"corkscrew" ball flight

[bleu_cobra]

causes/prevention?

Hey all, as an intro, I'm a novice golfer with about three months of (obsessive) playing experience. I went to the range yesterday and I was delighted to be hitting my irons better than ever. Straight, long, and high. Then I went to my hybrid and struggled for a few shots before getting in a good groove. Then the 3 wood. It's my toughest club to hit and yesterday was no exception. Lots of low "corkscrew" shots where the ball just spirals counterclockwise. I decided not to torture myself and moved on to the driver, which I usually hit pretty well, but I had pretty much the same problems with it. What gives?

[mac94]

A corkscrew? I didn't know that was physically possible.

[Diesel]

i'm thinking the the same thing...

 

i'm sitting here trying to visualize a ball flight shape of a corkscrew... :aggressive:

 

need a better explanation of the issue to get some advice...

[hoganfan924]

i'm thinking the the same thing...

 

i'm sitting here trying to visualize a ball flight shape of a corkscrew... :aggressive:

 

need a better explanation of the issue to get some advice...

 

I've seen this but only with cut or badly scuffed range balls. (e.g. ball starts curving right to left then halfway through its flight curves left to right)

[threeputter]

I've had some balls that have knuckled, but as the other guys say it's usually a badly cut ball.

[hobbes]

I've seen (and hit) the corkscrew. It doesn't complete a full rotation but the look of the curve is so great that it looks like it could.

 

 

When I have hit them it is typically an absurdly bad swing combined with a extreme club face. To hit the slice-screw it is a out to in swing with an open AND rearward press (is that a term) on the shaft. The ball starts left and climbs but the side/back spin is so great that the aerodynamic forces yank the ball right and down. It is not as easy to do the other direction for me, but I imagine it is a combo of an upswing with a really closed face.

 

I've never done this on a good day though, usually my entire swing is inoperable :aggressive:

[alexthegrrr8]

A corkscrew like ballflight. This sounds like the flight is like a floater or a knuckleball. It's one of two things perhaps...

 

1. The balls were torn, well worn (dimple free) or scuffed or something to that effect as previously mentioned or...

 

2. Your hits didn't have enough spin, quite possibly a shaft issue (low spin shaft or not enough clubhead speed for the shaft)

 

Just a hypothesis. Wait isn't a hypothesis an educated guess??? No education here.

 

Alex

[bleu_cobra]

I know it sounds strange..thanks for humoring me folks. It's true it doesn't do a complete corkscrew pattern, but it's like it hooks left and then dives. When I played baseball it would've been killer stuff! On the course, not so much. And the ball is going in the general direction I'm aiming, it's just not getting the distance I would expect and it looks really strange. Hopefully it's just a bad day (even though as I said the irons were working great for me) combined with crappy range balls. I think I've only seen it happen once on the course, but several times on the range and never more than on Tuesday.

[MisterMizzy]

Corkscrew = range balls that need to be retired.

[diablojoe]

...but it's like it hooks left and then dives.

 

That's just a good old-fashioned snap hook. Closed face, hitting the ball on the upswing or very thin with a wood.

 

I do that now and then when I try to hit 3w off the tee. So, I don't hit 3w off a tee any more.