How to Hit a Driver (Hit it Further and Stop Slicing!)

[Jakester23]

Maybe a little, could be the camera angle, only talking a few degrees. Body is definitely not aimed left and that is what's most important. Point of me posting the pic was to show the ball location, axis tilt and foot flares.

So is it common to hit pulls when your body is aimed left? I struggled in a scramble a few weeks ago hitting the driver. What I noticed was the more I aimed left the more I hit a pull with a bigger fade. Last week when I played and hit my driver well I aimed more down the middle and tried to hit it straight with a little push. I hit 3 push fades to start then hit 4 that were pretty much straight.

[taxgolf]

Aahhh, golfmagazine's. I love the story's like anonymus pro, or the interview, but I have given up on the instruction items. But sometimes I doubt just a little. Luckily mvmac, you saved my day. :-D Played today. And hit a trully monsterdrive. Centered turn, felt really good. It was on a difficult hole. Very happy with my drive, could reach the green in 2. Shanken the next ball, Sculley my chip. #%^hole, mwahahaha. Now I know why I am not a pro:~(

[Lihu]

So is it common to hit pulls when your body is aimed left? I struggled in a scramble a few weeks ago hitting the driver. What I noticed was the more I aimed left the more I hit a pull with a bigger fade. Last week when I played and hit my driver well I aimed more down the middle and tried to hit it straight with a little push. I hit 3 push fades to start then hit 4 that were pretty much straight.

This is more or less why I was pulling right (I'm a lefty).

Once I made sure my shoulders were aligned with my hips, I hit straight. Now, I am fighting a slight fade. Ball goes further as of today, but now I have a fade where I was hooking all day yesterday. It's quite possibly the same problem manifesting itself this other way now.

Not sure, so I am going to take some video this weekend for Myswing thread.

[mvmac]

Grant Waite at the Nature Valley First Tee Open. Hitting up, axis tilt due to achieving Keys #1 and 2, good stuff.

So is it common to hit pulls when your body is aimed left? I struggled in a scramble a few weeks ago hitting the driver. What I noticed was the more I aimed left the more I hit a pull with a bigger fade. Last week when I played and hit my driver well I aimed more down the middle and tried to hit it straight with a little push. I hit 3 push fades to start then hit 4 that were pretty much straight.

What it does is pre-set some leftward path. So it would make sense for you to fade it more or pull it.

This is more or less why I was pulling right (I'm a lefty).

Once I made sure my shoulders were aligned with my hips, I hit straight. Now, I am fighting a slight fade. Ball goes further as of today, but now I have a fade where I was hooking all day yesterday. It's quite possibly the same problem manifesting itself this other way now.

Not sure, so I am going to take some video this weekend for Myswing thread.

Good to hear. The hook could just be you hitting it off the toe, gear effect.

[Lihu]

Grant Waite at the Nature Valley First Tee Open. Hitting up, axis tilt due to achieving Keys #1 and 2, good stuff.

What it does is pre-set some leftward path. So it would make sense for you to fade it more or pull it.

Good to hear. The hook could just be you hitting it off the toe, gear effect.

I like to see Dana posting stuff, and appreciate your posting here. It really hits home the importance of the first two keys.

Yes, I think I am hitting off the toe. I noticed that a couple fades yesterday were a bit off the toe. My lighter and shorter driver really throw off my setup.

[Crazycanuck44]

Well I'm like a popcorn machine these days left, right, center.. No slices just pushes, the a pull draw, really trying to keep head steady and and keep the hip forward.. It works sometimes but some are big pushes.

[Jameson]

Very interesting thread... My biggest shortcoming is the Driver without any doubt... Right now I´m able to make few less than 90 strikes in my course, so I figure out that when I hit the Driver properly, I will get an important cut in my handicap... Yesterday, all my driver hits were really high, and the distance so was really short... I don´t know why, maybe the head of the drivers reachs the ball too close to the ground ¿? What should I do? I think the ball it´s placed at the rigth height.....

