Tee Shot Blues! Hooks, trouble getting it up!.

[halifax_golfer]

Hey guys, I used to be able to hit my driver really consistantly.. It was the strongest part of my game (Everything else really sucked)... But now I have trouble getting it up.

I since went through some very big swing changes, as I used to have a bit of a Hockey swing I would say... I used to be able to hit the ball about 265-300 yards.

Anyways, My shaft broke a few times so I tried out a few different drivers and at the same time I was trying to make my swing more "professional" looking.... I'm now hitting most of my irons pretty well... I hit my 56* sandwedge 100 or so yards, very very well.....

I cant hit a driver at all anymore though.... I thought it was just because I was messing around trying out new drivers and stuff... But I since bought another Aldila NV75s and put my old Adams GT363cc head on it... And I went to the range this morning...

I seem to have lots and lots of trouble getting the ball up off the ground. It definitly wants to go far... But I really cant hit it like I used to with my driver... My new Hogan type swing seems to work well with everything else... But I cant hit a driver anymore... On another note.. Last year I played golf as a Slicer, this year... I'm a Hooker. . How do I get back to slicing or fading the ball with my driver... I doubt this is gona help. But it's worth a try. I wish I had a swing vid.. Prolly within the next few weeks I'll get it taped.

Chris

 

[Qoka]

Hey guys, I used to be able to hit my driver really consistantly.. It was the strongest part of my game (Everything else really sucked)... But now I have trouble getting it up.

I seem to have lots and lots of trouble getting the ball up off the ground. It definitly wants to go far... But I really cant hit it like I used to with my driver... My new Hogan type swing seems to work well with everything else... But I cant hit a driver anymore... On another note.. Last year I played golf as a Slicer, this year... I'm a Hooker. . How do I get back to slicing or fading the ball with my driver... I doubt this is gona help. But it's worth a try. I wish I had a swing vid.. Prolly within the next few weeks I'll get it taped.

Chris

Halifax,
As you say, its not easy to find fault without seeing what you are doing. All I can suggest is that I had a similar problem and I found that it was due to me pulling the club through with my left side. I found I had to back-off with the left and allow the right side to balance up my swing. As Hogan said, their must be a balance between the right and the left. Hope this helps.

 

[Don]

What loft do you have in that driver now. And the NV75 shaft isn't ideal for someone that needs help getting it up. That's a low ball flight shaft. I've got one in my 12* driver and it's okay, but in anything less than a 12* driver, I wouldn't recommend it. unless hitting the ball too high was the problem for someone.

 

[token_hottie]

Hal -

kudos on making that post one huge innuendo.

Put a vid up so we can see how you hit it.

th

 

[halifax_golfer]

it is an 11*. This just sux, cause I never used to have this problem, but lately it's tough even to golf once a week, so I'm finding it hard to work through this... I still need to give the Adams a good chance to perform on the course, but I'm scared. .

I have a question about fading the ball.

How do you cut across the ball to produce the fade. When you are supposed to approach the ball from the inside?.

Chris.

 

[Crossfire]

To fade or slice the ball, you dont approch from the inside, you come from the outside. If you seem to have the inside out swing path, i would say just learn to play a draw, as thats what most people strive for. I can't see your swing but i imagine theres something f**ked up about your swing to cause this, but maybe the path is ok? If so, figure out the problems and just learn a draw.
Good luck.

 

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

I'm just guessing based upon things you say, okay?

But here's what I think may be happening. If you're playing the swing and getting a draw with your irons, you're releasing the clubhead and that's fine if you can do it consistently. Hogan made tweaks to his swing because he wanted to eliminate the hook and he was happy to hit a consistent fade.

When you play with the driver, it's got the longer shaft, and consequently you're going to have a longer arc to your swing. Now usually that means for most people the slice becomes more pronounced, but now you're someone who has learned to release the clubhead and get a draw out of it. Now what might happen if with this longer arc you start releasing the clubhead at the same point your arms do with the shorter irons?

The clubhead is going to close up even more, and since you're probably drawing it my bringing your back arm over around your front arm, it's going to pull and hook it a lot more than that shorter iron.

Does that make sense?

If that points out what's causing the problem, well you're halfway on the way to solving it.

