golfrewind.com

My swing is changing and I'm having trouble stopping it. Used to be I got my lower body out in front of my hands too far/fast and I was fading every one of my longer irons and fairway woods. Then lately( last month or so)I started drawing my driver and especially my 7 wood(cally SteelheadIII). Its getting to the point where I can't even make good contact. My left shoulder is bothering my a little( old injury-no flexibility) and my low back gets tight after eighteen holes.
Do you think its possible that I'm trying to compensate for the body ailments by swinging too hard w/ my arms to get the same distance?
At first it was my driver( got a new G2 w/ stiff Prolaunch) and i thought my shaft was too stiff ( is there such a thing?) . Everything was going left, then it started working its way into my other long clubs as well.
I'm just about to the point where its time to take off as week or two w/o picking up a club, and see if it goes away. I usually par all the par 5's on my course even though I mess up on a shot, but lately its been bogey or worse. The hooks are getting me into trouble I can't escape from. By the way, I average bogey golf, but have gone as low as +2 for nine holes.

OK, this is how my pro has cured my hook....

Take your club in your right hand (assuming you are right handed) half way up the shaft... Have the shaft at 45 degree's, or so.... Now make sure the face of the club is pointing vertically up wards.

Now with your left hand go to place it under the heal of the shaft, but your pinkie instead grabs the shaft & not your palm, the other fingers follow suit, then start to wrap your hand over the shaft feeling the fact that the shaft is held where your fingers meet your palms & not in the palm itself.

Now you are going to complain that you think you've cocked your wrist back, which in a way you have, but look closely at some of the best players teeing off & you will see the left gloved hand is the same.

your thumb will now be sitting pointing along the club or slightly left, this is good, now remove your right hand from the shaft & slide it up the shaft over your left thumb, so the life line sits snuggly over left thumb, it should feel snug & probably very odd.

Check the blade is still vertical, it also means you now have a lot more control with how you can move the club face, although it wont feel like it.

Let the tension go & just swing normally. Let the swing happen don't try & do all the usual things you will do to correct yourself.

Every ball I hit after that was straight. when I didn't thin or hit the ball heavy, which you will do for the first few. Keep at it & you will be amazed at how straight the balls will now be.

This has helped me & hope it helps you

I went to the range today and hit a bucket. I hit 10 to 20 balls before I made enough grip adjustments to start hitting the ball staight. The grip change felt really funny even after I was hitting staight shots. Its weird how subtle changes here and there ingrain themselves in my swing until it feels "right " even though its not. I still think the stiff Blue Prolaunch on my G2 10* is too stiff. I have to open up my stance and think outside to inside and fade it to get the distance and trajectory I need- otherwise everything seems to want to go low and to the left.

ahhh...! right... You're probably still tensing a bit... the other thing my pro got me to do on a prior lesson, was imagine on a scale of 1 to 10 how hard I'm gripping the club, through the swing.. It should be enough to not loose the club, but also it musn't be so tight that I'm throttling the club to death.. When you say swing with an iron & feel it stense up at any point in the swing, then that oddly enough is enough to create bad shots or simply that ball that curls & peels off to the left..

With my driver my best & straightest, not to mention straightest shots are where I don't tense at all at the top of the back swing, where the club is almost in danger of pulling my wrists where it will, at which point I let the swing happen & this semi loose grip, about 5 on the scale comes back down & seems almost to whip the ball away from the tee. Its obviously not quite what is happening, but that's how it feels & it is straight.

Though I will say I do need to get that consistent, as I do still let nerves & tension creap in.

My pro actually got me to aproach the ball as I would a teed up shot on the field, simply take the grip line of sight with the club & then walk the 4 to 6 foot to the pin, take my stance & simply swing, all in the same pace, without ( or with little) hesitation any additional preperation... It seems to work for Irons & woods alike. He used the analogy of a running tap, which has a flow that is constant, from taking the grip, through aproach & swing...

Seemed odd at first, but, boy did it work.

Hope this is of additional help, if its something you don't already do... If it is something you already do, ignore me ...lol

Read with interest, sorry but i,m going to steal it and try it this afternoon and see how I get on.

I'm not going to try and tell you how to correct your hook. . .I'm having a similar problem. . .But I will say that physical ailment will definitely cause changes in your swing. Compensating for pain, adjusting. . .I have a rotater cuff (sp??) problem in the right side, and if I happen to pop it while I'm playing, I'm pretty much done afterwards. I also have lower back pain (hey, its the American way)--and playing with back pain, reduces my swings, yardage, fun factor, all of it.

Steal away

btw, LottaBalata has a good point about injuries & how we compensate & try & protect our strained & damaged parts.