Every swing goes right

ok, I've got myself into golf again, after buying a nice new set of clubs. My last few visits down the range have been pretty frustrating, with every single swing ending up with the ball either flying straight off the tee, and then slowly curling right and ending about 70 yards to the right of where I wanted, or flying right off the tee straight away, and then ending up about 150 yards to the right

I have no idea what im doing in my swing wrong, just wondering if anyone has any ideas as to why im always hitting the ball right, and if there are any "drills" or swinging techniques I could try down the range to make sure that my balls end up straight.

Thanks alot

Russ

Well, lets start with encouragement.

Your swing path seems fine - too fine sometimes, as starting right before curling even more right is signs of too much inside attack.

However, it sounds like you're holding your clubface open. This can be caused by too weak a grip (weak in the hands-rotated-too-far-towards-target sense), or choking the grip to death (in which case loosen your grip on the club).

I've recently developed this problem too. It doesn't happen all the time for me. Seems to me that most of the ones that go right are because I'm trying to rip the ball into outer space. I find that if I let the club do the work and don't swing so hard my teeth clench I have a much better shot of hitting it straight. Also, a friend of mine told me my swing tempo was bad. I bought an IPod and listen to it while I practice, mostly classical music, and that seems to have helped a lot.

Your problem is one we all day everyday at the academies. In fact, your ball flight is typical of at least 60% of all social and improver golfers. So, although that doesn't solve your problem per se, it may give you some assurance that your problem is far from unique.

The first thing we have to do is close the club face at impact. Good teaching pro's always solve club face angle before swing path. Your "right" ball flight is cuased by the club face being open at impact. Now: 2 things can cause this. Either your club face is open at address (which is a common problem) or it may be square-ish at address and then fans open at impact.

Believe this or not, a weak grip actually has little to no effect on the club face angle. If anyone says that to you first, ignore it. They have got an up-to-date study of golf swing theories. That's an "old school" theory that has been disproved in more studies than there are days in the week. Provided that the club face is square at address at the hands rotate correctly through the swing, the club face will be back to square at impact.

To cure your ball flight is actually very simple:
1> Make sure your club face is square at address. Depending on whether you practice on mats or grass, there are various ways of doing this. Let me know which you normally practice off and I'll give you some ideas.
2> Do a drill to help you square up at impact. What you do is hit half swing using a 7-iron (or maybe a 6-iron) and swing to just past your hips then back into impact and through to a balanced finish. Do this over-and-over making certain that you rotate your hands and the club face square or closed.

Hope this helps you. Post again if you need more help.

__________________
Golf is easy ... once you know how.
Graham Arnott, teaching professional
Kelrosa Golf Studios
www.kelrosagolf.com
Class 'A' PGA Member
Full Member: World Golf Teachers Federation (GB&I)

This happens to me whenever I try to rotate the hip first. I think the hands are just not catching up properly since it's a new addition to my swing.

I'm sure this push shot can have more than one cause. It has really been plaguing me lately. Just when I got to where I wasn't topping the ball much anymore, the push appeared, which is even more frustrating.

I discovered a possible cause by accident. I went to the driving range after cleaning the faces of my clubs. I always hit off turf now, never off mats. I hit a few shots with different clubs, and all were pushes, some worse than others. I noticed where the fresh grass had been pressed into the grooves, and it was toward the toe of the clubface--sometimes quite a bit. I decided I must be pulling in a bit in my swing, and maybe the toe-side impact was causing my club face to open up a bit. Seemed possible anyway.

So I simply tried setting up a bit closer to the ball, standing up a bit straighter. Result: no push. If I setup *too* close I'd chunk it, so I needed a way to gauge it exactly. Here's what I came up with.

I put the club head next to the ball, square to target, sole resting level on the ground. I make a fist with my left hand and rest it on my belt, an inch or 2 left of the buckle, as if I were pulling an arrow out of my gut. I stand erect in a position where the club handle rests against my fist. Then I flex my knees a bit, bend down and grip the club. If I keep my posture right, this increases the distance from the club handle to my body a little, but not much. If I swing from here, I get impact in the sweet spot and no push. Works for every club, but of course the longer the club the farther away from the ball I end up.

I know that instead of using grass stains you can buy impact tape or spray foot powder on the club face before striking the ball. However you do it, it's worth finding out if this is the cause of your push shots.

__________________
Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller