In a few hundred, my golf life story is a pretty consistent 45-degree slice. My Dad had the same problem and resigned himself to it, changing his setup to address 45 degrees left of target(!), with some success. For me lessons with the local golf pro were confusing, results temporary. The only lasting thing I found making sense was a study of John Redman's “Essentials of the Golf Swing” (1994). Copying his front-facing lead-hand grip, familiar for a musician like me (like holding a drumstick, you should try it out sometime for kicks). And, making a limited Tommy Armour III style backswing from his general tips: extending the lead arm in the backswing while drawing a straight line with the clubface, "pulling" the club forward through contact, hips always turning “as if in a barrel" - I got reasonably consistent contact with decent straight shots, maybe 75% of the time, as long as I kept in shape at the driving range.
@Tom Saguto, I love the system you are teaching, I get it. There's a lot that overlaps with Redman’s, which is why I signed up here. Your vids are exceptional teaching tools, your excitement is infectious. I can see how and why it all should work, because it’s a natural use of the physical body, therapeutic even if done correctly. But now after trying steadily over a few weeks to learn and apply piece by piece I seem to be coming to the same old 45 degree result, raising warning flags for me. WTF?
You'll see in these vids where I'm trying to apply the downswing sequencing drill (vid 6.11), after some careful review of other vids and application of other drills at the range about 6-7 times. Apologies for imperfect camera angles. *Occasionally* things start to work (see shots #4-5 in “Profile” vid), I don’t know how or why. But usually though they turn into that same frigging mortar-joint slice (shots #1-3 in “Profile”, #2 and #5 in “FaceOn”). Or dribbling worm-burners hooking the other way (#6 in “Profile”, #4 in “FaceOn”).
I’ve become a pretty patient guy over years, but at the moment this is extremely frustrating. What's wrong, what am I not getting? What to work on, what drills? What should it feel like, especially in the downswing, to properly prepare and make good clean contact, taking a divot after the ball? I have an outing with friends in about a week and a half, was hoping by then to at least have something I could rely on for a round or two, just be able to enjoy. This just won’t do, it's not even close.
I don't need to hit a driver 280 yards straight down the fairway, YET. Even something consistently reasonably straight, 140-180 with a 5-iron would be quite a welcome change from the past. Or, I just go back to my reheated leftovers of Redman/Tommy-III (“…hey guys, just call me ‘Chi-Chi’, ok?”). I’m getting pretty discouraged right now. Please let me know what you see and what you think I can do to continue here, including if I’m expecting too much too soon with these efforts so far. Waiting for some response with a little hope,
Eric
Profile vid (6 shots with a 6):
Face On vid (6 more shots with a 6):
Hey, any updates here?