Crush the ball when driving

[JonMA1]

This is as intelligent and polite as I've seen this subject discussed.

In my limited experience, there are two kinds of holes that will accommodate a driver. One where there is little choice but to use it, and the other which is tight enough to where grey mapping and shot zones come into play. All I can do is try to make an intelligent decision based on recent memory or my present feel as to which club I pull.

If I pull the driver, I try to be committed to using the same full swing as always. Same tempo, same energy, same expected ball flight. I don't know how to address the ball and think to myself, "should I swing harder and try to get an extra 25 yards, or do I swing easy and try to keep it in the fairway?" Not with the driver anyway.

In short, I try to execute my full swing as flawlessly as possible. I personally use a slow tempo because it seems to allow for a fuller turn on the BS and proper weight shift to start my downswing. Maybe that's wrong, but yesterday I hit two drives over 250 yards with this slow tempo swing and my tired old body. Both drives not only stayed in play, but also remained in the fairways.

So while I'm pleasantly surprised when that "same" swing yields shots like those (and they are rare), I'm still very happy to have it travel 225 and leave a good lie for my next shot (since I don't play 7000 yard courses). That is simply the level of my ability at this time.

The point is, the swings don't feel different. There's no conscious effort to swing faster. Those extra yards are likely a result of me lucking into something closer to proper mechanics combined with hitting the sweet spot of the driver face.

Knowledge that "distance is important" has little bearing beyond the decision to pull the longest club in the bag when it makes sense. Knowledge that "distance and accuracy are both important" (and that penalties are kicking my butt) motivates me to work on my driver as much as possible.

This is point where someone usually asks "So, how's that working out for you?"

[perrysmith]

Please someone help..I can not drive the ball at all.. goes right violently every time. I don't know any one that can help me. I have a video I can post. It's pretty embarrassing. But please by all means pick me apart and help me help my golf game..lol

[Mr. Desmond]

Please someone help..I can not drive the ball at all.. goes right violently every time. I don't know any one that can help me. I have a video I can post. It's pretty embarrassing. But please by all means pick me apart and help me help my golf game..lol

Start another thread with a swing video.

[Fairway_CY]

I keep a spreadsheet that I enter each of my drives (par 4 and par 5) on.  I track my driver, 3 wood, 2 hybrid and 4 iron... because if I tee off with less than that, it's likely a par 3.

This season, I've hit a total of 306 tee shots.  83.01% of them stay in play, meaning 17% of my tee shots wind up in hazards, lost or out of bounds.  My driver stays in play 83.20% of the time.  My average drive is 239.46 yards with my driver.  My average drive is 214.40 with my 3 wood... but I tend to hit more wayward shots with my 3 wood than my driver (76.92% in play as opposed to 83.20% in play with my driver).

My general miss is left, and it's almost always a pull.  Since the beginning of August, I've put nearly as many tee shots out of play (19) as I had in the rest of the year combined (24)... but I've also increased my average distance by 6 yards and my fairways hit percentage by 3%.  Still... I've been losing strokes.  My penalty strokes have increased in the last month to almost 1.5 more per round than I was averaging.  That's killing my scores.

I've put more practice into my pre-shot routine with my driver, and I'm now committing myself to slowing down my swing on the tee.

I played in a tournament on Saturday and I stood on my 16th tee with a shot to post an 86.  I blew it by trying to get aggressive from a par 3 tee and hitting a shorter club... which I put in a hazard resulting in a double.  Then on the next hole, a long par 4, I tried to crush my tee shot and ended up way left in the woods, forcing me to punch out and I tripled that hole.  My final hole, a par 5, again... I tried to crush it, and I blocked it way right into the hazard because my arms were so far behind my lower body... and I finished with another double.  I posted a 93 and finished 4 strokes behind the eventual winner, who posted an 89.

So... I know that distance is helpful, and it's probably statistically more beneficial to be hitting from the rough at 100 yards out than hitting from the fairway at 160 yards out... but it hasn't helped my game any.  I'll be finishing up the season with an entirely different strategy.

CY

[dkolo]

Please someone help..I can not drive the ball at all.. goes right violently every time. I don't know any one that can help me. I have a video I can post. It's pretty embarrassing. But please by all means pick me apart and help me help my golf game..lol

Welcome! A big slice is a pretty common and easy problem to fix.

Start a My Swing thread in the Member Swings sub-forum and work through these two threads, which have the answers you need:

http://thesandtrap.com/t/77244/how-to-hit-a-driver-hit-it-further-and-stop-slicing

http://thesandtrap.com/t/77144/how-to-draw-the-golf-ball-or-how-to-stop-slicing