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Question 22

Problem with the driver off the tee

From Brian:

I have been having problems with the driver off the tee. I used to slice the ball normally but, of late I am hooking the ball. I have gone to a more neutral grip, and went from an interlock to an overlapping grip. I have a swing speed of 125 mph. I have tried to reduce my swing speed but it has been difficult to do. I have recently purchased an XPC offset driver prior to my hooking problems. Do you have any advice that may be of some use for me. Anything you could swing my way would be of great assistance. Thank you very much.

Dear Bryan,

My first inclination would be to check your face of the offset driver, because more than likely it is hook faced. If your driver is not hook faced then you are breaking down your left forward arm rail and I assume from your grip that you are a two axis rotator. You do not need to reduce your clubhead speed, because distance is a huge advantage. Remember, that most high tech clubs are designed to roll over or shut down through impact to fault correct for a slice. The reason I became a golf manufacturer was to design a club that did not attempt to fault correct, but rather allowed you to hit dead straight golf shots.

First off, take a full swing without hitting the golf ball and bring the golf club down to chest high from the finish. This is called balancing the club head dynamically, and I have spoken of the process in other Ask Scott answers. If the club face is angled toward the left, then you need to rebalance the golf club face to where it is pointing toward nine o'clock and the toe and heel are in relationship to 12 and 6 o'clock. If this does not solve your hooking problems then work on keeping your nose back over your right knee at impact while keeping your upper body square to the ball, while maintaining a gap between your right arm piston and your left arm rod. Your left arm should be farther away from your body then your right arm and your shoulders need to be working down and under instead of out and around.

I would highly suggest shooting a video of yourself from the front, side, down the target line and back. Send the video to me and I will evaluate and show the corrections necessary for you to reach your genetic timing barrier.

Scott