New golfer, driving is awful!

Hey, I'm a golfing newbie, been Playing around 8 wks with a set of ben Sayers clubs I inherited and am getting on quite well with the irons, still a way to go but getting better connection and distance all the time. My driving however is another story. My mate gave me a Nike machspeed 9.5 stiff shaft with the ben Sayers and I was useless with it and it was just sapping my confidence so I got a ping g10 10.5 from eBay which feels much better but I'm still slicing to the right 80% of my drives. At the range today I tried driving with my feet and knees together and miraculously every drive was straight as an arrow! Can anyone tell me why this is? What am I doing wrong in the "normal" stance which is being cured by having knees and feet together?. I went back to normal stance after hitting 50 balls and the slice came right back! Maybe I'll just hit all my drives with feet together from now on, looks daft but it's working somehow! Any advice would much appreciated.

B.

Ps. My best score over 18 holes so far is 120, should give you some idea of where I am.

What do you ultimately want, low scores, or straighter with the driver?

If you want lower scores then you need to look at other parts of your game before tackling the driver. You are averaging around 6.6 shots per hole, if you can save 1 shot per hole, you can get your score below a hundred, quite easily.

I've talked about this before on here. You've been playing 8 weeks, get some lessons, grip, stance, alignment and swing. I bet you've got a lovely loop at the top of your swing, coming over the top and imparting massive side spin on the ball.

You say you're hitting your irons much better - well use them! Stop hitting your driver if it's getting you into trouble. Think about hitting 3 irons into the green and two putting on every par 4. You'll make 5 most of the time, maybe even sneak the odd par.

What's your putting like? What are your average putt stats? Remember 36 putts is regulation. That's nearly a third of your shots currently. Get that down by three or four shots and your scores will tumble.

This game is all about accuracy, not distance. Yes, being able to smash the ball 280 yards down the middle has its advantages, but it's not working for you at the minute. Get some lessons until it does.

Remember a 5 on every hole will give you a score of 90, sneak a few pars and your into the 80s. Getting from 120 to 99, can be done very quickly with better club selection, good course management and average putting.

Don't worry about your driving, just get the ball on the fairway, even if it's only 150 yards own the middle, your scores will tumble very quickly.

It took me 2.5 years to get rid of my slice so don't panic about 8 weeks!

Thanks for the advice folks, I did actually stop using the machspeed 9.5 for a few weeks and just tee'd off with my 3 iron which was much better, still Drifts right a little but not onto opposite fairways! Going for my second round with new driver today and will give it a go. I think you're right about club selection, I waste a lot of shots by selecting a long iron and duffing it when I should just take the 7/8 and lay it up. I'm learning! Really do have the bug and totally loving this game!

Chris has nailed that reply! I too have the machspeed black 9.5 stiff, if its the project x shaft ill give you a hint....leave it at home. I am a ping man and its nice to see you've come to the dark side

honestly if you have got the golf 'bug' I promise you a lesson a week for 12 weeks will completely change your game! pricey but worth all those wasted rounds.

I remember when I got into the game seriously and all the advice I was given that I didn't take. leave the driver at home, practice chipping more, practice putting more, learn to lay up etc, get lessons!

do this next time you play a long hole.... take 2 balls out of your bag, one will be your tiger ball and the other will be your conservative ball. With the tiger ball, gof for everything, driver then 3 wood to holeing out the approach and nail the one putt, with the other ball do the opposite, 5 iron, 7 iron, hit the green and two putt. you will quickly learn how to manage the course properly.

As for the driver issue, without seeing your swing would be hard to say, check out some youtube videos on D-plane and get a better understanding of what your doing, also, film your swing and stick it on here, that way, in 12 weeks be will all be complimenting you on your amazing new swing

8 weeks? Hmm.

First thing I'll say is that a 9.5 deg loft is way too shallow for a newcomer, you should be going for at least a 11.5 or even 12.5. Based on my formative years I'd also say that you are also trying to hit it too hard and that the shaft is far too stiff because what you describe is exactly what used to happen to me.