 

[cypressperch]

First, a few things about getting

your ball flight up with the driver. Tee the ball fairly high. In fact you might want to exaggerate how high you tee the ball. Keep the clubhead low going back and this will help flatten out the bottom of your swing. Remember that you want to sweep the driver rather than hitting down on it as with the irons. You want to play the ball somewhat foward in your stance, and it is fine if you actually catch the ball somewhat on the up-swing.

With these things in place, there is a really great way to control how high your ball flight will be. As you address the ball and then look down the target line, look at a point as high as you want the ball to fly. Look at this high point by tilting your shoulders and then hold that position as you make your swing. Loosen up on your grip and make a smooth swing allowing the clubhead to pass right through the ball rather than striking at the ball. In other words keep it all moving smoothly to a full finish. The ball WILL fly high. Visualize the high shot, pick that high point, make the smooth swing.

Whether a ball hooks or slices (draws or fades) is determined by the path the clubhead is on and by the position of the club face at impact. If we wanted a straight shot right down the middle, we would want the clubhead path to be on the target line at impact with the club face square to the target at impact. If the toe of the club beats the heel of the club to the ball, the club face is closed and counter-clockwise spin (hook spin) will be put on the ball. If the club head path is the same as the target line, the ball will initially go on the target line. Eventually the spin will get the ball to move to the left. Should the heel of the club beat the toe to the ball at impact, the club face is open. The ball will initially go down the target line (Again, IF the clubhead path is on the target line.) until the clock-wise spin gets the ball to move right.

If you want to play a fade, you make your target line to the left of center. Line up on a intermediate target a few feet ahead of your ball on this to-the-left line. Address the ball. Now open up the club face a little and REGRIP the club. Make your swing the same as you would normally and with the club being regripped with the club face open, the heel will automatically beat the toe to the ball at impact. If you really swing the clubhead on this to-the-left target line, you will have a fade. If no fade happens, you might firm up your wrists a bit to slow down the releasing of the swing a bit. Just visualize the shot you want and do not allow the toe of the club to catch up with the heel. For a draw or hook, you would do the opposite. If you do not get the draw, loosen up your wrists and grip to promote the release of the clubhead.

One last finer point. As you address the ball, imagine the target line splitting the ball in half, and then a line perpendicular to the target line cutting the ball into quadrants. Contrary to what many believe, for a ball to draw or hook, club face contact will have to occur in the top-back quadrant and this happens automatically with a closed club face becauses the toe leads the heel. We get into the notion that we would make contact at the lower-back quadrant because we have been taught that you hook the ball with an inside-to-outside club head path. The path part is trui, but we have the point of contact wrong. When you get a straight push, your contact was square to the clubhead path line. If you got a pushed slice, contact with the ball was at the lower-back quadrant meaning the club face was open relative to that clubhead path.

If you want a fade, contact must be at the lower back quadrant. If you want a draw, contact must be at the top-back quadrant. Straight shots occur when contact is directly on the line separating the two quadrants.

Hopefully, knowing what must happen at impact to create a shot shape will increase our chances of producing that shot. With practice, you will almost "feel" whatever shot shape you want into existence. That is always easier when we remove tension from our muscles and swing with confidence that comes from knowing what we are doing.

The best of luck to you with your swing. Sincerely, Cypressperch

 

[halifax_golfer]

thanks for the replies guys.. I really hope I get this sorted out. RBB, I think you are probobly on to something for me... As I have always and Will always play a bit of a draw (sometimes a bit of a hook ) with All of my irons..... When I first started golfing 2yrs ago, I had a pretty severe hook with my irons, and a pretty severe slice with my driver... That always made me a bit freeked out and I couldn't tell what I was doing wrong.

I've since went through a lot of swing changes and am trying for something along the lines of the hogan swing... I dont know if I'm doing it right though... But I love the way it's working for my irons right now...

Thanks for trying to help, I know swing video is important, I'll try to get some..

Chris.

 

[Qoka]

Thanks for trying to help, I know swing video is important, I'll try to get some..

Chris.

Halifax,
can you show us a photo of your grip?

 

[halifax_golfer]

not really.. .. I dont have a digital cam. I'm gona get hit some balls at a golf sim on monday at a golf shop. They have a cam and can burn my swing to disc hopefully. ..

Chris.