Problems with too much spin

Welcome to the school and to this great forum community, @brickman48!!

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. Here is a drill from the Fixing Common Swing Problems section specific to building in more lateral hip slide in the downswing.

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. This KFC Club members video may help in this regard.

4) They are adhering to one of the erroneous tenets of "conventional" instruction which told them that they need to hit up on the ball with the driver. Perhaps with the exception of folks with slower swing speeds – or those Long Drive participants teeing it extra high and hitting maybe 1-2 balls out of 10 onto a 60-yard wide "fairway" - the path should still be ever so slightly down. In fact, believe it or not the PGA Tour average with the driver is actually minus (e.g.: downward) 1.5 degrees - nearly level - and it should feel level to you - but slightly down nonetheless. Thus, I do not advocate trying to hit up on the ball, and efforts to do so due have caused many an amateur significant issues with their driver.

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. (By the way, the V1 is an extremely valuable service that I highly recommend to everyone in the school. I liken it to bringing your swing into the shop for a tune-up or minor repair. Scheduling one early on to make sure you are on the right track, and then on a quarterly basis for preventive maintenance, will do wonders for keeping things humming along nicely, and it's also a great tool for pinpointing any issues that arise. The process involves downloading the free V1 app and then submitting two videos to me through the app - one down-the-line (captured from your stance line, not the target line) and the other face-on. You'll find more information about the V1 Analysis halfway down this page on the Saguto.Golf site.)

Be patient with the process and your success with the short clubs will ultimately translate throughout your bag.

Keep up the great work!

Tom

@brickman48 - Do you know where on the face you are striking the ball? The reason I ask is low strikes on the face can cause the issue you're describing.

There are some club fitting techniques to help, but no club or shaft will help mishits on the face.