Do these marks from old range balls suggest this driver is too upright for my swing?

ShortGolfer · July 9

The golf balls left tilted vertical lines. I have issues with slicing the ball when I swing driver. I took a bunch of swings after a round this morning.

It is set for the standard 12* loft and a 60 degree lie angle. Upright, 180 degrees from the standard loft setting with a 56 degree lie angle.

Any suggestion on how to set the hosel?

dokex · July 9

2 hours ago, ShortGolfer said:

The golf balls left tilted vertical lines. I have issues with slicing the ball when I swing driver. I took a bunch of swings after a round this morning.

It is set for the standard 12* loft and a 60 degree lie angle. Upright, 180 degrees from the standard loft setting with a 56 degree lie angle.

Any suggestion on how to set the hosel?

Lie angle is of no consequence on a driver.

gdb99 · July 10

You are certainly using a lot of the face!

Stuart_G · July 10

13 hours ago, ShortGolfer said:

The golf balls left tilted vertical lines. I have issues with slicing the ball when I swing driver

Golf balls don't leave lines on the face. It's more likely from the tees.

With an open face (slice), that can increase how "upright" the marks left might look but more upright is not going to hurt one with a slice tendencies, it might even help a bit.

I'd agree with @gdb99 above. A higher priority would be to get more consistent face impact location. Stock driver lengths are just way to long for most amateurs and the link he provided has instructions on the best way to help with that.

11 hours ago, dokex said:

Lie angle is of no consequence on a driver.

I wouldn't say "no consequence." You're right in that most Am's don't have to worry about it very much. The effect is usually very minor and most other specs are much more important - but it can be useful for some minor tweaks for high level (very consistent and higher swing speed) players.

Edited July 10 by Stuart_G

ShortGolfer · July 10

Thanks! That was really helpful. Sometimes golf is literally a "fun house of mirrors." I just switched from a 41 to 42 inch driver and I'd just played a nine holes in the rain but someone had left a bunch of practice balls on the 9th green so I thought I'd pick them up and use them on the range. I found those balls quite distracting and double bogeyed the hole. Next time I'm going to pick up the balls first, even before hitting my 40 yard approach shot.

Edited July 10 by ShortGolfer

AzRoger · July 10

2 hours ago, ShortGolfer said:

Thanks! That was really helpful. Sometimes golf is literally a "fun house of mirrors." I just switched from a 41 to 42 inch driver and I'd just played a nine holes in the rain but someone had left a bunch of practice balls on the 9th green so I thought I'd pick them up and use them on the range. I found those balls quite distracting and double bogeyed the hole. Next time I'm going to pick up the balls first, even before hitting my 40 yard approach shot.

I guess your user name is appropriate but that is a very short driver, the flex of the shaft would probably be impacted by cutting that much off, might want to look into that.

ShortGolfer · July 10

2 hours ago, AzRoger said:

I guess your user name is appropriate but that is a very short driver, the flex of the shaft would probably be impacted by cutting that much off, might want to look into that.

No, both drivers are fine. The 41 inch driver was custom built for me by Club Champion.

I built the 42 inch driver out of a new old stock hybrid shaft. No trip trimming, I just trimmed down the butt end of the shaft. The swing weight came out perfectly without any tweaking at C1.7.

Club Champion specfied all my clubs at C2. It is a "safe" SW for me as I can go a lot lower and perhaps a couple points higher, depending on the club.

C2.6 is what I found by rummaging through used clubs and finding the 7 iron that felt best for me as my first adult golf club.

The biggest issue right now is that there is a noisy neutral connection between my brain and the bottom of my right foot.

It may be similar to diabetic peripheral neuropathy except that I have a bigger chance of making a full recovery over time. It was dead two summers ago but is now coming back.

I was told by a researcher that Braille is of no use to the many diabetics who can't feel anything with their fingers. The CDC says the leading cause of adult blindness is diabetic retinopathy.

Edited July 10 by ShortGolfer

Ty_Guy · July 10

Open faced shots on range balls will leave those sort of marks.

I strongly believe an overwhelming majority of "slicers" hit the way they do because of dragging the handle, and solving that issue will domino into a much better swing. Take advice from Nicklaus: Release harder, release earlier, don't let your wrists go limp in the second half of the downswing. Cast and rotate like it's nobody's business! If you've been golfing for a bit and have general balance in the swing, you'll stay over the ball just fine and find that it is nearly impossible to flip at impact.