Slow it down, keep it smooth and don't try and take the skin off the ball. Let the shaft do the work, that is what it's there for.

Hey guys,

Just back from round at beckenham place park and scored 109! That's 11 shots off my best round there! Felt much better with the new ping g10 10.5, still a long way to go but I at least didn't end up on any opposite fairways! Still starting straight and drifting right but I think that's me trying to hit it too hard, the few straight drives I had were definitely more controlled. Think I'll go for a few lessons on the new year and see what a pot can do with me. I didn't want to go straight away for lessons as I feel that now I've gotten a bit better the tutor will have something to work with. I hit a lot less duff shots with my irons today which is the main reason I knocked 11 shots off. Onwards and upwards!

Learning the right way is much better than trying to forget the wrong way after several years and start again. Lessons now will not only benefit you straight away, but will save you time and money in the future when your aim is to break 90 or 80 or 70 etc. Although a 9.5 stiff shaft driver is clearly wrong for a beginner, dont worry too much about new clubs, swing properly and you will be able to strike any club well. Lessons, practise, play, enjoy, lessons, practise, play, enjoy repeat repeat is my advice.

Just booked a half hour lesson at world of golf in New Malden. Anyone been there before? What's it like? Will let you know how I get on.

World of Golf is where I learnt as a boy. Can't recommend it enough. As a facility, it has improved (apart from the Dino Golf) and the pros there are very, very good.

Went over to world of golf last night to check it out before I have my lesson tomorrow and you're right. It's a fantastic range. I've been going it the range at the London golf centre in earlsfield and thought that was pretty good until now! Anyway, feel like I really turned a corner last night with my stance and set up. Decided to use the mirrors to compare my stance to what I've been seeing on YouTube etc... I looked like quasi modo! Really hunched and much too low and too far from the ball. I tried straightening up a little, got slightly closer to the ball and not bending my knees as much and it was a real revelation, started connecting much cleaner and everything was going much straighter! Came away feeling really good and looking forward to my first lesson. My drives are still only going about 130 yds but I'm mire bothered about getting them straight at the moment! Will let you know how my lesson goes. The pro won't know where to start

i think with lessons theres two ways to approach it I had 6 with a coach on the course and he taught me how to change what I was doing to make me go round with a lower score, this isn't what I wanted. I then had 12 with a different pro and told him at the start I basically wanted a textbook swing and although its taken longer I feel my swing performs much more efficiently.

If your still slicing the ball a great tip is reduce the grip pressure, just grip it as lightly as possible, just enough to hold on to the club, you will really feel the club release. See if you can hit hooks like this. A hooker can draw, a slicer must hook before you can hit the ball further

Just had my lesson. Seems I'm coming over the top and have an out to in swing plane! Tutor gave me a few tips to try to correct things. Main tip was to start deliberately and exaggeratedly coming from inside to out even though this seems to make the slice much worse he assures me that once I get the club face square things will come together. Also need to work on turning my hands over and getting weight forward onto left, so, everything really! He's going to send me a video and I'll see if I can post it here, any advice would be appreciated, I warn you though, it ain't pretty.

Snap. Exactly what I was doing when I had an 'exaggerated power fade'. It'll come with a bit of practice. Smooth and slow...

Brian - what you're describing is called a push-slice. It's extremely common in beginning golfers.

A lot of people get the cause of this wrong - including some instructors. It's not because the clubface is open at impact. It's because the path of the clubface is out-to-in relative to the line perpendicular to the club face (not relative to the target line). It's perfectly possible to have a closed clubface at impact and still slice.

Lessons are a very good idea. Don't have a lesson every week if you can't practice that often - I aim to hit at least 200 balls between lessons.

Been at the range trying to straighten things out. This out to in swing really is something that feels natural to me and is proving quite difficult to shake off. Laying a cub or rod down just outside my required swing path and concentrating on not hitting it is useful and the slice dissappears when I do this but, you guessed it, as soon as the guide is removed I drift back to the wrong club path. Not gonna happen overnight but will persevere!

