help please

Question
hello Eddie,
i have three flaws in my swing. i can hit my drive a mile but i slice it to the right every time. my irons are not much better. I will always hit my iron shots fat or thin every time. i do not know ow to fix this. please and thank you.
Jim

Answer
Hi Jim:  
Only 3?  Gee that is great.  Your problem is without question the #1 issue to golfers across the globe.  It's also so easy to fix if you just understand a few basic FUNDAMENTALS.  First and foremost:  YOUR GRIP.  You must learn to hold the club in your left hand correctly.  I am assuming you are a right handed golfer.  The shaft should rest across the BASE of your fingers, not up in the palm.  It should hit the first knuckle on your left index finger and when you close your hand onto the club, your heel pad should completely cover the top of the grip.  Please get help with this if you do not understand.  It's the single biggest thing that will help you.  Second:  let's understand why a ball slices.  If a ball curves to the right, it's because the clubface is open AT IMPACT.  If the face is open (meaning pointing to the right of target), that puts left to right spin on the ball as it cuts across it.  So you simply need to square up or turn the clubface into the back of the ball so that AT IMPACT, the face is flush against the back of the ball, not pointing to the right.  You do that by USING YOUR HANDS CORRECTLY.  You must learn to rotate your hands and allow them to turn over through impact.  Once your grip is on the club correctly, it's time for you to work the clubface when you swing.  So grab a 7 iron with your right hand only, no ball yet, and start making real small swings.  Allow the clubface to fan open on the backswing and then make sure to close it on the forward swing.  Make real small swings.  Can you open the clubface on the way back and can you close the clubface on the way through?  Watch the clubface........open it and then close it.  Watch what your right hand is doing.  Notice how the palm of your right hand turns over towards the ground as you swing the club through the impact area.  Can you see that?  The golf ball ONLY DOES WHAT THE CLUB TELLS IT TO DO.  So if you sick of seeing it go to the right, then learn to grab it correctly and learn how to use your hands correctly during the motion to correctly apply that clubface to the back of the ball.  Start small.  Feet pretty close together, ball in the center of your stance on a tee (just off the ground, not high).  Make some real small swings paying attention to the rotation of the clubface.  The two things you must focus on here are:  the turning of the clubface into the back of the ball with your hands turning over and the leading edge of the clubface (at the bottom of the face) clipping that tee in the ground every time.  Is the face opening and closing?  Can you close the face and turn your hands over so the ball goes straight or curves from right to left?  Wow, what a change that would be.  So take it easy, start small, pay attention to what you are doing and go practice.  

Eddie Kilthau
PGA Member