Outside-in swing path?

Alright. I'm making good contact near the center of my clubface on my driver, finally. Now, my old problem re-appeared. I'm a lefty, and according to the marks on the bottom of my woods, and the wicked slice (I think, it goes straight then tails to the left), my swing path is going from the outside in, putting a crazy spin on the ball. I've tried lots of things to fix this, but I'm at a loss. Anyone got any advice?

thats a hook, well i guess its the same for righty and lefty


if it goes straight then curves off your clubface is normally open but your swingpath is fine, all you might need to do is have a stronger grip, make sure you can see 3 knuckles on your right hand(for a lefty)

This isn't really a permanent solution, but to get the feeling of coming down on the inside, exaggerate your backswing to the inside. On the takeaway begin drawing the club back so it feels like its going around your left hip. Maintain a fairly straight right arm as there will be a tendency to fold up your arms doing this.

Again, its not the correct fix, but its what I used to fix my beginners slice several years ago. And still use it now when a "slight fade" starts turning into "damn, OB again".

Slice and hook is relative to how you hit. A ball that curves away from you is a fade/slice, and a ball that curves back towards you is a draw/hook.

That said, a slight tail left after travelling mostly straight is fine.

Two quick fixes:

Like doogkie said, strengthen your grip.

Fix number two is to close your stance a little (either by moving your target-side foot closer to the ball, or moving your trailing foot away from the ball).

OK, I'm a lefty who has had the same problem. I had a lesson from a top PGA teacher who helped me. My problem was that my backswing was too flat and coming back too to far inside. He said that slicers tend to be to steep on the downswing and you can't swing from the inside- out if you take the club away too far on the inside. He had me practice taking the club back outside the ball and begin elevating the club slightly earlier. Then you have to get the feel of swinging from the inside out. It kind of like a loop. He also had me strengthen my grib by one knuckle. It works. I still have to use this method with my driver. It no longer slices, mostly straight - at worst I push it. I now automatically come from the inside with my irons - b/c of many hours on the range. Try this, like I said I still have to make this kind of ugly swing with my driver but it goes straight now. I would also advise getting some lessons from someone who videos. I had many lessons, and learned more from one video lesson than all the other combined.

or..........if club face isn't square at impact this could also account for marks. just a thought.

Here's a permament solution for you ... As a bonus - it's easy!

When you get to the top of your back swing, you have to stop your shoulders 'spinning' and pulling the arms and club over the top. Yeah?

The easiest way to do that is to keep your back pointed at the target for a fraction of a second, pull the arms and the club down (that's the start of the downswing) and then once you're on the inside let it rip with the shoulders and lower body!

Do it slowly at first to get the 'feel' of it if you learn by feeling the movement. Do it facing a mirror so you can see it if you learn by seeing something ... I can send you a video of a swing to look at if you like.

If you watch any good player with a downsiwng from the inside, they all move the move club down and inside before the shoulders start to unwind. Tiger does this well, Phil does it (sometimes! ), Ernie, Vijay ... but one of the best "do-ers" is Fred Couples.

__________________
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)

Graham,
I would appreciate seeing a video of what you're talking about.
Thanks,
Bill

An outside to inside swing path that comes over the top is normally caused by a rotation of the shoulders at the start of the downswing.

Make your first downswing movement by sliding your hips to the right(for a lefty) and allow your arms to drop straight down (like pulling on a bell rope) but maintaining the 45 deg angle of the club , this will put the club on the correct plane where you can release it on a shallow in to out path through the ball, rotate your left forearm over your right and keep the club head moving down the target line.

Another good swing thought is to imagine a clockface on the ball with 12 o'clock facing away from you at address, hit through the ball from 4 o'clock through to 10 o'clock (or 8 o'clock to 2 o'clock for a lefty).

Best regards
Brian

I'm confused. I read don't shift the hips but rotate them so that you face the target line after completing the shoulder turn. There seems to be a lot of controversy on the action of the hips during the golf swing.

Also a lefty.

Mike

General consensus, shift without rotate - bad. Rotate without shift - also bad. So you should do a very slight shift then a rotate, and that's good

Head on over to the Swing Instruction forum guys. There's plenty of such discussion going on, and they can be really helpful.

See ya there!