Fight Fire With Fire: Why Doing the Opposite Can Fix Your Swing

Most golfers suffer from excessive curvature with their driver and irons. Typically, it’s a slice, but players like me can struggle with a hook at times.

To deconstruct why your ball is curving too much to the left or right, we usually look at a very extreme swing path. For the slicer, you might see an out-to-in path of more than 6-8 degrees on a launch monitor. And for the golfer struggling with the hook, you’ll see a similar number register as in-to-out.

My swing path would register sometimes as high as 12 degrees in-to-out, which almost all instructors would consider “danger territory.” So, how did I get it down to the 2-4-degree region?

Well, I simply tried hitting a slice for years. At first, when my hook was at its worst, I would set up with a very open stance and practice like I was hitting the biggest slice imaginable.

As I made progress, I would lessen the extremity of slice feel, and it was more of a fade. And I could see my swing path numbers gradually become less extreme over the years, and more importantly, a straighter ball flight.

Golfers tend to complicate things, but it can be as simple as trying to hit a bunch of hooks on the range to help neutralize your slice. And if you have a launch monitor that measures swing path, you can pay close attention to that feedback and see what feels and changes in setup move the number meaningfully in the right direction.

If you notice that your tee shots or approach shots start way too far to the left or right, then you have more of a face angle issue. Where the clubface points at impact has about a 65-80% influence on the direction your shots start.

So if you are someone who hits a lot of tee shots to the right, your clubface is too open at impact, and vice versa for someone who pulls their shots.

To Fight Fire with Fire here, we need to work on starting the ball in different directions, which is clubface control. Most importantly, can you focus more on the opposite of your fault? So for the golfer who misses big to the right, they learn to close the clubface more at impact and start the ball left of their target while practicing.

This might require some experimentation with your grip, or simply feeling where the clubface is pointing throughout your swing (that’s my big cue). One thing I try to focus on when I practice is how my trail forearm is rotating to open or close the clubface, but you might find a different focus works better for you. You’ll never know until you challenge yourself to start the ball in different directions.

You can start with half swings, and I’d encourage you to do it with lower lofted clubs like mid-irons or even your driver. And if you have a launch monitor that measures face angle, you can also monitor your number and see if you are moving it in the right direction, similar to what I discussed on club path.

I’d argue that clubface control is the number one skill golfers should train, as it’s responsible for errant tee shots and approach shots.

Most golfers have no idea where they are striking the ball on the clubface. Do they tend to live on the heel when they miss, or the toe?

Many of you have a distinct pattern, and for me, it’s always been closer to the heel (I won’t say the scary word out loud when it gets bad).

If you’ve read any of my other articles, you know that I always spray the clubface with Dr. Scholl’s Odor X or a similar product. It’s one of the biggest “bang for your buck” practice methods.

Your goal is simple and twofold:

• Find out where your tendencies are with strike location

• Challenge yourself to strike the complete opposite side of the clubface

So when I notice that my heel strikes are becoming an issue, I have to really focus on intentionally trying to strike the toe, sometimes the outer part of it. And all that does is slightly move my strike closer back to the center.

Some launch monitors like the Foresight GCQuad and newer Trackman models will show you where you made impact location, but you can always rely on foot spray if you don’t have one with that feature.

Similar to the slice, a common issue for golfers is hitting shots that go too high and don’t travel very far. Oftentimes, it’s because their hands are too far behind the ball at impact, and they are “scooping.”

So having hands that are more level with the golf ball, or slightly ahead of the ball at impact, helps you launch it a bit lower, so you’ll get more distance and a piercing trajectory with wedges and irons.

For these golfers, exaggerating shaft lean and presetting the hands far ahead of the ball at impact often helps. You can experiment with your wedges and try to really exaggerate that feel where you are trying to start the ball on a much lower trajectory, and then work your way up to irons.

Launch angle is a good proxy for measuring this if you have a launch monitor. A golfer who adds too much loft might launch a 56 or 60-degree wedge at about 35-40 degrees. The better player, who is delofting a bit, will be closer to the 28-32-degree region.

There isn’t an exact right number, but you can use your initial launch angle as a benchmark with each club, and then see what intentions and feels get the number lower.

And if you struggled with the opposite, of hitting your shots too low, just reverse everything I just said!

Golfers sometimes get trapped in swing jail when they practice and make things too complicated. Focusing on something simple, like hitting a big hook, can oftentimes produce far better results.

So think about the faults in your ball flight - curvature, start direction, trajectory, and impact location. Diagnose the root cause, and simply challenge yourself to do the opposite.

If you need help choosing the right launch monitor to help with this process, don’t hesitate to reach out to the Indoor Golf Shop’s team of experts here.

The Indoor Golf Shop sells a variety of launch monitors and golf simulators at different price points that reliably capture all the measurements discussed in this article. If you need help deciding which one suits your indoor setup, or when you go to the driving range, don’t hesitate to reach out to us here.