some help please serious swing fault

TheDoc

Ok. I am hitting a taylormade 540 10.5 deg driver with a regular flex. I'm 17 and play of 14. For along time I was hitting the ball straight or with a slight slice on the ball. One day I played with a 3 handicapper and he pointed out my feet were way outa line with my shoulkders etc. So he fixed me up and i was hitting dead straight for ages.

But in recent weeks I have found myself hooking the ball, some describe it as a snap hook other saying it just hooks. I have looked at all possibilities.

1) One fault is the club, the shaft is too whippy for me so I'm getting a stiff shaft put in as soon as possible, ive hit a few stiff drivers and have seen a big difference.

2) My feet. I got my dad too watch me all day yesterday and say nothing and i nthe end he said every single drive my feet were aiming so far right it was unreal. Its 90% of the problem. I feel like im aiming straight when im aiming massivly right, and when i aim straight i feel like im about 100 yards to the left. Anyone got any help or excercises that can help this. My problem has always been my feet and yardage, its a life problem that i suck with distance and perception.

mag

[QUOTE='[DM]
I got my dad too watch me all day yesterday and say nothing and i nthe end he said every single drive my feet were aiming so far right it was unreal. Its 90% of the problem. I feel like im aiming straight when im aiming massivly right, and when i aim straight i feel like im about 100 yards to the left. Anyone got any help or excercises that can help this. My problem has always been my feet and yardage, its a life problem that i suck with distance and perception.
[/QUOTE]

Forget the club and get your alignment sorted.
Do you practice? Get out on a range or field or whatever, put a club on the ground parallel to the target & hit balls. Step away from each shot and align your clubhead to the target first before you step into taking your stance. Get used to the way your feet are aligned with the target, that'll give you the eye for a correct alignment.
Its also very important that your shoulders are on the same alignment as your feet. Hold a club accross your shoulders every so often when youve taken your stance (while practicing as above). It should be pointing at the target.

Is your grip ok?

TheDoc

I first corrected my fault by aming with my shoulders, and have my feet auto line. This worked, until my right foot started moving too far back. Everything in my swine is perfect and I'm told i have a lovely swing, but my feet/shoulders and either open or closed with each other, causing hooks and slices. But the regular shaft adds to this to create a dirty looknig snap hook, even with perfect feet i wud still hook a bit, so a new shaft is a definate option.

But I'm going to work hard after me leaving cert (starting 2moro)

okden

its important to seperate alignment and aim when you practice

nearly all tour pros have imaculate alignment, feet, hips & shoulders all in line

a lot less aim text book parallel to target line, they look like they are aimed right or left but they know what works for them

maybe when the 3 handicaper fixed your alignment you would have looked like you were aimed right or left from behind but the ball still went where you wanted with the perfect alignment

aim is easily fixed when your playing fairly well with good alignment, but weird alignment can be very hard to reproduce when youre fixin your aim

aside from that you can stop a hook by

moving ball forward a bit (helps you fade ball), but theres a certain point where it gets to far forward and the fade becomes a snap hook (this can also pull your shoulders out of alignment at address, shoulders pointing way left of feet), so if its very far forward move it back

weaker grip

hips slide more, spin less, if your a hitter, tiger
hips spin more, slide less, if your a swinger, els

wider stance, restricts turn and takin away to much on inside

at least the hook is known as the "good players fault"

xstatic

I find it much easier to align using an intermediate target.
Stand behind the ball and pick something like a divot or twig a yard in front of the ball that is on the target line. Now address with your feet and shoulders parallel to the line formed by the ball and the intermediate target. Once that's done forget about the intermediate target and concentrate on the real one.

TheDoc

The problem is definatly my feet. my mate who recently turned pro and is a coach told me to pick a spot in front of the ball and line everything up to it, but i find it ver...hard to do. I just find that i cant line things up straight, and im aiming way right of targets.

