How do you improve your drives?

[ahemolysin]

Practice of course.

Besides that, have anyone tried one of those highly advertised products? ex. Medicus (dual-hinge) driver, power max (heavy driver), Powerbilt (nitrogen injection) driver (by the way is this thing legal under USGA regulations)?

I can drive very well with 50% power, but when I crank it up the ball is just going all over the place. It's getting a little frustrating. Tips & advices please ^^

[Doctorfro]

Get some help with your swing is a start. Video analysis is a great help. Then hit the gym. Some proper resistance training with some core work and a lot of stretching. I'm 47 and I still hit it past most of the guys my age.

[Spackler-esque]

Powerbilt (nitrogen injection) driver (by the way is this thing legal under USGA regulations)?

I was actually in my local golf shop the other day when the Powerbilt rep stopped by. Other than looking really closed at address, the clubs I saw looked really nice. Didn't get to hit them, but the rep uses the tour model he was showing.

I think Fuzzy uses the driver. That's what I was hearing, at least. So the answer is yes, it is legal.

[Three Putt]

Practice of course.

I have the 320 gram Power Hitter and the Medicus dual hinge (both given as presents)

The Power Hitter is much more productive for me, I am a good driver of the ball and hit about 70% in the short grass (or close enough for me). The Medicus is good for free swinging, but when you hit balls with it you can feel the click in the joint, then you try too compensate... Basically it feels weird hitting balls with it, but it is a good swing trainer...so I'm not hating on it, i'm not selling it.

[Stacey_E]

I can drive very well with 50% power, but when I crank it up the ball is just going all over the place. It's getting a little frustrating. Tips & advices please ^^

Do you mean you can drive very well at 50% with a weighted club? Or if you mean you can drive very well with your regular driver at 50%....well there is your answer. I still can't get it through my thick head that my best drives come when I relax and eliminate all the tension from my swing. That is not to say you should be limp as a noodle. One person's relaxed is another's tense, so it is somewhat relative I suppose.

For me, the harder I swing the more my clubhead speed slows down - I've seen the launch monitor results that prove it! Plus I end up loosing control, making poor contact and thus loosing...BALL SPEED. So swinging harder makes me hit it shorter and more crooked. I still try to do it sometimes. On the rare days my swing is really on (for me) I can get a longer drive when I need it by taking a slighty wider stance and an extra smooth take away. If my hands and wrist are nice and relaxed at address it helps too. Good Luck!

[ks8829]

When I made a commitment to practice my short game by practicing my pitch shots of 40,50, 60 yards I found my take away that help me make solid consistent contact with the ball and it was a mini version of the swing and impact zone.

I tried the same take away for my driver and started hitting the driver solid and farther than ever..... and my short game improved and even cut some strokes off the game.

Try it and it might work for you also.

[RC]

In a nutshell, hitting a driver is all about making solid contact with as little sidespin as you can. Even the power hitting pros that fade the ball are hitting push fades that have very little side spin. So, anything you can do to build up a swing that make square, solid contact should help your driving.

As has been pointed out, practicing your short game will help, hitting 3/4 shots will help, hitting your driver at 80 percent will help, etc. Just make square contact.

From there add more power a little at a time making sure as you work your way up that you still swing so that you return the club square down the line. A square contact at slightly lower swing speed will beat a higher swing speed shot with lots of side spin -- every time.

Every one here knows I believe that true power comes from a very quick and strong hip turn back into the ball, from the ground up. If you spin your hips out of control, you will see it show up in side spin. I really believe that you can turn your hips as fast as you possibly can as long as you stay in balance and can return the club to a square position. But in reality, I don't care how you do it, avoid side spin if you want great drives.

[Andrew Rice]

There are two very simple things you can do to straighten out your big stick. Firstly, try teeing the ball a little lower. Most golfers that I play with tee the ball way too high - certainly relative to tour players. Try to get the top of the ball level with the top edge (roof!) of the clubface when the club is grounded. Secondly, understand that the driver must be travelling down into impact. It is fashionable to try to preach that we should hit the driver on the upswing, but once again that goes against the grain of what 90% of PGA tour golfers are doing. The more upswing, the more wild! You may hit the ball further, but definitely less straight. Hit down on the ball!
A great drill to help with both of these upgrades is to practice hitting a few drivers off the deck. Try 10 shots and notice a. how much better the last five shots are relative to the first five and b. how much straighter the ball flies.
Give this a try and let me know how it goes.
Andrew

[Quinn07]

I swing harder and if that doesn't work I switch to my 3 wood. ;)

[shortstop20]

It is fashionable to try to preach that we should hit the driver on the upswing, but once again that goes against the grain of what

Really? I thought they all hit it on the upswing.

[ryohazuki222]

As per the OP's question:

Starting out not that long ago... now I have some good distance and accuracy with my drives.

The two things that helped the most are:

--Reading Hogan's book.
--Momentus Power Hitter 275

Another thing that MIGHT have helped was switching drivers... I really just switched for superficial reasons and it was around the time I was doing a lot of new things to the swing from reading Hogan's book and practicing with the power hitter so there's no clear decision whether or not it helped in reality. But spec-wise i changed from a 10.5 reg shaft driver to a 9.5 stiff shaft and hit a lot straighter. Though now I sometimes hook the ball. I never hooked with the old driver.

