Three Major Flaws
Breaking Down Swing Flaws That Create A Golf Slice
This is the point in the book where you should start paying very
close
attention. Even if you consider this information elementary to
your
knowledge, you need to read every bit of it to understand the root
cause of your slicing issues.
Keep in mind that this book was written by a right-handed golfer,
therefore if you are left-handed; just reverse all of my
directions.
When I say left it means right, when I say right it means left.
Now, let’s dive a little deeper into the 3 major factors
contributing to a slice.
Faulty or Wide Impact Angle
Untimely Shoulder Alignment
Excessive Arm and Wrist Movement
These flaws are not listed in any particular order. Their
prominence in
a golfers slice is highly individualistic. After I describe each
of the
flaws you will be able to determine which Steps & Drills will
impact
your swing the most. But as always, you may need to work all
of “The Dave Way” Steps into your swing to see the maximum gain in
distance and accuracy. That being said let’s move on to the first
dynamic of the golf slice.
Faulty or Wide Impact Angle
Although I said that I am not listing these flaws in order of
prominence (as far as the average golf slice), this factor was
the lead problem when it came to my slice.
Here is how you come up with an Impact Angle:
We will start by drawing an imaginary line. Let’s start the line
18
inches behind your teed up golf ball… and end the line at your
target way off in the distance, about 250 to 300 yards away.
We will call this line your “target line” for the duration of this
manual.
The following picture shows a target
line, the yellow arrow.
TARGET LINE
If you were to make a line from the tip of your right shoe to the
tip of your left shoe (while at address), then your target line
would be parallel to this address line.
ADDRESS LINE
Now we need to make an imaginary line along the path that your
clubhead takes through the shot. We are not talking about the path
you wish it would take, or the path you kind of hope it takes, but
the path your actual driver would travel in an average drive
situation. Let’s start this line 12 inches before impact with the
golf ball and end the line 12 inches after impact.
You now have what we will refer to as your “actual path”, shown in
the picture below, the red arrow.
ACTUAL PATH
Here is an easy way to get your actual path:
Go to the range.
Take a couple of Pre-“The Dave Way” practice swings with a 7 or 8
iron.
Then hit a ball taking a good (preferably front side) divot.
Now take a look at where your target line was (yellow line)…
and draw an imaginary red line starting a few inches behind the
start of your divot, and ending a few inches after your divot.
This would be your actual path. See the following pictures.
|
 |
| TARGET LINE | YOUR DIVOT |
Now let’s add your imaginary actual path line.
Your Actual Path (red
line)
Now we’ve produced your target line and your actual path.
The Impact Angle is the angle that is formed by the crossing of
your actual path over your target line. See below, blue angle.
If your actual path starts out away from your body (before you
strike the ball) and then ends up closer to your body (after you
strike the ball) then you have an incorrect Impact Angle. See
the picture above.
Untimely Shoulder Alignment
Out of all the flaws we will be talking about, this flaw took me
the greatest amount of time and effort to figure out, overcome,
and then create a good drill for.
Let me explain why it took so long.
Even though the root of this flaw lies in the shoulder alignment
at the moment of impact with the ball, the dilemma this
alignment creates has nothing to do with the shoulders.
In fact, it has more to do with swing tempo, club face position
at
impact, and body weight shift through the shot.
But I wanted to find out what the root of all these problems
centered around. And more importantly I wanted to come up
with a drill that would correct all these problems in one fell
swoop.
After further research at the range I found that if I could focus
on:
1) the alignment of one’s
shoulders at the peak of the
backswing (the point at which the clubhead is at it’s highest on
the takeaway)
2) the alignment of one’s
shoulders at the moment of impact
with the ball then a proper alignment of the shoulders (at these
two points)
would correct most all of the other aspects above.
It is far too hard for you to figure out if you have Untimely
Shoulder Alignment while you are in the act of swinging the golf
club.
The only true way of knowing is to have a friend watch your
swing or to have your swing video taped at the range or at the
local golf shop.
If you do have a friend that can watch you swing a few times at
the range, then here are a couple of points to help you figure
out if your shoulders are properly aligned at the correct times.
You have Untimely Shoulder Alignment if:
1. Your shoulder and address lines are not parallel at address...
while you are totally still.
2. Your shoulder line is not parallel with your target line at
impact.
3. Your right shoulder is any closer to the ball than your left
shoulder at the moment of impact.
We described what your “address line” was a few pages above.
Now let’s quickly define your shoulder line, which (for future
reference) is constantly in motion throughout the golf shot. This
way you can better understand the points above.
If you started an imaginary straight line 6 inches behind your
right shoulder (traveling away from the target, while you are
still, at address) and ended the line 6 inches past your left
shoulder (traveling towards the target) then you would have
your shoulder line.
Although you could spend a bunch of time and money
researching your swing to see you have an Untimely Shoulder
Alignment, my suggestion is to worry less about finding out if
you do and concentrate on becoming skilled at “The Dave Way”
steps and drills.
Excessive Arm and Wrist Movement
This is the flaw I like to call the “multi-culprit”. The 2 main
factors that contribute to a superb golf shot is accuracy and
proper distance control... Excessive Arm and Wrist Movement
seriously affects both.
If you master “The Dave Way” step # 3 you will be pleasantly
surprised at the amount of distance you can pick up just by
making sure that your arms are not making any unnecessary
movements during your swing.
Most golf slicers tend to bend their arms at the wrong time
during the swing or cock their wrists improperly at impact.
All this leads to some kind of crazy spin on the golf ball and
ultimately a golf slice, or at best, a bad shot.
There are so many ways one can have Excessive Arm and
Wrist Movement so we will not go into how you determine if you
have this excessive movement.
Again, if you make sure to learn and follow all of “The Dave
Way” steps, and practice the drills, as often as you can, there
will be no need to figure out what was going wrong. 
All these flaws are, in some way or another, contributing to your
golf slice.
On to the Steps and Drills, where we will start to take care of
these flaws,
and cure that slice once and for all!