Thanks for the information!

[mvmac]

Yesterday, all my driver hits were really high, and the distance so was really short... I don´t know why, maybe the head of the drivers reachs the ball too close to the ground ¿? What should I do?

I would recommend adding the pieces I mentioned in the first post Sounds like you may be hitting it high in the face, towards the top of the club.

Generally higher handicappers are too steep and that makes it difficult to hit the driver well. All the information I shared in the first post is to help golfers shallow their angle of attack and swing more OUTward.

[Jameson]

Thanks! I will try all ot these this afternoon...

Also,I always place my drive resting against the floor, touching the ground. After reading this post, I think that maybe it could be better for me to hold the club without resting over the ground, keeping it on the air. This is different from the rest of the clubs, because with my irons I should hit the ground on the strike, but not with the driver.

This could be one of the reasons I hit the ground and the ball flies very high with my driver! What do you think??

[mvmac]

This could be one of the reasons I hit the ground and the ball flies very high with my driver! What do you think??

I think the main reason you hit the ground with your driver is because you swing down and across the ball. Address that, put in the pieces that allow you to swing up and outward.

[Crazycanuck44]

My driver has been working not too bad lately, I'm really concentrating on keeping my head still and hips forward and that seems to work well. I block it big time also which is probably because  I lose my hip slide and hang back. All in all it's getting better too bad it's the end of the season here, but I feel that this site has really helped look at my swing in a totally different way.

Thanks

[DoubleEagle]

Thanks for this thread.  Very helpful for me and I am back to hitting my driver off tee instead of my 3W...

[mvmac]

My driver has been working not too bad lately, I'm really concentrating on keeping my head still and hips forward and that seems to work well. I block it big time also which is probably because  I lose my hip slide and hang back. All in all it's getting better too bad it's the end of the season here, but I feel that this site has really helped look at my swing in a totally different way.

Thanks

Thanks for this thread.  Very helpful for me and I am back to hitting my driver off tee instead of my 3W...

You're welcome

[Jameson]

Thanks for this thread.  Very helpful for me and I am back to hitting my driver off tee instead of my 3W...

Feel the way you do about this. And have almost the same handicap... Keep working hard and let´s see how we improve !! good luck !

[Crazycanuck44]

Well my season is over so I'm going to do some drills during the looooooooooooooooooooong winter..

[mvmac]

This guy may have over-done things

There is a point of diminishing returns

[inthehole]

Could Mike or Iacas start a similar thread "How to hit a driver & STOP HOOKING" ... I'd be very interested, as I constantly fight tooth and nail to limit my hook ... good days its a heavy draw, bad days its an unpredictable snap hook ... I swear I've looked at every youtube video in existence over the past few months to fix this thing.   I've tried everything from weakening my grip, to hitting down and through the ball more (not sweeping across it), to messing with my swing path, opening the club face ... it's gotten in my head & my swing is a mess lately with all these crazy swing thoughts & its' becoming the absolute bane of my (golf) existence.    Seems fixing a slice is so much easier than a hook ... Ben Hogan would probably agree  :-)

[iacas]

Could Mike or Iacas start a similar thread "How to hit a driver & STOP HOOKING" ... I'd be very interested, as I constantly fight tooth and nail to limit my hook ... good days its a heavy draw, bad days its an unpredictable snap hook ... I swear I've looked at every youtube video in existence over the past few months to fix this thing.   I've tried everything from weakening my grip, to hitting down and through the ball more (not sweeping across it), to messing with my swing path, opening the club face ... it's gotten in my head & my swing is a mess lately with all these crazy swing thoughts & its' becoming the absolute bane of my (golf) existence.    Seems fixing a slice is so much easier than a hook ... Ben Hogan would probably agree  :-)

Start a My Swing thread.

Or aim your feet left and your clubface right enough to hit pushes (per body alignment) that don't hook.