On a different note, what is the average distance for a beginner? When I get a cleanish hit with my 7 iron it hoes around 90-100 yds, driver 150...

Ps. My driving is still awful! Much better at the range but on the course I'm still topping and slicing all over the place! Think I'm just trying too hard and need to relax.

You soon learn the saying "if it feels natural it's probably wrong" and it's true. You been playing for such a short space of time I really wouldn't worry about distance. When your technique improves so will your distances. Try to persevere, an over the top move will prevent you from hitting the ball far or straight. It's hard to explain feeling which is where the problem lies. And if your working on your driver you can forget seeing anything happen quickly. Whenever o work on technique it's with an 8 iron. If I can't get it to work with that I know I don't have a chance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OZJUC0sPNI&feature=youtube_gdata_player Watch that video it worked wonders for me. Did 50 reps a day every day for a week and the improvement was great.

Brian. Rule # 1 in golf - do not take any notice of how far other people hit their clubs. First, we are all different and second they almost invariably exaggerate. If you hit your 7 iron 110yds and you are 110yds from the green, er, hit a 7 iron. Just because the guy next to you is going with a 60 deg wedge should have no bearing on what you hit.

I'm currently compiling a database of how far I hit certain clubs because I'm not sure myself after my swing changes.

Thanks guys,

Will check that video out. Totally agree about distances, much more interested in getting some consistent contact and trajectory at the moment anyway. At least now I have some idea of what a good shot feels like, it's really nice when you get it right and the ball just leaps off the club face dnd goes exactly where you envisioned, doesn't happen for me often enough but when It does it feels effortless and I want more of it. I'm really surprised at how much I'm loving this game.

Have some swing footage on my i phone, as soon as I work out how I'll post them In the swing thread.

Brian,

Here's a little tip that has helped me get the correct swing path with the driver. When on the range, stick a tee into the the front right corner of the mat so that if you drew a line between that and your ball it would be pointing slightly to the right. When you swing your club the aim is to swing it through your ball and try to catch the top of the tee (you will always miss it so don't worry!). This encourages an in to out swing path and a good follow through

The beauty of this is when you are on the course with your driver in your hand, you can put your tee in so there is something where the tee would have been on the range. This will remove the problem you have at the moment of reverting back when the club/rod is removed and eventually it will become natural

Keep practicing as it's the only way to improve but remember you should always enjoy it. Good luck!

Thanks Chris, will give that a try. Just to vlarify where the tee should be, as I I stand over the ball at address the tee would be at 11 o'clock?

Like this....

 @ tee

        @ ball.

Exactly that Brian, but more towards 10 o'clock than 11. Not only does it encourage an in to out swing, it will encourage you to extend throu the swing to a better finishing position too

Just had a bit of a revelation at the range today! Same old story with first fifty or so balls, everything going right as usual. Decided to really concentrate on leading with my shoulders and getting the hips going and letting my arms follow. It clicked almost immediately! Everything was flying straighter and further just zinging off the club face an into a nice fade or slight hook. I can't believe it. Pretty much stopped trying to do snything with my arms. Just kept the left arm as straight as I could and really worked on getting my shoulders and hips wound back and releasing them. The club face seems to just fall into place like magic! Made me realise how much I was using my arms and wrists to get the club into position before. Wow, what a differènce! Getting lots more distance too and not having to lash my arms round like a maniac for it, just letting them follow my body. Only used 8 and 5 iron and both were equally good

Thanks for all your advice everyone. Looking forward to getting out for a round now!

now you have the feel for what it feels like when your hitting straight and true, keep going range and concentrating on the same shot, until its stored in the muscle memory. I find i have to go the range once a week or so just to keep that same feel for driving, oncew ive hit a few its automatic then.

Yeah, I hit an extra 100 balls just to tryto embed the feeling. Planning a round next thursday so will get another two evening sessions in before then. Will bring my driver along and hopefully it'll apply to my driving too.

