I am playing in a company tournement this weekend with some co-workers. I tend to hit to the right most of the time, I then found that my grip was too "weak" so I stregthened it. But now I keep either topping the ball or shank it to the right. The ball is near the front of my stance, I bend my knees a little bit and following through. Is there something that i'm doing wrong? Its a real downer when you see other golfers hitting straight shots and all I seem to come up with are shanks. Sometimes I do hit it straight but I never seem to be able to recreate it. Any Suggestions? I know it may be hard without seeing my swing but any help would be great! Thanks!

Hi Mcaube!  Welcome to Tees2Greens!  Great questions...hopefully the super cool Webmaster as alerted Scott Robbins and he can give you some professional advice!

But in the mean time, let me offer a few suggestions - if you haven't already browsed the Virtual Golf Pro (see top menu bar), give it a whirl.  Stuart Smith has some GREAT tips!  Here are a few links to some of his videos that might help you:

http://www.tees2greens.com/blogs/stuart_smith/archive/2007/12/13/video-tip-how-to-cure-that-wicked-slice.aspx

http://www.tees2greens.com/blogs/stuart_smith/archive/2008/02/21/video-tip-how-to-avoid-topping-the-ball.aspx

http://www.tees2greens.com/blogs/stuart_smith/archive/2008/02/07/video-tip-how-to-stop-casting.aspx

http://www.tees2greens.com/blogs/stuart_smith/archive/2008/06/26/video-tip-how-to-start-your-down-swing.aspx

I am a slicer, too, and here are a couple swing thoughts I use to help me get back on track - PLEASE keep in mind that I am no where near in a position to be giving swing advice, but just offering some things that I do to help my brain get over the bad shots -

When I start slicing it's often the result of me standing too far away from the ball - I'm reaching at set up, but then my regular swing comes through the ball and I'm not reaching out at it.  It almost feels like I'm too close to the ball when I'm actually at the best set up point.  Check out your set up and see how that feels to you...

Another thing that helps me get a more solid swing is to think of my right arm - in golf we're always talking about keeping the left arm straight, but we sometimes forget about the right arm - for the past few weeks I've been concentrating on 2 things - keeping my right elbow closer to my body, and really concentrating on my right hand coming through the ball at impact - thinking about my right side helps me turn through the ball better...sometimes I concentrate so much on my left arm that I don't turn, I just block the ball.

The final thing I'm trying to stay conscious of is swaying- this creeps into my game all the time - instead of just turning my shoulders on my back swing, I will sway backwards getting me way too far behind the ball - if I realize it and try to catch up I will sometimes reverse pivot and hit an awful slice, or if I don't realize it I'm just late getting to the ball and I'm not turning enough.

I don't mean to get too many things in your head - and hopefully you'll get some great advice here, but if you've got some time before your event, take a look at Stuart's videos and then spend a little time hitting balls.  Hopefully something will click!!

And be sure to let us know how you did!!  GOOD LUCK!!!!

 Hey Cathy,

 Thanks for the suggestions and welcome to tees2greens! I will for sure try them at the range tomrow and see what I can do! I was trying a couple of things today that help. I think its that i'm too eager to see where the ball is goin or my grip is too "strong" Well I guess thats what golf comes down to fine tuning. Well im gonna try them at the range tomorow and I will let you know how it went. But yeah hope the pro gets back to me too always great to get their opinion too.

Cya!