Went to buy a new driver and came left with lessons

[Grumpter]

I have been ballooning my driver and losing distance at an alarming, to me, rate. I swore I would never spend $300+ on a new driver but recently received a nice cash gift so decided to treat myself. Long story short... after hitting 5 or so new drivers the result is it's a problem with the indian not the bow. I'm getting launch angles of 14 degrees+ even going as low as an 8 degree driver. Backspin was in the 3600 to 4000 range and my current driver was giving similar stats to the new ones.

I was planning to take lessons this offseason anyways and it will be nice to get some formal instruction. We will have to see if I still feel I need a new driver after hopefully correcting my swing.

[DublinMeUp]

how high are you teeing the ball? where is the ball in regard to your stance?

[Grumpter]

1) about 1/4th of the ball is above tee when driver is place on ground behind ball.

2) about 1 inch inside the inner edge of front foot. Tried moving it further back and immediately started hitting some nice duck hooks.

[DublinMeUp]

Hmm yeah that's is pretty standard.

Just putting this out there, have no idea if it will help. Try moving the ball forward a half a ball to a ball so your hitting hitting it right as you come out of the apex, in theory this should remove the backspin.

Try also a slightly lower tee, i tee it exactly like you but lowering it seems the only option as making it higher should make your problem worse right? experiment with combo's of both above.

Sorry man, maybe someone better qualified will show up, but can't hurt to try it on the range etc can it.

[Grumpter]

No worries. I already scheduled the first of three lessons for this Thursday. We'll see what the teaching pro has to say.

[DublinMeUp]

At least you know its a problem =), some of my other golfing friends hit their drivers so high we can never keep an eye on the ball ( like a turbo charge pitching wedge lol ), they are convinced height is distance and wont listen to reason at all.

Good luck with the pro, im sure its something relatively simple and they'll spot it straight off

[SAGolfLuvr]

If you really feel the need to get a new driver because your new instructor tells you the shaft flex is wrong for you (or whatever the instructor recommends), try buying a used driver and use the savings towards your next round of golf. If you are like most of us, it will not be the last driver you buy. They ALL depreciate immensly in $$ value as soon as it is hit outside the store. Just like new cars, let someone else pay the marked up ballooned price and you pay closer to the trade-in value. Good Luck.

[Grumpter]

I hear ya. I told myself I would never buy a brand new driver again but then I recently received a nice cash gift so I am probably going to treat myself to the driver and not worry about the price (even if I know I will e able to buy it next year for $100 less). This is one time I won't mind paying the extra price for brand new. Most of the cash gift will be invested and I save a decent amount by buying used golf balls instead of new. so no regrets on this one.

[Grumpter]

So the Pro had me sized up in all of about 30 seconds - Stand closer to the ball, stick my ass out a little more and have a little more weight on my inside front foot at impact. Had me hitting it on the sweet spot rather than the toe in a few minutes. We spent the rest of the half hour reinforcing the problem areas and talking about various PGA golfers and a little about local courses. It feels a little awkward at setup through impact but nowhere near as awkward as the first few times I had a pro work on my swing.

It was funny to see how open my club face was at impact before I moved closer to the ball with more weight on my inside front foot at impact. Much different once he got me moved up. As a side benefit I think this will also be easier on my bad back as I am more upright at address. I'm hopeful which is saying a lot for a 'glass is half empty' kinda guy. Since I have 2 more lessons I will have him help me with the short game next (which also needs some more consistency).