Desired Driving Distances

Hi, I am a high handicapper, 26 years old 6'4" and about 250.

When I first took up golf 2 years ago I never worked on my driver, 1. I didnt have one at first, and 2. Everyone always says how everything else is so much more important. So now that I've been playing a while and HAVE started workign on my driving I'm wondering, what is a good distance for an amature to aim at for driving distance?

I have figured out my own technique for hitting straight drives.

I stand with my arms TOTALLY extended outward like a gorrilla so when I make impact I'll be forced to have my arms totally extended out (what I THINK gets more power from my shoulder? Maybe not) Then I SLOWLY draw my club back focusing on keeping my arms absolutely straight and stiff so it's impossible to come back and miss hit the ball. I draw it back to JUST about where I feel my wrists wanting to start turning and then I EXPLODE forward into the ball. I have lately been averaging about I would say 225 from this but have hit some drives over 260 without getting any lucky bounces or anything just hitting a very clean impact.

I'm wondering if I've hit a ceiling in drive distance here though and if maybe i should try workign on a more tradional style drive shot or not. Is this something that will long term stop me from getting better like, ever trying to shape shots or get a lot more distance? Or is this ok as long as the results are good,

actually, I dont really KNOW a lot of golfers, so ARE these results good? My drive seems to be good in comparison to the people i get put with when I go golfing, but generally the guys I just happen to get put with at the course are worse than me and I am happy shooting a 95 so...

Anyway let me know if you would what you think, and feel free to tell me what you think of the results, dont assume I know a lot about what is a good or bad shot because really i have almost NO friends or family that golf so ANY feedback is greatly appreciated thanks.

First, I'll tell you that over 220 yards is a good shot. 260 is fantastic and you have nothing to be ashamed of.

The only advice I will give you is to not be stiff with your arms. The more relaxed your body, the more flexible you are and the more distance you will get. You should also focus on swinging through the ball and not at it. You should practice finishing your swing. That's also key to distance. The higher you can finish the swing, combined with hitting and staying through the ball, the more distance.

Hope this helps.

Plus, being out so far and having your arms extended prevents you from getting lag into the clubhead. If you want to see a good example of lag, look at any swing of Sergio Garcia.

If you get lag into your swing, you could probably kill the ball.

I'm just comming out of the same situation. I didn't really start caring about the driver until last year, worked from the green out.
Also, I'm 27 years old, 6'4" tall and weigh 265 lbs, about the same as yourself, assuming your athletic and hit the weight room a little.
For guys like us my opinion is 260 yards should be a short drive. Being so stiff and rigid is prolly whats holding you back.
I got my hips turning as fast as I could (without throwing my back out) and then dialed up my hand speed until they started going straight. Its still a work in progress, but its almost there all the time now.
Don't get me wrong, my old swing went 225 and straight, which is just fine, but now I'm up in the 280-290 on a good day with the wind 300+.

Swing it like a caveman ( it is a club, after all )

Just by seeing the physical description of yourself, i can picture you bombing it out there like the pros... but let me you my stats just so that you can compare...

I'm 28, 6'0 and about 190. Until i really learned to coil my body around my hips, i'd hit my drives around 230-250 depending on wether it faded or went straight. After I learned to coil and uncoil, i'm hitting around 270-280 with the help of a slight draw and a bit of run.

I'm thinking you have adapted an extreme version of the single plane swing that gives you a straight ball consistantly and that's perfectly fine. My scores weren't much different from when i was hitting 230 yd drives to hitting 270 yd drives. Improving in my short game really got my scores better. In your case, i'm sure if you adapted a more conventional swing and really feel your body coil and uncoil you'd hit the ball a country mile!! However, if you are hitting it straight now... all you need is solid ball striking with your irons and a good short game to be shooting bogey or better easily!!

Did using your technique yield good result? Is it repeatable and dependable? How tight the dispersion?

