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  1. #1
    Scratch Player byerxa is on a distinguished road byerxa's Avatar
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    Driver Swing in the Dumper

    Usually driving the ball is one of the better parts of my games, but not lately. I am hitting high fades (more like slices). Most would be considered "blocks", i.e,. starting on or right of target line, but the odd one is a "pull-slice" typical of the gold 'ole OTT move that comes from a brutal stab. Overall it is a confidence thing in that I am trying to "pull" the ball out of the slice which we all know just makes it worse. And it gets worse as I get anxious and the body gets too fast. I am having some success with the notion of "hitting to where you are missing", but that lasts for a few swings before I start doing something else bad.

    I am hitting everything else fine, including the 3 wood off the deck. All are straight or slight draw. The mental difference is that I am hitting down on the ball with all of these, and my confidence is much better, i.e., I just let go and let the club do the work. I am at the point of throwing my driver and tees away and just hitting the 3 wood off the deck on the tee!

    I know its tough to offer suggestions without seeing this horror show, but I was wondering if anyone has any sort of drills or tips in order to help me work on getting my driver swing back.

  2. #2
    Hall of Fame jvincent is on a distinguished road jvincent's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by byerxa
    The mental difference is that I am hitting down on the ball with all of these, and my confidence is much better, i.e., I just let go and let the club do the work.
    You've got your answer right there. It's mental.

    I've been suffering from a similar affliction for the last month or so. Still not 100% over it, but that's as much due to the less frequent golf as anything.

    The key is to NOT think, just swing. If your problem is like mine, you are trying to hit the ball and steer it down the fairway instead of just swinging through it.

    What I try to focus on when this happens, is my hands. Think of where you want your hands to go on your backswing, and more importantly your follow-through. If you get them going on a good path, the clubhead can't help but follow.

  3. #3
    Got My Card zoic is on a distinguished road zoic's Avatar
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    I have suffered from this same affliction time and again, it is really mental for sure. I have mostly overcome it now, and I actually hit my driver further and straighter than my 3 wood. I am serious, not making fun when I say, I simply tell my driver it is a 3 wood, end of story. At first I turned the club face in just a bit to start my backswing, and it helped mostly, but finally I have settlled with using my 3 wood for the first couple of shots, then just switching to the driver still imagining it is my 3 wood. Seems to work for the most part. I really think one of my major mental blocks was that I felt I had to swing harder with the driver, to make it count more or something. I stopped swinging it harder and it works great now.

  4. #4
    Arrow shooter Chieflongtee is on a distinguished road Chieflongtee's Avatar
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    byerxa. The following has nothing to do with instruction. I have the same problem as you do. I can draw or hit straight the 3 wood and other clubs(occasional miss of course) but will often block or fade the driver. I have tried every technique in the book without too much success. And whenever I found something that would work for other clubs it just would not work for my other clubs which really confused me. So here is what I did and believe me it works. Shorter length driver 43 inches. Steel shaft(I just can't hit light graphite shafts. A graphite on the heavy side would probably work for me but nothing in the 60-65 gram range. I don't have a smooth tempo) And most importantly a closed face driver. I don't mind looking at a closed face driver at adddress especially if it is going to do the trick for me. I just don't have the time to go out and practice every day. I wish I could but like most of us on this forum I only get out once a week because of other obligations. End of rant.

  5. #5
    Scratch Player byerxa is on a distinguished road byerxa's Avatar
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    Chieflongtee,

    My driver is a MS-5 HW 10.5* version with an SKFiber Rev I at 44", D2 SW. It is set up much like you say - heavy enough to keep tempo under control and not too long club length. Usually I am gold with this thing, so I know better than to blame the club. However, I am probably going to put together a strong 3 wood (12-13*, probably a Maltby CT) at 43", D2-ish to get me through these spells.

    It's not like I can never hit the driver well, and in fact I normally do. But I get these stretches that last for a month or so and it drives me nuts.

  6. #6
    Arrow shooter Chieflongtee is on a distinguished road Chieflongtee's Avatar
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    If you're going to do that I would suggest a CER 12*offset. Bigger face.

