Ball-turf is definitely a problem for me. Thins and picks are typical. Also, I've been in the heel lately, with the inevitable shank from time to time. Mostly on the range, not on the course. I'm not drawing the ball at present. Straight or baby fades. I called Brian a couple weeks ago with shanking issues and he said to "turn the club off the plane earlier in the downswing". It works, but it feels like a compensation to me??
You say my plane is good. Don't you think I'd be better off getting my hands higher and the club more vertical? Looks under-plane to me.
During a local lesson resently, we taped some full wedge shots and I was way off plane (below plane) throughout the swing. The full wedge shot is the hardest shot for me. Much more comfortable with the middle irons.
Tracy,
I knew that you were picking it and hitting it off of the heel by the looks of the swing posted at putfile.com. I just wanted to be sure before offering these suggestions.
Here's the deal:
Your swing plane is good; room for improvement, but good. Good enough to make a simple adjustment to clubface to get it right on plane.
You have "good player" tendencies. You tend to swing too much in-to-out, which has a shallowing effect on the angle of attack. Actually, your club is wanting to bottom out before getting to the golf ball, but, since you are a good player, you will not let a disastrous fat shot happen. So you react to this overly shallow approach and you come "up and out of your posture" and will hit it thin occasionally.
The heel shots are the result of swinging too much in-to-out through the impact area. Your sweetspot has actually swung too much outward, and you are contacting the ball on the heel.
Your shanks are definitely not open-faced shanks, the type that can occur when someone lags the hosel on the downswing. For proof of this, look at these two images. The first image shows that your clubface has already turned off the face of the plane. In the second, your clubface is looking at the ball.
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=5155071
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=5155072
So your swing path is too much in-to-out and you are picking the ball because of this shallow approach. Why is this happening?
Golf is a reaction game. You are reacting to a slightly closed clubface. You said your bad shots are pulls, yet you are swinging in-to-out. That's a dead giveaway for a clubface being too closed for your swing. The in-to-out path is a reaction to your missed shots (clubface pulls). You are trying to start the ball on the correct line by swinging further in-to-out.
If you fix your clubface first, by getting it slightly more open at the top of your swing, you will start hitting straight pushes. After just a few swings, you will adjust your ball position, alignment, and downswing plane as a NATURAL REACTION to your new clubface position. You'll be able to release more freely, and, due to your new, slightly steeper downswing plane, you will start taking correctly sized and correctly shaped divots.
Some good players "fall in love" with the draw or hook, and they see in their "mind's eye" every shot on the course as a hook or draw. For these types of players, this type of adjustment is really difficult at first, since they have to get accustomed to new alignment, ball flight, trajectories and distances.
Since you are already hitting baby fades, this change should be EASY for you to make. I recommend weakening that strong grip of yours (I can see 3 to 4 knuckles of your top hand in your avatar) to a more neutral position. Weaken both hands only a FEW DEGREES at a time. It usually does not take a drastic change in grip positioning to create a drastic change in ball flight with a good player like yourself.
If you get that clubface slightly more open, you will be able to release more freely and REPEAT that swing more often.
Golf swings are constantly in a state of flux. We go from needing more of the "Never Slice Again" pattern to needing more of the "Never Hook Again" pattern. It is when we are "in between" the two that we play our best golf.
In short, right now you need more of the "Never Hook Again" pattern.
