oh my god ! help please

right ive been playing the best golf of my life the last few weeks and was thinking surely nothing else could go wrong. however i went to hit 100 balls on saturday and even though im taking the same steps in taking my grip setting up etc i just cant keep the club face open.

now as somebody who has been a serial slicer for years i could never shut the face quick enough but now when i take my grip and let my arms fall/hang the club face closes. i swear im doing exactly the same as ive alway done before as far as i know  but now it keeps closing. and heres the real kicker no matter how much i seem to grip the club face open if i do a practce swing its closed again. the result of this is no height, poor contact and a big 100 yard hook. its really ruining my mental state at the minute and i feel ready to pack it all in. ive been out every day since saturday trying to remedy it but to no avail. has anybody else had this problem and how did you fix it.

ps when i say the club face closes i mean if square is 12 oclock and i do a practice swing it will be at nearly 11 oclock its really extreme.

are you sure your hands aren't on backwards?

David,

I'm confused, you talk about a 'Closed' face and a 'Slice'? They don't go together unless your grips or shaft are loose.

TheLyth

He says he has always sliced the ball and now i asume he has a draw/hook with the closed face????

 It could be a simple fix with your grip and i dont mean the clubs grip.

Are you taking away the club square???

Well David its pretty hard to diagnose over the internet but my advice is to just check complete basics like grip, alignment, take away of club and if no better just ask for a bit of advice from a good local pro. They should be able to sort it as to go from a slice to a hook all of a sudden sounds like somthing simple has changed?????

David,

You did write "the result of this is no height, poor contact and a big 100 yard slice".

An educated guess is that because you had begun to hit straight and then began hooking the ball all of a sudden and with you trying to keep the face open, you have started swinging more IN to OUT and are putting spin on the ball.

It is very difficult to pin-point a fault without seeing your swing so that is why I offer my suggestion.

TheLyth

 Having been on both sides of hitting it square I'd definately opt for the slice as I seem to get into more trouble with the hook  (ball tends to run further). I did have a hook a few weeks ago but found it out when I took my practice swing (started off square) at set up but by the time I had gone through the swing and stopped it at impact the club face was woefully closed. I practiced chip shots paying attention to my left thumb position and all was ok but when I hit the driver again same old result. I then concentrated on making sure the downswing was led by my hips/legs and the result is looking promising.

David, hi.

I'm a very occasional user of the site but have put up a couple of posts tonight, one on this forum, so I've been reading some of the other posts, starting with your earlier one about wanting to draw the ball consistently. I note that this one about nightmare hooks was posted shortly after you had been trying some of the tips you were getting!

My advice would be this:

Most players and almost every teaching pro think there is one way everyone should hit a golf ball, and the guys who send you all those tips - often contradictory - to achieve that perfection are all barking up the wrong tree.

There are so many variables in the golf swing that 100 beginners going through exactly the same tuition classes, drills and practice would still have 100 different versions. So how can student #37 presume to tell #85 how to hit the ball better?

You're a 15-handicapper, so your swing and style of play, dictated partly by what you have learned but mainly by all your personal physical variables (flexibility of each and every joint, eyesight, alignment, natural swingpath, muscularity, etc, etc) are more or less fixed. Initially you said that most of your shots went straight or with a slight tendency to fade - now you are saying you are very erratic having tried to draw the ball consistently. Why do you think this is?

You need to go to the practice ground/driving range, aim at a specific target and hit the ball as naturally as you can, without trying to make the ball do anything and, especially, without trying to impress anyone, including yourself. Just observe where the balls go as if you were advising a friend. My guess is that they will nearly all land a few degrees from the target line, considerably favouring one side - probably the right given your first comment in the original post. Now take the average line and aim that far the other side of the target, say ten yards left. Your grouping should now be on the target line.

If you hit the majority of your shots straight or with a slight fade you will find yourself aiming at the left half of the fairway and hitting almost every fairway or, at worst, just in the short rough. I had 13/14 on Saturday and my partners ask me how I don't get bored - believe me, you never do. All your long shots, particularly your drives, have just one purpose - to move you a reasonable distance towards the green and never cost you a shot.

I win a lot more games in my Club scratch knockout than I lose, because most guys who draw the ball gift me a couple of holes by hooking one or two or running into deep trouble. I beat one long-hitting 3-handicapper three years running - he wasn't amused - and won the Final against a guy off 1, having lost to a plus 1 player the year before by 3&2 (I was 2 over!). I tell you this not to brag but to show you what's possible if you know your own game, learn to trust it at all times, and don't envy other players their strengths. Let them worry about yours - once you've settled your long game down, forget it, learn to get up and down from wherever it leaves you and you will be a fearsome opponent.

I won't say good luck, because it isn't - just Good Golf!

Terry

Terry - that seems like really good advice. Fits in a bit with stuff I've been reading in a book a friend recommended  - `Golf is not a game of perfect'. The best bits of advice in there were as you said about accepting what you do more often and planning accordingly. If you slice/fade more often that not then aim left. Work on it on the range but don't fight it and try to fix it on the course by aiming straight and keep costing shots.  Also some great advice up there about hitting easier by using next club etc.  Hoping to sort myself out this year and make a real dent in the handicap. Andy.