COMMUNITY

I do pretty much the same thing except I have trouble hitting the baby fade so I when I have a dogleg right I just try to hit enough club to get me past the turn but not too much so that it doesnt roll through the fairway and into the rough on the left side. I hit about 60% of my fairways and the rest of my misses are not by more than 2 or 3 yds so I tend to stay in the first cut and out of trouble. This has also helped me get my GIR to over 70%. Now if I could only putt.

That is prolly my strongest part of my game because it is what I practice the most. The only time that I get to practice my putting is right before my round. I have gotten really good at lag putting but cant seem to get the ball in the hole. I can prolly count the number of 3 putts that I have had this year on 1 hand.

Nikhil, rough like that would expose more than a few of us. I'm going to give you a little assignment so we can help you better and then a tip that works like magic. Consider that a down payment on better results.

You haven't told us anything about your misses. Are they generally short of the green, long, left or right? If you don't know or your misses seem totally random, I'm going to ask you to start keeping stats on that and report back.

What is your normal shot shape? Can you hit other shot shapes on command? If you are like most of us your immediate response to that last question is 'are you kidding?' But there are some of us that can so I need to ask.

The answers to those questions will help us zero in on what will help you the most.

Now here's the tip that will help you almost immediately.

I want you to start hitting your approach shots moving up 1-2 clubs from what you'd usually play. I want you to concentrate on making a smooth swing with about 60% effort.

This is an initial adjustment, but it almost always results in fast dramatic improvement. Most of us try to swing way too hard at the expense of control and consistency. Most people find an almost immediate improvement in solid contact. You may find a difference in the direction the ball goes off the club face, but you should also note less dispersion. These two improvements can be used to increase your GIR in short order.

Now if you find after making these adjustments that you are consistently putting the ball long, I'm going to give you two choices on how to correct this.

1. Reduce your effort even more. Lots of times we think we've backed off more than we really have.
2. Choke up on the club an inch to an inch and a half.

When you hit drivers on the range, practice keeping your right foot (back foot) planted to the ground as long as possible. You'll have to let it come up some to hit the ball, but try real hard to keep it on the ground until contact.

It also helps to learn to hit the ball flush. Swing about 80% or so instead of 100-plus%. Where you can get away with it, hit 3-wood, 5-wood, long iron or hybrid off the tee to get the ball in the fairway -- if you can get it to 150 yards or in, that's a good measure.

There's a million other things. The planted-back-foot thing has helped me a lot.

Oh ... the other thing is to practice a "tee ball," not just your driver. Make sure you practice hitting your fairway woods, long irons and hybrids off a tee, and work hard on trying to hit a "fairway" by visualizing one in the range.

Wow thanks all of you. Some really nice info on here already. I'm telling you ... I really need it.

@ Addictedtugolf: Thanks for the tip on the driver .. will be trying it out.

@ armygrunt47: That kind of putting is incredible. We've got some tough greens here though. A careless first putt can easily cost me a 3 putt if I'm not careful. Still ... great to read your comments.

Mark, thanks again for taking the time to put all that down. I had put down a reply earlier but did not hit the save button. Still just thinking through the answers has helped. My big misses are with my driver and long irons so I will first write about that ...

Right Hand Golfer
Driver: Callaway 9.5 RAZR (ALDILA RIP Stiff Shaft)
Swing Speed is 105+ mph

Normal Shot: High Fade starting inside center and ending to the right fairway.
Carry is 260+ yds with about 15 yds roll

Miss Right: Block/Slice - Starts right of center and fades/slices to the right edge and rolls into the first cut/rough

Miss Left: Draw - starts left and mostly continues straight to the left edge/rough with a slight draw.


Long Irons 3, 4 & 5: Callaway X Protos (Royal Precision 6.0 Flighted)

My usual shot is a high straight ball with a slight fade.

Misses: When going for distance I sometimes pull the ball left. When trying to lift the ball I end up blocking the shot right. Over here I've already dropped my swing down to 80% to limit the damage on my missed shots. One more thing ... it feels like I am leaking power as my long irons don't always go that long.


Thanks again. Look forward to hearing what you guys (and gals) have to say.

The high fade is a good "normal shot" to have. It worked for Jack Nicklaus and a lot of other great golfers. So we can work with that.

So the first thing I'm going to ask you to do doesn't involve any swing change and will immediately yield benefits.

Off the tee set up on the right side of the tee box and aim 260 yards down the fairway and just off the left edge of the fairway. Your normal fade will drift right back into the left side of the fairway and roll straight down the fairway. Your right miss (the block/slice) will end up on the right side of the fairway rather than in the right rough.

That will pay immediate dividends. Next we'll eliminate your occasional miss left with a slight draw and we'll have you in the fairway off the tee a high percentage of the time.

