Driver swing path has drastically changed within a week

[Rausky]

Hello. I'm currently a scratch golfer who has lost their driver swing for some reason. Went from hitting draws with a neutral path (+/-1 degree) to massive blocks with 5 degrees O-I. I'm not sure if something physical has changed, I don't feel injured, but all of a sudden my path has gotten out of control. The swings don't look very different and I still shallow the club, the club looks like it starts to tip out at p6 and then it's too late when it gets to right before impact and I can see the out to in path. 

I've been doing the Justin rose drill, syncing the hips a bit better, but unless I massively shut the face, everything blocks. Irons are completely fine, still I-O path with decent ball speed. 3w starts to tip out as well, around 1-2 degree O-I. Pretty frustrating to go from feeling the best you've ever felt to the worse within a week and you have no idea why, especially when the "feel" doesn't feel different.

Here is my swing 2 weeks ago:
115 CHS
168 BS
1 I-O
1 Degree open face
2280 spin

3.7 AOA

10 Degree VLA
 

Here is my swing currently:
115 CHS
162 Ball speed

5.3 O-I

3.3 Closed face

2.7 AoA

13 VLA

3100 spin
 

 

Edited July 23 by Rausky

[iacas]

I think it might be something as small as you might literally be standing an inch or two closer to the ball than before.

[MonteScheinblum]

Setup

[Rausky]

3 hours ago, MonteScheinblum said:

Setup

Is there anything specific you see? I experimented with ball position, arm angle at setup, etc. 

 

5 hours ago, iacas said:

I think it might be something as small as you might literally be standing an inch or two closer to the ball than before.

I tried standing a bit closer but it had the same outcome.

I looked at both swings in Swing Catalyst with motion capture and the tracers show basically the same things as well. After hitting about 1000 balls this week, I think I might have a face problem instead of path problem. I can swing in-to-out, but I'm leaving the face like 5-7 degree open when I do that. I think I'm compensating for that by trying to draw the ball and exiting the club too far inside, causing it to swipe. Thoughts @iacas?

Edited July 23 by Rausky

[iacas]

2 hours ago, Rausky said:

I tried standing a bit closer but it had the same outcome.

 

I think you were standing farther from the ball before.

 

2 hours ago, Rausky said:

After hitting about 1000 balls this week, I think I might have a face problem instead of path problem. I can swing in-to-out, but I'm leaving the face like 5-7 degree open when I do that.

 

If that's the case, then yes, your body is going to start to want to pull the ball back to the target, even though face is far more responsible for path. As I say, "path is instinctual" - meaning if you're missing the ball left, your body swings right and vice versa. It's "trying" to help you.

[RayPlan]

2 hours ago, Rausky said:

Is there anything specific you see? I experimented with ball position, arm angle at setup, etc. 

 

I tried standing a bit closer but it had the same outcome.

I looked at both swings in Swing Catalyst with motion capture and the tracers show basically the same things as well. After hitting about 1000 balls this week, I think I might have a face problem instead of path problem. I can swing in-to-out, but I'm leaving the face like 5-7 degree open when I do that. I think I'm compensating for that by trying to draw the ball and exiting the club too far inside, causing it to swipe. Thoughts @iacas?

He meant you should try standing farther from the ball, in case it wasn't clear

[MonteScheinblum]

3 hours ago, Rausky said:

Is there anything specific you see? I experimented with ball position, arm angle at setup, etc. 

 

I tried standing a bit closer but it had the same outcome.

I looked at both swings in Swing Catalyst with motion capture and the tracers show basically the same things as well. After hitting about 1000 balls this week, I think I might have a face problem instead of path problem. I can swing in-to-out, but I'm leaving the face like 5-7 degree open when I do that. I think I'm compensating for that by trying to draw the ball and exiting the club too far inside, causing it to swipe. Thoughts @iacas?

Agree with others, you git a bit too close for driver and that threw off your body angles and your swing 

[Snarkesor]

I suppose setup could be a root cause, but these are pretty different positions.

[iacas]

4 hours ago, Snarkesor said:

I suppose setup could be a root cause, but these are pretty different positions.

 

It is, but yeah, you fix setup first and then see what shakes out.

 

I just listened to a tech podcast and a guy was talking about his issue with his A/C units and how no HVAC people seem to have good "debugging" skills, and perhaps my background in software development has slightly increased my capacity for this or something, but I try to go very step-wise with people: fix the glaring thing, or change one thing, and then let that settle in and see where things are next. "Oh, you reduced five warnings to three, but this other behavior changed slightly? Okay, let's go a little farther down the road."

 

If he is standing closer to the ball (and he is), and trying to hit draws, he may be trying to "gain" or "save" depth. Instead, the forearms roll a bit (perhaps after pulling back with his left wrist). And maybe he's done that enough that if he stands the previous distance he'll keep doing it, and then he'll need to fix that too. Or maybe it'll work itself back to the way it was.

[MK7Golf21]

Besides the setup, just letting you know having the club laid off at the top tends to cause the club to kick out on the downswing and swing left. On the other end, across the line tends to cause in to out path. 

[getitdaily]

5 minutes ago, MK7Golf21 said:

Besides the setup, just letting you know having the club laid off at the top tends to cause the club to kick out on the downswing and swing left. On the other end, across the line tends to cause in to out path. 

I've actually found the opposite...

 

More across the line and I'm more likely to get path in to out. A touch laid off and I can feel the club sort of stay behind me more and I can just turn as hard as I want.

[Rausky]

So I fixed it, FWIW. The issue was the face was just massively open, which you could see was the main difference between the two swings. I was doing a few things differently that caused this:

• At setup, I would open my shoulders more to try and promote an I-O path, which only caused the face to open more. To fix this, I now setup with my trail arm slightly "higher" or closer to the ball at setup. Not a lot, but a bit
• On the downswing, I now try to consciously swing in to out, but also try to get my trail arm back to that position, so feel like it's closer to the ball at impact than my lead arm, which closes the face. 

Thanks to all who responded