Brian I can help i think, provided that your grip and posture and swing are fair, I've been playing 4 month and my first handicap was 22, I'm now 11.6.... i used to hit my drives good, then bad, then seriously bad etc all in one round, i wasn't consistent...,, after studying my swing on an iPhone app called ubersense i noticed my hips swayed a lot on the downswing as i thought i had to launch myself into the shot, after watching the mountains of clips on you tube i realised i should just be "barrel turning on the downswing and not SWAYING FORWARD, the weight transfer happens automatically.. it took a bit getting used to as the legs part was what i found easy but it turns out the legs bit +SWAY was the lethal part that wrecked my golf, i went out today and my tee shots still need work but i wasn't aiming left and driving into trees on the right anymore, just going off the fairway to the left and right (not slide can result in a pull but its easy to tune that in, turn slower), i hope this helps as it has brought me on leaps and bounds, today i shot gross 78 (9 over par) and that was due to controlling my drives ish, try choking down on your driver an inch until you get the hips turning and not swaying, watch the pros on youtube in slo motion and you will see what i mean... happy golfing matey lee

Hey,

Totally get what you mean about the swaying Lee as I was doing this too. I was also all arms and wrists and not really focusing on shoulders and hips. As soon as I started everything from the shoulders the arms have just fallen into line so I'm not having to manipulate my arms, wrists and hands in a vain Attempt to get the club Face on a square plane at contact. I can't believe how much straighter and further the ball is flying. If anything, i'm getting a slight hook on it. Really hoping that the same thing will happen when I apply this to my driving. Have also downloaded ubersense for i phone so will be using that too, thanks for the tip.

Hey,

I've always struggled off the tee... I tend to try and put the ball a little bit further forward to help me hit up the ball as i have a low ball flight. If i get in trouble, i just stick a video of my swing on golfintuitionlive.com and see what the pros have to say...

But, from what i've seen most people seem to stick the ball in the middle of their stance which doesn't give them time to close the clubface through impact. So i'd suggest trying to stick the ball a little further forward! Hope this helps

Hey all,

New personal best today! Shot 101 at Mitcham. That's 8 shots off my previous best. That was after a 7 & 8 on the first 2 holes too which I put down to not having swung a club in 10 days. Should have spent 10 mins in the nets really. I also suffer 1st tee nerves and had two air swings before topping it and carrying a whole 10 yards off the tee! After settling down my driving was much improved though. I'm standing a little closer to the ball now and maintaning my spine angle instead of lifting out of the shot. Slice is diminishing and actually hit 7 or 8 straight drives

I know 101 is still pretty rubbish but I'm pretty chuffed with it, feel like I'll break 100 pretty soon!

Brian dont worry about those air shots, they soon become a rare thing after a few years or so just try and have air shots when no ones watching thats my advise on that.

One peice of advice i had early on was to keep your left arm straight in the backswing and as for driving, its took me nigh on 5 years to get my ball going straight or drawing, as i too suffered with a bad fade/slice when driving. Just practise and few lessons here n there and keep trying to naturally think of that in to out swing path but be as natural as you can.

Played another good round yesterday. Didn't bother scoring as it wss a twilight round and I didn't think I'd get all 18 in. In the end I got all the way round and hit spme really satisfying shits too. Driving is so much better and getting straighter all the time. More importantly, when it does slice a little I know why, or I should say I can "feel" why. Really starting to get a feel for the shape my body should be making to hit a decent shot. So much so I'm having to re-assess my distances with irons. I'm now hitting my pitching wedge as far as I used tohit my 8 iron and when I catch it right I can hit my 7 about 150 yds! I greened a tee shot on a 195 yd par 3 with my 4 iron. Previously, i struggles to make that distance with my driver. Mustn't get too ahead of myself though, still hit a fair few duffers but as I say, at least I can feel why!

Thanks again for all your encouragement and advice.

Ha! Just read that back and noticed a classic typo! Will leave it in for your amusement. Fat fingers, i phone