I've never seen anyone hit so consistently like me. 99 out of 100 i can bet i'll hit the ball to the right. it's damn_annoying. back in college a hit a bit and i was doing that; picked it up again a few weeks ago and i'm still doing it.
If i were to take vid clips of my swings, would anyone be able to give me quick tips on how i can adjust?
welb25
08-28-05, 07:30 AM
Maybe, if the problem is obvious. I'm no Butch Harmon, though. Does your ball start straight and slice right or does it start out being "pushed" to the right?
Sernov
08-28-05, 08:33 AM
Used to happen to me alot, except I would pull everything to the left. Keep your head down and watch the point of impact. Your club face needs to be pointed toward your target.
indianajdp
08-28-05, 12:44 PM
Might also want to try slowing your swing down. Could be that your hands are ahead of the clubface, leaving you open at the point of impact and leading your ball right.
Trust me. I speak from experience.
dick_grayson
08-28-05, 01:05 PM
it's all in your grip. your right hand is probably too closed. open it up a little (like when you start a car---you put in the key and it's closed, but when you turn the key (the ignition) your right hand it's open). keep it more open like that. usually you can affect the trajectory and whatnot simply by closing or opening your right hand. I'd also take a lesson with your local pro.
HN
08-29-05, 01:04 AM
hey, thanks everyone for the tips!
I forgot my camera today but for sure will have it next friday.
My ball will almost always go to the right from beginning to end (http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/1692/right7xv.gif) . Only once in awhile will it start straight and then hook right (http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/8294/hook0at.gif). And even less often it will just go straight.
devilshalo
08-29-05, 01:35 AM
Isn't this like asking for dating tips? :p
HN
08-29-05, 03:26 AM
Isn't this like asking for dating tips? :p
it is...because i have no game in both departments :o
Patman
08-29-05, 08:59 AM
Sounds like your hips are flying open (towards your left side) upon contact with the ball, causing the club head to open up to the right, which produces the ball flight you describe.
Start slowing down the swing until your body stops flying open from anticipating impact, and keep the club head square to your target line. Once you are swinging and hitting shots straighter, gradually speed up your swing until your hips fly open again, then back off the swing speed and keep practicing until you can hit shots at full power without flying open your hips.
grrrah
08-29-05, 01:27 PM
I love how we can all give expert advice without even seeing his swing.
btw, aim further left ;)
seriously, on the range, try hitting some forced-hooks, and then work something out in the middle.
dick_grayson
08-29-05, 01:30 PM
I've played golf since I was about 10 and was the captain of my high school team. I've had every type of bad swing and made every mistake there is. I just figured I'd throw my idea in there. Also, I did mention taking lessons from a pro. :)
HN
08-29-05, 02:03 PM
The tips are very much appreciated. Heck, maybe one of them will be what corrects my problem and i can save bandwidth by not having to put up the videos (or i'll just put them up anyway for your viewing pleasure :) ).
Patman - the tip about the hip flaring sounds interesting. i've always tried to incorporate my knees and hip to get more torque so it never occurred to me to correct that. i'll keep definitely keep it in mind.
would a bucket of balls be enough to bribe the better hitters out there for some tips?
wendersfan
08-30-05, 11:50 AM
Also, I did mention taking lessons from a pro. :)I'm going to start taking lessons, starting Saturday. In my case, I think my swing mechanics are pretty good, but I seem to have alignment/setup problems.
HN
09-03-05, 07:01 AM
I think I can see my problem in this frame (http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/9640/snapshot200509030306378mg.jpg) - this is 1 frame before impact and that club head looks way open (my thumb seems to be pointing towards the camera [to my right], whereas it should have been in front). correct?
here is a clip on yousendit:
Xvid, smaller filesize (~152k) (http://s34.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=150OFLBSZAYU70W608J3K65KD0)
MS Video 1, bigger file size (~1 MB) (http://s41.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3JCZR77KB9QW10D16O5B8GOMLY)
(320x240 @ 60 fps; originally captured with Canon SD400 in video mode with "fast frame rate" setting.)
In the clip, is my right arm just way to close to my body at impact? is the whole swing just completely wrong?
1. Your club face is open, which will send it right 99% of the time. You need to square your club face. This is most likely due to a poor grip, too fast a downswing, and poor rotation of your wrists.
2. Your hip rotation is off. You are a swinging gate....your left hip is thrown out and puts your off balance and pulls you away from your ball. You need to practice your hip rotation and staying under control.
3. Your leg/knee position is at the mercy of your hip rotation and footwork. It is just awkward. If you work on your hip rotation, staying under control, and footwork (talked about below), you can get this solved.
4. You are off balance and your heal is come up early and off balance. I haven't watched the video, but i'm pretty sure when you rotate through your back foot is all over the place and/or not rotated to point straight. You need to work on keeping your heal down through your swing and then nhave it pivot as you swing through and finish your swing at the top.
5. Your shoulder rotation is out of wack because of your hips and wanting to swing too hard/fast. You may or may not have your arms too close together (hard to tell from this pic) Again...I haven't seen the video, but you probably aren't in sync with your hips, and you are throwing your left shoulder out. (I had this problem for awhile. I had to concentrate on keeping my should in, and then release as I follow through)
6. Your wrists aren't in the right position. They look behind where they should be in their rotation. I'm pretty sure because of your swing, you right wrist isn't coming over the top and this leads ot pushing the ball. If you get it to come over the top and rotation through, this should help your club face address.
6b. Your grip. It is probably the biggest problem people have. You are 'probably' gripping it too hard. Also, depending on where your top thumb lands, this could be effecting your club face address because it will effect what feels 'right'.
Hopefully that helps. I"m not a scratch golfer (~12 handicap, but probably single digits if I can get out more than a handful of times this year)
Lessons CAN help....but they will probably start from scratch and build your swing up. They did that with mine (I was in the mid 80's....and wanted to just tweak, but he didn't like my hand positioning and my address angle. I ended up taking his tips about hip rotation and wrist rotation, and then melding that with my swing...and it shaved a few strokes off)
Most people also suck at practicing...they don't know how to do it. You should always work throguh all of your clubs and probably ignore your driver until you get a repeatable swing that works for you. A driver is just going to complicate it.
-pedagogue
pedagogue
09-03-05, 02:08 PM
I just watched your video, and your swing angle (the plane of your swing is off). You bring it back at one angle, then on the way down you get much too steep (more up and down). I think it is called going "outside-in". This will adversely effect your ball path, which is what you are seeing.
Swing plane can be corrected once you get the basic mechanics down. I wish I remembered some fo the drills my last instructor had me do, but I was concentrating on my wrists so the rest of the my swing was on autopilot, so I didn't practice the other drills nearly as much.
-pedagogue
dick_grayson
09-03-05, 02:14 PM
:up: pedagogue
HN
09-03-05, 06:43 PM
pedagogue - Thank you for taking a look and writing that up. I'm printing that up and taking it with me to the range. Gonna make all of you proud, you'll see. :D
Buy: