Ugggh! Why can I hit my driver straight at the range, but I slice on the course?

[Big D McGee]

I've been battling a slice with all my woods for about 2 months now. I haven't played in about 3 weeks (since my son broke his leg), but I've been at the range 2 times a week-sometimes more. I generally hit a jumbo bucket (105 balls), and hit only 10-20 with my irons. The rest are saved for my woods, predominately my driver(s).

 

Last night, I hit 75 balls with my drivers, alternating between the MacTec and the Nickent 3DX Square. I made a note of ball flight and mishits. Of the 75 balls I hit, 8 were bad; 6 slices and 2 smothered hooks. The rest were either high, straight and long, or a pronounced fade (still landed more or less in the "fairway"). ROUGHLY 60% of my good hits were fades.

 

I finally get a chance to play today, and I am really eager to get out there and pound my driver. The first hole is a slight dogleg right, but it plays from an elevated tee, the fairway dips about 30 feet then climbs back to level at around the 260-ish mark.

 

I go through the same routine I do at the driving range, paying close attention to ball position and proximity to the ball. I swing away (no swing thoughts just trying to use the same swing I grooved the past 3 weeks). PFFFT. Banana ball. Second hole, same thing. I switch to the 3DX for the next par-4, same result. I hit 3-WOOD from the next tee...you guessed it slice-o-matic.

 

Can anyone give me an idea as to why this happens? I am definitely going to schedule a lesson as soon as possible, focusing on my tee game. It really sucks, 'cause I am hitting my irons sooo good right now, and my wedge play is outstanding. I saved par on 3 holes today because I hit my 3rd shot with a GW or SW to within 8' (one was within 3').

 

Am I just "choking" when I get to the course? When I hit that first slice, does it just imprint "slice" into my brain? I really feel like when I get my tee game under control, I'll be able to shoot low 80's, and work on shooting in the 70's.

 

ARGH! This is so discouraging.

[crew_138]

Well... I bet some money it's a fudamental error. My guess without seeing and from experience is alignment. There are all kinds of things to line up to at a range (Mats) Also, you groove a swing easier after hitting at the same target over and over again.

 

I suggest you get that lesson and hopfully you can get is fixed... the slice is a bummer.

 

If you can understand why a slice happens and get some video to see what you are doing, it will help you fix the over the top.

[Big D McGee]

^^I'm pretty sure it has something to do with my lower body outracing my arms and shoulders. I never hit off mats, always off the grass teeing area. But I think maybe I hit the ball better because it doesn't really matter where the ball lands on the range. I think 1/2 is mental, I get tense, and 1/2 is my lower body getting ahead of my arms and shoulders. I'd bet money as well that I'm flipping the club through impact. Definitely a lesson is in order.

[mrq]

lesson could help you alot, but you should really change how you practice during at your range time. Don't hit driver over and over to same target. After a shot, step back and pick a different target(try aiming at opposite side of previous target). This will tell you if your setup is correct.

[Big D McGee]

^^Hey, great idea, I'll definitely try that. If I wasn't so gosh-darned tired, I'd hit the range now, since they're open until midnight. Definitely try that drill next time I'm there!

[crew_138]

Do you have a pre shot routine for each shot at the course... picking a target and intermediate target.

 

I'm pretty sure it has something to do with my lower body outracing my arms and shoulders.

 

Sounds like casting, which is a over the top move.

 

I like to feel as though I let my arms drop instead of pulling the club down from the top and releasing at the bottom of arc "swoosh past the ball sound" but always thinking face of club is square when hitting the ball.

 

works for me... but definately get that lesson because sometimes it easier to experience the explanation than read it...

 

cheers,

[Herbert1804]

Gosh Big D. I could have written that post myself. I have exactly the same problem. Struggled for a year now. Lost all confidence in my driver on the course but can hit it great on the range. If I try to be brave off the tee then its a garanteed "fore right" for me. Irons - no problems - drill 'em every time.

 

I'd love to be able to practice something at home but I don't know any driver practice drills, and I'm loath to hit my impact bag with one.

[Merlin_T]

On golf course: RELAX :russian_roulette: :D ;)

[wkuo3]

slice could be caused by a million things. Normally when that happens to me on the golf course were when I try to hit the drive hard, or try to boom one out there on the first tee without warm up.

Your body core and hand position ( club head position ) would be out of sinc. cause normally by either the hands were behind the core, an opened face contact, or an outside to inside swing path to produce a slicing spin.

 

If you play any other type of hitting game with a shorter stick like baseball, softball, even tennis; try to "see" the picture of you hitting the ball, if you could not coordinate your hands with your body core position, balls would either sliced right or pulled left.

 

Once you could keep your hands within the parameters of your body core ( in motion ), whether full throtle swing or not, you'll hit it straighter.

 

One other thing that could help, unless you have the 2 different drivers in your bag tuned to perform similar ( like Phil M. by callaway's fitting ), it's difficult to hit off 14 par 4's and 5's 14 times with 2 drivers behaving differently.

[Diesel]

defintely sounds like your arms are outracing your lower body and you're casting the club (over the top)...

 

hitting that many drivers in a row is a BAD, BAD practice habit IMO... this is how you should try practicing for a few sessions...

 

warm up with some wedges or short irons, hit a few 6 irons, then some 4's if you have one... just get loose...

 

then act as if you are playing a round without putting and chipping...

 

tee up a ball get behind it, and pick a target to hit... after you hit your shot, do it all over again, but select an iron with a distance you are from the pin... sometimes act as if you are playing par 5's and hit a wood off the deck for your 2nd shot, then hit a wedge from 80-100 yards to the green...

