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I played 18 today and shot +24. 12 of those strokes were from 6 balls I hit out of bounds. The breakdown was like this:

4-iron from the fairway, sliced
2-hybrid from the fairway, sliced
3-wood off the tee, shanked off the heel, dribbled into the woods on the left
Repeat of above swing
3-hybrid off the tee, hooked into woods (I was trying to roll my hands over on this to fix my slice)
Driver off the tee, same as the two 3-woods above

(for the record, I was +1 on these six holes if you take away the OB shots )

I'm playing again Wednesday and want to have some idea how to fix this. Besides these twelve shots, I lost a good 5-6 shots chipping onto the green from the right, pin-high. Needless to say, it would have been an amazing round by my standards if I just hit the ball straight.

My question is this: Would coming "over the top" be the cause of all of this, including the heel shots and the wrist-rolled-hook? I looked in the mirror swinging tonight and realized that my right elbow was getting away on the downswing. But would that account for the shots off the heel? If I can just keep that elbow tight, will that fix all of those shots, or is there something else there?

I feel like I'm just THIS CLOSE to really being able to put up some really low numbers. But I want to be confident standing over the ball, and trusting myself to fade/slice it every time does not allow me to play confidently.

Sorry for the long explanation. I'm just thinking on the keyboard, I guess. Any help would be awesome.

I would advise a trip or two to the range. Sometimes the difference between striking the ball well and poorly is made by experimenting. It sounds like you know enough about the golf swing to improve yourself. Maybe you need another set of eyes on the range, someone to tell you where you are at different positions in your swing. Without seeing you swing a club, its hard for anyone (advice-giving worthy or not) to make recommendations. If you play with anyone who knows the golf swing, offer to buy them lunch if they'd watch you swing and hit balls on the range.

A lesson is the obvious advice, but try to work through it by experimenting on your own.

As for hitting the ball off the heel, I was doing this for a good couple weeks. I got away from it by really trying to feel the toe rotation through impact and getting more shallow with the club head on it's approach to the ball. Maybe that might apply to you, but like I said, I can't see you swing.

I'll probably do that when I get back home next week. Right now I'm on a trip visiting my family and I'm the one teaching other people things about the golf swing (that's when you know they're in trouble!). There's a guy who has been helping me lately, plays pretty close to scratch, and did just that a few weeks ago, watching me hit balls at the range. Most helpful session I ever had, by far. Unfortunately, he's not here right now, so maybe I'll have to get the new video camera working and check it out myself. Then I can post in on here as well.

I just really want to play well on Wednesday; it's my favorite course and I only get to play it once a year these days. I never have really taken a good shot at it, something has always been off (like the day I discovered the weight shift on the downswing and started hitting every ball about 20 yards over the green).

I'll try your fix for hitting off the heel. I hit several drives in play that way too, losing a bit of distance that way.

I'll update when I see what happens...

With only one day to improve I would say the best advise would be to relax your arms and shoulders. You may be a little too tense and pressing a little bit. Slow the swing down just a little bit.

Since most of your OB issues seem to be off the tee, I'll share the best advice I've ever received on curing a slice and hitting the ball relatively straight.

Envision you are on a baseball field with your target in center field. Line up square to the target line, take a nice smooth swing and try to hit the ball over the shortstop's head into left-center. I'm not sure of the exact mechanics, but it has worked for me for the last ten years. That is my sole swing thought when standing on the tee with driver or fairway wood in my hands.

Well, I must have figured out something, because I shot a 77 today, my best round by 8 shots. I was playing everything with a slight fade and accounting for it by aiming a bit left, and it was just beautiful. I did sail two balls way right, one with a driver and one with a 3-wood, but thankfully both were lateral hazards, not O.B., so I managed to average only bogey on those two. I literally measured three tee shots at 330+ from the tee (granted, slightly elevated tee, low-cut fairways, and it was hotter than fire outside, and the tee boxes could have been forward for all I know).

I did focus on getting my hips moving forward sooner, before my downswing begins in earnest. I also tried a slightly stronger grip with good success. But I'll try out all the suggestions I haven't yet been able to try when I get a trip to the range.

Thanks again and happy shooting.

Sorry to keep bumping this, but I thought I would update. It seems my problem has been not releasing the club through impact. My clubface is staying open and I'm hitting fades/slices because of it. When I deliberately roll my wrists? Dead straight and boomed.

By the way, I figured this out on #18 today. Some timing, huh? Better than nothing