lead to me impacting the ball with an open clubface and the ball slices to the right?

Thanks.

starchildten wrote:

Driver has a longer shaft and the swing is a sweeping motion. At impact, the club head is "starting (feel like)" at the upswing and hence the ball is placed forward to allow the shallow arc to start the upswing (inline with your inner left feet).

Iron strikes the ball at downward path and hence your iron swing is ok.

I suspect you are using the same swing for the driver (downward strike) as your iron which is not correct. Uprooting the tee with the ball may mean you are striking downward vs sweeping thru it. Slicing is because you compressed the ball with a open face at impact with the correct path (in-to-in), so the inital path is straight up and when the ball uncompressed, it start to slice right 90 degree.

What I normally do is to take a longer arc at take away(delay bringing up the shaft) and try to hit the golf ball from behind. (Try to place the logo of the ball facing away the target line and hit it)

Try to swing slow to have the feel and see if your driver ball path is straight first. If you can hit 150m with a slow swing, you can progressively increase your swing speed to reach 200m later.

Remember, it is not how hard you swing your big gun but the speed of the swing that mean the distance.

I used to drive only 150m with my driver but I am still enjoying my game because it is the short game that matters most.

hi starchildten,

thanks for your reply.

Yup, you are right. I'm using the same swing for woods and irons. the only thing that i change are my ball position and my distance to the ball.

At the top of my backswing, my left arm usually forms a line parallel to both the top of my left and right shoulders.

So am I correct to say that for wood swing, at the top of the backswing, my left arm should be forming a line below my left and right shouders? If so, how far down?

Thanks.

Its supposed to be the same swing irregardless whether its wood or irons. nevertheless... word of advice is to see your nearest pro... thats the only way you will improve your game. no offence to the bros giving advice here but sometimes it gives more confusion rather than assstance... You can also ask the pros in the forum.

Hi guys, no offense to anyone but just my thoughts......
I always see ppl asking for advise on how to correct a slice, how to hit further, why I top.....etc etc etc

IMHO, its almost impossible to give any good advise. Why???? Because we are all not in a qualified position to give you advise as we are all amateurs. We are prob 20+, 10+ or at best single handicappers.......we are also struggling with our swings..so we can't really advise you. I know some bros are just trying to be helpful to offer some pointers here and there....but seriously it will not help.

If you really need help, go and see a qualified pro. Note I use the word SEE. Dun even attempt to ask the pro for advise on the forum because he cannot SEE your swing. The most he can do is to give you some general advise. But without seeing your actual swing, the advise may not be fruitful.

There are so many components in a swing that will cause your balls to slice. Eg your grip, your stance, your ball position, your equipment, blah blah blah. And we all know that a slice is definitely caused by a open club face at impact. But the impt thing is to find out why the club face is open at impact. So without seeing your swing, all the advices like swing flatter, adjust your ball position, clear your hips blah blah are just guessing

Happy golfing bro

Agree. I just seen a pro as my golfing buddies can witness, I always do a snap hook with my driver. Rest of my clubs are draw ball flight or left hook when i overcook the draw.
After 2 lessons, I am hitting my driver straight, high launch. Best investment I had. If you have problem with your game, go see a pro, don't go to pro shops and buy equipment

yup that's right pocketace. Seek your nearest certified PGA Professional if need be!

skybobo

I like your comment!!!! Very true

why ppl would buy $50 worth of medicines and remedies instead of going to see a doctor which will probably cost $30.

why are self help book so popular, especially golf books, instructional DVDs etc

why many (in the US anyway) select and buy their own shaft instead of getting fitted.

why is there a market for Imix or exchangeable shaft

because everybody thinks they are smart enough to figure it out themselves rather than pay some1 else to tell them what they know or can learn themselves.

Very common thinking "i learn a bit more until cannot improve then go see pro". "no point see pro when so lousy now" "i play for fun only lar, why need to see pro"

which is the purpose of this forum, good folks here will be telling newbies that the best way to improve is to see a pro, not asking advise from ppl who cant even break 80s.....

the blind cannot lead the blind......