Tourney tomorrow, Driver gone. Help!!

[Range King]

Hi,

this is an emergency.
I am playing in a tournament tomorrow, and I totally lost my driver skills during the week.

I used to be decent with the driver. Slight draw, averaging maybe 220-240.
But strangely, since a couple of days I am constantly underhitting the ball and sending it straight into the sky. Also I am not hitting with the center of the clubface anymore. Impact is very close to the heel. Sometimes, if both happens, I am almost hitting with the hosel.

Do you think I forgot how to tee up and set up correctly, or could it be a swing thing?

[trog2233]

if your hitting it on the heel then back off the tee a little. Other than that just relax and quit over thinking it. Just my opinion

[jaragon126]

Might be totally insane, but in reading the forum posts today I came across a posting where an instructor had a guy practice his driver at the range with his eyes closed.

Maybe to try to get him to focus on making the swing rather than "hitting" the ball ... not sure but it's worth a try in an emergency!

[scratchgolferinbama]

Whenever I struggle with the driver it usually stems from trying to get a little more out of it. Soon after my swing with the driver becomes completely foreign feeling to me. I become paralyzed with swing thoughts. I have to reset my brain and body so to speak, so I walk to the ball take one look at my target and swing away. No thoughts, just swing away. Usually works for me, maybe it'll work for you. Good luck in the tourney.

[Zeph]

Spend some time before the tournament dedicated to the driver. Make sure your set up position is flawless and make a smooth and easy swing. Often when a club isn't working, we tend to try to hit harder or force it to get better. Rarely works. Go back to basic and take easy swings. If you normally hit it great, there is no reason you shouldn't still be able to. Focusing on a single swing thought can also help. Like your head or length of backswing. When we focus on one thing, everything else will move like normal. If you've got the ability, it will come out when you don't overthink things.

If you go out tomorrow with absolutely no confidence in your driver, your entire game can be ruined. If you want to use the driver, spend more time on the range to get comfortable and work on the basics. If not, use your 3 wood and see how it goes.

It's impossible to tell why you hit under the ball, but there are a few things that might cause it.

- Tee'ing it too high or too far back in the stance
- Hitting down on the ball, caused by too much weight forward at adress or a too steep swingpath. That could be your swing thought, taking a shallow and wide swing around your body, not up and down. If you pull the club back along the grass and sweep it, ball tee'd on the inside of the left heel at proper height, you should have trouble getting that far under the ball

Good luck!

[Range King]

Hi,

reporting back from my tournament round.

Driver was back to normal, I even had some really good tee shots.
Thanks for your advice.
I had tee time 7.30 am, so there was not so much time to work on the driver, but I managed to hit 30 balls prior to teeing off.

The solution was not to tee up as high. For some reason I started teeing up higher than before. So I took your advice, set everything back to zero:
- tee up so that lower half of ball is covered by driver at setup
- ball position inside left heel

With this set, I tweaked how far I back up from the ball. This is a bit strange. I had to go back, so that the ball is merely in front of the toe of the driver. Maybe I started to have my arms more relaxed during the setup, and they are more stretched during the downswing.
Anyway, when I had my swing tempo ok, I managed to shoot some decent drives with the occasional push (which is probably caused by not releasing the clubhead properly).

P.S. Shot a 94, which is good for me. Had two 4-putts

[shankapotamus]

Also, if you're ever having problems hitting your driver, practice hitting out of the sand. I believe Dave Pelz did a study where as players get better out of the sand, they get better driving. Because in sand, you're not trying to hit the ball, so it helps you focus on your swing when you're hitting a driver. I hope that made sense

[Range King]

Also, if you're ever having problems hitting your driver, practice hitting out of the sand. I believe Dave Pelz did a study where as players get better out of the sand, they get better driving. Because in sand, you're not trying to hit the ball, so it helps you focus on your swing when you're hitting a driver. I hope that made sense

So, reverse, if I am hitting a good driver, then I should be also better out of the sand?

Fact is, my sandplay is so bad, its not even funny. But thats for another thread. BTW: Just came back from the winners ceremony.. made 2nd place in the tourney in my handicap class. Won a greenfee, concert tickets and 6 bottles of wine

[Ed_Bighead]

So, reverse, if I am hitting a good driver, then I should be also better out of the sand?

Your handicap being a 22.5? Out of curiosity, what did you shoot?

[shankapotamus]

So, reverse, if I am hitting a good driver, then I should be also better out of the sand?

It doesn't work in reverse :P At least I don't believe so.

[Range King]

Your handicap being a 22.5? Out of curiosity, what did you shoot?

I Shot 94. But it was a stableford tournament, so my 8s and 9 were not so devastating for the result.

[Zeph]

You are not trying to hit the ball in the sand, but you are trying to hit the sand, you are not just swinging. The two shots are also completely different in matters of set up and execution. I don't see the big gain there, especially since you want limited hip movement in the sand.

[k1993]

i had a tourney today and i totally lost my driver too.
i shot 95 and i am soooo pissed. my drives each went like 100 yards hahaha =[

[Range King]

i had a tourney today and i totally lost my driver too.

Better 100yds than OB. (and the also the provisonal OB)