Horrific Woods HELP!

[customdusty]

I'm a noob to this form and a noob to golf as well. Ive picked the game up very quickly over the past 2 years and am pretty pleased with my progress. I have always excelled athletically and have caught on to the mechanics of golf very quickly, im very good on and around the green, and i hit my irons very well, long or short and for very consistent distances. my game however is lacking one big part, a driver and woods. they are in the bag, but that is where they stay. im a very athletic 6'2" and 225lbs, and it took me a year to put aside my testosterone to develop a very effortless and smooth swing that yields long and consistent iron shots, with a high, draw ball flight. since my 3 iron off the tee is about 225 yards and fairly consitently in the fairway or nearby (not OB), i have managed to improve my game to the point where i am consistently in the mid to upper 80's, with a few blow up 90's. i want to take my game to the next level and start shortening the holes off the tee and this is where my problem lies.... i can not hit a driver, 3 wood, or 5 wood AT ALL. My driver i hit about a mile in the air with a devastating slice. If i tee up my fairway woods, i pop those things up, if i dont pop the up they slice like crazy.... and off the ground, well i just top 'em, or pound them off with a slice. sure, i make some good swings now and again, and i am startled by my potential and distance i get with a 105+ mph club speed.... but i can keep maybe 1 out of 10 or fewer in play. i understand the importance of timing, tempo, etc.... but i feel that this combined with what i think is a very steep swing is appetite for destruction. anybody have any advice on drills, tips, anything that can help me start hitting these clubs. I spent a fortune on these woods too, so i am obligated to get some use out of them. Thanks!

[TaylorMade89]

Post a video of your swing if you could......that woudl help a lot

[Augster]

What is your normal ball-flight with your irons?

Also, how far do you hit your 8-iron?

The further you hit your shorter irons, the tougher hitting a driver will be, if you use the same swing.

And that is the key. Woods ARE NOT the same swing. The same tempo, yes. The same timing, yes. But NOWHERE NEAR the same swing.

To hit a driver, you take your same grip. Tee the ball up high. At least 1/2 the ball should be above the club. AT LEAST.

Now you want to hit the ball on the UPSWING. If you tried to hit a wedge this way, you'd either miss or skull. You hit the driver when your club has gone well past the bottom of the swing and it's on it's way up.

If you are slicing terribly and you are setting up correctly, you are most likely holding your wrists too tight. Because with your iron shot, the ball would have been gone LONG AGO. You have to allow your wrists to roll over.

The ball should be even with your left heel with your left toe flared out a quarter turn. (for a righty) I explained how to tee it up earlier. Lastly, look at the inside quarter-quadrant of the ball, and try to "Hit the ball to right field". That feeling alone, the hitting it to right field, should get you swinging from the inside.

Lastly, if you feel you are too steep, you most likely are. Steep is good if you want to pinch a ball against the ground and spin it. We don't want any pinching with the driver. SWEEP it up off the tee and into the air. SWEEP.

Hope that helps.

[cypressperch]

I commend you for wanting to learn to better use the woods when you score fairly well without them. If you can hit irons, you or anyone else, can eventually hit woods too.

I like the way you mentioned tempo and the need to have smoothness in the swing. These are important things in hitting any club. After the experiences you have had with failure at hitting woods, it is a near certainty that there is a certain fear of failure when hitting woods. That fear leads to tension, and tension destroys the swing. The longer the club, the harder it is to make solid contact making the removal of tension even more important. The start to removing tension is to loosen up on the grip. Incidentally, since the grip is the body's only contact with the club, it is imperitive that you have a good grip. That you hit good shots with your irons means it is probably pretty good, but make certain that you are not gripping the club too firmly. On a scale with ten being a very strong, white-knuckler grip and one being so loose the club can easily be pulled from your grasp, shoot for a two or three. As you approach impact the grip is going to tighten up some naturally, so do not worry about losing control of the club.

Every club is designed to sit naturally on the sole of the club when the clubface is square to the target line. When sitting thusly, the shaft will take a certain angle in regard to your body and also to the target. If your clubs fit you, these attributes of the naturally, properly resting club head make golf fairly simple. (Did I hear laughter?) All you have to do is stand to a properly positioned club and you will have taken care of alinement, ball position in the stance, posture, how far to stand from the ball. It IS that simple.

You want to maintain your good posture throughout the swing. If you do, your spine angle will be the same all the way through the swing. Doing this prevents raising up which can produce topped shots, and it also prevents lowering the body which can produce fat shots.

