Alright, let me tell you what I did with my Ping driver the other day. My slice was driving me absolutely nuts. Everything else felt okay, but boom, driver comes out, and the ball starts peeling off to the right like it owes money over there. It was getting embarrassing, honestly.
So, I figured instead of immediately blaming my swing (which, okay, isn’t perfect), maybe I could mess with the club itself. It’s one of those Ping drivers, you know, the ones with the adjustable bits. I’ve got the little wrench thingy it came with sitting in my bag.
Getting Hands-On
First thing, I grabbed the wrench and the driver. Flipped the club over and looked at that screw in the hosel, where the shaft connects to the head. Ping has these little markings around it, showing different settings like neutral, draw, flat, etc. Mine was set pretty much standard, right from the shop.
My thinking was pretty basic: slice means the clubface is open when I hit it, right? So, I needed a setting that helps close the face a bit, or encourages a draw.
Here’s what I actually did:
- I stuck the wrench in the screw and loosened it. Didn’t take it all the way out, just enough so I could turn the sleeve thingy.
- I looked at the little chart Ping has (or just remembered from looking it up before) and saw the settings marked ‘Draw’.
- I rotated that sleeve counter-clockwise until the indicator lined up with the ‘Draw’ position. It felt like a solid click into place.
- Then I just tightened the screw back up. Made sure it was snug, heard that little ‘click’ from the torque wrench so I knew it was tight enough but not too tight.
Hitting the Range
Next step, obviously, was to see if I’d made things better or worse. Headed straight to the driving range. Felt a little weird setting up to the ball at first, maybe the club looked a touch different, pointing slightly left, but I tried not to overthink it.
Took my normal swing. First ball… wow. It went much straighter. Like, noticeably straighter. Still a tiny fade, but nothing like the huge slice from before.
I hit about half a bucket just like that. The results were pretty consistent:
- The big slice was gone.
- Most shots were either straight or had a slight fade (which I can live with).
- A couple even turned over slightly for a little draw, which was a nice surprise!
- It felt like I didn’t have to fight the club so much.
Final Thoughts
Look, it didn’t magically turn me into a tour pro. My swing still needs work. But that one simple adjustment, just twisting that sleeve on the hosel to the draw setting, made a huge difference to my ball flight off the tee. It took maybe two minutes to do, plus the time at the range.
It’s pretty satisfying fixing something like that yourself. If you’re fighting a slice with an adjustable driver, maybe give tinkering with the settings a shot before you do anything drastic. Worked for me, anyway.
