Hit my 4 hybrid farther and straighter than my driver

[Moppy]

I can hit my 4 hybrid 210 yards on a solid strike, 20% loft Calloway XR. I can't hit my driver more than 180 without an exceptional bounce and roll.  I play kind of a short course, so I don't actually mind leaving the driver home and using the hybrid, but on the other hand, it is very frustrating. Any ideas for what causes this?  One thing is that the ball flight on the 4 hybrid is lower than the driver. I have this tendency to hit pop flies on mishits with the driver.  The other thing is that the 4H has a small head, maybe it forces me to hit the sweet spot. The ball flight is straight as an arrow too, unlike my usual "pronounced fade" with on or two slices per round I get with my driver.

It's kind of funny, I left the 1 wood in the car the last nine I played, and played mostly bogie golf. That driver is costing me a ton of strokes, with my chipping being the other thing that keeps me from being a solid bogie golfer, which has always been my goal.

[DaveP043]

Without seeing you swing, nobody can really tell you what's going on.  The difference in ball flight you describe (straight versus fade/slice) makes me wonder if you're making a rather different swing with the driver.  I've seen lots of players do that, kind of under control with most clubs, but trying to kill the driver for maximum distance.  In my game, the set-up with the driver is significantly different, but I try to swing with the same effort and tempo with all of my clubs.  Another possibility, a high slice may be a product of having the ball too far forward in your set-up.  I know the ball SHOULD be more forward with the driver, but you can overdo that.  Last, there could be equipment differences, but I'd suggest you look at your swing before you start looking at your equipment.  My real suggestion is instruction, perhaps its time to post some video in the "My Swing" section.

[RussUK]

I agree with Dave on the setup. The accepted setup is to have the ball off the left heel, however, to far forward can cause fades or slices.

For me, because of my swing style, i play the ball slightly forward of centre because i have to set ip pre-turned so any further forward and i hit it as the club is coming back inside at the end of the swing (if that makes sense).

But, at the end of the day, if you can play a decent round without a driver then its not a bad thing. Can you hit 3w ok?

[Jameson]

My advice here is: don´t be scare of the driver (as I am). I was always scare of it, and lately I have been working on it, and getting good results, and OMG, the holes are completely different after a nice drive tee shot. Keep working on it, don´t leave it at home. I hated it before, and I am starting to love my driver as work paid off

[Hazsa]

Could it be as simple as teeing the ball too high? I think the ranges with the automatic tees can lure people into teeing the ball way too high.

I hit my 4H 195/200max, and my Driver 230/250 so a solid drive would surely be beneficial to your game!

[Moppy]

You know, all of those things may be factors. It is kind of late in the season here, the ranges are all closed, to make a swing video, but I think I really need to do that.

I have tried teeing the ball lower, and experimenting with different ball positions, but maybe I need to be more scientific about it. When I get to Florida in a couple of weeks, I will try to make one.

On difference is I love that club and swing it with confidence, because it always seems to work out great. IIt's hard to get confidence in a club you can't really hit, and no, I can't really hit the three well either, nothing under a four. I like my five hybrid a lot too. And the shorter irons, I hit pretty well.

It's like a sawtooth for me, game gets better, then falls back, but it's on a positive trajectory. I was hitting the driver decent a month or two ago... Sigh...

[70sSanO]

Is it possible that you are coming over the top and hitting down with the driver?  Swinging the longer shafted driver like you hybrid can cause all sorts of bad spin issues that rob you of distance and direction.

John

[Moppy]

10 hours ago, 70sSanO said:

Is it possible that you are coming over the top and hitting down with the driver?  Swinging the longer shafted driver like you hybrid can cause all sorts of bad spin issues that rob you of distance and direction.

John

You know, that sounds right. Thanks!

[Patch]

I think a lot of times the shear size of the driver make it awkward to swing for some golfers. The driver is longer, and those 460 heads make for quite a difference when compared to shorter shafted, smaller headed clubs.

I went to one of those low profile square driver heads just to get a better feeling for the lower lofted club.  

