Consistancy

First off i’m new to this site.

I know everyone has this problem, for some its a huge problem, and others a small problem. For me who is a recreational player it is a huge problem. My consistancy problem ranges from my driver through my wedges(i’m leaving out the putter for another topic of discussion).

The positive to my game is that i make contact with the ball.

The negative is that my ball flys anything but straight(unless i skull the ball with a wedge then its a line drive over the green to a bunker or water).

Most of the time my ball comes off the club head going straight then takes a 90 degree turn to the right. While i am playing i correct this by aiming my line more to the left. Yes i know this isn’t how you correct this problem, but while on the course playing its a quick fix.

What are some drills or corrections i should do to help this problem?

Thanks in advance.

I have had a bit of slice/fade to my shots, also. The main reason for me is that my downswing tends to come over the top, from the outside, coming in. I have been able to correct this some the past few weeks, but realized that my grip was also off just slightly. The past few weekends, I have been applying more of a ‘power’ grip in my left hand: that is, I roll my left hand over on the grip until I can see my first two knuckles and part of the third one. This has helped me to close the face up at contact better. It really feels weird, but it does help. Also, try this. I picked this up from a Gary Player story. After you’ve hit, continue your follow-through to where your club is aiming at your target, and hold it until the ball lands. This also seems to help me from coming over the top. Make sure your backswing is even and deliberate, and don’t try to kill the ball.

Grass, that sounds like a SLICE, if you’re right handed. Slices are caused by only 2 things, an open face at impact or by “casting”. The more probable cause is an open face. I too struggle with this problem, it’s mostly caused by a faulty grip. Start by making sure you grip the club lightly, like holding a live bird. Then try shutting the club face right after contact, I try to roll my wrists over at impact. These are things you should try at the range. It’s amazing how much you can change your ball flight by modifing your grip. Hope this helps, Jim.

If you are trying to correct a slice, try keeping your right elbow tucked close during the entire swing.

thank you for your replies, i will be working on these things in steps, so not to confuse myself when practicing.

Not sure i am qualified to give advice, however having battled pushes, slices and “power fades” for a couple of years, this swing thought provided to me by my club pro and significantly helped me

 

slowly, top, drop and roll.

 

Slowly bring the club back on your back swing. the slower the better, doing so allows you lower body a chance to turn, being the club back fast prevents this from happening, which then sets you up for almost a certain push or slice.

 

At the Top of your back swing, Drop your hands slightly toward your hip. this will prevent you from “casting”, and provide you a more inside to out swing plane

 

Roll, your left hand over after impact. technically it needs to roll at impact, but thinking about this cause you to think to much about “striking the ball” and not enough about swing through the ball.

 

Good Luck !

Not being a “pro” but just someone that has been dealing with this same issue for years, I’ve found that in order to get it solved, I had to think of my Driver and my Irons differently… because it seems, that one fix won’t work for both.

The basic issue for me was that even though it seemed I addressed the ball correctly, my club face wasn’t actually making it back to square before impact. Lots of points about that above.

I tried “rolling over” my hands and such but in the end, I found one simple issue…

With my Driver, I wasn’t putting the ball far enough forward in my stance. I was alwasys told to put the ball in line with your front heel (left heel if you are right handed) but until you really get a SQUARE out and see exactly where that line IS… you won’t believe just how far forward that really is.

As soon as I got the ball up where it belonged, it staightened right out. In reality, it gave me that extra couple of inches for the club face to square up.

For my Irons, again, I put the ball a bit more forward of my back foot, stopped worrying about trying to “scoop” the ball up off the ground, got comfortable with taking a divot and it squared right up too.

I’m not sure if that helps you, but it made a WORLD of difference to me.

One last thought… when you are working this all out at the Practice Range… Use the GRASS tee boxes if you can. You don’t get the same feel from the artificial grass pads. Took me a while to realize that it was costing me strokes.

Best of Luck :)

here is a great drill for you slicers.. take a box (maybe a few feet long and 4’’ tall and not to wide) place in on line with your target. than place a ball close to the box just enough were the tip of the club face is within a half inch from the side of the box. than swing and hit the ball. what this teaches you is to swing inside out instead of outside in… if you hit the top of the box than you know you are on the wrong swing path. if you hit the side on your follow through you are probally way off balance and trying to guide your club through inpact which can also create a big slice…... if you work this drill it will help and you won’t have to make any weird adjustments like aiming father left or closing your clubface because that just leads to more trouble

Ok, I’ve got to interject something here. I know that everyone is trying to help but let’s keeps things simple for grassmole. First let’s establish that a slice is cause by hitting with an open-face relative to the swing path. You can cast all day but if you have a face that is square to that swing path, it will just result in a pull. To help grassmole, let’s try to narrow it down to some simple swing thoughts and not all this convoluted stuff. Like I said, I know everyone’s trying to help but I think we might be getting a tad bit overzealous.