When I hit my drives I rarely hit the ball ‘dead-set’ straight. The ball always fades at it’s peak height. Is there a reason? Or am I doing something wrong?

Welcome Chisolm to the forum. Great to see Juniors asking away.

Hitting it dead straight is the hardest thing to do in golf. A fade is not a problem unless its fading onto the next fairway or the bush between and then its called a (cough cough) slice.

Have a read of the oldest two articles in Golf School area Fix your swing Part 1 and 2 and see if you have the ball in the right place. If its still going right then its a need to rotate the hands more through the ball to have the face closing rather than steer it straight which causes a cut action.

Keep asking away and we will try and help as we can.

CHISHOLM

I am a 23 marker so don’t take what I say as gospal however this worked for me and I now hit 80% down the middle or close to.

I was bringing the club up too sharply and as a result hit with the face too open and as a result had a large slice (I think they call this hitting across the ball). After reading the posts here and the golf school articles I know there are a number of reasons for the slice but it seems this was my swing flaw.

What I did was line up as I usually do and then drop my right foot (I am right handed) back approximately 1 to 2 inches. For some reason this forced me to swing around my body more instead of straight up.

After doing this for a few weeks I gradually placed my right foot back to its original position as the swing became second nature. Now if I want to do a draw I drop the foot back again and I can usually get a slight draw.

Guru may be able to explain the mechnics behind it but it was a simple thing that worked for me.

Now all I need to do is get some lessons and fix the short game!!!

Waz

Nice take Wazza. You have found a way to swing that does not allow for much chance of an OTT or at least have an OTT directed down a more correct path.

I had left this thread open for the Brains Trust to have a shot at. I may leave it open for a bit more discussion before I dip into it.

I’ll try and apply that. Thanks Wazza. This is easily the worst part about golf and really killed me today in Stableford.. The wind didn’t help either haha

Good luck with it.
Let us know how it goes as I would be interested it works for someone else. I know the swing is much more involved however sometimes it is just the little things that make the difference.

IT actually amazes me how many swing faults can be rectified by placing your back foot directly 2 to 6 inches towards your rear…I do this when I lose my swing (which has happened on the odd occassion :)) and usually within 10 shots my swing is back…why is that? – what exactly does putting your foot directly back do for you?

It stops swaying (lateral motion) and bobbing (up and down) – all the crappy motions the body makes as now you are rooted to your front foot and helps make you swing more on plane. It only takes a few shots to not fall over this way and you also learn how not to overpower the structure.

CHISHOLM

I am a 23 marker so don’t take what I say as gospal however this worked for me and I now hit 80% down the middle or close to.

I was bringing the club up too sharply and as a result hit with the face too open and as a result had a large slice (I think they call this hitting across the ball). After reading the posts here and the golf school articles I know there are a number of reasons for the slice but it seems this was my swing flaw.

What I did was line up as I usually do and then drop my right foot (I am right handed) back approximately 1 to 2 inches. For some reason this forced me to swing around my body more instead of straight up.

After doing this for a few weeks I gradually placed my right foot back to its original position as the swing became second nature. Now if I want to do a draw I drop the foot back again and I can usually get a slight draw.

Guru may be able to explain the mechnics behind it but it was a simple thing that worked for me.

Now all I need to do is get some lessons and fix the short game!!!

Waz

I’m going to give it a shot as my fade… cough…slice…cough is really annoying, as L4G said I take a couple of swings in that position if things aren’t going well and also a couple of swings with my feet together, but i’ve never tried in an actual swing.

I need to read golf school again I don’t think my hand are rotating enough either would that cause a slice?

The nice thing about rotation is not that you hook, slice or hit it dead straight depending on when you do it but that it lets the natural power escape from the entire movement, freeing the body and a short time after, the mind.

A free mind can produce more freedom in the swing causing spiraling success.

Rotation is worth a try for a couple of years.

When I hit my drives I rarely hit the ball ‘dead-set’ straight. The ball always fades at it’s peak height. Is there a reason? Or am I doing something wrong?

Juniour Member at Northbridge Golf Club
If your’e willing to GIVE to me a free TaylorMade Burner 08 Series Driver, I’ll be more than glad to take it.

I was having the same problem as you stated above but rather then move my feet back i was taught by the pro to move my left shoulder forward a little which then changes my angle of attack to be more from the inside not from the outside like you have been….worked wonders for me…i suggest try a few different methods individually and see which one suits you.

