Driver Problems

[kennay92]

Latley been having troubles with my driver. I can hit my 3 wood ( which is just a tiny bit shorter than my driver) great, goes straight and pretty far. But when i pull the driver lately it all goes to hell. Cant hit it worth shit, dont know if i like the smaller sized head of my 3wood or what but with the driver its all gone to shanks. Any tips?? (besides saying, tee off with your 3 wood) because i know thats what im gonna have to do for the time being.

[pherg]

I have a very similar problem so I'll be interested in the responses.

You may try what I'm trying which is only using the 3 Wood in my weekly rounds and using my range time to work on the Driver, only when I get it sorted will I stick it back in the bag. I don't know what's going on, when I get set up with my 3 Wood everything feels perfect, stick a driver in my hand and I'm baffled. I figure there's no way I'll get it sorted during the round and there's no reason to stuff your scores in the meantime. Shot better than my handicap last Sunday and only hit 3 Wood and hybrid off the tee.

Hope you get some more useful, longtime suggestions.

[senorchipotle]

put it in time out. seriously though, when i slice it, there's really only two things. either i let my head drift to the left effectively bringing my arc forward, or i lead with the heel of my left hand and not my left wrist.

[Kingfisher]

Latley been having troubles with my driver. I can hit my 3 wood ( which is just a tiny bit shorter than my driver) great, goes straight and pretty far. But when i pull the driver lately it all goes to hell. Cant hit it worth shit, dont know if i like the smaller sized head of my 3wood or what but with the driver its all gone to shanks. Any tips?? (besides saying, tee off with your 3 wood) because i know thats what im gonna have to do for the time being.

I think sometimes we all forget that the driver should be a difficult beast to tame as compared to all the other clubs in the bag (perhaps with the exception of a 1 iron).

I'll bet a pound to a penny that when you're hitting your driver, either intentionally or unknowingly you're trying to rip the cover off the ball, whereas with the 3 wood it's probably more of a controlled swing. My advice would be to try bringing your driver swing down a little.

[kennay92]

I think sometimes we all forget that the driver should be a difficult beast to tame as compared to all the other clubs in the bag (perhaps with the exception of a 1 iron).

tried it, goes to a push fade.

[Dr. Strangeclub]

Most people who CAN hit a 3 wood pretty well but can't handle the driver, in my experience at lease, have the ball too deep in their stance with their driver. The problems this causes with the lower-lofted driver are without number, and I see it a lot. Probably not the whole story, but you might want to throw down a couple of clubs and check your alignment and ball position.

[kilbyman]

tried it, goes to a push fade.

I had the same problem. Instead of swinging slower, take an abbreviated backswing, then swing like normal. Try to keep your right elbow from leaving your side. This changed my push fades to straight and straight fade flights.

[Titleist_ProV1x]

Latley been having troubles with my driver. I can hit my 3 wood ( which is just a tiny bit shorter than my driver) great, goes straight and pretty far. But when i pull the driver lately it all goes to hell. Cant hit it worth shit, dont know if i like the smaller sized head of my 3wood or what but with the driver its all gone to shanks. Any tips?? (besides saying, tee off with your 3 wood) because i know thats what im gonna have to do for the time being.

If you havn't cut your driver down to at least 44.5" than do so and give a report after, you have more control with the 3w because it is shorter and you can make good contact with it, the same will happen with a shorter driver ........... long drive guys use 45+ shafts and put 2 in 6 in play if that sometimes, you're a golfer and need 6 of 6 in play, cut that baby down

also watch this video, IT WORKS

[muggs]

If you havn't cut your driver down to at least 44.5" than do so and give a report after, you have more control with the 3w because it is shorter and you can make good contact with it, the same will happen with a shorter driver ........... long drive guys use 45+ shafts and put 2 in 6 in play if that sometimes, you're a golfer and need 6 of 6 in play, cut that baby down

Yeah, that's pretty good advice. Shaft lenght is the main difference between those two clubs.

I do have a guestion though. I have an Adilla Voodoo shaft I put on there last season, no clue how long it was at the time, I didn't know enough to think about that then. How can I find out the lenght of the shaft now, with a clubhead on there? Should I just measure the overall lenght from heal of the clubhead to the end of my grip?

[Clubchucker]

I do not claim to be a teacher. But, your problem sounds eerily familiar. I was in the same boat earlier this year, so I did a quick trip to my PGA pro. Obviously I cannot say it's the same thing with you, but here's where I'd check: shoulder alignment (my left shoulder was WAY open) and make sure you're not coming up out of the shot. I had a host of other minor things that had slowly snuck in there over time too, so I'm working on those.

