Driving used to be the best part of my game. Now it’s the worst. These days I either hit it low and left (straight or hook) or occasionally high and right and if I’m lucky I’ll hit a good one.

I’ve tried a range of things to remedy it. Slowing the swing, adjusting ball height, position, stance, opening club face, etc, etc but nothing seems to work. I used to be able to hit it straight with basic control over draw/fade without going into hook/slice, but now that same routine usually sends the ball rolling OB left. Now I’d just about give my left nut to be able to drive properly again.



History :- I recently upgraded all of my budget steel shaft clubs (except the driver) to better clubs with graphite shafts (UST ProForce V2) – great improvements in my iron game. One of my mates (a golf pro) suggested that the driver trouble may be because I’ve adjusted to swinging the new shafts and now I’m trying to hit the old wood as if I’m using a club with the new shaft. Does that make sense? I intend to buy a new driver anyway, but I’d like to fix this problem first (or know that a new driver is gonna fix this problem).

It started a couple of weeks after I replaced the fairway woods and at about the same time, I’ve also started having difficulty getting the 3W off the ground. When I first got those woods, I was hitting them beautifully. This is killing my game.



Any suggestions would be most appreciated! Thanks!

Yes you sound like your old swing has gone away for Xmas.

Sounds like you have lost the feel of the clubhead and so are now trying to control it physcially by steering it through impact rather than letting it be driven by its own CF devices.

Check you are on plane. Check you are passing low point down and out to both arms straight. Check your clubface control mode (hinge action) and you will work out which is killing you. Also check your ball position has not sneakily changed to cause any or all of the above.

Perhaps you are closing the clubhead during the first part of your swing or at set up.

Solar – yeah I’ve felt myself do that a few times, but even when I corrected/overcorrected or felt that it wasn’t a clubface issue, it didn’t seem to help. It was driving me nuts.

Guru, I don’t know much about terminology, but it sounds like you were spot on with the plane issue!

Apparently my stance when driving was too far upright, so I was doing more of a baseball swing than a golf swing. Leaning forward and aiming slightly lower helped get it off the ground a little better. I also opened the club face but was still drawing (but not hooking).

I got onto a launch monitor and compared my current driver to one with matching shafts to the rest of my clubs. Bingo. Instant results. All shots with the new driver were airborne and straight (no draw/fade), but slightly right. The LM also said the shots with my current driver were almost all draw shots. As a bonus, the LM reckons the new driver provided an added 30%-40% carry (15% over what was originally hitting with my current driver). Needless to say, I bought the new driver. Will find out tomorrow or Saturday how well that goes on the course :)

Many thanks for the responses!


Guru, a glossary of golfing jargon would be really helpful to guys like me. Can you confirm/correct the following?

Plane: The ideal path of the golf club as you swing to hit the ball (click here)

Hinge: Refers to the wrist movement during the golf swing.

Divot: Knowledge is powerful:) If you read through the Golf School articles most of the terminology is there with pics and words to help you out. We have avoided (so far) a glossary as such as it becomes a bit of a quick fix for the idea rather than an article where the terminology is seen in actions rather and a short sharp (and sometimes misunderstood because of it) mini paragraph.

Plane: yep and read the Plane Articles in the Golf School to confirm your idea of what you are doing:)

Hinge: Left wrist and left arms rotation which controls the clubface through the swing.

Guru, I can understand why you’ve chosen not to have a glossary, but I hope you will change your mind. It would be so helpful for following the discussions that happen here.

Laney

Guru, I can understand why you’ve chosen not to have a glossary, but I hope you will change your mind. It would be so helpful for following the discussions that happen here.

Laney

It’s hard to know which articles to read first or which articles are even applicable to the problems I face in my game. I’ve shied away from reading the articles ‘cos tracking down terminology just to understand them is quite tedious. Many articles still use undefined jargon. As an example, what’s “the inside aft quadrant of the ball”? I know where it is but I’d bet there are a few folks out there that don’t. How about “compression leakage”? Nevertheless, the plane articles are quite interesting.


