Got a question from Jim McCoy. “I've always had a terrible out-to-in swing and as a result a banana ball slice. Seven out of ten times I would slice badly. I'm just a month or two into PPGS and seeing improvements. When I get it right I slice only three out of ten times. But I still have that nagging out to in swing. What can I do to focus on getting it right 10 out of 10 times?”
Well, you've gone from zero percent to 70 percent success in hitting pretty good shots so you're improving quite steadily. That's commendable. Let's see what we can do about getting rid of those three out of 10s.
Remember one thing. A good degree of improvement is that sometimes what is bad is not as bad as it used to be. So a heck of a lot less slice would mean a good deal of improvement. I see three things you have to check out.
Number one, you could be aiming to the right, if you're a right hander. So to swing on-on-and-on towards the target, even if you were making a limited 3/4 swing, you still would have to pull the club back to the aiming line if you were aiming to the right. You would be swinging straight back and up so you would have to come over the top to get back to the aiming line. So check your alignment. See that you are parallel left if you're a right hander, parallel right if you're a left hander.
Number two. Assuming your alignment is correct you could have a situation of turning too much in the backswing. In other words, getting into the Sacred Burial Ground. Getting back to on-on-and-on, to have a square and solid impact ,you have to come out of the graveyard to get your arms in front of your body. Once you're coming out, you're going out to in, there's part of your out to in.
The third one cold be you're swinging too long in your backswing, likely getting to parallel. Getting to parallel and too much turn kind of go hand in hand many times. So check those two issues. Again, with every case of parallel, you have to pull the club up before it comes back down and in pulling it up the shoulders tend to start too soon and turn. It's going to make the arms and club go outside your aiming line. You realize it's out there so you have to stop and grab it and then pull it back down to the ball.
I think it's possibly one of those three big things.
As far as tuning too much you could do the butt on the wall trick. You back up and have your butt barely touch the wall, then take the club straight back and into the mitt and up the tree. If you're turning too much the club is going to bang into the wall. Heck, you might even hit your back elbow, if you're right handed that would be your right elbow. Be careful of not doing that too energetically or you'll smash your elbow into the wall. That will tell you real quick if you overturn too much.
Check your alignment. Check that you're not turning too much and/or swinging too long. I think you're going to find that coming over the top is usually the result of one of those three things.
The Surge!