Tiger Woods Driving Problems - Really dude? Really!

[RightEdge]

Guys maybe you can help me with this.  This is something for the life of me I just can't understand. it baffles me to no end why Tiger Woods, the guy with one of the most sound golf swings on the tour cannot for the life of him hit a driver straight!

I know people will say that it is the hardest club to control but come on man.  These guys spend every day for years practicing. Most have never held a real job or put serious time into anything other than golf.  The have the best equipment, they play the best courses and have the best instructors and coaches.  But SOMEHOW they just can't find the right combination of equipment, angle adjustments and swing to hit the freakin driver straight.

I'm just baffled and this is why...

I had never touched a golf club up until 2 years ago. I'm an athletic guy 6'3, 205 lbs and played football, baseball and basketball.  I was injured and later developed back problems. If I wanted to stay active I had to take up some sport so my father in-law introduced me to golf.  The rest is history!

I could not hit a club for anything in the beginning but two years later, I can hit short and mid irons dead straight.  I had the worst slice with a driver in the history of mankind and now, a guy who shoots mid 90s (me) I can finally hit my driver dead straight 300 yards with a full swing.

Here is my question..  How the heck can a person who never picked up a club until two years ago hit a driver straight and Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson can't?  All I did was looked at my misses and kept a sound swing and made necessary adjustments.  That was it.  I didn't need a swing coach or a bunch of lessons.  I just don't get why Tiger can't stay away from the right out of bounds area.

Who else here can hit straight drives and have trouble understanding why the world greats cannot?

[jamo]

I could not hit a club for anything in the beginning but two years later, I can hit short and mid irons dead straight.  I had the worst slice with a driver in the history of mankind and now, a guy who shoots mid 90s (me) I can finally hit my driver dead straight 300 yards with a full swing.

Then why are you a 25 handicap?

[geauxforbroke]

Guys maybe you can help me with this.  This is something for the life of me I just can't understand. it baffles me to no end why Tiger Woods, the guy with one of the most sound golf swings on the tour cannot for the life of him hit a driver straight!

I know people will say that it is the hardest club to control but come on man.  These guys spend every day for years practicing. Most have never held a real job or put serious time into anything other than golf.  The have the best equipment, they play the best courses and have the best instructors and coaches.  But SOMEHOW they just can't find the right combination of equipment, angle adjustments and swing to hit the freakin driver straight.

I'm just baffled and this is why...

I had never touched a golf club up until 2 years ago. I'm an athletic guy 6'3, 205 lbs and played football, baseball and basketball.  I was injured and later developed back problems. If I wanted to stay active I had to take up some sport so my father in-law introduced me to golf.  The rest is history!

I could not hit a club for anything in the beginning but two years later, I can hit short and mid irons dead straight.  I had the worst slice with a driver in the history of mankind and now, a guy who shoots mid 90s (me) I can finally hit my driver dead straight 300 yards with a full swing.

Here is my question..  How the heck can a person who never picked up a club until two years ago hit a driver straight and Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson can't?  All I did was looked at my misses and kept a sound swing and made necessary adjustments.  That was it.  I didn't need a swing coach or a bunch of lessons.  I just don't get why Tiger can't stay away from the right out of bounds area.

Who else here can hit straight drives and have trouble understanding why the world greats cannot?

I would say:

1) His misses aren't as bad as you think.

2) He misses a lot less often than you think.

3) Your misses are worse than you think.

4) You probably miss more than you think.

[saevel25]

I would say:

1) His misses aren't as bad as you think.

2) He misses a lot less often than you think.

3) Your misses are worse than you think.

4) You probably miss more than you think.

The OP's misses are on courses not even close to the standard the PGA tour players play.

Does OP play with the new grooves or old grooves. The amount of spin loss out of the rough for the new grooves is big. This makes holding fast hard PGA tour greens very tough, unless they get a wedge in so they can fly it higher. Bubba Watson is in the top 20 in GIR every year, but he's not in top with proximity. He gets a lot of wedges, but can't control them out of the rough.

[RightEdge]

Then why are you a 25 handicap?

Because I can't putt worth a crap and also any shot less than a full swing club, say 60-70 yards I cannot execute.  So basically my drives are great and my second shots are sometimes good but if I ever come up short on a green or don't get close to the flag I will most likely skull a chip over the green or 3 or 4 putt once I do get on the green.

I haven't been playing long so I worked on just being able to hit the ball with irons and driver first.  So now I have to work on short game. I have ZERO short game.  I can reach a par 5 in 2 shots plenty of times only to leave with an 8.

[MPtheKid]

Gee, never heard this one before. The old 25 cap that pipes it 300 off the tee and is surgical with his full iron shots only to be foiled by chipping, pitching, and putting. Seems reasonable.

C'MON MAN!

[RightEdge]

Yea I'm definitely not comparing my driving to them obviously or my course management. I understand the things they see are different from what I would see but still I just wonder why, if they need to hit a straight drive it goes so far off? I know it is a hard game but it just seems after all these years Tiger could be closer to being as accurate as some of the other good drivers out there.

I'm a Tiger fan but I just wonder about his driver.

[RightEdge]

Gee, never heard this one before. The old 25 cap that pipes it 300 off the tee and is surgical with his full iron shots only to be foiled by chipping, pitching, and putting. Seems reasonable.

C'MON MAN!

Seriously, I am straight with short and mid irons most of the time and also with my driver.  However that is the limit of my talent. I can't hit accurate distances which is why I end up with 60-70 yard shots a lot and can't chip or putt.  I have only had 2 lessons in my life and they were for hitting short irons only.

[geauxforbroke]

I know it is a hard game but it just seems after all these years Tiger could be closer to being as accurate as some of the other good drivers out there.

