So,
Around 2-3 weeks into the swing class and my irons have improved dramatically. I'm hitting the ball better than I ever have before.... however, the driver.... I'm STILL slicing it.
Even after watching Tom's complete video course on the driver. I'm doing everything he's saying (shoulder down, just like the irons, keeping it inside and swinging around my body) yet I am still slicing, or heavy fading the ball.
I'm wondering what's worked for any of you, or if any of you had the same problem but tried something new and fixed it?
It's frustrating because I can swing every club in my bag except for the driver lol. To the point where I've been keeping it in the bag every round (which saves me anywhere from 4-5 strokes a round). Thanks in advance!
Driver, driver, driver...ugh! I was just surfing through several KFC Crispy member tip vids and stopped at Grip Confessions: Are you secure?...
Lo and behold, my trail thumb drapes over the left side of the shaft/grip, not keeping the creases closed. Looking at both of my index fingers, at the base where the club handle rests, have very deep callouses. The only thing I had worked on back in the day is to develop callouses on all of my fingers by playing bass guitar. My point is how much, over time, I had overlooked this simple unnoticed flaw in my grip that may change everything on how I swing my clubs, especially driver? I recall, in my early stages of my golf life, I received a tip to relax the lead thumb over the left side of the grip. Old habits just don't disappear until they are recognized.
Regarding the big dawg...it comes and goes for me. Nothing consistent yet but maybe this epiphany will change this.
As soon as I can, I need to get someone to record my swing to send it to you, Tom.
Note: Be aware of unsolicited advice from other golfers (Not referring to Sagutogolf students). And confirm such advice with Tom. I can assure you, the advice giving golfer is not a stack/tilter and may do you more harm in your golf swing physically and even mentally.
@Aaron R - You should not have to subscribe to V1 in order to send me your videos. There are some how-to links for the entire process halfway down this page on the SG website.
I have the same problem but for me it turns out the biggest problem was an open clubface attributed to my wrists And steep. My left wrist wasn’t flat and the right wrist wasn’t “holding the tray” so to speak on the top of backswing. Now I have a more square club face at the top and more square at impact. No more slice. I have hit some real nice draws when it all comes together.
That was me last year. A few observations from my own experience. First, even though I was swinging around my body I was still coming over the top or out to in as the club face approached the ball. I was surprised. I slowed it down and made sure I kept my hands in toward body and all of a sudden I am hitting center of club face. That was the biggest issue. Even now, if I tense up and try to hit with extra power I will still come over the top and slice. Slow backswing, hands in, feel the weight of the club as you swing and don’t try to kill it. Some lesser comments regarding the set up. For me, teeing the ball essentially as high as possible gives me more center face contact. Don’t tee the ball too far forward. Roughly one club face inside lead foot, like Tom recommends, works best for my more centered contact and control. I have no shaft lean at address. Maybe step back another half inch from ball. Don’t bend over too much or it becomes hard to keep arms extended through impact. Slight bend in knees. Hope that helps!
Hi @Aaron R,
Oftentimes when golfers are hitting everything well except for the longer clubs it can be attributed to one of the following:
1) They don't start with - or maintain - enough weight on the front side. In general with the longer clubs we should add a little more front weight load at address - more like 60/40 instead of the 55/45 prescribed for the other clubs. This forward weight should gradually increase to the top of the backswing (70/30) and build further on the downswing - approximately 80/20 halfway down, 90/10 impact, and 95/5 finish.
2) Their hips are not continuing their lateral slide through impact. This is common with the longer clubs as the wider stance means that the hips have a greater distance to travel. If the hips stop moving laterally towards the target on the downswing then their rotation takes over, changing the low point and rerouting the club. This can produce a variety of undesirable results including fat and thin contact, topped shots and popups, straight pulls, and “banana” slices. You'll find some lessons on the lateral hip slide in Chapter 6, and there's also this You Need More Lateral Hip Motion Drill in the Downswing chapter of Fixing Common Swing Problems.
3) They are not allowing the length of the club to dictate the backswing path and are getting too steep as a result. The shaft length of the longer clubs encourages more of an around the body backswing as established by the shaft plane at address. It may "feel" flat as you take it back along the shaft plane for the first few feet, but as long as you maintain the "weight forward, shoulder down, and hands in" components while allowing the club to work around you, it should put you in the proper position at the top so you can attack the ball from the inside. Have a look at this past weekend's YT channel episode featuring the Hitting the Driver Off the Deck Drill. If you can work towards achieving success with this drill you may find that all your driver woes resolve themselves in one fell swoop!
This is a common issue that I am regularly asked to fix, so if yours doesn't relate to any of the above causes - or if it does and you are experiencing difficulty resolving it - we can always arrange for a V1 swing video analysis to pinpoint the culprit and offer an appropriate solution.
No worries - we'll get you over this hurdle and the big dawg will be back in play soon!!
Tom
Arron, I've experienced the same issues . I went back to the 'grip' class ( Tom's recommendation)and it has made a big difference , my driver is not where I want it to be in terms of length and solid contact but it's vastly improved with the grip change. Tom advocates .