It is OK for the head to move some, but it does not move too much. Here, I am talking about lateral movement since the constant posture mentioned above will prevent vertical or up and down movement of the head. The head might move an inch or so to the right as the shoulders coil back. Here I need to say that with woods which have longer shafts, you must coil until the back is facing the target. This means you have completed the back-swing. With less than a full coil, you will probably not get the club face back to square and you get the slice. At impact, your head is where it was at impact which is somewhat behind the ball. After impact, it is ok (and very good for your back) to let the head go three inches or so ahead of where the ball was at impact or address as you make a full follow through to where your looking at your target. It is of utmost importance that your head be behind the ball at impact. If it gets ahead, you will now have created a much too steep angle of attack which can do many things, the popped-up driver being one that really sucks.

With all shots, but especially with the driver, our goal should be to swing the club head through the ball. Often a person will have a beautiful practice swing, but when the ball gets there, the beauty disappears. It disappears because the person is now striking at the exact point the ball is located. This causes the hips to stop turning, the shoulders to stop turning, etc, etc. Things will keep moving properly if we swing the clubhead through the ball as if it were not even there, just as with the beautiful, rhythmetic practice swing. This is the best way to make solid contact. Trying to precisely strike at the ball is probably the worst fault there is since it robs power, consistency, accuracy, feel. Swing smoothly through the ball to a full finish. This prevents deacceleration which causes all the problems.

No matter what shape of shot we want (fade, straight, draw), the clubhead should come to the ball from the inside. I do not think this is happening right now when you are using the driver and other woods. With shorter clubs you can get the ball back to square and make fairly good contact when the club head is coming from the outside to the ball. With longer clubs that is just about impossible. Incidentally, I know that a wood looks different and that creates mental issues, but the main difference is actually the longer length of the wood. Hybrids are so easy to hit because of the shorter shaft. So we have to do things to accommodate the longer club.

The arc of the swing needs to be longer so on the take-away keep the driver head on the target line and low for about 15 inches or so before allowing the clubhead to come inside. Stay connected which simply means keeping your arms close enough to the body so that if clubhead covers were in your arm-pits, they would stay there. If they fall out, you have become disconnected, and you will not come to the ball from the inside in almost all cases. Stay connected! But, remember, keep the grip loose enough to avoid too much tension. (Yes, it takes practice.)

I will now share with you and anyone else who needs this a strange but great drill. This will force you to attack the ball from the inside. It is the old "Broom Drill." Get a broom and go outside to the side of a garage or house. Stand with your back facing the wall. Address an imaginary ball using the broom as a golf club. Be a distance from the wall behind you that will have the broom make contact with the wall on the down-swing. Go slow at first. Maintain contact with the wall with the head of the broom for as long as you can. You have now prevented the dreaded over the top move that kills a huge percentage of all swings! Get to where this feeling of sweeping the wall is a part of you. At the range, hit drives with the idea of sweeping the wall. Be ready for some really solid contact!

Hitting shots with any club (I prefer the 5 iron) with your feet together is probably the best all around drill of them all. When the broom drill has given you the feel for the inside track to the ball, I would incorporate some of the feet together drill in my practice.

Hitting drives that go about half the regular distance is a good drill. Some call this the "full motion-half speed drill." By slowing things down, it gives you a better chance to make solid contact. True it will seem strange at first, but you will get the hang of it. And you will be amazed at how far you can hit the ball with such reduced effort. You will be surprised how far you can hit the ball with your feet together, once you can swing and retain your balance which is what the drill is all about. Golf is full of contradictions, and the biggest may be that we hit the ball farther when we slow things down. As you get use to the "full motion-half speed drill," you can then speed it up a bit a shot at a time. You will eventually find a speed (a percentage of your power) that allows you to swing forcefully and still have good accuracy. This is how fast you should try to swing with every shot.

Well I wrote another book. Sorry if anyone read this and feels cheated or abused. I do know that all of this is important and that the drills do work. It takes time and patience, but you will eventually get the results you want. I am sixty years old and shoot in the low seventies most of the time. I played the number one course in Louisiana one time and had a one-under par 71. Toot, toot, toot goes the horn. Hey, the stuff works. How about driving the green on a 330 yard par four and making the twelve foot putt to win a sudden death play-off against three others who birdied the hole? Toot, toot, toot. How about three eagles in the last five rounds? Toot, toot, toot. How about one two many glasses of wine?

