I play of a very consistent 8 handicap ,my iron play is very good i can move the ball around were i wany most of the time.My problem is the driver , i play a soft fade most of the time but when it all goes bad i loose every thing right , when i was younger i hit a draw all the time but now find it almost impossible to hit.I know without seeing my swing it’s hard to offer advise but any will be appriciated.

What length of driver are you using? Often when you’re younger you have the co-ordination to control a longer shaft but as you age you should consider shortening it up to give you a better chance of consistant shots.

Thanks for the tip , i have been thinking of doing exactly that of the last month.

Practice what you practiced when you could play. It is still there, but gone to rust.

If your slicing it, just hit a draw? Playing off an 8 handicap that shouldnt be really too hard for you should it?

A couple of things that have caused me to slice the driver to consider:

Check posture, slouching can cause a slice.

Check top of swing (in a mirror), make sure the shaft is in plane (and not flat compared to the plain which is a weak hold of the club). Quite easy to do with woods.

Swinging past parallel, or even just overswinging in general can prevent the club from coming back to close.

Check stance, hip and shoulder allignments are not open.

Check how far back in your stance the ball is, too far back—> hit the ball before closing.

Check where on the club you hit the ball—> should be able to see a temporary mark on the driver with the dimple pattern of the ball.

Surprising what you can do when you have to.

The Guru had me address the ball with the Driver face wide open and swing from there!

I just knew that something had to be done on the down swing and follow through to prevent a total disaster.

Lo and behold, fuelled by need and driven by pure instinct, I did it.

Strike you mentioned: Check how far back in your stance the ball is, too far back—> hit the ball before closing.

my mind tells me that a ball back in the stance encourages one to hit it low, draw or hook or sometimes pull, in other words it facilitates delofting and closing of the club face ??

KYC,

Placing the ball back in your stance can promote a lower shot or a draw as you have mentioned. I will put a scenario to you however. I am 150 metres out, into a strong wind, on a slight uphill lie and the pin is cut on the right side of the green. It calls for a 4 iron punch shot with a slight fade. I could aim left of the green and cut it in, play safe to the left of the hole or I could put the ball back in my stance, swing it at 75% and release my hands late through impact producing a low flight with a penatrating fade trajectory and go for it? Play your driver and fairway woods off your heel or just inside but there are so many options with your irons when it comes to ball placement.

Josewho thanks,

But can’t you also do the same especially for Fairways woods with ball placement and control release of the hands thru impact too ?
and possibly the driver as well….. ?

Whats meant by ” releasing your hands late through impact”

is there still a full follow through with this type of shot?

at least to me “releasing your hands late through impact” means to delay the proper rolling of the trailing hand (ie the right hand for righties and vice versa) over the leading hand (as in a normal or draw shot) thru impact and shortly after thereby promoting an opened face at imapct and thru for that fade.