Driver Control Issue

[awmgolfer]

I have been the high school golf coach at our school for a number of years now and have come across an issue with a player I am just scratching my head over. The issue is with a particular student, becoming a solid golfer with the exception of his driver. He gladly leaves it in the bag and doesn't try to make it work but I want to get this problem figured out for him and thought I would post it here for any advice. He shoots upper to mid 80's on average and can hit his long clubs well with the exception of his driver.

He will step up and hook or slice his driver and his face will be wide open or quite closed, completely random. He will put the driver in the bag and then can stripe his 3 wood right down the middle. We have been using the Opti Shot since we are deep into the winter and he is routinely in the double digits for degrees open or closed with the driver and his 3 wood at most will be 3 degrees open or closed which gives him a nice little cut or draw. It is the same brand club and I he can obviously square up the face of his 3 wood and lower, it is just the driver. I understand that it is more difficult because it is a longer club, etc., he does a lot of the drills out there for squaring the club face at impact and they just are not working with only the driver.

I am about pulling my hair out in frustration and just wondering if anyone has any ideas. Just strikes me as a weird issue because most people when they slice or hook their driver they will do it to some less degree with the other long clubs and that is not the case along with it being random on it being open and closed. Thanks in advance for any thoughts!!

[MS256]

Sounds identical to my situation for the last couple of years. Could hit a 3 wood down the middle as hard or as easy as I wanted with no conscious effort to square the club head up at impact. With a driver there was always a feeling that I had to manipulate the club and time the clubface. If I timed it right I hit a good shot but just as often I over-rotated or under-rotated the face. Since my path through the ball is slightly in to out my misses were straight balls to the right (and bombed) or pull hooks. My theory on my problem (other than having a crappy swing) was the MOI on either the club or from the shaft to the toe was significantly different than my 3 wood, and the driver was longer. Shortening the driver to 44 1/2 inches and buying extra weights and experimenting with weight placement improved my driver consistency enough to get by fairly well but it still is nowhere close to as easy as my 3 wood. I'm sure a really good club fitter could have helped my problem with MOI much better, easier, and faster than my hunt and peck garage guessing game but there isn't a good one around here.

[dchoye]

I tend to hook 3 woods I agree it's feels different to flush a driver I tend to just pull or cut my driver is the best way I can describe it like in baseball terms

[JetFan1983]

Can you give us swing videos to work with? Otherwise, I don't think we can really help here. MS256 pretty much nailed the equipment aspect of the issue -- that a club better fit for him could and would help... but swing wise we really need to see his move.

[Righty to Lefty]

Driver is not the same as any club in the bag because it is struck on the up swing of the swing arch. I bet if you were to get him on a trackman you would see that he is not controlling the face and path with that club very well.

[dchoye]

RtoL has some good advice about the unique characteristic of the driver being hit on the upswing I been working on my driver swing lately and teeing the ball slightly higher and more forward in the stance toward the left toe has encourage me to hit up on the ball I went to swing monitor and was surprised how much lower my spin rates and higher club head speed improved It's easier to cut the ball using Tigers tip to choke up of driver method Then when you get the rhythm down , can try to increase speed and reduce spin rates even more by turning the ball over and hit a cut-pull

[saevel25]

I have been the high school golf coach at our school for a number of years now and have come across an issue with a player I am just scratching my head over. The issue is with a particular student, becoming a solid golfer with the exception of his driver. He gladly leaves it in the bag and doesn't try to make it work but I want to get this problem figured out for him and thought I would post it here for any advice. He shoots upper to mid 80's on average and can hit his long clubs well with the exception of his driver.

He will step up and hook or slice his driver and his face will be wide open or quite closed, completely random. He will put the driver in the bag and then can stripe his 3 wood right down the middle. We have been using the Opti Shot since we are deep into the winter and he is routinely in the double digits for degrees open or closed with the driver and his 3 wood at most will be 3 degrees open or closed which gives him a nice little cut or draw. It is the same brand club and I he can obviously square up the face of his 3 wood and lower, it is just the driver. I understand that it is more difficult because it is a longer club, etc., he does a lot of the drills out there for squaring the club face at impact and they just are not working with only the driver.

I am about pulling my hair out in frustration and just wondering if anyone has any ideas. Just strikes me as a weird issue because most people when they slice or hook their driver they will do it to some less degree with the other long clubs and that is not the case along with it being random on it being open and closed. Thanks in advance for any thoughts!!

If he is shooting in the upper to mid 80's then I can see him having this trouble.

Also note, rarely does a golfer hit a ball with a "Square" clubface. Draws are hit with a right-pointing clubface, and fades with a left-pointing clubface (for righties). Search for "Ball Flight Laws" on this site.

With out seeing his swing, it is hard to give advice. Just on the basis of this is probably a lack of the first 3 keys, go to the "Swing Thoughts" section and check out the 5 keys videos.