Please help on how to align a adjustable driver

[okitoki]

OK, I start playing as a kid when I was taught a driver head is square to the shaft.
therefore, square face to target, feet aligned straight line parallel to the target line, sweet. (The biggest game improving club I remember back then was when the Big Bertha first came out)

Since i've started playing again last year, the idea of an adjustable driver is very new to me, so please bear with my questions.

I have been sort of struggling with my driver since I have started. have been going to lessons and clinics to sort out my swing issues. I'm pretty happy with my irons and even my hybrids now; and pretty confident with my feet matching my target line during alignment setup with the irons.


However, with the driver, I seem to get myself confused a little.
During a Taylormade fitting I went to last night, I tried the M4 driver and made the comment the face seems very open when I lay it down flat. the TM guy just said lay it down as is, and swing normally with it appearing as "open"
this is the part that I am not sure of... how should I address the club head with these drivers?

Club face questions.jpg
am I to address the club shaft 90 degree to my target line, or do I have the club face 90 to the target line hence having the shaft at an angle so my hands is either in front (closed face) or behind (open face) the ball at address?

When I first had the M1, I was always wondering why the black line didnt seem to match the club face and have noted the TM logo to back mid point did not seem to be square to the club face. (or is this just an optical illusion?)
WZ617_zoom_D2.jpg

my current pre-shot routine has been to twist my grip to have a square club head (so not using the laying down the club head as suggested by the TM guy), but this seems to have a inconsistent result for me.... my bad shots are the pulled left draw, but occasional high right slice on my blocked shots.

yeah, will be seeing a pro again next month when i get back from holiday, but this thing is bugging me since last night.

thanks

[Captain Nemo]

See a Pro?
Anyway fwiw, I demo’d an M4 and that twist face rubbish ****ed with my head.
I get how it would cause alignment problems...

[okitoki]

yeah, a pro will be seen in near future...

However, I probably say the M4 is a slight exaggeration on the club face difference, while I had a look on my M3 it is not as bad... however, I would say the other drivers I had recently have the same similar "problem" for me.

The M4 with the Tensai Red shaft seems to work the best for me during the fitting.

On a side note, I also tried the Mizuno GT-180 with the weight set to the toe on their standard stiff shaft, and I can swing as "hard" as I want, and I seem to have no issues with my normal dreadful bad pull draw...

[Grumpy8]

If you have tiles on the floor at home use the lines of grouting. Toes up to a line , cross line thru your instep , sit club face down level to same cross line , that will have you fairly square , check your hips and shoulder alignment as well . If you have the club head flat on the floor and your hands in position it will show how the club face should be or it will show you where to position them to square up the club face

[okitoki]

Well..went to the range today and try out method 1 with shaft square to target with club head slightly open.

Happy to say this strange setup works. Only will hook if I really swing inward.

Weird having the face open but I use the logo on the crown to align my shot. Seems to be on target at all time

Tried same swing with an old square face Cleveland classic and was also going where I'm aiming. So guess it's not the club compensating for my hook. I was just using it wrong in the first place.

[davepuppies]

I really like the look of the open face on the M3. Haven’t hit M4, but looks similar.

My bad shot is shutting clubface down through impact, so the open face appeals

[okitoki]

Went out yesterday for a round with my mates, and decided to use the Cleveland classic 9* for the first time on a course.
With the lack of adjustment and neutral setting, I found all my shots were pretty much flying straight without slice or hook.... even when I was "ripping" it...
However, I was consistently aiming slight right in all the drive which has been my problem before with target alignment (normally negated by a slight draw before)

With this new idea in head, will need to see how the M3 performs on the course.

[PapaBravo]

Went out yesterday for a round with my mates, and decided to use the Cleveland classic 9* for the first time on a course.
With the lack of adjustment and neutral setting, I found all my shots were pretty much flying straight without slice or hook.... even when I was "ripping" it...
However, I was consistently aiming slight right in all the drive which has been my problem before with target alignment (normally negated by a slight draw before)

With this new idea in head, will need to see how the M3 performs on the course.

Sounds like you might need some range time with your driver and an alignment stick to a target. It's best to determine if it's the swing plane creating the push before worrying about anything else. Try to make full length swings at a severely reduced pace for as long as your attention span allows it and simply observe the result in comparison to your alignment stick without making too many set up or swing adjustments.

