I had a lesson with Chris, a new student, that went quite well until we got to the driver. Chris is fit and strong and could really develop some clubhead speed. Distance was not his problem. Direction was, as well as just plain hitting it. He tended to hit a lot of chunks.
Chris had a strong right hand grip and he liked to milk the grip with his right hand at lest 5 or 6 times before starting his takeaway. Each time he let go and re-gripped, his right hand turned a little more under and got stronger. His stance width was good, it was narrow to shoulder width, but his knees were pinched inward and his feet were set straight out. So I got him to the trademark PPGS setup of both feet flared and wide knees over the feet with outward pressure. Oh yeah, he also had his feet aimed right and his shoulders and hips open, both of which we worked on to get him parallel left.
His swing had a lot of leg movement, a big turn and he swung to parallel and beyond. The good news for his backswing was that he was vertical and his club was in a good position over the center of his right shoulder at the top of the backswing. The bad news was his finish was an 'El Foldo,' arms wrapped around his torso at his finish, which was turned way too far to the left of target and was always out of balance.
The first order of business was to get his right hand on the club square and stop the milking, as that was the big cause of it going stronger. He handled it O.K. despite it feeling awkward, as he quickly pointed out. Next thing corrected was I got him into the trademark PPGS setup of both feet flared outward, around 30 degrees, and wide knees over the feet with outward pressure. I told Chris that in the backswing he would now hold or resist his left knee moving inward. This was the key to reducing his hip and shoulder turn and would be the catalyst for shortening his backswing to 3/4.
Despite the problems with his backswing, I felt that because it was vertical and he adapted to the setup changes so well that was not his main problem. I decided to fix his finish first. That was his main problem, including his loss of balance in falling backwards as he swung up to his finish. When his arms folded around his body and hit his chest, they caused him to be pulled to the left, loosing his balance. The key to fixing his wide left finish was to teach him to swing his hands and club up and over his left shoulder, with his right hand almost touching his right ear. His arms would no longer touch his chest. Now as they swung out down the line longer and then up and over his left shoulder, he could stand up to the T ' Finish in balance facing the target.
I had Chris make many practice swings with no ball to grove the feeling of the arms snapping through impact and swinging his arms up and over his left shoulder. When he had the up swing grooved, he got a ball and was quickly hitting his irons more solid, higher and a whole lot straighter. He was hitting bullets that just held the line well. If there was curve, the ball barely moved and was finishing within a few yards of the line it started on. With the forward up-swing looking better with the T-finish in balance, I returned and worked on shortening his backswing to ¾. I got him shorter, but not to ¾ as he was still closer to parallel than ¾. The good points that kept his ball striking better were that he was still vertical and I was able, with the limited leg action and turn, to really firm up his wrists and forearms, especially at the top of the backswing when the transition started to the forward upswing. That really added control over his upper body and his club.
Chris was hitting 7 irons and I moved him up to a four and the ball striking was still good. Divots were shallow and the ball flight was relatively straight. But he kept begging for me to let him hit the BIG STICK'¦the driver. So after seeing him confidently and consistently control his swing and hit good shots, I gave him the driver, confident that he would hit a pretty good shot.
I saw him hit the most powerful super block high slice I have ever seen. And, not once but 3 in a row, like the 5th Dimension's song'¦'UP'¦UP'¦ and AWAY,' and I mean up and away clearing the side netting and likely clearing the parking lot all the way to the street. We never heard a car get hit and I knew mine was safe because it was on the opposite side.
Chris looked at me and his first word is 'what am I doing wrong.' This Question is placing all the blame on him. I said his swing looked good but his ball flight was mind boggling. He wanted another go, but I couldn't let him as I had to protect the parking lot. So I gave him his 7 iron and he hit it good, so I felt his swing was still OK. I gave him his driver back and with no players on the fairway left of the range I had him aim over the fairway at the woods on the other side. I told him to swing extra easy. He did and hit a couple of relatively straight high cuts.
So now, I am looking at the driver. The problem was the BIG STICK, not Chris. I asked him if he knew what the shaft was as I could not see a label with a flex rating on it. He said a pro he knew said the shaft would be right for him and he had it re-shafted. I asked and found out there was no fitting, no checking swing speeds or anything. Just, 'This shaft is good for you.' 'Well,' I said, 'it looks like it IS good '¦ for nothing but bad shots.' I took it and hit two big sweeping hooks with it and I felt the shaft was really weak for me. That meant it was not a X-Stiff but rather a regular, maybe even senior flex, which is why the pro couldn't hit it either. I recommended he get it checked and bet him it was a regular flex and maybe even senior flex.
So, to keep banging the BAD DRIVER drum, I am telling everyone here the same thing I told Chris: Don't immediately blame yourself and wonder what you are doing wrong when you can't hit your driver, especially when you are hitting most of your other clubs O.K. And just because you bought a new one or got it re-shafted (without a fitting) that the club has to be good and you are the problem. If you're hitting most or all of your other clubs OK, it's the club, not you. Start with getting the likely problem checked first before you start giving yourself forty lashes of doubt, depression, anger and loss of confidence. Because if the driver is BAD and you don't find out and keep using it, the problem will only get worse, as well as your attitude, swing, loss of balls, and let's not forget YOUR SCORE!
Go see your PGA Professional or a certified clubfitter and get THE DRIVER checked to see what the shaft flex is. Then, once you know that, have him or her check your swing speeds and determine what your shaft should be. If that is not what your driver shaft is, then you know the BIG STICK is, in fact, THE PROBLEM. Now have the correct flex shaft put in at the correct length, favoring shorter over longer for more solid contact and accuracy. When you hit the driver BAD'¦before you get MAD, check the driver before beating up the player. Please!
The Suge!