Thread: Desire to straighten out driver

Hi Wallywojo, I have a similar problem with the driver and fairway woods to a lesser extent. Just last week I was told by a reliable 2-handicapper that my speed through the ball was excessive causing a loss of synchronised movement by all upper body muscle groups. Just like you I slowed down and adjusted the stance slightly to the right and it seems to be working! But alas old habits die hard and I would be grateful for any advice to get rid of the demon slice.

I've been fighting a pull lately. What I have found causes my pull is a lack of hip rotation. When I focus on starting with my hips and really getting them turned on the downswing, I hit much, much farther and a lot straighter. If I let my hips get lazy, I start pulling bad.

Thanks for your reply. I'll try applying more attention to hip rotation to see if it assists with my other advice gained....you never know, and it's worth a try!

a pull to the left is usually because of early hip turn. instead of moving your weight forward towards the target line you are trying to hit the ball too hard and your sync is out which is the resulting factor of turning your hips too early.

your alignment goes from | to \ hence the pull.

try putting the ball back 1/2 inch in your stance and take a bit of speed/power off your swing.

ok i have hit my driver constantly to the right and now i figured out a way to hit it strait but i sacrafice distance down to about 175 how can i keep it strait and gain distance

Hi Wally,

This link may help you figure it out.

New Guy needs help

It basically comes down to what the article says "Knowing the flight of the ball will tell you what to look for in your golf swing. Check alignment first, then swing path and then clubface alignment."

I though I'd add some proactive suggestions.

You can check for the fault(s), which are causing the problem by doing things like this. Then ingrain the feel of what it takes to make the correction.

You may not know that you have a path problem.
Place a shoebox or 2"x4" board just outside the ball position along the target line. Take swings. Obviously if you hit the box, you have a path problem. You can move the box forward or backwards of the ball position and slightly inside the target line to groove the swing to correct the path, whether it's in to out or out to in. The correction may be to keep the arms more in synch with the body, or you have to drop the right elbow into the hip, etc.

The path problem could be because of spine angle problems. Check for spine angle problems, by using the back of chair to place your butt against. If your butt comes off during the swing, you have lost the flex in your legs, or your spine lifted up, or your upper body and head lifted, or your hip is collapsing in and up, and making you swing your arms over the top to clear. If your butt pushes against the chair, you are leaning forward. Place your head against a doorway jamb and see if it moves up and down or loses contact, when you make a swing.

Check your club face angle. Use the shoebox again. Make your normal swing motion to stop short of the box and see if the face is angled closed or open (or swing inside the box line and see how the face lines up with the side of the box at impact position). There's another check for if you're taking the back swing with the face open or closed. Take your address position and make your normal back swing to hands to hip high position. Without moving your hand position, shuffle your feet so your body is turned 90 degrees open, i.e. facing the target. Lower your arms to place the clubhead on the ground. The face will be square, closed or open, showing if you took the club open or hooded or square starting the backswing. It works, try some eggagerated motions to test.

Ted