Balloon a drive?

[D.C.Woods]

I've seen people balloon a drive over huge trees off the tee. How on earth do you do that? I would love to have this shot in my bag

[bkoguy07]

Tee it up high and move it forward in your stance... keep your head down and swing normal i suppose..

[DaSportsGuy]

I don't know of any courses with a tree directly in front of a tee box..I'm kinda confused on what your asking.

[alomar123]

I balloon my drives quite a bit. I just cant seem to hit the ball lower off the tee. I do tend to tee it up higher, as I fear topping the ball. This means I am missing a lot of distance off the tee. I probably average 230-240 off the tee, but since it is high there is no roll and I am losing distance in the air.) I am slowly working on changing it one step at a time.

But, there are a couple holes where many hit a branch about 50 yards in front of the tee box, but my drive clears it regularly. They really need to cut it down because it is to the left side of the tee box, and the hole curves right, so if you cant get your ball to the left side of the fairway. You got no shot.

[D.C.Woods]

Okay he was a righty the hole was dog leg right the trees are on the right about 140yds out. The trees stood about 50' tall. He hit a draw over the trees and landed on the greens 314yrds from the elevated blue tees.

[D.C.Woods]

Tee it up high and move it forward in your stance... keep your head down and swing normal i suppose..

I use the same tees as him. The Brush Tee XLT. I hit the middle of the trees

[zeg]

I don't know of any courses with a tree directly in front of a tee box..I'm kinda confused on what your asking.

There's one on the second hole at a course I play often. From the blue tees, you tee off over a flood control channel, fairly steeply downhill, to the right of a tall tree and the hole plays dogleg left around the tree. For the white and red tees, the tee box is farther left past the channel. The tree is now directly in front of you, maybe 100-150 yards off, guarding the green. The tee boxes are arranged so that playing the hole as a dogleg (like you would from the blue tee) is really a poor option because the angle means you have to lay up for a very long approach unless you can really draw sharply. There is a little opening to the left of the tree that's not available to the blue tee box, but that's going to require accuracy that most people playing from the white tees probably lack.

The best option, if you can get your ball up, is to go straight over the tree. If you can do that, it's about 270, but downhill, so even with my 5W (my best club for getting the ball up) I usually have a short pitch to the green. It's a fun hole, some might say gimmicky, but it's really fair---other than a bunker, it's pretty wide open past the tree, so even if you hit into it, you have a good chance to recover.

[Gerald]

It is quite simple ..... most mid and even low cappers hit a driver with a downswing or at the lowest point in the swing at best.

All you have to do is hitting on the back of a slightly higher teed ball on the upswing (you don't have to have a 12* driver, I can do it with my standard 9.5*), hit really trough the ball .... it is going high and it really flies.

If you have a decent backwind 300 yds PLUS is no trouble at all !

Anyway .... under normal conditions this is also a great way to hit with a driver, whenever you see a drive not over 20 ft. at least, you can be sure it was hit on a downswing.

[KEEPITSIMPLE]

^^^^ yep great points, and I also like to add most people get too far inside on their back swing which makes it harder to swing up. I know I use to do that. Personally, I put the ball forward, tee it high,widen my stance.I try to keep my arms loose and make a full straight back swing and absolutely throw ,as **fast** as I can, my whole lower torso upward, way ahead of my upper body. That gives me the spring effect I need so that my upper torso and arms follow and spring in an upward motion and the club path will of course naturally follow the arms in ascending blow.

I get really high launch angle doing that.

[double_j]

Keep in mind that maximum ball height is also a matter of swing speed. If this guy hit the ball 314, then he probably had some serious momentum on that clubhead and it wouldn't be surprising to see him hit a high ball.

You can play with the ball height based on how high you tee the ball and position in the stance but your maximum height will still be different from somebody else's because of swing speed and a number of other factors (shaft, club loft, etc.)

I have no problems hitting a lower than normal driver, but I've never been really successful at getting it to fly higher than normal with my driver. I find that playing with ball position, etc. tends to make me miss right or left more than it helps me to pick up some height so I don't really try to chase the high tee shot.

[nuck81]

I tee pretty low. If I don't I'm always at the top of the clubface instead of the center.

My drives are usually straight screamers without a lot of height. It is probably due to my square driver, but I'm rarely surprised off the tee.

[double_j]

By the way, 50' really isn't that tall, is it? I'm trying to visualize, but if somebody can normally hit 250-260 with their driver then I'd imagine that they usually hit the ball higher than that anyway (unless they intentionally play a very low ball).

I think I read somewhere that the touring pro hits most shots on average about 30 yards off the ground. That's 90 feet, and yet they traditionally hit much lower than most recreational golfers.

[sean_miller]

I've seen people balloon a drive over huge trees off the tee. How on earth do you do that? I would love to have this shot in my bag

Might have a bit to do with your driver shaft. I'm not an expert, but that's one variable to include. I've heard people say my G10 with stock stiff shaft sends the ball way up and it's true.

[golfro]

Might have a bit to do with your driver shaft. I'm not an expert, but that's one variable to include. I've heard people say my G10 with stock stiff shaft sends the ball way up and it's true.

yep. the problem with these low kickpoint shafts is that they help get the ball up in the air...but theres a HUGE difference between a high ball trajectory and a ballooning trajectory caused by a ton of back spin. a low kickpoint on a fast swing speed will cause a lot of back spin and ballooning.

A high trajectory = more air time = more distance. A ballooning trajectory = up up up then drop almost straight down = less distance. conclusion: high trajectory = good high trajectory caused by ballooning = bad

[jamo]

Open the club face and aim it left, so that it is pointing where you want the ball to go.

[Adumb]

I am faced with this situation at times but it depends on the conditions. One of the par 5s at the course I play at is dogleg right. Naturally, I like to hit the low ball. When I do this I'll fade it. For this I simple lean forward over the ball a bit more than normal.

BUT when the wind is decent and at my back I will tee it up just a bit higher and play a little wind cheater over the trees and cut the dogleg. Now you can hit the ball sky high and keep teeing it up higher, but you do get diminishing returns at some point. If the fairways are wet I also like hitting the ball high because a low ball won't roll as much. So basically just tee it up a little higher, no need to go out and by 4" tees, because eventually the ball will land on your head. Good luck!

[James_Black]

I hit the ball pretty high normally.
But there's one hole on my course, a par 5 with a massive tree on the right hand side.

I tee it up slightly higher, but I lean back a bit and actually hit up on the shot (yes I know your not meant to do it).
I get a little draw that goes over the tree leaving me with a chance of a 3 wood at the green.

[D.C.Woods]

I think your right, Its all in the shaft. Low kick point= higher ball launch and mid to high kick point= a lower launch. I gotta try a low kick point shaft to see. Thanks for helping the "Newbie". I'll try a new shaft.