Try and find a bay as close to dead centre of the range as possible and line everything up as square as possible straight down the middle to take your subconscious swing direction adjustments out of play. For a right hander - If you hit from the left side of the range you will naturally be inclined to swing more in to out and hitting from the right side of the range will naturally cause more of an outside to in tendency.

The flat surface of the range bay also eliminates pushes and pulls caused by feet level to ball level differences. You will automatically start to see the correct alignment required to hit it where you need to over time. If you find a deep flaw or still can't figure it out having a lesson should straighten you back up. Once you are straightened up nicely, small mistakes in the swing, impact location and alignment at set up should still put the drives in the area you are hoping to hit.

Hope this helps.

[okitoki]

good point...
funny thing is I have been going to the range with alignment sticks, and have been able to hit the target I have aimed at... (range I have been going to have a footy goal posts and able to keep within the inner goal posts)

However, when i play on course, my eyes starts to play trick on me, and start to aim more right... but maybe this is in response to my previous tendency of hooking my shots. my pro has pointed this out to me before...

Another potential issue maybe is with my address, I would aim upright before tilding slightly right... However, I was thinking I was tilting right and slightly back causing me to open up my club face slightly...

Guess need to work more on this alignment issue

[PapaBravo]

good point...
funny thing is I have been going to the range with alignment sticks, and have been able to hit the target I have aimed at... (range I have been going to have a footy goal posts and able to keep within the inner goal posts)

However, when i play on course, my eyes starts to play trick on me, and start to aim more right... but maybe this is in response to my previous tendency of hooking my shots. my pro has pointed this out to me before...

Another potential issue maybe is with my address, I would aim upright before tilding slightly right... However, I was thinking I was tilting right and slightly back causing me to open up my club face slightly...

Guess need to work more on this alignment issue

A special focus on a Preshot routine could help then. Both on the range and on the course, setting up in the same sequence each and every shot can help with inconsistencies between range and course and repair any errors made otherwise with setup. Try with the smallest bucket you can at the range next time so you place more importance on each and every shot and take your time deliberately aligning target from behind the shot just like you would on the course.

[okitoki]

Tried to play a quick 9 last night after work... could only squeeze in 6 before the sun set quickly and became too dark.

With the last range session, I have now set the my 10.5* down 9* (resulting a even more open face) and the Y slide with a single weight at the fade position, and the other on the low position. Using the Tensei Blue shaft.

Yes, paid extra attention to the preshot routine with the M3. particularly using the logo and the back marker as the alignment line, while ignoring the open face on address, which can be tricky.

I was pretty happy with the result. I can swing the club without too much thought into it beside making sure I am "drawing a straight line" on the back swing. All shots were straight or with a slight draw.

As I was the last person on the course then, and the sprinklers were on at the greens, I was experimenting with a few more drives at each tee box.

Noticed if I did not tilt my spine slightly right, I ended up hitting the dreaded left pulled hooks... with tiled, pretty close to target.
averaging around 230M with maybe 6/10 balls on fairway... with my best at 244M... As I am not a strong hitter, Im pretty happy with the result.
Even when I hit a super sky ball, they were going straight and goes about 190-210M which I can live with.

Hardest part for me was not to get influenced by the open club face and change my swing to fit the club face.

So have to wait and see how it goes in the next comp.... I can see myself being a little more aggressive in my alignment with the tee offs if this remains consistent

[dowdsy]

My understanding is the heel of the driver should sit on the ground at address, I tried this today on the range and it worked pretty well for me. The club should rotate back to square at impact with a good rotation of shoulders and weight of club being more in the toe. The key here is not to grip too hard and it should and does work, I experimented with grip pressure over 10 balls and real lite produces an overdraw and real tight produces fade once I found the happy pressure it was bombs away.

[okitoki]

My understanding is the heel of the driver should sit on the ground at address, I tried this today on the range and it worked pretty well for me. The club should rotate back to square at impact with a good rotation of shoulders and weight of club being more in the toe. The key here is not to grip too hard and it should and does work, I experimented with grip pressure over 10 balls and real lite produces an overdraw and real tight produces fade once I found the happy pressure it was bombs away.

yeah, thats what I figured out previously, but with the face either close or open on lay up, it makes it difficult to align to target.
Its good that the M3 has the logo and the marking at the back to form a line to the target for me to use... but for other clubs without markings, how do you set up square to target?

