What Is Causing My Sky Balls? (Distance is Fine)

[Tomhirvin]

I am going to book myself a lesson with a monitor to try and sort this issue but I would be interested for anyone's feedback.

I am playing a Ping G400 9 degree driver set to 10. My swing speed is around 100mph and my average distance is 230y.

As a 20 handicapper I am obviously very pleased with my drives as they are reasonably long and pretty consistent but the height.... Everyone I play with comments on how high the ball goes and clearly the high launch is limiting my distance. It has to be at least 60 degrees. I use a 70mm pink castle tee so not setting up high and the ball is coming off the centre (most of the time).

Am I missing something? I feel like I am not moving my weight forward enough in the downswing as don't feel exactly balanced but if anyone has any thoughts I would be grateful.

Thanks,

Tom

Edited July 12, 2019 by Tomhirvin

[Piz]

Try teeing the ball higher.  It could be that your club head path, thru the ball, is a bit steeper than optimal and that is producing too much backspin.  You can use the scoring lines, on the face of your driver, to set the tee a specific height.  

[Tomhirvin]

Thank you so much for your response Piz I will give it a try. The only reason I went with the smaller tee's is someone (not a pro) told me that it was going high because my tees were too high so I was hitting the ball too high on the face (foot spray says otherwise). Sorry but what do you mean by "You can use the scoring lines, on the face of your driver, to set the tee a specific height."

Edited July 12, 2019 by Tomhirvin

[Double Mocha Man]

1 hour ago, Tomhirvin said:

The only reason I went with the smaller tee's is someone (not a pro) told me that it was going high because my tees were too high so I was hitting the ball too high on the face (foot spray says otherwise). 

Now Tom, that is the kind of "Not a Pro" you don't want to listen to.  A too simple answer for a more complex problem.  His advice is right up there with "You're looking up."  Tell him to come back and give you advice when he's scratch... or publishes a little red book.

Edited July 12, 2019 by Double Mocha Man

[Shindig]

2 hours ago, Tomhirvin said:

Thank you so much for your response Piz I will give it a try. The only reason I went with the smaller tee's is someone (not a pro) told me that it was going high because my tees were too high so I was hitting the ball too high on the face (foot spray says otherwise). Sorry but what do you mean by "You can use the scoring lines, on the face of your driver, to set the tee a specific height."

Look at your driver.  There are horizontal lines on it -- when I tee a ball, I know which line I want the top of the tee to be in line with.  I set it up to be where I think it is, take the ball off, put the driver next to it, confirm (adjust if needed), then replace the ball.  This adds maybe ten seconds to my routine of teeing a ball (more than offset by my lack of rehearsal swings during a round). 

[Zippo]

4 hours ago, Shindig said:

Look at your driver.  There are horizontal lines on it -- when I tee a ball, I know which line I want the top of the tee to be in line with.  I set it up to be where I think it is, take the ball off, put the driver next to it, confirm (adjust if needed), then replace the ball.  This adds maybe ten seconds to my routine of teeing a ball (more than offset by my lack of rehearsal swings during a round). 

That is interesting. I've never thought of doing that way. I usually tee the ball so that about 1/2 the ball's diameter is above the top of my M1 driver head resting on the ground. I'll have to check to see where the top of the tee is in relation to the lines sometime.

[Tiga Tiga Woods Yall]

Casting/flipping your hands. 

[PerfectStriking]

Flatten out your swing plane and don't get so front on when you hit the ball will definitely "cure" it, now whether that causes you another whole world of difficulty to "cure", particularly pull left is another thing to think about right? There really is no secret ingredient in the swing that "fixes" everything it is a balance to get perfect between too high / too low, too open / too closed, too fast / too slow, too early / too late, too strong / too weak and that is for everything ball, club, every joint and every muscle, so it's a fun game right!

Edited July 13, 2019 by PerfectStriking

[Tomhirvin]

Thank you for all the help. Lots to try at the range!

[PerfectStriking]

1 hour ago, Tomhirvin said:

Thank you for all the help. Lots to try at the range!

One last one, if you want to "cure" it without any swing change just get a golf club shaft with a higher kick point, that will hit it lower.

[phillyk]

On 7/13/2019 at 5:58 AM, PerfectStriking said:

One last one, if you want to "cure" it without any swing change just get a golf club shaft with a higher kick point, that will hit it lower.

If he is hitting as high as he says, a kick point adjustment is likely not enough.  Could stiffen the shaft or increase weight of shaft.  Certainly booking a lesson with a pro and launch monitor, who can teach and fit clubs, will give him the best way to go.

[jlbos83]

I'm thinking, in my non-expert way, that if your swing speed is 100 mph you should be getting way more than 230 yards.  So there is something going on other than what you are expecting, I think.  I am much slower than that, and roll out to 240+ when I hit one reasonably well, with my G400 at 10.5.

[Double Mocha Man]

2 minutes ago, jlbos83 said:

I'm thinking, in my non-expert way, that if your swing speed is 100 mph you should be getting way more than 230 yards.  So there is something going on other than what you are expecting, I think.  I am much slower than that, and roll out to 240+ when I hit one reasonably well, with my G400 at 10.5.

There is a chart.  For a 100mph swing speed he should be getting 240 yards carry and 258 total distance.  Unless your drive is uphill, into the wind and the temperature is hovering around freezing.

[Club Rat]

A few weeks ago we had the club reps at our club.
I spent about a half hour with the Ping rep just on adjustments to a driver to lower my ball flight.
I'd hit three shots and he would look at the numbers on the trackman and adjust the club.
After about four different settings, we finally reached my goal.

Unfortunately, my friend moved into the spot I was hitting before I could record my data while I was
talking to the Rep... 
 

[Double Mocha Man]

20 minutes ago, Club Rat said:

A few weeks ago we had the club reps at our club.
I spent about a half hour with the Ping rep just on adjustments to a driver to lower my ball flight.
I'd hit three shots and he would look at the numbers on the trackman and adjust the club.
After about four different settings, we finally reached my goal.

Unfortunately, my friend moved into the spot I was hitting before I could record my data while I was
talking to the Rep... 
 

Did you buy the driver?

[Club Rat]

10 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Did you buy the driver?

We had a month of rain after the demo day and I never got around to test drive the demo in the shop.
It's pretty much out of the picture now, doubt if I'll even bother.

[DeadMan]

One thing to check is where your impact actually is. Easiest way is to use some foot spray. Spray it on the face of your driver, and hit a couple of shots with it. You can also use impact tape, but foot spray is much cheaper. You might be hitting the ball high on the face. If you have marks on the crown of your driver, this is possible.

There are a lot of things that could be going wrong to get your ball flight too high, but this will help you to see if the problem is contact or something else.

That all said, it's not necessarily a bad thing to hit the ball really high. As long as the ball's not ballooning and costing you distance. PGA Tour average* with a driver is 32 yards (96 feet) - and PGA Tour average launch conditions are not ideal for distance. I think anywhere from 90 to 120 feet is fine, depending on launch conditions. That's actually really high, and there aren't many golfers out there that hit it that high. You can get on a trackman or flightscope and see how high you're actually hitting it (and measure other things like launch angle and spin, which are important for maximizing your distance with your driver).

*This is from 2015, so this might have changed.

Edited July 16, 2019 by DeadMan

[Talldog]

On 7/12/2019 at 5:35 PM, Double Mocha Man said:

Tell him to come back and give you advice when he's scratch... or publishes a little red book.

I had no idea Chairman Mao was a golf expert.