HELP me hit fairways!

[Razz11]

So I am a young guy and pretty new to the game... Just under two Montana golf seasons. I have improved immensely and can play with just about anyone now, but I have a question about driving the ball. I hit the ball a long ways and regularly hit it 270 or so off the tee. My longest GPS'ed drive was 317, but it was a perfect day and perfect contact. Anyways, my question is how hard should I try to hit the ball. It seems that all I care about is getting the max distance out of my drives and its hurting me in many ways with accuracy. Do you guys try to control your swing with the driver, or is it grooved enough to swing HARD and still hit it where you want it? I guess the advice I am searching for is how to back off my swing a bit so I can make better contact every time. I have never really tried to take some off of my driver swing, so I don't really know where to start. Anything helps, and thanks in advance!

[quantim0]

I swing about 80% on my driver and 3-wood. If I swing too hard I tend to get a little sloppy and hit the worlds biggest slice. Even at 80% I am consistently 280 and with perfect contact can stretch it to almost 300.

With my irons I shorten my backswing, so I'm probably hitting them at about 70%. That leaves me a lot of room to really open up on a club if I need a little extra distance or need to control a shot more.

To slow my swing speed down, I just concentrate on my tempo and extension. If I take the club back slowish and with good extension, I get to the top, then drop my hands and lag the wrists a bit. Then snap the wrists through impact. It works well because a lot of the power comes from my wrists and swing arc, not necessarily the speed at which I can swing my arms.

That's what does it for me.

[Ty Haegs]

I swing about 80% on my driver and 3-wood. If I swing too hard I tend to get a little sloppy and hit the worlds biggest slice. Even at 80% I am consistently 280 and with perfect contact can stretch it to almost 300.

I do it the exact same way as you, though I think I hit my driver more like 90%.

[Joeyvee]

Choke up a bit and yeah, ease up on your swing some. You kinda answered it yourself. Get down to the range and try some drives at 90, 80, 70 50% and see how it goes.

[mc0388]

So I am a young guy and pretty new to the game... Just under two Montana golf seasons. I have improved immensely and can play with just about anyone now, but I have a question about driving the ball. I hit the ball a long ways and regularly hit it 270 or so off the tee. My longest GPS'ed drive was 317, but it was a perfect day and perfect contact. Anyways, my question is how hard should I try to hit the ball. It seems that all I care about is getting the max distance out of my drives and its hurting me in many ways with accuracy. Do you guys try to control your swing with the driver, or is it grooved enough to swing HARD and still hit it where you want it? I guess the advice I am searching for is how to back off my swing a bit so I can make better contact every time. I have never really tried to take some off of my driver swing, so I don't really know where to start. Anything helps, and thanks in advance!

Make a 3/4 backswing. I have the same numbers that you do, off the tee. When I'm playing a tight course or I am not feeling aggressive, I take a 3/4 backswing and a full downswing. It keeps the club in the swing plain and allows more accurate drives.

You will lose a little distance (10-15yds), BUT your on the fairway!

[Stacey_E]

To the OP...do you have a consistant miss with your driver. Is it a pull, push, hook or slice? If so, consider setting up for that shot on the tee box. Example for a fade/slice/ push would be teeing on the right and aiming down the left. Reverse that for a draw/hook/pull.

And if I may ask, how is your trajectory? Sometimes a ball that hangs too long can get in more trouble than a peircing trajaectory. That's what I'm overcoming now. With that being said, I'm only hitting 240 to 260 max but my club has never gotten to parallel at the top. Haha. Good luck!

[Razz11]

I would say that my miss is a pull. I tend to get an over-the-top swing plane when I get tired or lax. I used to slice, but now I only slice the ball 1 in every 20 drives or so... My ball flight is low to piercing, never high. Thanks for all the advice! I think I found my problematic area causing the accuracy issues, but I am gonna work on trading power for accuracy when I need to now.