Choked down driver =

[mdbuschsr]

In my round yesterday I found that if I choked down on my driver and swung "easy", I not only was way more accurate, but I actually picked up distance. My previous grip was with the butt of the club about .5" beyond the heel pad of my grip. I was yet again spraying the ball, but I made the decision to continue hitting it, and see if I could work it out.

I wasn't having any luck, until I accidentally choked down on the club. I hit a nice long straight drive and I was like WTF?!? I looked down at my grip and saw that it was choked down about an inch (meaning 1.5" of club past heel pad). I'm not sure how I got there, but I'm glad I did. I made the mistake a few times during the rest of the round of not gripping down on it, and the result was either a monster hook, or gigantic slice.

When I focused and gripped down, the ball went straight... EVERY TIME! I even hit my first 300+ yard drive. About 265-270 carry rolled out to 308 per Google earth.

[$2 Nassau]

Anthony Kim always chokes down, on all his clubs actually. check out the pic below with his driver, you can clearly see he is choked a good 1.5 inches or so.

Sergio garcia does it as well, but I'm not sure if he does it with his driver, definitely with irons though, about 1 inch.

[ERdiesel]

Isn't AK a short guy to begin with?

[Zeph]

He's 5'10" (177cm). Not very tall, but not very low either.

Either way, the fact that he choke down on his clubs and still compete in the top of the PGA Tour should be sufficient to tell us that if it works, it works, no matter what style you have.

It is strange how choking up just a little bit makes the swing a whole lot easier.

[flguy]

I'm 5'10" as well and a few days ago I was having a bit of trouble with the driver at the range and I figured I'd choke down and was pleasantly surprised how well I was hitting the ball. At first I felt like I was cheating myself because I figured I would lose some distance, but I was a lot more consistent.

[$2 Nassau]

Isn't AK a short guy to begin with?

He's 5'10" believe it or not.

[stacks04]

I started doing this every drive and have noticed along with s&t; practice a much cleaner drive. It still isnt perfect but losing a bit of length helped alot. Everybody commented on how I would technically lose distance....Its hard to lose distance when you never knew what that was to begin with:) I am a consistent 225-250 yd drive now. Sometimes I'll flub a shot, but its the percentages have definitely flip flopped from the beginning of this year.

[TN94z]

At first I felt like I was cheating myself because I figured I would lose some distance, but I was a lot more consistent.

No choking down and not hitting the sweet spot will not gain any distance over choking down and hitting the sweet spot more times than not.

[$2 Nassau]

I started doing this every drive and have noticed along with s&t; practice a much cleaner drive. It still isnt perfect but losing a bit of length helped alot. Everybody commented on how I would technically lose distance....Its hard to lose distance when you never knew what that was to begin with:) I am a consistent 225-250 yd drive now. Sometimes I'll flub a shot, but its the percentages have definitely flip flopped from the beginning of this year.

Yeah the "you'll lose distance" argument is a common one. Maybe for someone who hits it dead flush almost every time, like a tour pro. But I think for the average joe like me that hits it all over the face of the driver on any given day, I'm likely to either gain a little distance (on average) or at least stay the same with gained accuracy.

I would sacrifice 10-15 yards or whatever to be in the fairway more often anyway. As long as it's further than my 3 wood I'm happy.

[mdbuschsr]

I can understand the "need" for a short guy to choke down some. But A.K. @ 5'10" isn't short, and @ 6'3" neither am I. My gains in both accuracy, and distance can only be explained by a little more club control. When I hit my 3W, and don't fat it (only happens occasionally) I am usually right on target either nice and straight or with a slight 5-yard fade.

Choking down on the driver helps me make contact closer to the sweet spot. Easing up on the swing certainly adds control. Both of which have apparently given me added distance.

I loaned a driver to a guy almost two years ago that I just got back. The sole of the club was horribly dented, so I yanked the shaft from it (Aldilla VS Proto-DR 65-S), and another driver that I hated (UST Competition 65). When I pulled the Aldilla I damaged the tip, so I had to cut off about an inch. Don't know what that's going to do to the performance of the shaft, but I'm looking forward to giving the club a try. The new combo is the above mentioned Aldilla in a Maltby KE4 Beta 9* head. Hopefully it turns out to be a fortunate accident.

[sam004]

+1 here too. I think I read a thread or two here, and decided to try it. It's been working pretty good. I am hitting quite similar to STACK04 above.
I think I have lost a little distance but it beats looking in the woods for your ball. I am hitting an FT-IQ 9* with 1* closed face with a Reg flex shaft.

[$2 Nassau]

An interesting note is that I've read in many places that tour players typically play driver shafts 44-45" (there's exceptions of course). Tiger was experimenting with a 43.5 shaft at one time I believe. Meanwhile, you've got certain club manufacturers, like Taylor Made, that have their stock shafts 45.5 and even 46" in some models. Crazy. That 1-2" makes a huge difference.

[Kieran123]

I've been choking down on all my clubs for around 3 months. the driver, especially, gets the best results from this

[$2 Nassau]

if you are curious as to what your driver shaft length is, check out this thread, post #2.

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads...ngth-of-driver .

[Ignorant]

He's 5'10" (177cm). Not very tall, but not very low either.

Kim is doing that because as a youngster he had too long clubs and he grew up taking the grip a bit lower and has not been able to give this up. It has nothing to do with gaining accuracy.

However, I am really astonished that a guy with HCI 22.5 or something drives 300+ with a choked driver. I use choking to gain lower trajectory and accuracy and manage to reach distances almost the same than a normal drive (250-260 yds) but only when the fairway is dry and hard. The trajectory is very much lower (understandable, as there is much less kick from the shaft) so carry must be maybe 50 to 60 % of that of a normal drive.

[$2 Nassau]

Oh great, this is going to turn into another driver distance thread. Way to go Ignorant.

[Gordon McTavish]

An interesting note is that I've read in many places that tour players typically play driver shafts 44-45" (there's exceptions of course). Tiger was experimenting with a 43.5 shaft at one time I believe. Meanwhile, you've got certain club manufacturers, like Taylor Made, that have their stock shafts 45.5 and even 46" in some models. Crazy. That 1-2" makes a huge difference.

I think I know the reasoning behind this approach. Most "average" Golfers generally don't make solid contact in the sweet-spot, and therefore are not achieving optimum distance for their particular swing-speed.

So, the bright-sparks at TaylorMade must have realised that adding a few extra inches to the shaft length will compensate for the above mentioned flaw.

[TN94z]

Kim is doing that because as a youngster he had too long clubs and he grew up taking the grip a bit lower and has not been able to give this up. It has nothing to do with gaining accuracy.

I remember him saying that Nike made him a shorter driver so he wouldn't have to choke up, but every time he hit it, he would choke up automatically. It is just what he feels comfortable doing. If I could hit the ball as far as he does, I wouldn't change it either.