How do you cure a golf swing that drives your ball left, right, anywhere but straight?

All summer long I’ve been fighting a golf swing problem. My golf drive hooks to the left, or slices to the right. Once in a while it goes straight and finds a fairway, but most of the time my golf ball lands in the rough, the woods or the water. I’ve got the distance but not direction. What the heck is wrong with me? What am I doing? What golf swing tip will help?

I’ve asked my golf partners to watch me swing and give me advice, but everyone has a different “cure” for my problem. I finally went to my club pro, Merry Holway, and asked for a lesson. I was getting desperate for a solution. I needed someone with a professional’s eye to spend a little time observing me hit the ball and tell me the core of the problem.

We met at the club’s driving range. “Watch me hit my driver, and tell me what I’m doing wrong!”

It took Merry about 30 seconds to discover what I was doing wrong! “You sway, gurl. You sway.”

“Huh?” I couldn’t believe what she was saying. “I’m standing solid as a rock. No sway, involved.”

“Wrong!” Merry insisted. “When you bring back your club your whole body shifts just a slight bit towards your back foot. That sway throws off everything and the clubface can’t get back to square when it hits the ball. So it goes left or right.”

“So what do I do? I think I’m standing still. How can I cure the sway?”

Merry had a simple drill to cure the sway, which she demonstrated. “Bring your two feet together at address, right opposite the ball. Now swing the club.”

It felt awkward at first. In order to maintain my balance I had to keep my lower body from shifting or “swaying” towards my back foot as I raised the club. Each time I brought the club back I could feel my body wanting to shift a bit, but by focusing on staying still and balanced as the club came down and through, the sway disappeared.

“Obviously you can’t play like this.’ Merry explained. “But do this drill a few times before you hit your driver and your sway will go away.”

To prove her point, I stepped up to the ball, kept both feet together, took a couple of practice swings without swaying. I focused on how my body felt. Then I moved my feet apart, ball just off my toe of my forward foot, addressed the ball as I usually do, and swung. Guess what? No sway and the ball went straight as an arrow.

“You’ve got the distance,” Merry said, “and now you know how to get the direction.”

I was really pleased. It’s a really simple drill, but it worked. By repeating this drill, I’m teaching my body to stop swaying, and I’m becoming familiar with what it feels like to stay over the ball instead of shifting to the side.

My problem is not 100% cured. (Just ask the women I played with this past weekend—lost the first two balls I drove off the tee. ) I might still hook or slice the ball once in a while, but the important thing is now I know how to fix that problem fast. If you are having a problem keeping your drives on the fairway, you might want to practice this “feet together drill.”

Here’s another way to “Cure The Sway” from Martin Hall, Director of Instruction at Ibis Golf Academy. His “cure” requires a little equipment, but it should work. (This a clip from YouTube. If it doesn’t show up right away, refresh your browser window.)

Have you got a sway in your swing you’ve fixed? Share your ideas in the comment area below. If you think this post was helpful, pass it on using the social media icons below. Thanks.