Many times after you feel like you've hit a good shot, the ball does not end up near your target. Instead, you miss somewhere out to the right. Yet, the real problem is that you don't understand why. This was the case for a Surgite who submitted a question simply by the name of Joe. He felt as though his alignment was good, so he's looking for other reasons that could be causing the blocks.
I've been using the PPGS and finding that I like it a lot. I'm hitting the ball very well with the exception of a block which I seem to hit about half the time. When I practice I know my set up and alignment are good. I put a club at my feet parallel left, so I may be under-releasing but don't know what to do about it.
Misalignment is usually the number one reason why golfers block shots to the right. I've even had students swear they knew their alignment was correct, only to have me stop them before they swing to show them that they weren't. Whether they move their feet unknowingly while they are setting up or kick their alignment sticks out of position while practicing, it's usually an easy fix once they see it for themselves.
But, because Joe says he knows his alignment and setup are good, there must be another reason for his blocks. He suggests that he might be under-releasing the club. This means that instead of releasing the club toe up into the forward catcher's mitt, he could be holding on a fraction long through impact just long enough that the ball starts down the right side. Usually if you are under-realeasing, the ball will have a slight cut or fade to it.
Although alignment and under-releasing the club are both good reasons why golfers block shots to the right, there are a few other swing flaws that could be causing it. Another good probability is that you might have the ball positioned too far back in your stance. This will cause you to hit it a bit too soon due to a late release.
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Comments
Blocking Shots
I was having this problem for all of last week with too many approach shots hit to the right. It was probably due to thinking too much about lag. The problem is that, for whatever reason, thinking about lag resulted in much better and more consistent driving for the whole week. For the most part the quality of all my shots was much better with the exception of the odd score wrecking block to the right. I was blaming these misses on alignment problems but your comments about overdoing or even thinking about lag make sense. I'll try to find a happy balance. Thanks, Surge.
Short iron ball position
Another possibility, which Surge mentioned, is the ball position. I realized as I was listening to this daily that the big reason that I had been hitting all of my short iron and wedge shots to the right lately is that I had moved the ball back in my stance too much. I was correcting an error in weight transfer by adding an error in ball position. The result was beautifully struck shots 10 to 20 yards right of my target.
Blocks
Hi Surge,
In my case, I believe there are two particular elements that lead to my tendency to send shots out to the right. With short irons in particular, I tend to keep the ball further back in my stance, and with all clubs, I still have a tendency to turn too much and get my arms behind me, which either leads to coming too much from the inside (push/block) or compensating and coming over the top (pull/slice).
During my last round, I had some success focusing on something Steve Smith likes to pound on, letting the hands drop. On the shots when I could get myself to slow down and focus and just lift the club and let my hands drop from the top, I hit absolutely beautiful shots.
Increasing Swing Speed
I've been trying to increase the pace of my swing by simplifying/streamlining my swing thoughts. I would never have been able to change from a rotational to upright swing without Surge's many excellent visualizations and have played the best golf of my life with them. Now that the swing is fairly well grooved I'm trying to reduce the swing to one BUS trigger followed by one FUS trigger. One of the things I'm trying is the Surge's " BING--BANG" mantra to time these triggers.
"BING" gets me to the correct BUS position with the butt of the club pointed at the shoelaces. This is a very easy "feel" to reproduce.
"BANG" triggers the entire FUS starting with the bump activated dropping of the butt of the club toward the rear toeline and completing with the T-Finish.
For the first time, I'm able to feel that elusive starting of the FUS, before reaching the top of the BUS that Surge talks about.