Natural Golf Driver address position

[Gangrel]

So, i'm a nat golfer, as i've posted here before a while ago. This year I took another lesson with John Ollson here in Barrhaven, and the biggest thing I got from it was he fixed my takeaway, which was all wrong.... Anyway, with the new one piece take away (when I remember to do it!) I can hit my irons fairly well, though I still need practice of course!

However, we didn't ahve time to cover using the Driver, and I've played a few rounds since my lesson. I seem to be plauged with a bit of a slice, though my initial ball flight is usually straight, or a bit right of the target line, which implies to me i'm not swinging out-in too much. (i'm right handed)

I play the ball a bit inside of my left heel, with a wider stance, and I have been starting my club in the "rod position" or whatever they call it, my left arm and the club straight down. so this means at address the club is further behind the ball then the "normal" golf set up.

Now, I'm wondering if I'm perhaps not releasing the club head properly through the ball, and maybe it's caused by the ball postion? Am I playing it so far forward, I am basically "lunging" towards the ball, never releasing the club?

I know there's a few natural golfers on here, so I was just wondering how you set up your tee shots with your Driver or woods.

[jvincent]

IIRC from when I dabbled with the Natural Golf swing all of the clubs were hit from the middle of your stance, including driver.

[PowerFade]

I disagree. Not the middle of the stance. How far forward depends on which teacher you listen to. I've seen pics and video of Moe hitting driver off his left toe and maybe beyond it. I believe most say inside of left toe, but your stance needs to widen as the club lengthens. The best drill for takeaway and first move down for me is from the Graves Academy. I'll post the drill setup, etc. later, but I'm sure BC MIST will chime in here soon.

[BC MIST]

I disagree. Not the middle of the stance. How far forward depends on which teacher you listen to. I've seen pics and video of Moe hitting driver off his left toe and maybe beyond it. I believe most say inside of left toe, but your stance needs to widen as the club lengthens. The best drill for takeaway and first move down for me is from the Graves Academy. I'll post the drill setup, etc. later, but I'm sure BC MIST will chime in here soon.

From my past experience SA swing instruction, placing the ball just inside the left heel was the norm. However, each player may need to adjust that a little forward or backward to suit the amount of forward shift.

[Gangrel]

I disagree. Not the middle of the stance. How far forward depends on which teacher you listen to. I've seen pics and video of Moe hitting driver off his left toe and maybe beyond it. I believe most say inside of left toe, but your stance needs to widen as the club lengthens. The best drill for takeaway and first move down for me is from the Graves Academy. I'll post the drill setup, etc. later, but I'm sure BC MIST will chime in here soon.

Well, the takeaway drill that worked for me with John was the two ball drill. A ball behind the clubhead at address, and I had to sweep the club back and push the ball backwards, then go through the swing.

My problem before was I was taking the club away with my right wrist and cocking it right away, which pulled it offline from the get go.

John also has my feet perfectly square to the target line, so inside my left toe is the same as inside my left heel. But maybe I will play a bit with moving it back a tiny bit.

I also wonder if the clubhead is still coming down at impact, because the marks the ball leaves are mostly on the top of the club face, not the middle or bottom. (the driver is brand new, so I can still see ball marks easily on it!)

Ah, some more to practice I guess!

[PowerFade]

Here's that drill I was telling you about. I use a 4' long galvanized 3/4" pipe with a tennis/squash grip wrapped around the middle. The weight is perfect! This is the best drill I've found to stay on plane and to gain a good feeling of the whole SA swing to impact.

Position 1: pipe stays in contact with hip, point at ball
Position 2: into the backswing point other end of pipe at ball
Position 3: downswing right elbow to hip, pipe to parallel with balls
Position 4: impact point at ball

PerfectDrill4Positions.jpgPerfectDrillSetup.jpg

[Gangrel]

So I went to the range on Saturday, and it was a mix of good and bad. Started off with some irons, which was pretty good, so hopefully the new takeaway is more ingrained in my brain.

Then, I tried the Driver. i moved the ball around in my stance, but it seems to make no difference, most shots were starting off right of target, and then a lovely tail away to the right.......

I tried to concentrate on squaring up the swing path, and even ones that started off fairly straight have the tail.

Now, I am assumign I am NOT swinging out-in, as the ball doesn't start left and veer right, which is the usual clue.

So, I am guessing my path is fairly square but the club face is open, creating the spin.

now, my first question is, am i starting the whole swing off wrong with my address position? I set up to the ball, have my driver at the mid point of my body, and try to have the clubface straight. Now, is this an optical illusion I don't notice? maybe the club face isn't straight at all, and i'm doomed from the beginning?

Or do you think my problem is releasing the club wrong/too hard/whatever?

Anyone with any experience fixing a similar problem?

I am probably going to line up another lesson with John Ollson, but was wondering if someone else had an opinon as well. Maybe save myself $85!