Anybody use a different swing for their driver?

[McGolf-Doggie]

"Really, it has a lot to do with your butt ... It's how circles work. Of course an infinite length club would move at infinite speed with the smallest movement and the infinitesimal length club wouldn't ever move.

I'm so glad I had a couple of drams of scotch mist before reading this. But yes, if I understand, the longer shaft produces a wider flatter version of the swing (it may be essentially the same swing for some folk, but because of the shaft length, it's just wider, flatter.)

If there's anything I do with driver, on the course, that's different, it's try to swing more in control, less aggressively, and let the shaft length and head do their work. Sometimes I'm amazed at how mild of a swing can produce better results.

[aca247]

try choking up half an inch on the club it helped me

[enduro]

I'm so glad I had a couple of drams of scotch mist before reading this. But yes, if I understand, the longer shaft produces a wider flatter version of the swing (it may be essentially the same swing for some folk, but because of the shaft length, it's just wider, flatter.)

It's exactly right. Because the club is so long the angle is smaller. So the arc is at that smaller angle. Irons with shorter shafts have a steeper angle. But the butt of the club is doing the exact same thing. All clubs respond the same to the exact same movements of the grip. Longer ones go faster. The loft angle is part of the equation. The shaft length is the other. A driver moves a greater distance in a faster time. So when you start thinking about controlling the head it gets crazy and it becomes hard to manage. But when you think about the handle, it all makes sense. But the loft angle being so small simplifies mistakes so much. Especially when you consider the shaft is giving so much power to the head and a small mistake gets amplified a great deal. Hence driver is hard to hit.

Swinging in control is great advice. So often people try and swing harder with the driver because they feel the need to crush it. But the club is designed to send the ball a great distance with the same power from the human because of its long shaft and small loft angle. It's basic leverage essentially. Think of how a pulley works and its the same idea sort of. Isaac Newton has a mechanics equation out there describing this. I always start every round with really easy drives that are generally a bit shorter (but really not by much...solid ball contact is the most important) but build my confidence and I get my groove and start going.

[Zeph]

More shallow swing and 60% weight on the right foot at adress. The rest is pretty much the same.

[higdonp]

Awesome advice! I definitely also make my driver approach with a wider and flatter swing. However, I still only hit it about 230 when I hit 200 with my 5 iron. I can't seem to generate the same speed with the different swing. Any tips?

[Zeph]

If your impact is good, the swing speed is not high enough. This can be caused by too much effort from the top of the backswing. I have a habit of trying to hit a lot harder with my driver. When trying to do this, I'll spend all my speed at the first feet of the downswing, when I'm at the ball, all the speed is gone. What I'm working on is dropping the arms from the top, not speeding them up, shift my weight at the same time and start turning the hips. The arms increase speed slightly until they reach my hips, that's when they really speed up. This also helps on keeping the lag.

[lumpuckeroo]

More shallow swing and 60% weight on the right foot at adress. The rest is pretty much the same.

Kind of my take also, not a different swing, more of a slightly different setup and different swing thoughts then when hitting an iron.