He's never had a swing built for accuracy. He tends to get stuck underneath, which can be the tendency for a lot of better players.

[saevel25]

Yea I'm definitely not comparing my driving to them obviously or my course management. I understand the things they see are different from what I would see but still I just wonder why, if they need to hit a straight drive it goes so far off? I know it is a hard game but it just seems after all these years Tiger could be closer to being as accurate as some of the other good drivers out there.

I'm a Tiger fan but I just wonder about his driver.

First pro's don't hit straight shots.

See not straight

Also there is a strong correlation between distance and accuracy. The longer hitters tend to be less accurate off the tee. I personally think he has an issue with his driving. Last year Tiger was ranked 17th in Total Driving. He was 49th in Distance and 69th in accuracy. He was basically better than half the PGA tour players in both categories. Not great but not terrible.

I think he needs to stop squatting down into the drive, and make sure he's always hitting up. I think he gets way too much lead with the hands and ends up hitting too down on the driver sometimes.

[jamo]

Because I can't putt worth a crap and also any shot less than a full swing club, say 60-70 yards I cannot execute.  So basically my drives are great and my second shots are sometimes good but if I ever come up short on a green or don't get close to the flag I will most likely skull a chip over the green or 3 or 4 putt once I do get on the green.   I haven't been playing long so I worked on just being able to hit the ball with irons and driver first.  So now I have to work on short game. I have ZERO short game.  I can reach a par 5 in 2 shots plenty of times only to leave with an 8.

General rules of thumb from being around the forum for a while: 1) 25 handicappers who say they drive it 300 and straight every time either don't know how long 300 yards is or don't know what "average" means. 2) There is not rule #2. 3) Welcome. :-) Hopefully you stick around, learn some stuff, share some stuff. The swing, skill, and experience that it takes to consistently hit the ball over 300 and straight every time is not something that just completely vanishes when you make it inside 60 yards. The only golfer ever who was that good at driving and that bad around the greens is Jack Hamm.

[RightEdge]

Ok well maybe my understanding or misunderstanding is a result of me being new to golf and just not knowing enough about it.

[geauxforbroke]

Ok well maybe my understanding or misunderstanding is a result of me being new to golf and just not knowing enough about it.

Possible, but that's just part of the journey.

Now maybe you can create a "My Swing" thread here . There are some amazing teachers here that would be more than happy to help.

[14ledo81]

Ok well maybe my understanding or misunderstanding is a result of me being new to golf and just not knowing enough about it.

It is really fairly simple.  If you drive and hit irons that well, you should be hitting at least 12 GIR.  To score mid 90's, you would have to 3 putt every one, and double bogey the holes where you missed the green.

As Jamo said, nobody with the ability to hit 12 GIR has that bad of a short game.

[RightEdge]

General rules of thumb from being around the forum for a while:

1) 25 handicappers who say they drive it 300 and straight every time either don't know how long 300 yards is or don't know what "average" means.

2) There is not rule #2.

3) Welcome.

The swing, skill, and experience that it takes to consistently hit the ball over 300 and straight every time is not something that just completely vanishes when you make it inside 60 yards.

The only golfer ever who is that good at driving and that bad around the greens is Jack Hamm.

Well I didn't say I hit it dead straight EVERY time and I don't hit it 300 yards EVERY time. I hit it dead straight or basically up the center of the fairway MOST of the time. I cant definitely pipe one 300 yards but like I said it's on a full (all out) swing.  Look man, I know forums have a history of people creating a character they would like to be. I'm not that guy. I'm no liar. I'm extremely athletic and have a naturally high swing speed. As I stated so far my only talent is hitting short to mid irons straight (but with no distance control) and hitting a straight driver. if its an all out swing, I can hit it pretty long. However, that doesn't help me much, hence the high handicap.  If I wanted to lie about something, wouldn't I just put in my profile that I'm a scratch golfer?

I don't understand why it's so hard to believe because I see people at the driving range pump balls out that far all the time.  And also I'm not the only one who hits straight iron shots.

[inthehole]

Ok well maybe my understanding or misunderstanding is a result of me being new to golf and just not knowing enough about it.

No worries - it can be a rough crowd around here somtimes.     I'm about like you (not as long off the tee though) .... driving is my strong suit.   Chipping is my best shot.    Putting is my worst, followed by approach shots.     We had a great thread recently about how high hcp's & low hcp's think is the worst part of their game & what most drastically impacts their scores.     it was pretty much proven by all the low hcp guys & Iacas that the higher hcp's like us don't hit many greens with the longer clubs.    Even wedges.     Putting may seem awful, but in reality its hitting greens that leads to better scoring.    Putting is what it is - most of us high hcps really struggle with it & it gets in our head ... but hitting greens is the key to going lower.     It didn't make sense to me at first, but when so many guys of this caliber supported this notion, I had to rethink my priorities - I will be working most on hybrids and mid irons in my practice this year...

[Golfingdad]

I'm a Tiger fan but I just wonder about his driver.

What about his putter?  If you're a fan (I am too, most of us are, I think) it's kind of a bummer watching him do anything right now.  He just seems ... pedestrian.  He seems to never make the putts anymore that he used to make.

Of course, this is a short stretch of mediocrity we're looking at too.  He hasn't won a major in a few years, but its not like he wasn't the best player on the planet last year, once again ... so let's just hope he turns it around this month so he's ready, come Masters time.

Also ... welcome to the forum!  (Pick yourself an avatar so we can "identify" you!)

[RightEdge]

It is really fairly simple.  If you drive and hit irons that well, you should be hitting at least 12 GIR.  To score mid 90's, you would have to 3 putt every one, and double bogey the holes where you missed the green.

As Jamo said, nobody with the ability to hit 12 GIR has that bad of a short game.

My response about not understanding was not directed at this.