Striking at Top of the Driver Face, an Issue

[cooke119]

I've watched the video and read the post on "How To Hit A Driver" under Swing Thoughts on TST and try to put into practice what is advised, however I still have an issue with striking the ball in the middle of the driver face. Toe to heal I'm fine, top to bottom I'm not. I was at the range again today and put tape on the face to see where I strike the ball. All strikes were at the top on the club face. I tee the ball low, only approximately 1/4 of the ball above the top of the club yet I still hit it at the top, and I mean really close to the top. I normally use a 2 3/4" tee and put that half way into the ground and yet..... 

I am always amazed when I see guys teeing the ball very high and picking it off with no problem, I can't do that. If I tee it high the driver slides under the ball and I hit a sky ball.

I rarely hit my driver fat, the bottom brushes the grass, (I guess that is why I can hit my fairway metals really well because I make good contact), I have tried moving the ball forward in my stance to hit up on the ball but to no avail. I know I am losing yardage that I would love to get back.

Anyway, any thoughts on how to move the strikes down the club face and closer to the middle?

[sjduffers]

You are probably too steep with the swing of the driver, i.e. similar to using an iron. The driver swing needs more shoulder tilt, or secondary axis tilt (the reverse K setup position), where the spine is angled away from the target a bit, (in addition to being angled towards the ball) which promotes a shallower swing and can even create a positive angle of attack at impact, i.e. hitting the ball on the upswing a bit, instead of downwards.

This means the low point of the swing arc should be behind the ball (a few inches), instead of in front of the ball for an iron swing. Perhaps move the ball a bit more forward in your stance and tee the ball a bit higher to help with that.

[cooke119]

18 hours ago, sjduffers said:

You are probably too steep with the swing of the driver, i.e. similar to using an iron. The driver swing needs more shoulder tilt, or secondary axis tilt (the reverse K setup position), where the spine is angled away from the target a bit, (in addition to being angled towards the ball) which promotes a shallower swing and can even create a positive angle of attack at impact, i.e. hitting the ball on the upswing a bit, instead of downwards.

This means the low point of the swing arc should be behind the ball (a few inches), instead of in front of the ball for an iron swing. Perhaps move the ball a bit more forward in your stance and tee the ball a bit higher to help with that.

Thanks for the insight, sounds like what I am doing wrong. I'll go back to the range and do what you suggest, we'll see if I can correct my swing. I'll post the results. Thanks again.

[RayG]

Try a drill using the Moe Norman method. He would tee the ball up at least 6-8 inches in front of the driver. whereas you seem to be impacting the ball at the lowest point of the arc or before (like an iron swing as noted already), you want to be level or on the upswing. 

It also could be psychological and you can't seem to bring yourself to hit "up" on the ball thinking you'll thin it like an iron would do, no matter if you tee it up off the heel or toe of your lead foot. You might just be adjusting to hit down on it no matter where it is. 

[Bonvivant]

What got me hitting driver decent was the nail through the ball idea. Don't think about anything to do with your swing. Just imagine that there is a nail going into the ball on the impact plane you intend to hit. Try to hammer the imaginary nail as opposed to hitting the ball. If you can keep focused on this, you will start making really good contact and the swing will build itself around the task (of hammering the nail). The nail should be central but the head should be a bit lower than the tip of the nail so your contact point happens when the club head is past its low point. 

The only issue I had with this, is my iron play got funny the first time out with the driver. I had been hitting my irons very well before hand with zero swing thoughts at all. My swing had adapted to a driver swing after an all driver range session and the next time out was disastrous for the first 9 with irons/wedges. I had to impart the nail idea on iron shots, which I had never done before, to get back online. Obviously the tilt of the imaginary nail changes when you move from driver to irons, but other than that it appears to work for both for me.

[Buckeyebowman]

Do you "hover" the club or do you ground it? My buddy tees the ball very high, but he hovers the club. I tee the ball just a bit lower, and ground the club.