Today, I answer a couple of questions that Jim Stratton sent in to our fiirst webcast of The Surge Show. Here is Jim's description of his problem.
"Please, Surge, HELP ME! Whenever I want to play the ball down the left side of the fairway on my drives, it always slices right. Then the next drive is short. How do I determine the correct way to set up the correct distance from the ball [driver] and does the club make a difference, say a driver to a 8 iron?"
Jim, it sounds to me that you may have an alignment problem that is causing you to slice. You may think you are lined up down the left side of the fairway, but are you really? If you are actually aimed to the right then your mind may try to make mid-swing corrections by having your arms and hands come out and across the ball in a slicing fashion. Next time this happens, do not move your feet after the swing. Then lay your club across your toes and step behind your club to check your aim. If it is off-target to the right then you have your diagnosis. Another possibility is that you are playing your ball too far back and so the club doesn't have time to square up at impact. But based on my years of experience teaching I think the issue is due to poor alignment.
In your second question, you asked if there was a different setup from the driver down to the 8-iron. Well, Jim, in a word-- "No!". You want to make the same setup for every club in the bag. This is where the importance of establishing a solid setup routine becomes paramount. When I setup, I walk into the shot the same way. I then place the club face behind the ball, set my feet, firm up my grip and then lower my hands into position directly below my chin. Doing this automatically creates the proper distance from the ball, regardless of the club I am holding. As I've said many times before, the ball doesn't know what club you have in your hand. It doesn't know how old you are or what side of the ball you swing from. The laws of physics and physiology apply to all! So if you want to shoot lower scores, make a point of getting your setup right.
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
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