I can't square the clubface

[SundayHacker]

My typical ball starts straight or right and continues to trail even further right. I get away with it with short irons, but longer clubs are proving difficult. I'm mashing the ball well and hitting it far, but the trailing fade/slice is hurting my accuracy big time, obviously.

I've worked on the twistaway to get that face closing, but for whatever reason I feel like I'm coming into the ball with the side of my left hand and never get my hands turned over on time. Now, when I try to counteract that by doing things like getting the wedding ring up, I pull it dead left. I've never hooked a ball in my life though.

What could be the culprit? I know I've struggled with swaying instead of turning my hips on the downswing, but I've really been making it a point to keep my head behind the ball. Even with that, could my hip slide and improper hip turn still be excessive and cause a straight/push-slice?

 

[dbl]

Coming into impact with the side of the left hand is a problem. The basic answer is to start turning much sooner! Don't wait till 1-2 feet from impact, start much sooner in the downswing. Turn that left arm no matter the consequences, till you see some balls curving left. Draws and hooks are possible! Also, you can ingrain some rotation by horizontal hinging pitches, in which case with these small swings you will hopefully gain additional knowledge of the left arm turning.

Of course Twist Away (on the full swings) should be giving you a leg up on the whole business. I'm not sure if this implies you still have a bit of work to do on that drill/position.

 

[bts]

My typical ball starts straight or right and continues to trail even further right. I get away with it with short irons, but longer clubs are proving difficult. I'm mashing the ball well and hitting it far, but the trailing fade/slice is hurting my accuracy big time, obviously.

I've worked on the twistaway to get that face closing, but for whatever reason I feel like I'm coming into the ball with the side of my left hand and never get my hands turned over on time. Now, when I try to counteract that by doing things like getting the wedding ring up, I pull it dead left. I've never hooked a ball in my life though.

What could be the culprit? I know I've struggled with swaying instead of turning my hips on the downswing, but I've really been making it a point to keep my head behind the ball. Even with that, could my hip slide and improper hip turn still be excessive and cause a straight/push-slice?

Nope! It's in your head.

Stop trying to "help getting the ball into the air with your action".

 

[SundayHacker]

I can assure you there's nothing going on in my head.

I'm not flipping at the ball (I don't think), so I don't think trying to get it into the air in my problem...there's just something happening in my swing that kills my left arm rotation. When I do focus on rotating my left arm, I yank it way left.

 

[rbaumgolf]

Bent Right Wrist

I remember Brian saying its important to check that while you are straightening the right arm you are not straightning the right wrist. If you are yanking it left by rotating you may flipping or losing axis tilt. Check the divots.

Start with the short chips and pitches and then work your way up.....

 

[Burner]

I can assure you there's nothing going on in my head.

I'm not flipping at the ball (I don't think), so I don't think trying to get it into the air in my problem...there's just something happening in my swing that kills my left arm rotation. When I do focus on rotating my left arm, I yank it way left.

Try aiming, and swinging, to the right of your intended target and your clubface will fix itself.

Holding the clubface open in an attempt to hit directly at the target, straight down the line of address, - steering - is the root cause of your problem, IMO.

 

[rundmc]

Try aiming, and swinging, to the right of your intended target and your clubface will fix itself.

Holding the clubface open in an attempt to hit directly at the target, straight down the line of address, - steering - is the root cause of your problem, IMO.

Homer is that you?

 

[EdZ]

My typical ball starts straight or right and continues to trail even further right. I get away with it with short irons, but longer clubs are proving difficult. I'm mashing the ball well and hitting it far, but the trailing fade/slice is hurting my accuracy big time, obviously.

I've worked on the twistaway to get that face closing, but for whatever reason I feel like I'm coming into the ball with the side of my left hand and never get my hands turned over on time. Now, when I try to counteract that by doing things like getting the wedding ring up, I pull it dead left. I've never hooked a ball in my life though.

What could be the culprit? I know I've struggled with swaying instead of turning my hips on the downswing, but I've really been making it a point to keep my head behind the ball. Even with that, could my hip slide and improper hip turn still be excessive and cause a straight/push-slice?

Can you stand with your back to a wall and make a slow motion move without hitting the wall? Chances are good you are too flat and underplane. I fight this in my motion at times too.

