Grounding out on the driver...

[Xikar]

Much like smr91481 I am haveing problems with my driver.... but instead of slicing problems, I am haveing trouble grounding out. I can hit with all my irons, achieve good height and also distance... but my driver hits all look as though I just used a putter. The ball lifts no more than 3 to 5 feet off the ground and goes out.. MAYBE... 50 yards tops.

[Avid Golfer]

Much like smr91481 I am haveing problems with my driver.... but instead of slicing problems, I am haveing trouble grounding out. I can hit with all my irons, achieve good height and also distance... but my driver hits all look as though I just used a putter. The ball lifts no more than 3 to 5 feet off the ground and goes out.. MAYBE... 50 yards tops.

Its difficult to know what your problem is without seeing your setup or swing, but you should be able to make improvements by copying the pros. Below are links to pictures of numerous tour pros. You will notice with the driver the following things:

The ball is lined up with the front shoulder. The ball is teed up so that the top of the ball is above the top of the driver. The spine is tilted away from the target (shirt buttons compared to belt buckle). The right hip and knee are bumped toward the target (inside the back foot and shoulder). The body, arms, and legs, form a shape that looks like a reverse K. http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/4...atsetupsj7.jpg http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/254...ballposdg0.jpg Model your setup after the pros and you should see improvement.

[QWKDTSN]

I am a high handicapper with a tendency for very low driver loft.

I tried something on my own that I found helped me a lot.

Tee up just a little higher than you normally would, and tee up off of your front foot, as far ahead as you are comfortable. Try it off of your heel and your toe. I try to get it up by my toe but sometimes it just looks wrong and I am not comfortable so I adjust slightly. I am most comfortable with it by my heel but get more loft with it off my heel.

Set the clubface behind the ball on the tee and take your grip - then, instead of immediately beginning your backswing from this position, with the clubface grounded or hovering directly behind the ball, forward in your stance, bring the club back until it's midway between your feet. Get comfortable with the address like this, about a foot behind the ball, and then swing away.

I found that beginning my swing with the clubhead so far behind the teed up ball made me think about swinging the club close to the grass, and then catching the ball on the upswing, lofting it high. When I was addressing the club right behind the ball and then swinging, I would not catch the ball on the upswing and I would send it off in a line drive fashion, very low - OK on some elevated tee boxes, because it would roll out to almost the same distance as my friends, but on the holes with fairways that go uphill, the low trajectory just killed me.

I was doing this all yesterday (addressing the ball with the club mid-stance, and thinking about catching the ball on the way up) and was killing the driver. I played in a best ball tournament and my team used my drives almost every hole.