Why do we have one club we hit up on the ball with?

**Zeph** · April 7, 2009

I started thinking today about the clubs in my bag. They consist of irons, a hybrid, a wood, a driver and a putter. Of the clubs I hit outside the green, the driver is the only club I must hit on the bottom of the swing or on the way up.

Has nobody ever experimented in inventing a driver which can be struck downwards like the rest of the clubs? Is it the need of a big head and big face that prevent it? Having one swing must be easier than having two swings.

**PiKapp23** · April 7, 2009

Bobby Clampett actually talks about hitting down with the driver in his book. This has been discussed quite a bit in golf magazines and forums since this book came out.

Here is a brief thing in Golf Digest from Bobby Clampett about this idea:

http://www.golfdigest.com/instructio...aking80_gd1107

I think the name of the book is The Impact Zone .

http://www.bobbyclampett.com/impactzbook.html

**65withatriple** · April 7, 2009

I only have one swing. The only difference is you can tee it up on the box. I never think about any of what you are talking about when I hit a golf ball.

**clearwaterms** · April 7, 2009

I was always taught that you move the ball into different positions based on the loft of the club. So your longer clubs (driver, fairway wood, 3 iron) etc are foward in your stance and you move back a little bit with each club until you get to your 9/pw/wedges and those are alined almost with your back heal. my understanding is that hitting on a decending blow delofts and increases spin so your scoring clubs will bite the green, and your longer clubs will roll as you get more top spin.

**right handed phil mickelson** · April 7, 2009

I don't think it necessarily matters as long as you compress the ball and it goes far and straight enough to get in the fairway.

**youngskip40** · April 7, 2009

There's plenty of people that have a downward strike with their driver, they are just not really great drivers of the ball.

Why do you tee the ball up an inch or two inches with a driver and not with any other club? All of the things that go into hitting a good drive, launch angle, low spin, etc., have been factored into the design of a good driver. I assure you, someone somewhere experimented with that idea... and it didn't work.

As far as your question about the need of a big clubhead being the reason, that's definitely not it, because this huge bowling ball on a stick that is extremely popular now was not the original design of a driver.

But... to make it really simple, yes it is easier to have one swing and not two. Which is why, if you address the ball correctly and place the ball is the right position in your stance with a driver, you can make pretty much the same swing as you do with the rest of your clubs and "hit up" on the ball that way.

That was an oversimplification of having success with a driver swing, but for most amateurs, keeping it simple is probably best.

**Zeph** · April 7, 2009

I'll have to experiment with tee height and ball position then. If you can do the same swing with a 3 iron and driver and hitting down with the iron and up with the driver I must be doing something wrong. The swing is no the same. With the driver you favour the weight on the right side and make a U-shaped swing as opposed to the V-shaped with irons.

Rory McIlroy tee the ball up between the right shoulder and neck. Same does Adam Scott. Do they hit up on the ball at that position? If so, how is that possible with the same swing as they do with irons?

**NM Golf** · April 7, 2009

I started thinking today about the clubs in my bag. They consist of irons, a hybrid, a wood, a driver and a putter. Of the clubs I hit outside the green, the driver is the only club I must hit on the bottom of the swing or on the way up.

You shouldn't have two swings, ball position should take care of it. That is why you play the ball out on your lead heel with the driver. Hitting down on the ball with a driver increases spin which is a bad thing for the most part. I mean you need a certain amount of driver spin to keep the ball in the air but too much spin caused by a descending blow will make the ball balloon, slice, and hook more. I mean look at your driver, notice that the groves of your driver are much less pronounced than on other clubs in your bag. That is to cut down on the spin.

Just work on your ball position and the descending, ascending blow stuff will take care of itself.

I was always taught that you move the ball into different positions based on the loft of the club. So your longer clubs (driver, fairway wood, 3 iron) etc are foward in your stance and you move back a little bit with each club until you get to your 9/pw/wedges and those are alined almost with your back heal. my understanding is that hitting on a decending blow delofts and increases spin so your scoring clubs will bite the green, and your longer clubs will roll as you get more top spin.

Umm no. No normal shot is ever hit with the ball back of the middle of the stance. The only reason to ever position the ball toward your back heel would be to hit a low punch shot.

Normal ball position starts with the short irons in the middle of your stance. Then moves more toward the front leg until the driver is hit just inside or even with the front heel. That is why people take more of a divot with the short irons and sweep the longer clubs.

