From Slice to pull/hook

[Kiwi]

Late last year I tried a stronger grip (left hand more on top, V pointing to R shoulder) to overcome a chronic fade/slice. When I bought my set of clubs I got a TM R5 D (draw). Now I am pulling a lot of drives and hooking some others. Rarely go right any more. Do you think that my compensation (strong LH) coupled with the Draw Driver could be contributing to my pull/hooks? I don't have this problem with any of my other clubs inlcuding my 3W, 5W, 3H, or 5H.

[leftylucas]

Perhaps try a slightly weaker grip, also more grip pressure on the forward hand than the left.

[golfott]

swing speed? might be swinging a little to hard at the ball. try slowing it down maybe? works for me with same issue

[jvincent]

[QUOTE=Kiwi;256690 Now I am pulling a lot of drives and hooking some others. Rarely go right any more. [/QUOTE]

From your description it sounds like your grip change fixed the problem you had with the face angle at impact and now instead of being open to your clubhead path it is square. This will result in a pull.

Now, if you close the face a little you will get a hook.

The real issue is that your swing path is from out to in.

[dnagolf]

Try a practice swing, holding the club at the top. Now take you lead foot off the ground. Can you do it without losing your balance? I'd bet that your OTT move is being caused by a reverse pivot.

[hackzaw]

As JV was elluding to... the slice and the pull are in the same "swing family". They both share the same swing path and as such the club follows the outside to in swing path. The only difference is the angle of the clubface relative to this path.

I bet if you measure the face angle of the draw bias driver, you'd find it got a degree, or two or three closed face angle. This could be what's now closing the face. You may be doing exactly what you were doing previously.

To fix, you need to develop the opposite swing path, no easy feat as I struggle with the same.

[Chambokl]

I would also say you have the typical Outside to Inside swing. Same problem as before but now you hit the ball square and pull.

What I have tried and seems to be working is at the range I place my feet: left in front and right at the back (sort of in line). The right foot, left foot and ball are sort of in line. What it will do is FORCE you to hit the ball from in to out. If you do it enough your big muscle should remember the hitting pattern.

Even if it looks funny hit lots of balls (100+) that way... and keep doing it regularly.

Hope it helps...

[ironmaster15213]

These things are true with the swing plane causing slices and hooks but not always. Sometimes a better golfer will swing from the inside but not have the proper lower body action to keep the clubface on the target line at impact. This happens when the lower body moves a little too far laterally before turning back to the inside, causing a push. And also the lower body can stop leading the upperbody while turning or clearing, happens when a person stops his hips from finishing their turn, this causes a pull due to the fact that the hands catch up to the lower body and pass it up thus arms come to the inside too quick and pull the ball left. These are things that happen to better golfers including pros, these are soooooo subtle but you can easily see them in slow motion. The lower body must lead the upper body during the downswing and the right hip must stay close to the body and move more laterally and not pivot outward during the downswing. The right shoulder will tend to follow the right hip so if you throw that hip outwards your right shoulder will want to follow it outside the swing plane and give you an over the top move.

[Kiwi]

Thank for the great response guys. I hope to be able to identify the swing path issues next time I go to the range with my video camera. No question that it is consistently inconsistent. One of the things I am struggling with is my set up for the driver. I set up the same for all the other clubs but with the "draw" bias of my driver I struggle to know how the face should be at address and where I should put my left hand, i.e. over the top as on all other clubs or more neutral or hanging. If I set the strong grip I fear that my left hand will return to it's "natural" position at the point of contact. With that action it will close an already closed clubface and give me the big old pull I have seen. Nice distance but not when you have to chip out sideways, if you can even find it. I think the easier solution, rather than trying to learn how to hit this club would be to go buy a neutral with the proper shaft et al and then try to groove a proper swing path. At least with a "neutral" face angle then I only have to worry about the swing being on line, not in or out. Make sense? Hate to spend the extra money but at a buck or two a ball and 3-4 lost a round would not take me long to buy a new club.

[dreaded_snowman]

As mentioned by other folks previously in the post, it's the out to in path that's killing you (I have the exact same problem...)

That said, before you run off and buy a new club, try using your 3W (assuming it's non draw) for a round or two and see if that clears up the problems. If you're start slicing like mad, then the pulls are caused by the draw club, but if you buy a neutral one you'll just slice instead... So you can fix the problem using the 3W and fixing the slice, or fix it using the draw driver and fix the pull (where both are the same problem).

As often pointed out to me, the problem with the slice is that the mind wants to correct it by hitting the ball to the left (away from the slice for a righty), which aggravates the problem. The more left you turn, the more left you swing, the worse the slice. The pull/hook is just the squaring of the club face during your bad swing. Spend the new driver money on a lesson or two, and play crappier balls for a while till you sort your swing out.

May sound harsh, but I'm living with the same issues right now, lots of pulls, lots of lost tee balls...