DeLo’s Divots
By Don DeLorenzo
Special to the Free Lance
New technology is a wonderful thing, but there is still no replacement for good fundamentals.
The club that swings itself has not been invented yet, but new designs have come very close to it. Most of my students “just want to hit it straight.” To do this, your swing plane or the direction the swing takes into the ball must be straight and the club face must be aiming at the target when you make contact with the ball. Look at your divots.
If they are cutting across the ball at an angle and heading to the left, you have a slice swing. This cutting-across motion puts a clockwise spin on the ball which causes the ball to travel left to right for right handed players.
To cure this, make sure the points of your shoulders are aiming at the target at set up and impact.
You can do this by holding your back to the target longer on the downswing. When your back turns away from the target, you will cut across the ball.
Once you have improved your swing plane, come out and try a new offset driver. “Offset” is the design of a driver where the shaft enters the head of the club in front of the face, not behind it.
This design will do wonders for your slice. You have to hit one to believe it.
Don DeLorenzo is a PGA-certified instructor at Gilroy Golf Course. To schedule a lesson with Don, call Gilroy GC at (408) 848-0490.