 

it makes practice useful, and puts pressure on you to hit a decent shot, and not just plop another one down after you tank one...

[mrq]

diesel's practice method is very good, but as you know, most average golfer wants to fix something, they'll want to hit that shot over and over til its fixed. If I was slicing my driver, I want to hit it again and again to fix the problem(trying different setups and grips).

[ebelp]

diesel's practice method is very good, but as you know, most average golfer wants to fix something, they'll want to hit that shot over and over til its fixed. If I was slicing my driver, I want to hit it again and again to fix the problem(trying different setups and grips).

 

Exactly. As a novice golfer, if my tee shots are being plagued by something like a slice (which it is :P), my first instinct at the range is to keep hitting my driver over and over, each time trying different swing/grip techniques, until I find something that I'm comfortable with and that works.

[lowballhitter]

Big D - Sounds like you need to break up your range session. This works for us.

 

After we warm up chipping and mucking about - we "play" our home course or course we all know.

 

First hole - Driver, fairway wood or long iron, short wedge if req'd.

 

Second hole - seven or eight iron.

 

Third - long iron, wedge.......

 

No only is this good fun, but you do get mentally prepped for your next round and hitting next to your mates - you know they are pretty harsh critics.

 

Good luck with it.

[Big D McGee]

Thanks for all the tips. Usually I do practice hitting all my irons before I start hitting woods. My normal progression is to hit SW-5i, trying to hit 3 good shots in a row. Lately, I've been focused on hitting woods from the tee because it's the only area that needs major work...on the course, that is. Heck, I don't even have a problem hitting 5W or 3W off the deck; I've been thinking that the next time my driver slices on the 1st tee I might just hit 3w off the tee box without using a tee. Couldn't be worse.

 

I desperately want to set up a lesson with my local GG pro; he's great, and the drills he gave me to pure my irons worked, and continue to work. I'm sure once he videotapes me I'll see that I'm coming over the top. I think I just want to crush the ball off the first tee, and I'm swinging waaaay too fast. I need to calm down, make a full shoulder turn, and work on my coil generating power rather than getting too hippy.

 

But I'll definitely try the suggestion of "playing a round" the next time I hit the range. In fact, my local course is pretty much burned into my memory banks, I'll have a good feel as to what to hit when.

 

Thanks, I'll let you know how it goes! You know, the worst part is how slicing affects your confidence. After a range session, I feel like I could play pretty much any course and have fun, and score reasonably well (low 80's). But when I get to the course and start slicing, I feel so embarrassed, like a real hacker. Thank goodness I am able to save par 4-5 times around, so my handicap hasn't really gone up much.

[djbehr]

snip

 

After a range session, I feel like I could play pretty much any course and have fun, and score reasonably well (low 80's). But when I get to the course and start slicing, I feel so embarrassed, like a real hacker. Thank goodness I am able to save par 4-5 times around, so my handicap hasn't really gone up much.

 

I won't say much about your technique, but you actually feel embarrassed by your misses? Golf is pretty damn hard and most people stink. Nobody really cares about that stuff. Just don't babble at them and don't step on their line - just use basic etiquette and believe me they're plenty happy with that. Other players are thinking about their games, believe me. I played with a scratch golfer yesterday and the couple of times I tried to step on it, I sliced it to the right too, while he banged a beautiful draw right up the middle. We ended up having a great time during our round together.

 

Maybe your slicing has more to do with THIS... You're worried about looking like a hacker and can't swing freely. Think about it, if you're hitting THAT well on the range, it's between your ears.

 

And like most things in life, this doesn't just happen in golf. Just work on living life the way you want to and forget what other people think about you. I've learned that people are usually plenty worried about how good or bad they look in life they hardly even notice anyone else. ;)

[Big D McGee]

^^I know, I know. That's what I tell my buddy who can't break 100. And I know that when I play with strangers, I have no clue what they're shooting, unless we're keeping score for each other.

 

The thing is...I teed off on hole #1 Saturday by myself, no one around...and I still sliced really badly. Not only is it in my head, but my fundamentals on the course must be outta whack, too.

 

Tonight I went to the range and only hit my new 2-iron and my Nickent driver. I found that by putting the ball really up in my stance (more towards my toe than my instep), I could take a long, coiled backswing, and not slice. The ball went dead straigh, or with a slight fade. Pretty long, too, but not as long as my MacTec.

 

Maybe that few extra centimeters is all I need to square the club? I took a couple of nice, smooth swings and a couple of aggressive swings, and both produced the same result when I had the ball off my left toe.

 

It's a band-aid for now, but I'm gonna take a lesson next week, for sure.

[maxxym]

Big, there are many things, like previously said, that could cause your slice.

 

What helped me was, I started to pay attention to my right wrist (I am lefty so if you are right handed, it's your left wrist). You want that thing to be FLUSHED with your forearm. Next time if you have someone with you, have them look at your wrist and put a club to your forearm and make sure your wrist is straight with a forearm. Hard to explain, but this is what helped me after I read some tips in Golf Digest.

 

Also, don't try to kill the ball. When I took driver lessons with my instructor two weeks ago, he had me do nice smooth, swing..keeping the right tempo. Dont' kill it. Then, he had me hit my driver with both of my feet together in stance and just swing to get my chest, shoulders and hips moving smooth. Then, we widened my stance little by little. By the time I was done, I was hitting them nice and straight. No 300 yard bombs, but nice 200-220 yard hits that would go perfectly straight.

 

Remember, the faster you swing and try to kill it, the more errors you will have. Start slow and go from there.