[bogeymike]

horrendous cheating helps

[JCDot33]

Yeah, when my driver goes to hell I like to quickly pull out my "Foot-wedge"

Seriously though, I think that you should really look at your swing, and your grip ...

You say that at 50% power you have pretty decent accuracy, so that leads me to believe that at 50% power you have a pretty decent swing - so what is the difference between 50% power and 100% power - what are you doing differently?

Video anaylsis of your two swings would probably do you wonders ... video both look at the differences. Probably, and this is just a guess, two things are happening to you at full power. Firsty, you are probably coming over the top on your backswing. And secondly you are probably rotating your hips too far at full power both will cause a wicked slice ...

[ks8829]

The driver is the hardest club to hit in the bag, so slowly work up to the driver by learning to make solid contact with your irons, fairway woods and ultimately the driver. Making solid contact is key to hitting your driver. I would not practice with the driver at the driving range but only to check your progress with your solid contact. I would recommend practicing the wedges, because the pitch shot is a mini golf swing and your are focusing on the impact zone and making solid contact. If you practice your pitch shot only for a couple of weeks one of the benefits will be solid iron, fairway and driver contacts................ better short game and lower handicap too.

[jambalaya]

Figure out what makes 'em go straighter more often.

[Zeph]

There are two very simple things you can do to straighten out your big stick. Firstly, try teeing the ball a little lower. Most golfers that I play with tee the ball way too high - certainly relative to tour players. Try to get the top of the ball level with the top edge (roof!) of the clubface when the club is grounded. Secondly, understand that the driver must be travelling down into impact. It is fashionable to try to preach that we should hit the driver on the upswing, but once again that goes against the grain of what 90% of PGA tour golfers are doing. The more upswing, the more wild! You may hit the ball further, but definitely less straight. Hit down on the ball!

I disagree. I prefer to hit it at the bottom or ever so slightly on the way up. By hitting down you'll de-loft the club slightly and creating backspin. Both resulting in shorter shots. I don't like the tee too high, I like to have the ball at height with the club or half the ball over. If I tee it too high I have to force the club upwards to reach the ball, whereas with the ball level with the club or slightly higher I can catch it at the bottom or just a tad upwards.

I agree that it is easier to control the ball by hitting more down on it, but you'll lose many yards. On Youtube you can find Swing Vision shots of Tiger and Vijay hitting drivers. They hit it slightly upwards, maybe at the bottom and occasionally slightly downwards. The best way to counter the problem of hitting the fairway you can play a fade or a draw. By aiming and trying to hit straight it takes very little to get into trouble. An ever so slightly change in angle of the driver can get the ball far into the rough. By fading or drawing and aiming a yard or two at the edge of the fairway you got the whole fairway to land on. Should you hit it straight you'll still be on the fairway. With a nice draw or fade you are in the middle, with a big larger draw or fade you are on the other side of the fairway. Should you be unfortunate enough to push or hook the ball the oposite way you are trying to draw or fade it'll be a bit worse, but that's where practice comes into play. In my opinion it's much easier to draw and fade with the driver than any other club. You've got a huge club face and it's easier to control the angle of the face. Tee the ball on the inside of your left foot and give it a go. Move the tee more forward and more backwards, set it higher and lower until you find the spot and height where you hit it best. Lag creates power and distance, but it's also harder to control and will result in more mishits, but that's something everyone has to experience and work on themselves. If you can control the driver you've gone a long way. On a par 5 you can give it that extra lag and get it halfway to the hole, on a hole with a a narrow fairway and dogleg you can choke down on the club and swing with less lag and hinge to make sure you reach that spot around 200 meters. The driver is a very important club in my opinion. You can of course use a wood instead, but it'll just give your wood the responsibility the driver normally got. A first shot in the fairway or the rough can make the difference of birdie or bogie. Practicing wedges to improve your driving is not something I would advise. The irons you play pretty much the same, but if you hit a driver like you hit a wedge you'll balloon it quite often.

[Dub]

First thing that helped me was picking out a specific target to hit to. All to often i'd just take out the driver and hit it in a general direction down the fairway. Now I attempt to get as specific as I can when I'm standing behind the ball before the walk to address.


I also try to stay relaxed and a use a wide takeaway with no tension in my shoulders, arms and hands.


Swing through to a full follow through.

[Andrew Rice]

I disagree. I prefer to hit it at the bottom or ever so slightly on the way up. By hitting down you'll de-loft the club slightly and creating backspin. Both resulting in shorter shots. I don't like the tee too high, I like to have the ball at height with the club or half the ball over. If I tee it too high I have to force the club upwards to reach the ball, whereas with the ball level with the club or slightly higher I can catch it at the bottom or just a tad upwards.

Zeph,

The fact of the matter is this - the majority of players on tour hit down the majority of the time. As a result, PGA Tour golfers also tend to tee the ball lower than the average amateur golfers I see. While every golfer on this board would like to hit the ball further, I believe the majoity of us would trade in 5-10 yards for a few more fairways per round. It is ultimately about control! For example, in polling the creators of Trackman (the launch monitor people who have more club and ball information on tour players than anybody else) Tiger Woods hits down most of the time. When he hits his longest drives he tends to hit slighlty up, yet when he's trying to be accurate he hits down. I believe the original poster was seeking more control and consistency from his driver and not more power and fewer fairways (they do go hand in hand!)