The very best of luck to everyone with their games. Sincerely, Cypressperch

How about knocking in a 150 yard eight iron for eagle, and the playing partner who was the only guy who could see the pin, says, "Nice shot!" I go up and look for the ball, and he says, "Hey dummy, its in the hole!"

[Brocks]

I aint gonna write another copy of War and peace!

Most people I play with who have a decent swing but can't nail a wood are usually trying too hard (Myself included) The single bit of advice that has made a HUGE difference to me and my companions is SLOW DOWN.

The woods shafts are much longer and flex alot more. So if I swing too fast two things happen:

1 My hands get ahead of the head.
2 The shaft hasn't "deflexed" at impact and the face is open.

I now swing the driver at about 50-65% of the speed I swing with an Iron. I also consentrate on the first 6" of the takeback. The result, much reduced slice and even a little draw occasionally witha distance between 22 and 270 depending on other conditions.

Oh dear I got a bit long winded anyway!

[cypressperch]

You did great! CP

[Brocks]

You did great! CP

huh?

Is that "No brock you're wrong" or What?

Edit: Be-lay that onRead the rest of the thread..

[Highdraw34]

Keep them coming CP, I know all the things that you say but reading them really helps me a lot. I can't wait to give the broom drill some time.

[customdusty]

Thanks for the responses. I will try and post a video of my swing soon.

Augster- Thanks for reminding me that my swing should be different for my irons than my woods, I often find myself trying to clone my iron shots while gripping a wood. I hit my 8 iron about 160, with a mostly straight ball flight. My longer irons have a more defined draw. Regardless, all of my irons have a high, ascending trajectory.

Cypress- That is a lot to take in at once, but the drills I hope will be beneficial. Those are what I am looking for so I can get the feel of where my swing flaws are and what a good one should feel like.

Thanks!

[cypressperch]

some on this forum can be. You were to the point without excess verbage. The longer the club, the more reason to slow it down. We are on the same page, or pages depending on who is writing.

I know I tend to be long winded, but please remember my double your money back guarantee. If a person tries what I write about and it fails to meet their expectations, I will doubly refund any amount of money that I might have received from them.

Best of luck to all. Sincerely, Cypressperch

[Adam Pettman]

The longer the club, the more reason to slow it down.

Does club design play much of a role in this issue for example I felt I could swing faster with more confidence with a TM Vsteel compared to my Tightlies2 fairway wood.

[ezra76]

Does club design play much of a role in this issue for example I felt I could swing faster with more confidence with a TM Vsteel compared to my Tightlies2 fairway wood.

Adam - I have the same feeling. I can swing out of my shoes with my 4 or 5 wood TM200steel's. Hitting them off a good lie seems as easy as off the tee.

Customdusty - I've worked a lot on swinging around my body and not so steep, worked wonders for the driver and woods. I belted a 4wood nearly 240 off the deck last round and it couldn't have moved more than a yard offline. When I practice swing I keep the shaft below my right shoulder on the backswing and turn the head over, keeping my hands just below my left shoulder coming around. This nice wide path produces a long straight or slightly drawing shot for me.

[OmegaG5]

anybody have any advice on drills, tips, anything that can help me start hitting these clubs.

I am a rank novice compared with you.
I suffered a similar problem.

Try this. Tee up your ball.... take a long pencil and stick it into the ground 4 inches outside the ball and 6 inches back.

Set up and pull the club backwards but think (and its in the mind) that you are coming almost straight back for the first 12 inches of your back swing. Now take a full but steady swing. And think about coming back the same route and missing that pencil !

In reality, the part of the swing close to hitting the ball isn't really that straight.... but....
The ball won't slice!

The time that it fails (and it will) is when you start the down swing and the mist comes down over your eyes and you try to thump it. You'll be coming round outside the line of the ball again and hitting that pencil.

Rod

[customdusty]

Took some rips at the range yesterday. My swing with my irons is a very different feel altogether than my woods, but keep in mind, I don't know how to hit woods. I tried a similar drill as the pencil drill mentioned above, and sure enough, my swing with my woods is clearly outside to in. I also was playing with my grip and alignment, and not only did I realize my grip was tight, but also that my forward arm (left) is positioned closer to my body than my right arm and my shoulders are slightly more open than square, and I only turn my shoulders, not my hips. So, here is what I learned about my swing.... it is very steep, it is outside to in, I fly open at impact, my grip is tight, I am too armsy, and I have poor alignment. Now where do I start? I pretty much have nothing going for me, except for when I do hit it (1 out of 10), it goes a nautical mile.