The shear size of the driver, makes the golfer think they are swinging slower, so they put more speed into the swing, which just adds more awkwardness. Balance, and timing are poorly effected.  

I have heard it said that choking down on the longer shafted driver is way to check for this awkwardness. If the golfer chokes down, swings normally, and the golfer sees improvement, they just need more driver practice, with their normal grip and swing speed. 

I have often wondered if some golfers lack some physical strength to swing a driver comfortably, when compared to the shorter clubs.

[Hacker James]

I've always seemed to do better with smaller sized heads, even the old wooden ones. I do not like the 460cc's at all. I am however, able to adjust to the medium sizes, <430cc's.  A lot has to do with the shaft, flex, and a myriad of other factors. I recently bought an Orlimar "black" hybrid. It has 21 degrees of loft, shaped more like a traditional fairway wood yet, my old Callaway Diablo Edge 4H with 22 degrees of loft goes further. OTOH, the Orlimar "feels" better and instills more confidence. I had tried the Taylormade SLDR and just could not hit the thing consistently at all. 

[pganapathy]

I have a simple question for you.  Are you sure the driver is actually suited to your swing.  Too stiff or too flexible a shaft and it will cost you distance.  Also, when you hit the driver, where are you connecting the ball.  Centre of the club or totally off.  The distance a mishit costs is   more amplified with the the driver than other clubs.  Suppose you could hit it say 300 yards, 10% off is 30 yards and a really bad hit on the clubface can cost as much as 40 to 50% and can bring huge spin.  Remember, a slice on a driver can cost you lots of yardage

[carpediem4300]

I would say your probably not getting the same/more distance from your driver because you are scared of it,.

I can pounds drives out there 260/270 all day long, but when the driver is off for me I reign it in a bit, I get a bit scared of it and the trouble it could get me in, that feeling drops my yardage to 200/210, just a simple mental difference is now taking 50/60 yards off my drive,...quite honestly i hit my 3w longer than that, makes me wonder why i bother reigning it in sometimes??

I also find the slower i swing the more pull fades i hit, the science of that i dont know 

perhaps get on the range and think about hitting it at 95-100%, see what happens? if the results are the same/worse then you can atleast rule out the "scared" factor and go back swing mechanic basics

[Moppy]

Went to GolfTec and the guy fixed my problem for me really easily. He said I needed to tilt my shoulders far more than I was on the driver, differently than the wedge, and more than I was  comfortable doing, and he showed me video of pros and I saw they were doing this, and move the ball even with my shoe laces of my left foot. Like magic it worked. I was hacking down on the ball with my driver as if it were a wedge. Hence why my hybrid worked better.

The tilt, raising my left shoulder, sort of tilted my whole swing. He also gave me this neat tip about sort of locking my right knee by keeping the knee inside of my right foot, which kept me from rocking back in my swing, I won't go through the whole lesson, but anyway, there it is.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Moppy
typo

[Lihu]

On 10/21/2016 at 5:53 AM, Moppy said:

I can hit my 4 hybrid 210 yards on a solid strike, 20% loft Calloway XR. I can't hit my driver more than 180 without an exceptional bounce and roll.  I play kind of a short course, so I don't actually mind leaving the driver home and using the hybrid, but on the other hand, it is very frustrating. Any ideas for what causes this?  One thing is that the ball flight on the 4 hybrid is lower than the driver. I have this tendency to hit pop flies on mishits with the driver.  The other thing is that the 4H has a small head, maybe it forces me to hit the sweet spot. The ball flight is straight as an arrow too, unlike my usual "pronounced fade" with on or two slices per round I get with my driver.

It's kind of funny, I left the 1 wood in the car the last nine I played, and played mostly bogie golf. That driver is costing me a ton of strokes, with my chipping being the other thing that keeps me from being a solid bogie golfer, which has always been my goal.

Get on a GC2 launch monitor. You might be putting too much spin with your driver. A swing that puts 210 with a hybrid should get about 260 with driver.