Guru, you guys might want to check the pic and animation links in this article:
Keep Your Swing On Plane – Part One

Thanks, will get Admin to see what gremlin has crept in there:)

As a rule of thumb the Golf School area has been written in a sequence that if you start at the oldest article and work forward from there you will get the idea of concepts building to things going on in a swing.

Laney and Divot: OK Dart and I will work on a workable Glossary. There is one in The Golfing Machine that we wish would become a standard for all golf teachers to keep terminology the same throughout the golfing world….but chances of that are small:)

I terms of the terms, dictionaries are pain but this is how simple we try to keep it:

Compression : squashing action
Leakage : loss of power

So if there is compression leakage in hitting a ball, it has not been hit as cleanly as it could have been, say via a glancing blow like in a slice.

Inside Aft Quadrant

Inside – as in the side you are closest too
Aft – Rear
Quadrant – divide something into 4 parts. Now the inside aft quadrant is the bit at the back of the ball closest to you:)

If you find any terms that are in there which do not make sense, the forum is exactly the place to ask for more help.

Well, there’s a lot of good information in the articles. It’s just that the articles are designed to teach us to swing, not to be conversant in TGM terminology.

Guru, if you need someone to type the glossary into text to get you started, and it’s in the 7th edition, I volunteer.

Thanks for the offer Laney but we have copywrite issues just to borrow it from TGM.

Guru, I know what the individual words mean, but in relation to golf when compiled into phrase they can sound ambiguous. Not trying to be picky, but can I give a couple of examples?

Compression Leakage – you could also describe that as a loss of power due to the ball not compressing during the shot, yeah? A beginner might perceive it as loss of power because the ball compresses.

Inside aft quadrant – I presumed you meant the lower half of the back of the ball (dividing from horizontal view) but it sounds like you’ve divided from overhead view (effectively like a compass).

I would also be happy to help. Have worked for a number of forums in various capacities, including published media.

Perhaps an easy way to get content for a glossary might be to start a thread where people can ask what the definitions are:
Golfing terms – what do they mean?

You can bet Laney and I will provide plenty of questions :D

Many thanks Guru! Once again it’s nice to see interactivity like this between staff and members on a forum.

Divot: Where you are going with this is exactly what this forum is about – Learning. We have a good idea of what we know but it takes questions for us to know when there is fog on the water that needs clearing up. I am sure The Dart and the brains trust will get into this idea in a big way.

One thing I know I am guilty of is sometimes feeling that the same question gets asked over and over again. That is mainly because the readership in any forum changes over time so those that had become conversant are now out playing more golf and spending less time by the PC learning it:) If you have any structural ideas on how to keep a terminology area front and centre then I am all ears.

The ball does compress! Inside aft quadrant – correct.
I will sort out some video clips I was kindly sent just before Xmas to show the squashes.

There was a thread like this long ago, just for asking and answering terminology questions. I’ve read it in the archives. It died out before many terms got defined.

Can you do sticky threads on this forum? If so, the definition thread could be made sticky, so it’s always at the top of the list. Other threads, perhaps a TGM intro, could also be made sticky.

One thing I know I am guilty of is sometimes feeling that the same question gets asked over and over again. That is mainly because the readership in any forum changes over time so those that had become conversant are now out playing more golf and spending less time by the PC learning it:) If you have any structural ideas on how to keep a terminology area front and centre then I am all ears.

A Definitions thread seems like the best way to go about it and stick it to your forum – until it gets big enough to move into a fully fledged article. As definitions are requested and answered, copy the contents in alphabetical order into the first posts of that thread. I’m happy to get it started and maintain it, if you think that’s also a good option.

Laney, are you able to find that thread again? I found this thread – is that it? Content from other threads would be a good start.

I will have a look at the stickies and chat to Admin.

Laney, are you able to find that thread again? I found this thread – is that it?

No, it was much older. I’ll give another shot trying to find it. Searches are more difficult with this new forum format!