Driver Woes

[anthony]

I played 9 Monday at Pleasant Valley again with similar results. The greens are still in airration stage and it's like plinko when you put. It's very difficult to try and improve your putting with situations like this. It's not so much while it's rolling at a decent pace, but when it slows down the plug marks really take over. Oh well, back to the driver.

My driver was all over the place. Slice here, duck hook there. Ridiculous. Irons and hybrids were pretty spot on. I pulled one or two, but for the most part, I'm striking my irons pretty solid and starting to get my distances in tune with my clubs. The driver is frustrating me to no end. The one or two I hit straight I par'd the hole and lipped out for a tap in bogey.

Yesterday, I went to play a 9 hole course that I used to play a lot last summer. I pulled up and there were guys waiting to tee off and 2 carts behind the with another pulling up. I think everyone there showed up 10 minutes before me. Maybe they have a league, I don't know. I was pissed though. So, I went to the range instead.

I started my session the same as always. 5 or 6 PW's, 6 iron, then random clubs and finally the driver. The irons were all nice and the driver was replicating my last 9 holes. Right, duck hook, straight pull, etc. One thing I notice, which happened alot last year is I hit the ground before I hit the ball. This usually happens after I hit a few good drives and then I try to adjust my natural swing to prevent it and end up with the slices and hooks because I don't want to hit the ground before the ball.

I saw a video on youtube last night (I can't find it this morning) that deals with that exact issue. Basically, I'm not swinging the club with the idea of hitting the ball on the up swing. I know you should do that, but I'm definitely hitting it on the downswing most of the time. The basic run down of the video is:

Take your stance with the driver directly out in front of you and align your body from the position, not with the club behind the ball. Then, move the club forward until it reaches the height of your tee'd ball. The higher you tee it, the further forward it is in your stance, the lower it's teed, the further back it goes. Then take your normal swing. Makes perfect sense. He also noted that when you line up and take your stance with the club sitting behind the tee'd up ball at the front of your stance, you end opening your shoulders to the ball and screwing everything up.

I can't wait to go to the range and try this out.