Question: What if anything have you noticed that you do different when you hit the slight draw left? For example:
- Do you ease up on the downswing?
- Notice anything different about your balance on the follow through?
- Change your grip?
- Notice any difference in your swing path on the backswing or downswing?

Some good stuff here Mark. Will have to give a try next time I'm on the course ...
To draw the ball off the tee with driver I change my grip by slightly rotating my right hand over the shaft and through the swing I have the feeling of putting "top spin" on the ball. This is a great shot when it works well.

The difference with the miss is when I am trying to aim left of the fairway to compensate for the block/slice. What I think is happening is that my club face closes sending the ball left. (as opposed to my normal shot where I feel like the club face is more open).

Hope this helps ...

Yep Nikhil that's what is happening, and I already had that figured out. What we need to determine is WHY that is happening when it is not happening on most of your swings. Something is different. I listed a few of the possibilities on my prior post. Take a look at that list again and see if anything rings true. If not, then try to dissect it next time it happens on the course. As soon as it happens just stop and ask yourself what felt different about that swing: swing path, tempo, more active with your hands or arm rotation, jumped at the ball. Look down at your hands and see if there is anything different about your grip. Look down at your feet and see if they are aligned normally, or perhaps your back foot is more behind you.

All these are possibilities, but the only one that is helpful to correct is the one you are doing, so we've got to diagnose this together.

Two other possibilities to add:

Change in ball position (not just forward and back, but also how far from your body) and...

Weight shift - specifically if you hang back that can cause the club face to turn over.

Thanks again for the input. Did not play yesterday but I'm on my way to the course right now. Let's see what happens,

Appreciate the help.

Mark,

Here is my video of a drive earlier today that went left.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v..

Here is a video of a drive that faded as intended.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v..

... And enjoy the sounds of golf in India as well!

Cheers!

Nikhil, you've done a great job at helping us help you. I encourage others on the board to look at these videos too. Here's what I see.

The difference is all in the downswing. With both your draw and fade you had virtually identical positions at the top of your swing: Club slightly across the line, hands fairly low and left hand slightly cupped.

Now look at the blurred path of the clubhead half way down. Very different! When you hit your fade the clubhead is much further behind you at this point of the downswing. Also, your chest is pointed behind the ball in the fade, but is pretty much pointed right at the ball on your way to hitting a draw.

From a purest standpoint the position you are at for hitting the draw is preferred. But I know you want to consistently hit your fade. The difference between these swings is the amount you've turned your body from the top to this point in the downswing.

With the draw, you've turned more and squared your body to the ball. From here you don't have to turn as hard to get the clubhead to the ball. I'm not saying you slow down, you don't. It's more of a smooth acceleration, which allows your hands to release and turn over at the ball causing the ball to go left.

With the fade, halfway down the clubhead is behind you so you need to (and do) turn hard from here on out. Because you are still turning hard the clubhead remains open at impact resulting in your fade.

I also looked at other stages of your swing. Most notably the follow through ends up looking 'almost' identical. The one difference is you finish your draw facing the target. You finish your fade somewhat left of the target. The result of turning harder to get back to the ball.

That's what I see. Anybody else notice anything I overlooked?

Mark,

Thanks for all that information! Wow this has been a great experience for me so far. Nice work on the frame grabs!! Here are some of my observations,

1. I am really surprised how similar the two swings are. While playing they feel completely different. I'm amazed you could identify the differences just like that (from the videos).

2. I'm also really happy that my swing isn't the mess I visualized it would be.

3. In these two swings I'm at about 90% (in my head at least). What I'm taking from these videos is that slowing it down a little more will help improve my accuracy hopefully.

4. I'm also seeing a little looseness in the swing which I would like to tighten up. I'm talking about my arms at the top of my back swing and just after impact. Any thoughts on this?

Look forward to more feedback ...

Its been a few days since I started this discussion and I have to say that I have finally come across one amazing fix for my accuracy of the tee!

Google "The Move" by Mike Maves aka Sevam1

It is still a work in progress but it is for real. I have been hitting my drives not left, not right but dead center of the fairway! I can't say if its going to work for anyone and everyone but if you have a decent idea of your swing ... try it.

I have to credit Goybes42 for pointing me to another website where I first saw "The Move". I am as jaded as any when it comes to online information but I had been working on something similar (Balance). The move involves feet placement that makes it a lot easier to stay balanced during the swing (provided all other aspects are in order) specially with respect to rotational forces/torques.

The misses that I have had so far are with topping the ball sometimes while using this setup. This has happened while hitting my 3 wood off the deck but everything off the tee has been great.

Hope this helps others on here ...