For what I understand from your descriptions, your technique definitely is quite unique similar to slapping motion. Perhaps the thing you must know is "swing easy hit hard", which means that you swing as relaxed as possible and transfer all those natural movements (coiling force, left hip/knee initiation, etc) into one big explosion. A good golf swing requires a good fundamental. Although every golfer has different swings, but most of their fundamentals are the same. It's similar to people's different handwriting, but letter A is letter A if you get what I mean. You mentioned you took up golf about 2 years ago, but never worked on driver. It makes an assumption that your irons are okay to me. Then the way you swing a driver is quite similar to irons. The differences are you need to make wider and shallower arc in the swing, your body tilts at bigger angle, wider stance, ball position is more forward approximately 4-5 balls from the center of your stance, etc. Okay this sounds too complicated from just a post. I definitely suggest you to find a good golf instructor in your area to improve your golf game. If there isn't any, good set of golf instructions DVDs are also acceptable. David Leadbetter DVD is a good one. The question if that swing technique of yours is okay to hold on to, my answer is no. If you want something right, better do it right the first time. The other thing is not too focused on maximizing the distance first. Get the fundamental right, then you can work on driving distance and control (may require fitting, which is the fun part). You need to walk first in order to be able to run. Hope this helps.

hey guys i appreciate the responses... Basically what I've gathered is this:

If i want to get better I've got to definitely try it more conventional and figure out the basics, for now I'll keep doing my old way when im out playing since i hit the fairways most times and 225-250 is fine on my short courses (playing from the whites)

See my problem is i have NO family background and VERY few friends that golf so a lot of these terms and concepts are foreign to me, for instance, having your body curl around your hips and what not, I dont really understand this, so I have a lot to learn for sure, perhaps i'll just have to pay for lessons, Im pretty reflective at the driving range though, so maybe ill try and figure out what im doing wrong and what your supposed to do with these tips... but for instance i have NO CLUE what "more lag in your club" means Im guessing something about the club being behind my hands and weight transfer? I really dont know... and have no one in real life to ask...

Well clubhead lag means that when you are in the impact position during your shot, the clubhead is behind the hands. This helps promote steady acceleration into the ball and good distance control. Due to the hands being in front of the club, the clubface slightly delofts and therefore a 7 iron will change into a 5 or 6 iron. That is why you see on TV pros hitting 185 yard 7 irons for example. It is bad to flick the wrists hear impact as you lose the clubhead lag created in your shot.

Seriously, take the time to take a few lessons and it'll set you on the right path for the rest of your life. It's a lot of fun, actually, to work on your swing when it starts out as a pretty decent, technically sound swing.

Reworking everything years after your bad habits are normal is not so much fun.

Good luck with it!

I'm no expert, so take this for what it's worth.

You need to see the difference between the address position (consistent set-up) and the impact position. If you initiate your swing starting with your legs or hips, your hips and shoulders will be more open to the target at impact than address.

A nice drill I've been using is doing a swing to 8 or 9 o'clock (hands back at 90* and shaft pointing at the ball or slightly past, depending on how quickly you hinge your wrists), then rotating through to impact position using your hips. This will show you the difference. You can practice this at home in front of the TV any time you like. After doing this a few times, start doing a full follow-through to get a better feel for a full swing.

Many people (including my instructors) will say that you should use the same swing for your driver as you use for your irons, with the only adjustments being for driver length. So far, this has been working for me.

Good luck!

I think that having your arms so ridgid and exploding into the ball are not really good habits to get into.
If you look at the best players in the world, they look like they are very relaxed and arent even really trying to crush the ball.
Id definetly say that 225 yards is good and 260 is REALLY good.
My advice to you would be to take some lessons. A good golf instructor will teach you in 1 afternoon what it would take you years to figure out on your own. Once you get the technique down, its all just a matter of fine-tuning your swing from time to time.

Im 24, 6'5" 205lbs.

Due to never having a properly shafted driver, Ive teed off with mainly a 3wood and 2/3irons throughout my playing time. Despite this, I've consistently out-driven or matched drives with those I've played with (who were using drivers).

The key for me is proper posture - dont be afraid of your height. You shouldn't be hunched over - feel comfortable. Combined with a strong grip, quiet lower body, upright swing, and sharp snap of the hips, my drives are consistently in the 290-300range (with driver now).

As others have said, stay relaxed and keep your swing fairly similar for all your clubs. When I first started trying to hit my new driver, I sucked for 9/10 of my bucket of balls. I made a slight adjustment to stand more upright...bombs away.