I'm doing somewhat decent with irons, though cant get the short chips worth a damn. My main concern is drivers/woods at this point. I have a BAD slice 80% of the time, and a slight/moderate slice the remainder.

should I try and fix on my own, or purchase professional lessons or golf swing analysis?

Have you tried swinging a slightly closed face driver?

Check your grip. That, and a change to alignment, can make big differences in the swing planes and positions.

If you have the time and money to get lessons, I highly recommend it. I think self diagnosis in golf is often counter-productive.

There is only one thing that can cause a left-to-right ball flight: at impact your clubface is open relative to your swing path. The problem is that there are a TON of things that can cause your clubface to be open relative to your swing path. Maybe it's your grip. Maybe it's your stance. Maybe it's your takeaway. Maybe it's something really cool that I don't even know about.

Personal opinion, if you go to an instructor then there's a good chance you'll find out the root cause of your problem. If you try to diagnose it yourself, I say there's a good chance you'll blame one thing and try to "fix it" and it turns out to not ben really be what's causing it and it ends up just compounding your problem. I say go to an instructor if you can.

[This message has been edited by bagger05 (edited 4/15/2014 3:58p).]

could be coming over the top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_zCVTu_65A

What bagger said

Get a lesson package of five(minimum). Space it out over the course of two-three months.

FWIW, my advice is coming from lots of experience. Every time I have tried to fix something on my own --even things as simple as grip, alignment, and stance-- when I've actually gotten to an instructor later on I've almost always found out I was wrong. I know a little bit about the golf swing, and a little bit of knowledge is very dangerous. Despite all of these hard lessons I've learned, I can still manage to convince myself that I know what I'm doing wrong. It usually leads to more problems.

If you can, I'd say give an instructor at your home track a shot. In my experience once you build a relationship with him and buy some lessons, they can usually find five minutes to check your swing and give you some advice when you're not taking lessons.

Just got back into the game after a long layoff. When I played regularly, I was about ~20 handicapper - which was frustrating b/c I'd shoot a 42 on the front, and then 54 on the back b/c of a 3-hole collapse in the middle. Or visa-versa. Could never string together 18 good holes but overall played well.

Started playing again last month. Slicing all the big irons and woods. Even the small irons were pushed and sometimes sliced. No power or distance.

Took my first lesson at the local Golf Smith (included video analysis and he e-mailed me links to DL the video's which included his commentary and graphics he showed me while teaching) yesterday.

First: My stance was off. My legs were too stiff and my back was bent.

Second: Fixed my grip. I was not holding the club with my fingers but in the palm of my hand limiting my wrist flexibility. This also caused my left elbow to bend A LOT on the back swing.

Third: Take-away was way to far inside b/c I was using my arms/hands to pull the club back instead of my shoulders to start.

Fourth: Start downswing with the hips.

By the end of the lesson, I was striking the ball a lot better than at the beggining. That and it was going straight and not right all the time.

Now you tell me if I could have diagnosed all those faults on my own in 45-minutes?

I have 4-more lessons with the guy and I'm really looking forward to them. My swing sounds terrible from what I wrote above, but it was really not that bad. Just a lot of small issues that were compounding my play.

EDIT: To add to what Bagger said, My lesson was for 30-minutes. He said it would take a bit longer while we set everything up, discussed my concerns/thoughs, goals, etc.

It started at 5:25 and I left Golf Smith at 6:30. The guy spent some extra time with me beyond what I paid for. My dad has also taken lessons from him so a relationship was already started.

[This message has been edited by agracer (edited 4/16/2014 12:54p).]

sometimes a 30min lesson can fix something you've been fighting for months. If you can afford it, I'd go get one.

^ I've done a few lessons when I get into a funk on something. To me 30 minutes is ideal, and then it gets counter productive after that.

thanks all--seems like lessons are the way to go.

that being said, anyone know of a good deal on lessons in the FW area?

also, is it worth it to get a digital swing analysis?

I'd stay away from too much video analysis...for me it makes me want to know what it looks like when in reality it's all about what the ball flight is. Video makes me too mechanical