  7. #7
    Must be Single dbleber is on a distinguished road dbleber's Avatar
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    If you like to hit down on the ball, maybe you are getting to vertical with your driver. Either picking it up on take away or not flattening out enough on the downswing. If you have a cam corder and a tripod you can see this pretty easily. I went through the same sort of thing where I was so confident with my driver I would use it on the narrowest holes to the point that just looking at it in the bag made break into sweats. I was taking the club away a little to much with the arms and not turning the shoulders causing me to pick the club up on a more vertical plane, from this point it was very hard to get the long club to come back on the inside and it left me stuck to a more OTT movement. Set up my Cam Corder on the range and after watching it a few times and hitting some more balls, Iwas back to smashing them down the fairway (or close to it, Fairway, rough its all the same to me!). The point is they were flying straight and the weak fad was gone, i do have to watch the odd hook sneaks in there but I know that I am getting to flat. There's always something.

  8. #8
    Monday Qualifier Started2k3 is on a distinguished road
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    Quote Originally Posted by byerxa
    I am hitting high fades (more like slices). Most would be considered "blocks", i.e,. starting on or right of target line,
    It sounds to me that you need to go with a little "stronger" grip. Right now your clubface is open to the clubhead path, and it should be either square or closed to the clubhead path.

    I diagnose many of my swings (mainly at the driving range) based on what the ball does over its ball flight. The initial direction tells me about the clubhead path - i2o, square, or o2i (compared to the target line). The overall flight will then tell me about my clubface through impact - open, square or closed (compared to clubhead path). Byerxa, do you do this?
    Back at it.

  9. #9
    Practice Pig ironmaster15213 is on a distinguished road ironmaster15213's Avatar
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    Hello Byerxa, Don't do anything drastic like making your driver into a paperweight just yet. Let's think this thru logically, First you say that your hitting your drives high and slightly right, or at least tailing right, you also say that you come over the top sometimes and then the ball starts left and fades back to the right. Your other clubs generally go straight or draw a little. O.K. this tells me your swing plane is pretty good except for those times that you have that hitting urge and come over the top with your club. Soooooo...... It would appear that your problem happens on your take away and you're opening your club head to the target line somehow!!!! Number one way people do this is to start their backswing with their arms instead of arms and shoulders together at the same time (you know the triangle formed with your arms and shoulders staying in one piece until you start to c**k your right wrist back on itself.) I don't think this is your problem cause you wouldn't be hitting your other clubs so well. Soooooo!!!! chances are pretty good that you are fanning your clubhead open by flipping your hands and wrist clockwise on the way back, This fault seems to happen to better players more than novelist. To check if this is happening address the ball with your driver like normal, start to take your club back till it's hip high, stop and look at where the toe of your club is pointing. If it's pointing straight up or further right you over rotated your hands. The club head should be pointing around 11 o'clock. If you are rotating your hands and wrist open just practice keeping them quiet on the backswing, no hand or wrist turning till you start your wristc**k and If you c**k your right wrist correctly your left hand and wrist will stay flat and square to the club face. I hope this will help! Frank Egan (Ironmaster15213)

  10. #10
    Scratch Player byerxa is on a distinguished road byerxa's Avatar
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    Sorted it out!

    Finally sorted it out today (after weeks of struggling). Obviously my swing plane/path was creeping out to in. Typically I do not have to explicitly work with my hands when swinging properly, but in this case I started using my hands to compensate and hence the odd duck hook mixed in with the slices. As usual I was swimming upstream doing all of the wrong things (that is why I have a day job). I was getting very exasperated today so I just started trying anything. Finally, I did a basic setup check and sure enough I was setting up way too open with my lower body and was basically forcing me to come from over the top instead of allowing the club to naturally fall to the inside. So I went back to the basics, got everything lined up properly, ball positioned properly, etc. and presto started hitting straight and long again with the powerful yet effortless "from the inside" feeling. Welcome back!

    This drives me nuts. You'd think I'd know better. Then I realized that with everything I hit off the deck, I am habitually meticulus in setting up properly while off the tee I tend to not pay as much attention or over-compensate too much. That is why everything else was working fine, yet the driver had gone south. Oh well, item #1,367 to store into my databank of ways I can screw up a golf swing!

  11. #11
    Albatross Powerdraw is on a distinguished road
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    garbage in garbage out! lol

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