Zero Confidence off the tee

[lawsonjc]

The driver has for the most part been one of the stronger parts of my game. It made up for my weaker mid to long iron game due to my distance in the recent years. Now that I've got all the irons in the bagged dialed in my tee game has disappeared. 

I've played a  consistent draw off the tee for awhile now, and up until recently it's been great. I stepped up to the tee box knowing I could aim right side of the fairway and bust it. Now I get up to the tee box not knowing whether I should aim left or right. I fought a block fade that was making me pull my hair out. Once I finally got that under control I started banana hooking it off the tee. 

I've gotten rid of the hooks and drove the ball well for a couple of rounds. Now I'm playing military golf. I hate not knowing whether the ball is going to fade or draw off the tee when this was such a consistent part of my game. Has anyone gone through something similar and found something to help them work through it? I feel like I'm so close but so far away at the same time. I've got to get this under control if I stand any chance at some tournaments this summer. 

FYI: I do have a recent driver swing video up. 

[Jack Watson]

I looked at your swing thread and can't offer much.  

I also don't try to draw my driver so I can't help/relate sorry.

[lawsonjc]

I miss the days where I didn't have to try to do anything. The ball just moved right to left by itself and I did nothing other than put the club face on the ball it felt like. 

[freshmanUTA]

For me, when tee shots start to go errant i'm either trying to kill the ball or i'm not swinging controlled enough to use the kick of the shaft to propel the ball. Try working on tempo and making smooth clean swings on the range and translate that over to the course. Also check impact, with a decent 'draw path' or 'in to out', if you're hitting on the toe and heel that may cause hooks and push fades respectively. Sometimes it's just a matter of clearing your head of swing thought and letting your natural swing dictate how you hit the ball. Golf is hard, no need to make it harder than it is.

Edited May 11, 2017 by freshmanUTA

[roamin]

Not in your league by any stretch, but I will offer a link to this post in case you haven't seen it...

At a 2, I'd imagine you might know some/most of this stuff, but Mike does a great job of breaking it down, "checklist-style". FWIW, I've always hit a fade with every club, no matter what I tried to do, and have only recently learned to hit a draw on purpose and consistently, and it's without a doubt, in large part, thanks to that post.

Either way, hope you get it figured out. 

[Pretzel]

When I was having trouble figuring out whether my tee shot was going to be a fade or a draw during my senior year of high school, I ended up playing the entire season with a 40-50 yard "draw" off the tee. So long as you're playing on open courses it's a passable band-aid if you make sure to aim far to the right, but I wouldn't play with it long term. I only stuck with it because it was in the middle of a series of 10 tournaments in a month and a half, so I didn't have time for big swing changes without it adversely affecting at least 1-3 tournaments.

[TN94z]

What are the ball flight laws telling you about your swing path on the varying shots? I'm sure you know that already, but that would at least lead you to a possible swing path or club face issue. You could then take that info along with your videos to maybe see something you are doing different on those swings. I am nowhere near your game but when I have out of the ordinary ball flights, I can usually attribute them to lazy hip turn or out of sync hip turn.

Just looked at your swing thread. I am not going to throw my advice up on that, but I am curious to see what the more knowledgeable responses will be to the video.

Edited May 11, 2017 by TN94z

[Grinde6]

Golf is hard...Just when we think we have it nailed down to play at a respectable level...BOOM, something else starts giving us trouble.  When I push one to the right, its usually because I am lazy and I didn't follow through.  I don't know where that has come from, but about 2-3 swings a round I get lazy and only make a half-3/4 follow through and my little draw I like to play is now on the right side.  When I go to the range, I almost over follow through just to try to stop doing this.  That might be something to look at on your shots that are going to the right.  Most of it is just the space between the ears, when you don't have confidence in where your ball is going to go off the tee, I doubt you are putting a good swing on the ball.

[DaveP043]

11 hours ago, lawsonjc said:

I've gotten rid of the hooks and drove the ball well for a couple of rounds. Now I'm playing military golf.

Looking at your swing thread, I see you've made some recent changes, based on advice from @mvmac.  What I found, going through recent set-up changes, was that I had to re-learn how far from the ball I needed to be.  I could find and groove a spot in practice, but on the course I occasionally became pretty erratic, and the feeling (accurate or not) was that I was struggling to set-up at the right distance from the ball.  I'm becoming more comfortable and more consistent with practice, and the variability on the course is decreasing.  I have no idea whether this is an issue with you, but change in golf is even harder than golf without change.

It looks like your changes started around the same time as mine, maybe a week later.  I'd suggest that you stay the course, keep practicing with purpose, and follow whatever advice Mike gives you.  

[mvmac]

@lawsonjc, I posted in your swing thread.

 

 

[span3636]

I like your honesty-keeping it real. I have never been a great driver of the ball. I gave up trying to hit it straight. I go for a cut. Sometimes the balls cuts more than other times, but I just play. Line me up down the left and let it fly. I like having a go to shot. It's like having an ace in the hole. You might mess around on the range and find your "go to" shot. Hone it, own it, and rely on it when things get bad. Hope this helps.

[vjgidda]

Driver issues are not isolated in relation to other parts of your game.  

Just getting over that thinking will help.

Pull out your wedges and begin by hitting small shots 10-15 yards to diagnose  what's is truly going wrong.  

Think of it this way:  The driver swing is an extreme magnification of a 10 yard shot.  

Chances of find the problem using a small swing are greater than guessing with a full driver shot.

Of course this takes quite a bit of checking you ego and putting in lots of hard working reps.  

Good luck!