Usually my takeaway is at fault, letting my hands turn too much, or too early, and moving my hands 'away' from me, rather than 'inside and UP' during the first move.

The wall drill may be helpful to you, as would a takeaway drill with the shaft resting on a picnic bench.

 

[SundayHacker]

So if I stand with my back (or backside, correct?) against the wall, I should be able to take the club to the top without hitting the wall? ...with any club?

 

[EdZ]

So if I stand with my back (or backside, correct?) against the wall, I should be able to take the club to the top without hitting the wall? ...with any club?

As a drill to give you the 'feel' of more 'up' yes - of course this represents a steep plane angle, even with a wedge. The goal is to show you the other extreme, so you can adjust from being too underplane in your real motion.

A slow motion drill to get the point across, not a 'real' for most folks.

 

[Brian Manzella]

My typical ball starts straight or right and continues to trail even further right. I get away with it with short irons, but longer clubs are proving difficult. I'm mashing the ball well and hitting it far, but the trailing fade/slice is hurting my accuracy big time, obviously.

I've worked on the twistaway to get that face closing, but for whatever reason I feel like I'm coming into the ball with the side of my left hand and never get my hands turned over on time. Now, when I try to counteract that by doing things like getting the wedding ring up, I pull it dead left. I've never hooked a ball in my life though.

What could be the culprit? I know I've struggled with swaying instead of turning my hips on the downswing, but I've really been making it a point to keep my head behind the ball. Even with that, could my hip slide and improper hip turn still be excessive and cause a straight/push-slice?

If you can't square the club up with the twist-away, the next move is the backswing pivot.

Have you read my Pivot article?

 

[SundayHacker]

I can't be certain as I haven't taped my swing in a while, but I believe my backswing pivot is pretty good...and yes, I've read your article on it. If anything, I may be getting a little flat with the club going back, as I had a bit of trouble with the back to the wall backswing drill.

...but that aside it possible to get into a good position at the top, even start down on a good path, and still come down into the ball with an open clubface? I feel like my hips are a bit too square at impact, so that would leave the face open as well, no?

 

[Brian Manzella]

Open clubface?

To answer...no.

The clubface is UNTWISTing in the downswing.

 

[SundayHacker]

To answer...no.

The clubface is UNTWISTing in the downswing.

Is it safe to say I'm manually (meaning, with my hands) doing this untwisting? ...or can my downswing pivot be the culprit?

 

[SundayHacker]

How 'bout swinging out to right field combined with wedding ring up? Maybe that'll get that right to left ball flight I dream about going?

I took a few swings in the house with the thought "swing out to right field" and it feels great. I feel like I'm float loading and feeling lag pressure with that. I know I'll go out to the range and push everything right (without a trailing fade, if I'm lucky), but just wondering if there were any thoughts on this.

 

[dbl]

Don't forget to take your grip at impact fix.

Coming back to flat at impact shouldn't be that hard then.

 

[Brian Manzella]

Why do I untwist?

People UNTWIST for lots of reasons...

But, trying to tilt LATE is the #1 culprit.

 

[SundayHacker]

People UNTWIST for lots of reasons...

But, trying to tilt LATE is the #1 culprit.

So by my awesome power of deduction, I should try to tilt...earlier?

Man, it's pretty amazing how I can manage to still manage to have every shot finish with a trailing fade. I tried drawing my right foot back (closing my stance), I tried hitting shots with my feet together to force a release, I tried an extra strong grip, I tried swinging out to right field...nothing. I'm compressing the ball well (with mid to short irons at least) which the drill to not "hit the wall" on my backswing helped with, but I'm just totally lost here...and to add to the confusion, my wedges (for the most part) were coming out with a nice baby draw. I'd think it was my equipment, but this pertains to my set of irons and woods.

 

[SundayHacker]

Can I buy just the Never Slice Again video, or is it just part of that Beta program thing?

 

[SundayHacker]

I'm pretty sure now that I'm coming into the ball too steeply, and my left arm is disconnecting from my chest in the downswing. This would leave the clubface open (and in a toe down position) and make it difficult to release the club, no?

What would I focus on to fix this? The ol' glove under the left armpit drill? ...or maybe just let my hands better dictate my downswing path?