If your shaft is a regular on an XR16 or possibly the XR (IDK), you can get a ton of spin on it with even a 95mph swing. You can try a stiff shaft. That should be good from anywhere from 95 to 110.

The first thing is to get on a GC2 type launch monitor.

52 minutes ago, Moppy said:

Went to GolfTec and the guy fixed my problem for me really easily. He said I needed to tilt my shoulders far more than I was on the driver, differently than the wedge, and more than I was  comfortable doing, and he showed me video of pros and I saw they were doing this, and move the ball even with my shoe laces of my left foot. Like magic it worked. I was hacking down on the ball with my driver as if it were a wedge. Hence why my hybrid worked better.

The tilt, raising my left shoulder, sort of tilted my whole swing. He also gave me this neat tip about sort of locking my right knee by keeping the knee inside of my right foot, which kept me from rocking back in my swing, I won't go through the whole lesson, but anyway, there it is.

Didn't read this. Great that you fixed it with a swing adjustment. . .

[Moppy]

Well, what I have learned is that the "solid strikes" I used to get were kind of accidental through luck. I have completely rebuilt my swing with the help of lessons and I am getting a lot more repeatably decent strikes with far less spraying of the ball, though I did go through a 50% duck hook phase.  I have gotten a couple of 220 yard drives at the range, and I think with a little work, a top end drive of 260 a couple times a year is not out of the question. I still am not swinging freely, due to thinking about the swing mechanics too much, and grip is still too tight, which I know is robbing me of yards, but that is one thing more than I can think about in a swing right now.

Coach says I need to do a thousand reps of the swing like I did on video, and it will be mine forever. A fundamentally sound swing that I can tweak to improve, but won't have to rebuild again, hopefully. I have done about fifty today on a mat in the back yard today, just working on address, takeaway, and final position and holding it for a sec each time.  I am starting to understand it better and to have a feel for all of the parts of it, and what I am doing wrong when I miss instead of being stumped why I hit it fat, or bounced the driver off of the ground before the tee, topped the ball, etc, etc...

It was nice that he only gave me a couple of corrections today, and they were simple ones, rather than a laundry list, as I have gotten in the past.  Mostly I hit balls today rather than listen to swing theory. It's funny that it gets so much simpler once you understand it.

[1badbadger]

On 10/21/2016 at 7:53 AM, Moppy said:

I can hit my 4 hybrid 210 yards on a solid strike, 20% loft Calloway XR. I can't hit my driver more than 180 without an exceptional bounce and roll. . Any ideas for what causes this?  The ball flight is straight as an arrow too, unlike my usual "pronounced fade" with on or two slices per round I get with my driver.

It sounds like you've been working hard on improving your swing and are having better success with your driver, which is a good thing.  

For others who might be experiencing similar issues, from an equipment standpoint the reason that you were hitting the hybrid further is because the hybrid has more loft and a shorter shaft than the driver.  The shorter shaft makes it easier to hit the center of the clubface, and the higher loft produces a better trajectory.

The majority of players launch their driver too low, and with manufacturers making the length between 45-46", it's difficult to hit the sweetspot on a consistent basis.  It also makes it harder to square the clubface.  With the hybrid being around 40", it's much easier to deliver the club squarely to the ball which is why you hit it so much straighter.

Most players would be shocked at how much better they hit their driver if they shortened the shaft and increased the loft!

[The Recreational Golfer]

How old are you? Late 60's, early 70's, it's likely that your swing speed has slowed down so much the 10.5* driver is now useless. Just my guess, don't be offended if you're 35.

[Kalnoky]

If you are popping the driver up short, you are hitting down on it like an iron. That's why the driver is so hard to hit, because contact takes place after the low point. 

Try teeing the ball lower than normal, and grounding your driver in the center of your stance, like a middle iron. Then take your normal swing, and you should feel like you're "reaching out" to hit the ball.  Boom, you will poke it out there 200 yards, straight. Just don't swing too fast. Think "smooth tempo".

I used to have the same problem as you. I played most of last year with a mini-driver and a 3H. The driver is the most fun club to hit well. It's always going to be challenging, but the reward is worth it.