Driver face always open!

[Ding-dong]

So last night on the home range ( garmin R10 and a net) , was just keeping my hand in as it were.

All my clubs absolutely fine face and path angles nice and low good tight dispersion.. really pleased, this is fine.

Then I pull the driver out, now I don’t want to swing any differently but club path was good small left as in 0.5 degrees up to 2.5 degrees right ( if I adapt.. right handed by the way) .. but the face angle was 3+ degrees open ( facing right). So I am just sending balls right.

I started to investigate, and I am an ex grass hockey player so I have a strong left hand, I can play US hockey with either side and possibly stronger on the left ( but that was 40years ago) . So I was thinking is my hand preventing the right releasing .. after adjusting ball position, swing path and hand height ( I did a fair bit of experimenting) . I then tried to weaken off the left hand try to reduce its input and that got me going left, but that felt like it required timing, and to me that feels like a weak / sensitive solution. 
 

Fast forward to the end of the session and I just tried something counterintuitive, I opened up for a fade and hit a straight ball.

Now I will try again today, but I wondered whether my left hip is actually preventing release … does that make sense? 

[Josh Parker]

There are some folks in here that will take a look but will want videos of the swing from face on and from behind the ball.  

If you post a few to this thread I'm sure a few will jump in and take a look.  

@RickyBobby_PR has a ton of knowledge and has given me some great advice.  

[RickyBobby_PR]

33 minutes ago, Ding-dong said:

Fast forward to the end of the session and I just tried something counterintuitive, I opened up for a fade and hit a straight ball.

This just offset the face being open.

But a video from face on and dtl would tell us exactly what’s happening.

Any flaws we have in our swing will become more prevalent the longer the club.

when videoing the swing the camera should be at hand height. For dtl the camera should be pointing down the hand line and face on should be at the center of the body.

[Ding-dong]

12 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

This just offset the face being open.

Yes that’s what I thought as well when I put the numbers together, so I will investigate further. For me I am just looking for the fastest most efficient way to move my body, I can alter the path either way it’s just the face won’t close like the other clubs. I appreciate that perhaps shorter clubs allow me to smother them and get to low face angles at impact. I am a very straight hitter by nature throughout the bag and even the driver but I feel like I am controlling the driver … so there is a confidence thing there.

 

[cnosil]

3 hours ago, Ding-dong said:

 For me I am just looking for the fastest most efficient way to move my body, I can alter the path either way it’s just the face won’t close like the other clubs. I appreciate that perhaps shorter clubs allow me to smother them and get to low face angles at impact. I am a very straight hitter by nature throughout the bag and even the driver but I feel like I am controlling the driver … so there is a confidence thing there.

 

It could be lots of things perhaps it is your setup and you completely change you swing with the driver,  could be that the club is too heavy and it rotates too slowly.   Could be the shaft and the feel won’t let you release the club.  Could be that the appearance of the head makes you setup with the face open.     Could be that you are trying to rotate so fast you are leaving the club behind you and have to make lots of compensations. Could be a million other things.  Without an assessment of you swing via video all anyone can do is give you a random tip that might or might not work.  

Edited December 1, 2023 by cnosil

[Ding-dong]

2 hours ago, cnosil said:

It could be lots of things perhaps it is your setup and you completely change you swing with the driver,  could be that the club is too heavy and it rotates too slowly.   Could be the shaft and the feel won’t let you release the club.  Could be that the appearance of the head makes you setup with the face open.     Could be that you are trying to rotate so fast you are leaving the club behind you and have to make lots of compensations. Could be a million other things.  Without an assessment of you swing via video all anyone can do is give you a random tip that might or might not work.  

Yes totally agree, I went out for another session.. probably driving the neighbours mad but they will get over it. 
I checked my set up, that’s alway a good start. It improved my club face angle and speed. I then narrowed the stance, shoulder width ( I have no acls in both knees, so sliding knees is a disaster) . Started to get a closed face or left face path, but was not really striking middle and then I sprayed the face to see my strike position. 
I have now got a little more comfortable with face angle, and closed it down. Still have to groove it follow a routine and limit variations after that I can use the rest of my game. 

[Bossfan]

I had this problem when I took lessons a couple of years ago. Driver was always going straight right. Not a slice. Basically I was coming out of my posture and opening the club face. The instructor showed me videos and sure enough on my shots to the right I was coming up on the downswing. The shots where I held my posture I was consistently hitting nice tight draws. Then he had me setup for a fade. On the shots I kept my posture I hit these nice tight fades that landed basically where the draws did when I kept my posture landed. Basically he was showing me if I held my posture I was squaring the club face and I got much more consistent off the tee. 

[Goober]

A open face issue usually happens way before impact… and rears its ugly head later 

[Fred Mitchell]

NOT a swing coach, more a guy who needs one, that being said when I finally figured out what was causing me to do that with driver and woods was I was bringing the club head back farther away from my body than I should. I am not saying to big of a back swing just the shaft was to far away from my neck at the peak. This cause me to leave my face open at impact and with no other changes than to move the club closer to my body on the back swing the problem basically went away. This may be miles from whats causing your problem but its an easy thing to check .