Slicing one into the trees isn’t the best way to start to a hole. It can stop you from making par, add unnecessary strokes to your score, and prevent you from breaking 80. If you’re playing a match in your golf league, it can cost you the hole.
Usually, poor mechanics causes you to slice. These swing flaws—as we like to call them in golf instruction sessions—are deadly. They sap power from your swing and create all kinds of trouble. If you’re a slicer or hooker, you know exactly what we mean.
But even good golfers with sound swings can become untracked. And it doesn’t take much for that to happen. Often, the flaws amount to little things you’re doing wrong that can make a big difference. Small as they are, these little mistakes can derail your whole swing.
Below are 7 common swing flaws we see in our golf lessons. You may be committing one or two of them yourself. Correcting them is critical. It can put your swing back on track and can help you chop strokes off your golf handicap in the process.
1. Too low ballflight
Limiting the height of your follow through reduces the height of your shots. The lower your hands, the lower your ballflight. Sometimes a low ballflight is good, like on windy days. But more often than not, it pays to get more loft on your shots. If getting loft is a problem for you, extend your arms out and up more.
2. Poor ballstriking
One reason for missing your targets on shots is poor ballstriking. This can be the result of being off plane at the top of your swing. Make sure your right forearm parallels your spine, your left wrist is flat, and your elbows and arms form a triangle at the top of your swing. These moves will not only boost ballstriking, they’ll increase accuracy and consistency.
3. Loss of power off the tee
Do lack power off the tee? You might be using your arms to power your shots? That’s doing it the hard way. Savvy golfers use their bodies to power their shots, not their arms. To generate more power, learn to get your body behind your shot.
Next time you’re on the practice range, try this: put the club behind the ball at address, with your body in a dead stop position. Without taking a backswing, try dragging the ball into the air.
This is the feel you want on your shots. If you use your hands to power your shots, you’ll have difficulty doing this. Keep trying until you master it.
4. Weak iron shots
This problem stems from two swing flaws. First, your takeaway is too low to the ground, impeding the hinging of your wrists. Second, you’re swinging your arms too far back in your swing. This causes your posture to break down and leads to a reverse pivot. Both are deadly. Try hitting shots at the range where you pre-set your wrists at the top of the swing. You’ll see the difference.
5. Hooking off the tee
Hooking, like slicing, can get you into deep trouble off the tee. The cause: Closing the clubface too soon. Adopting a thumbs-down approach at impact helps. In other words, both thumbs should be pointing downward when you strike the ball. This type of movement slows the closing of your clubface. (Slicers, on the other hand, need to attain a thumbs-up position at impact.)
Swing flaws, like those discussed above, can kill you. But even the best golfers some times fall prey to them once in a while. When that happens you need to fix them as soon as possible. Fixing them will save your strokes and boost your confidence
One caveat: Don’t try to correct swing flaws when playing. It can foul up your swing even more. Instead, work on them in practice at the range. That’s the best place to do it.