[dowdsy]

I would get someone to stand behind me and then you pick out a target to line up to and get them to check where you are aiming. You will probs be surprised how closed or open you will be with your body compared to your club face.

yeah, thats what I figured out previously, but with the face either close or open on lay up, it makes it difficult to align to target.
Its good that the M3 has the logo and the marking at the back to form a line to the target for me to use... but for other clubs without markings, how do you set up square to target?

[Daves]

I would get someone to stand behind me and then you pick out a target to line up to and get them to check where you are aiming. You will probably be surprised how closed or open you will be with your body compared to your club face.

Ding! ding! ding! Hit the nail right on the head. Poor/mis-alignment is rife among the majority of Amateurs. That and not "quitting" on the shot/turn would fix many swings almost instantly.

I see it all the time and fall victim to it myself. But awareness, and a basic understanding of the ball flight laws enable quick self diagnosis when that happens. I have re-aligned golfers (during social rounds) many times, and had them hitting draws from rank slices in a couple of swings. Get yourself a set of alignment sticks or similar, at opportunity.

Face angle can be a real "head issue" for many, only 2 solutions really. You need to 1) align the face and then your body, in that order, like the Pros do. Or change Driver to one that is visually more "comforting". I struggle with really closed face Drivers, no matter what I do. Probably because my bad shot is a pull/hook.

[Lagerlover]

I have re-aligned golfers (during social rounds) many times, and had them hitting draws from rank slices in a couple of swings.

Liar!!😉

[okitoki]

You will probs be surprised how closed or open you will be with your body compared to your club face.

That is the crux of my problem.

In the days when the club face is square to the rest of the club. laying down the club head on ground would remain mainly square, then you are able to align your body accordingly.

However, my issue is for modern clubs, we are suppose to lay the club down on ground and play as is, which can be open or close, how do you then align based on the face if they are not square in the first place?

Issues I have so far resolved (well, aware of):
I do have difficulties with alignment, with my eyes seems to always aim more towards the right; However, majority of the time, my feet are aligned to where ever I am aiming toward. (verified by my pro)
As my shots seems to go right, I previously tend to rotate my wrist too much to pull the shot back - I am slowly reducing this as I realised my aim has always been more right; this has been worst for my driver as I had a bad slice before, and by overcompensating for my aim right, I ended up with a snap hook;
I also had a problem with a snap hook with my 3 wood and 3&4 Hybrid.... so far, fixed that issue too as i found I have my weight on my right foot, so I was hitting up on the ball. now shifting the weight to my left foot, I found I can hit the ball without the big hook I had before.

By being aware/fixing these issues, I dont need to adjust my alignment or swing to cater for the problems I had before.... so I can just work on the alignment and body address....

Went for another quick 9 hole practice, but this time my success rate is slightly lower as I kept rolling my wrist to combat the open club face paranoia I have... of the 12 balls I drove, 4 went left and 1 went right;

[PapaBravo]

You should be trying to hit the ball on the way up with a driver.

The fix you have implemented to stop the duck hook would typically move the contact point during the downswing earlier, causing the face not to shut down too much which would create a block and a decending blow, which would be amplified if you're also losing the tilt in the spine whilst you're transferring to left foot. Then the rolling the wrists over faster to counter the block can result in another variable. This would actually explain your left and right misses now instead of just missing left because there are so many moving parts that you are going to get lost in sequencing. Essentially you are missing the rest of your "fix" which would be spine angle rather than rolling the wrists.

You DO want to continue to get the pressure onto the left side as part of the sequence of the swing, because otherwise you are likely to reverse pivot and create a low duck hook but you MUST maintain the spine angle during the transfer, which will keep your head in a similar position at address until after impact. This will also improve consistency in where the swing arc bottoms out.

Then it's simply a case of working out where during the downswing your head (and by association: shoulders, spine tilt etc) should be in comparison to the ball at set up and keeping it there until after impact.



If you are trying to figure it out yourself, it might be better on a trackman or something else that can identify the decending swing on contact as well as face direction in relationship to your swing direction.

a bit hard to put it in words, but to simplify:

If you hang back on your right side you will hit low or high duck hook (depending on spine tilt) then overcompensate and slice.
If you push into your left side without maintaining spine tilt, you will high block (or severely overcompensate with the wrists and end up anywhere)
if you push into your left side and maintain spine tilt angle throughout the swing until at least after impact, you will be able to hit up on the ball, but eliminate the duck hook that you are scared of as well as ruling out the block through natural wrist rotation.