I'll have to experiment with tee height and ball position then. If you can do the same swing with a 3 iron and driver and hitting down with the iron and up with the driver I must be doing something wrong. The swing is no the same. With the driver you favour the weight on the right side and make a U-shaped swing as opposed to the V-shaped with irons.

Where did you see them with that ball position? I guarantee you that they position the ball within an inch of their left heel. Noone on tour hits a driver teed up in the back of their stance. You have seen them from the wrong angle.

Man you are way screwed up, you think too much. Its all one swing let the ball position and loft take care of itself. Your swing bottoms out a few inches forward of the middle of your stance. How can you not swing up on a driver if the ball is positioned forward of that. Sound to me like you have a great deal of lateral movement in your swing as opposed to a nice steady turn. Do yourself a favor and take a lesson. Have the teacher explain your swing to you so you can understand the dynamics.

**mikelz** · April 7, 2009

You shouldn't have two swings, ball position should take care of it. That is why you play the ball out on your lead heel with the driver. Hitting down on the ball with a driver increases spin which is a bad thing for the most part. I mean you need a certain amount of driver spin to keep the ball in the air but too much spin caused by a descending blow will make the ball balloon, slice, and hook more. I mean look at your driver, notice that the groves of your driver are much less pronounced than on other clubs in your bag. That is to cut down on the spin.

That's about as well as it can be explained.

**pjsnyc** · April 7, 2009

You shouldn't have two swings, ball position should take care of it...

I'm confused. While I agree that ball position is important when it comes to the club choice, I definitely feel like I have different swings for when I try to draw or fade the ball.

**misty_mountainhop** · April 7, 2009

I'm confused. While I agree that ball position is important when it comes to the club choice, I definitely feel like I have different swings for when I try to draw or fade the ball.

But this isn't about draw vs. fade.

Can I throw a spanner in the works and suggest a slightly upward strike for a putt as well?

**pjsnyc** · April 7, 2009

But this isn't about draw vs. fade...

My badness

**Chief Broom** · April 7, 2009

Has nobody ever experimented in inventing a driver which can be struck downwards like the rest of the clubs?

I believe that would be a 1 iron.

**NM Golf** · April 7, 2009

I'm confused. While I agree that ball position is important when it comes to the club choice, I definitely feel like I have different swings for when I try to draw or fade the ball.

You will notice I always said normal swings. There are also a lot of different techniques people use to draw and fade the ball. Most deal with a change in setup more than necessarily a different swing. At most a draw or fade swing is a slight modification of your normal swing not an entirely different swing. I mean its hard enough to have one good golf swing, much less two or three good ones.

**pjsnyc** · April 7, 2009

You will notice I always said normal swings. There are also a lot of different techniques people use to draw and fade the ball. Most deal with a change in setup more than necessarily a different swing. At most a draw or fade swing is a slight modification of your normal swing not an entirely different swing. I mean its hard enough to have one good golf swing, much less two or three good ones.

My apologies for not noticing the 'normal swings' part of your original response. And yeah - I guess you're right in that the fade/draw swing is usually just a modification of the normal swing (though I guess I still just see it as a different swing).

**misty_mountainhop** · April 7, 2009

My badness

I believe that would be a 1 iron.

Lol!

**youngskip40** · April 7, 2009

I'll have to experiment with tee height and ball position then. If you can do the same swing with a 3 iron and driver and hitting down with the iron and up with the driver I must be doing something wrong. The swing is no the same. With the driver you favour the weight on the right side and make a U-shaped swing as opposed to the V-shaped with irons.

If your leading shoulder is behind the ball at impact, chances are you are hitting the ball on the upstroke or at least when the clubpath is parallel to the ground. I've never seen a good player tee the ball up with a driver any further right than the middle of their stance regardless of the kind of shot they are trying to hit, and if they have it in the middle of their stance then they are hitting some kind of weird punch shot with a driver. Are you sure they were hitting a driver when you saw that ball position?

**DBake** · April 7, 2009

I was always taught that you move the ball into different positions based on the loft of the club. So your longer clubs (driver, fairway wood, 3 iron) etc are foward in your stance and you move back a little bit with each club until you get to your 9/pw/wedges and those are alined almost with your back heal. my understanding is that hitting on a decending blow delofts and increases spin so your scoring clubs will bite the green, and your longer clubs will roll as you get more top spin.

Back heal with you short clubs? Ouch...

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