How do you improve your drives?

[bogeymike]

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 think the relaxed part is good advice. Just relax and let the good swing happen. It's all for fun after all. Not trying to add to an arguement here but I really doubt you're going to see any tour pros catching the driver on the upswing. When you hit any club like that it is impossible for the center (equator) of the golf ball to strike the exact center of the club, regardless of the club. ( I know this sounds weird but try it. You'll notice if you hold a club and a ball you can't make the center of the golf ball touch the center of the club without tilting the club slightly forwards i.e. leading with your hands and striking with a descending blow.) Furthermore all clubs produce backspin. A golf ball's dimples are designed to create lift when spinning backwards, if it had top spin it would drive it self into the ground (like a good tennis shot). Also if you're catching the ball on the upswing you should be drawing the ball a fair amount because the club face will begin to close at that point on a good swing. And you will be losing some distance because you're missing out on the "snap" of the club head coming through the impact zone. I'm not trying to start an argument here I just wanted to add my thoughts.

[ks8829]

One easy and quick way to see where you are hitting the driver face is to mark the ball and have the mark make contact with the driver face and see if you are hitting where you want too and make any adjustments necessary for solid contact and then work on your swing, but this will help eliminate one element of the the driver swing.