Drive Sometimes Goes Straight Up

[johnclayton1982]

Hi All,

I'm a decent player (usually shoot in the low 80s), but recently an insane swing flaw has crept in my driver swing and I'm so at my wits end I don't know what to try or do.  I went to see my pro and he put me on Trackman, which showed me hitting extremely down on the ball (like -5.0 degrees) when I skied it.  My pro, who I really like and has shaved about 50 strokes off me in the last 8 months (no exaggeration) couldn't seem to help except to say "don't hit down on it".  It doesn't feel like I'm doing anything different, but the impact is on the very top of the driver and the ball goes sky high.

That said, I don't know how to fix it.  Are there any swing thoughts, keys, or drills y'all can think of to help this?  Its about 1 in 3, the drive goes about 120 feet straight up into the air - goes maybe 40 yards forward.  The other 2 out of 3 are normal.  Its baffling me (and killing my game).  It has not surfaced with 3w or 3 Rescue off the tee.  Tee height was my first thought, so I bought a bag of castle tees but that did not fix the issue.

The only significant swing change I have made before this started happening is to adopt the left shoulder dip from the stack and tilt books.  Usually, I plant my left foot well and rip up on the ball, hitting it about 230-40 off the tee (which is great for me).  The shoulder dip has done wonders for my irons ,but I wonder if it is affecting my driver.  And yes, I know dropping the left shoulder down instead of taking it straight across is much more complicated than "dipping my shoulder" but seems the best way to describe it.

NOTE: I put in it was S&T;, and I've taken quite a bit from S&T; to build my swing.  I really don't want this to turn into a debate about S&T.;  I like S&T;, but not all of it works for me.  Please do not feel the need to post to "defend" S&t; that it doesn't cause this driver fault.  It is me, not S&t.; I really just want help fixing it, so I'm giving all information.

Please help.

Thanks,

John

[5ironkid]

u can try teeing the ball lower and more foward in your stance

[MiniBlueDragon]

The only way I can think that the ball would go straight up in the air with a driver is if there's room for the club to hit under the ball and bounce off the top of the face rather than the face itself.

What colour castle tees are you trying? I find the pink to be great with my driver (ball equator sits in line with the top edge of the face) but have recently bought silvers to try adding a little more loft to my ball flight.

This may sound daft but when you set up to the ball with the driver, try setting the clubhead down in the middle of your stance and initiating your swing from there rather then having the clubhead directly behind the ball. If we assume that keeping your weight reasonably centered means hitting up on the ball and that currently you're hitting down on it, hopefully that'll give you a happy medium.

Another possibility is that you're coming into the ball at too steep an angle. You could try taking the club back lower for a few inches before starting to cock your wrists to give you more of a sweep on the driver rather than a dig.

[Tomboys]

Without video we're all kind of grabbing at straws.  Nonetheless, maybe your upper body/head moved forward (towards the target) on those bad shots.  IME, when my upper body moves forward on the downswing with my driver, I have a tendency to hit one of those weak pathetic sky balls prompting comments from my buds such as, "Does your husband play golf?"

[iacas]

Head's going forward, hips aren't going forward enough. Angle of attack is too steep.

Pre-set the hips farther forward and push them forward more on the downswing without the head going forward.

[poser]

Originally Posted by iacas

Head's going forward, hips aren't going forward enough. Angle of attack is too steep.

Pre-set the hips farther forward and push them forward more on the downswing without the head going forward.

What he said.

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by poser

What he said.

Agree with iacas, copy this set-up