Hitting off the top of my driver

[The Flush]

I make decent contact with my irons and hydrids/fairway woods, but whenever I tee off, I tend to hit off the top edge of my driver unless I only tee it a half inch or so.  What are the likely causes and cures for such a flaw?

[delav]

More that likely your angle of attack is too steep with your driver.  When hitting your driver (or 3 wood/hybrid off a tee), think about a shallower path through impact.

An image that has stuck with me is to think of it like sweeping the floor with a broom, keeping the head a bit lower on the takeaway.

[The Flush]

That makes sense to me, but for whatever reason I can't get the right feeling for it.  I have never taken video of my swing and think that would help me see the problem and help me visualize the corrections.  Does anyone have any drills I can work on?

I plan to take some lessons and get fitted for a driver soon.  Does it make sense to take a couple lessons before getting the fitting?

[saevel25]

My best guess is that you have swing were you are attacking the ball with your hands. That is your not letting your body do the work. I had this issue when i would try to hit a three wood off the tee, and i would hit the ball striaght up in the air and to the left, drove me nuts. The best thing i would say is post a video, or go to a golf pro.. It sounds like a serious swing issue.

[Unkynd]

I had my first ever lesson today, and the one thing I got from it was that I needed a different setup for hitting off of a tee than I do for hitting off of the ground.  He basically had me move the ball up to my left heel and keep my head behind the ball with my right shoulder lower than my left shoulder.  It caused me to hit up on the ball, rather than hitting down.  The setup position felt really awkward to me, but the results were pretty damn impressive.  The bad thing was, after hitting about 60 balls with the new setup position, I went back to try to hit my irons off the ground and couldn't hit anything.  It's going to take some practice to be able to transition between the two swings.

[sambino24]

try when addressing the ball dont rest the club on the ground hover the ball with the sweet spot level with the ball, 100 percent improved my ball striking off the tee

[max power]

A tip that might help a little bit is to try and keep the driver head as close to the ground for as long as you can during your backswing.  Might help you shallow out your angle of attack a bit.

[CalBoomer]

Originally Posted by Unkynd

I had my first ever lesson today, and the one thing I got from it was that I needed a different setup for hitting off of a tee than I do for hitting off of the ground.  He basically had me move the ball up to my left heel and keep my head behind the ball with my right shoulder lower than my left shoulder.  It caused me to hit up on the ball, rather than hitting down.  The setup position felt really awkward to me, but the results were pretty damn impressive.  The bad thing was, after hitting about 60 balls with the new setup position, I went back to try to hit my irons off the ground and couldn't hit anything.  It's going to take some practice to be able to transition between the two swings.

Sorry, but that is just the way it is. The optimal driver swing is different from the optimal iron swing, just as putting and chipping swings are different. The advice you received was exactly correct. Just keep practicing. You can't hit a driver with iron swing, nor can you hit an iron with a driver swing.

[Unkynd]

Originally Posted by CalBoomer

Sorry, but that is just the way it is. The optimal driver swing is different from the optimal iron swing, just as putting and chipping swings are different. The advice you received was exactly correct. Just keep practicing. You can't hit a driver with iron swing, nor can you hit an iron with a driver swing.

Yah, when he put me in the correct stance and I took a couple of swings, I could immediately tell that I had been doing it wrong off of the tee.  My old shot off of the tee was a line drive that would roll out to about 220-230 (3W).  Played my first round with the new setup, and when I concentrated on keeping my backswing inside and didn't come over the top, I hit some really nice high long shots (240-260 3W).  That's something that I've never done before, so I was really happy with the results.

I haven't had enough time to actually practice it with my driver yet, but I've got high expectations.  Right now I'm going to the range and hitting 3W off tee, iron off the ground, 3W, iron, 3W, iron... just to get used to the transition between the swings.