Myself, most times when something is wrong I can usually tell what it is. When I get to a point where I'm frustrated or can't figure it out...time to bring in some outside help. Not in the form of a buddy or someone who thinks they know, but an actual PGA teaching pro. You hear it all the time that a lesson is about the same cost as a box of good balls, but I look at it as it's much cheaper to take a lesson than to have to replace the shaft in my driver-after I break the damn thing out of frustration :)

[NI4NI]

The "decoy" tee is a great idea - keeps you from sliding in the downswing. Appreciate the video...

[Titleist_ProV1x]

The "decoy" tee is a great idea - keeps you from sliding in the downswing. Appreciate the video...

exactly, if you watch a Moe Norman video, you will note that he never, repeat never! started a swing with the club next to the ball, it was always 12 inches or better from the ball at the start, and no doubt he was the straightest and greatest ball striker of all time ...... people may have not liked his address setup because it looks stupid, but it works and it works every time!

when asked about why he started the club so far away from the ball? he said it's a foot less of a chance to make a mistake, true and what happens is you start the club at your center of gravity helping you with balance in the back swing which helps with a solid controlled and balanced swing to the ball

[Keep It Simple]

There is a tendency with the driver to make too many changes from what we do with an iron. Set up adjustments from an iron to a driver should be very small. I believe each angle and length should change slightly and porportionally. The hands are a little further out, stance is a little wider, spine angle is a little more upright, ball is a little further away and a little more forward etc. Tempo stays the same.

The driver is the most difficult club to play by feel. Therefore when I am struggling with the driver I take an iron out of the bag, setup and take a few practice swings memorizing the feel and tempo. Then I grab the driver transfer the feel and I am good to go. And I never try to hit the ball on the upswing. The swing is the same as an iron swing and the ball forward in the stance will take care of the rest. Works for me anyway.

[kennay92]

If you havn't cut your driver down to at least 44.5" than do so and give a report after, you have more control with the 3w because it is shorter and you can make good contact with it, the same will happen with a shorter driver ........... long drive guys use 45+ shafts and put 2 in 6 in play if that sometimes, you're a golfer and need 6 of 6 in play, cut that baby down

three wood is about 44.75in. drivers 45

[Greg]

I think im finally going to help my driver swing by finally buying a good driver, ive been playing cheap drivers since ive started and probably going to get a new Taylormade Burner 10.5 deg driver, reg flex. Last Sunday, i was at Dicks Sporting Goods after I friend and I played 9(i played terrible he played worse than he normally does as well but still better than me) because he wanted to look at some putters, may get a new putter as well. He liked one of the the Odyssey 2 ball putters and i was looking at some of the less expensive and found the maxfli revolution alignment 4 putter and liked it a lot, felt good and was only $40, kicking myself for not buying it but Ill be back again this weekend and may pick it up then. But we both for kicks hit one of the new Taylormade Supertri drivers, felt sweet but I just cant afford $400 for a driver but $130 for a new Burner sounds good to me. I think it may be the shaft as much as anything as my cheap drivers im sure have poorly designed and matched shafts and crappy titanium in the face too, just not getting the pop i should with what i have as I have correctly one fatal flaw in my swing that he pointed out, happy left feet and am hitting my irons and hy brids and woods much better but not driver. I think one of them even is made of forged aluminum which explains why it sounds like a softball bat. At this point im blaming the equipment, ive seen others at the range getting nice ball flights with swings that look worse than mine so im going to finally get a good one. Sorry to get a bit off subject but im hoping this will help

[James_Black]

get a cobra LV4!
Seriously, even if my swing is terrible the ball goes straight an far. it's almost impossible to hit a bad shot with it.

I think your trying to rip your driver, what happens when you take it out? a slice?

[alomar123]

Whenever I start slicing, I focus on my backswing, if you take it back more to the outside on the way down it will come in from the inside, creates a nice draw

[Greg]

It may be more my swing than anything but i can barely get it in the air, its like the clubface has no life in it, im making what i think are decent swings and the ball is going nowhere, im hitting my hybrids farther. Oh ill hit a few good ones just frustrating the hell out of me. Ive also got another driver ive been using as well, a pinemeadow 455 cc bloc driver and not much better than that. And both are brand new, though i paid about $50 total for both of them, guess you get what you pay for. Ill take a look at that Cobra LV4 driver, i need all the forgiveness i can get. Im not brand biased, i just want the one thats the most forgiving and easiest to hit. My swing speed was measured at 92 mph with driver on their monitor at Dick's so I should be consistently hitting probably 240-250 with solid contact im thinking and might get one like that maybe one of of 10 with any of the current drivers i have. I know the Burner drivers fall into forgiving and easy to hit category, maybe the Cobra does as well. Just have to try them out this week when i get a chance to go to my local store.