The nice thing about rotation is not that you hook, slice or hit it dead straight depending on when you do it but that it lets the natural power escape from the entire movement, freeing the body and a short time after, the mind.

A free mind can produce more freedom in the swing causing spiraling success.

Rotation is worth a try for a couple of years.

I’ve recently been concentrating on a more agressive rotation of the wrists through the ball and can identify with the comment about letting the natural power escape from the entire movement. To me it feels like it automatically gets me extending right through the ball with all the moving parts working more in unison than figthing each other.

The impetus to focus on this came after finally asking myself why is it that in every swing sequence I have seen the pros have their trailing wrist completely on top of the leading one at the horizontal club position in the follwo through.

I still don’t quite understand why all these flow on effects though!

I think that it is a sub-optimum approach to aggressively rotate the wrists through the impact zone to correct a fade. It is too timing-dependent. The better approach is to use horizontal hinging in the followthrough phase of the swing followed by a complete swivel action after the followthrough phase. If you use horizontal hinging, then the toe of your club will be pointing straight up when the club is horizontal to the ground – however, the roll of the clubface is due to left arm rotation, and not wrist rotation, and it is therefore easier to master (obtain correct timing through the impact zone).

Jeff.

Jeff,

I should have noted that I am not trying the rotation thing in an attempt to correct a fade but rather this began just as an exploratory mission to see what happens if I attemped to emulate this action that is always evident in swing sequences.

And it is a forearms action rather than wrists now that you mention it!

What is the ‘complete swivel action’? Have heard this in TGM discussions but not sure what it means.

Jeffman,

I think Nearly understood what he is doing. I don’t think he understood what you misquoted which might slow him down. You underestimate the roll rate (sub- optimum ). I think nearly’s ( nearly on first ;)) estimation is closer than yours.

The TGM definition of Horizontal Hinge is clubface parallel to plane line at Follow Through Point, at shaft horizontal the face could be 45 degrees down.

The entire movement is timing dependent the same as walking and talking.

What makes timing simple is to turn the hips and hands synchronously and similtaniously from impact to follow through point.

Nearly,

I wish all golfers could see what you can see.

Swivel is the anti-clockwise turn of the left wrist. We break it down to three parts for closer inspection and precision.

The release swivel into the ball, it’s starting point is optional and really worth looking at. The hinge swivel is from impact to follow through point at about 45 degrees past the ball and the amount depends on whether you are punching the club or lashing it through the ball. The finish swivel is from follow through point to the finish and is most evident at about shoulder high and should have the club facing the ground. The habit of some good players of steering it through here shows inferior mechanical knowhow.

It is impossible to swivel too much just too soon. The natural force prevents over swiveling.

Every instinct and misinformation will lead you to decrease swivel.

This affliction we call steering and nearly should be encouraged.

Hi Dart and Guru

I find that i tend to fade the longer clubs more so that the short ones.

Is this because when horizontal hinging more hand roll is required for the the longer club?

I know i have a trouble allowing my hands to roll freely so i was thinking that this would show up more in the longer clubs if they require more rotation.

Thanks

There is nothing wrong with hitting a fade unless it is a cut fade or a blocked fade.If you are cutting it and bringing it back, you do have issues and if you are blocking it, not so bad in a way but you hands are not releasing through the ball correctly. Call on TGM but having educated hands is a rather big thing as well as getting your swing on plane. Hitting balls, many of them actually in the “correct way”, take your 5 iron out and learn to hit punch shots and draw/fade the ball as a result. I does and will work wonders for your game over time.

Milan,

Everyone needs to give themselves more time and space with the longer clubs because it takes a longer club more time to uncock and roll.

Trusting you and family are doing well.

Hi Milan, same from WA!

My great uncle (who’s clubs I play with) told me that I’m probably slicing/fading because I’m using Woods with different shafts to my irons (which I hit straight and accuratly). My woods are actually Tommy Armours with graphite shafts that seem to be mildly different to my irons flex and the irons I use are old Callaways.

I went out to have a quick round today using the other woods and found that more of my drive were starighter and a bit longer.
Maybe I was just sing the wrong club lengths??

Direction is a function of clubface motion rather than club length. Changing the clubs will not have changed much unless the last ones played have offset faces?