Today for a few shots I pulled my right foot back purposly and hit lovely draw shots that everyone thought was gr8 cause its a real pro shot, but that wont work all the time and i want to be able to hit straight enough.

cddc3

try swinging more upright in other concentrate on gettin your hands higher at the top of your swing....
it might be that your swinging around your body a bit too much....
i'm having similar problems at the moment and this seems to be curing it....
worth a try

okden

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote:

coach told me to pick a spot in front of the ball and line everything up to it, but i find it ver...hard to do.

try picking a spot behind the ball and line everything up to it,
or get your alignment with all the weight on your heels first then lean forward into setup position


my guess is your rerouting over the top,
too much on inside on way back, then reroute (prob with your upper body), then out to in on way thru impact, and your prob a hitter ala tiger.

you could check this by putting two clubs parallel on ground in semi rough put a ball between them with an iffy lie and hit it, youll leave a pattern in grass that is your path thru impact, its prob out to in,

do same with right foot dropped back its prob in to square

do you pull short irons left more than you push them right? if you dont are you old school and move ball back for your short irons?

if any of this makes sense, on the range put ball back in your stance a bit and put a head cover 6" behind the ball but 3" further away from you hit some balls and dont hit the cover, youll prob feel more on the outside goin back and more on inside going thru

derv

okden
just out of interest, what do u play off?

okden

nothin special, float around 8 mark,
i might be better if i was any good,

im sure it could sound less with stupid long answers but forums are silly places to fix a swing
i know more theory than most scratch golfers tho, but then most scratch golfers dont need any theory

what you shootin yourself?

TheDoc

Heres the extremely funny thing. With my irons i have perfect control. I can draw and fade when i please and id say 90% of my irons go straight. My iorn gameis my strong point. For when im approaching the green from say maybe 130 and in ill put the ball back in my stance and from 100 ill put it further back and setup for some spin or stop which works id say 70% of the tiem for me.

On Sunday. I was 9 over of the front, 16 points, driving again sporatically, this time slicing and hooking. So I decided o nthe abck 9 to try something. I aimed the clubhead at my target( fairway) the closed my feet completely together. i would then just pull my right footstraight away then swing, and I git every fairway for the abck nine shot 1 over had 40 points won the comp and got cut to 13. It worked brilliantly. Lucky my good irons and putting saved my front nine from disaster.

okden

thats briliant
congrats on the win
so is that your new pre shot routine or are you goin to investigate what was different in the setups ?

Ernesto

get a club put at your feet so that its aiming you in the right direction. hit a hundred balls and you'll know where your aiming in future

TheDoc

Yeah its my new routine with my driver. Though yesterday it showed some faults. Because of this it causes me to lean back into the 60-40 position. Thats the correct way to setup for driving you might say. But yesterday in very windy conditions my driver was shooting sky high into the wind and going nowhere, although downwind it was massive and i drove 2 par 4 greens. I guess it is something ill get used too.

Yesterday I had 38 points, had only 2 slices from drives and again my irons and woods were perfect as was my putting. Greens were sanded and pollforked so chipping was tough and cost me shots. But anyway my new fix is working

But when i went to my coach he pointed something out to me. Saying my swing was almost perfect for me, he pointed out my reason for my out - in swing. I have a reverse pivot. I was kinda like in my head" please dont make me change my irons are great" But he says that i can have more control over the ball and shapre it the way i want in future. So im gna work on getting rid off my reverse pivot and see what i get, hopefully more then just a pretty swing.

okden

yeah pivot changes are a pain, espec when your playin well but theyare well worth it espec under guidence of a coach

if your in a comp now during the changes id get a quick fix for the into the wind shot like the right foot back draw you were hitting, not sure the coach would like you doin this tho

when i want to punch my driver i stand taller and a little closer and with my right hand go shorter thumb longer fingers (club ends up more in lower palm than in fingers) then i do a 3/4 finish , its a killer links shot

TheDoc

yea it also looks super cool,people always think im hitting an old grandad swing when i punch my driver but im just hitting a low one. Tho it doesnt always work for me but its gr8 when it does.