The Driver: Hit Up or Hit Down?
May 11th, 2009 | 
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For many years I have believed that the irons are struck with a descending blow, the fairway woods and hybrids are swept off the ground and the driver is hit with a slightly upward hit. Tee it high and let it fly! In recent months it has come to my attention that that is not necessarily the case; certainly amongst the top golfers in the world.
Trackman is a company that collects a tremendous amount of data on the tour golfers and their shots. Essentially everything you did not need to know about your club and ball in the swing, but importantly, a few things that are very important. Trackman, in their January newsletter, stated that the PGA Tour average for attack angle with the driver (up or down at the moment of impact) is -1.3 degrees. That means that a collection of the greatest drivers on the planet actually average out with a downward hit on the big stick! Pay attention to how high tour golfers do not tee their ball. It is almost always medium to low height. As I researched further I found that long drive champions tended to have an attack angle of anywhere from +7 to +12 degrees. Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes, two of the tours longest, regularly measure out at around +6 degrees.
The primary reason why all these top golfers hit down is because they hit the ball so far already that they have no need to learn how to hit up. If you drive the ball less than 250 yards on average then you need to learn how to hit up on the ball. If any of you watched Henrik Stenson’s magnificent round yesterday at the very major-like TPC Sawgrass you will have noticed how often he took a divot while hitting three wood off just about every tee. There is only way way to take a divot after impact and that is to hit down.
There is nothing in physics that indicates a downward hit is more accurate than an ascending hit other than that the generally lower trajectory will get on the ground sooner and thus stay more on line…..
Make sense?
Things to Ponder:
- In my book Henrik Stenson played the round of the year yesterday. Congratulations!
- I like Ian Poulter a lot and I find myself rooting for him to break through more and more. Great outfits too!
- How about my two picks for the week; Boo Weekley WD and Brian Gay WD. Sensational selecting there….
- Jim Hardy, of One-Plane fame, believes that most of the great putters of all time were hookers of the ball; Crenshaw, Ballesteros, Watson (in his day), Locke, Archer. The one exception is Nicklaus. Release the face of the putter…..
- I thought that TPC Sawgrass showed some much needed teeth, but it was a little tricked up in places. I thought the 13th was a joke! You had to land it front right to have chance to get close, well Goosen did that and his ball rolled into the water?!
- Did anyone notice that four out of the top five finishers at the Players played in sunglasses? Stenson, Poulter, Na and Davis!
- I remember when Strange and Kite had a Monday playoff for the Tour Championship many years ago and the winner would be the first player to break the $1million mark for the season. Ian Poulter did that yesterday, by finishing second!
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Interesting.
Thanks for the article.
I’ve been debating this too, and I agree with you.
If I try to hit during the ascending part of the swing arc, I have to place the ball too much left and it tends to cause pulls.
That’s my case anyways.
Last nt on GC, heard that Byron Nelson (?) used to say that the surest way to hit a fairway when you *absolutely* had to was to tee it low and hit down on it as if you were going to drive the club head into the dirt beyond the ball. (Like your Stenson observation.) This caught my attention cuz a guy I play with has a “unique” swing, but he is deadly accurate off the tee. (He looks goofy on the first tee, but gets your respect after about his third birdie.) He closes his stance, and sets up with his hands waaaay ahead of the ball. His ancient Adams 12* driver is closed at impact and he hits low shots with top spin the run on endlessly, using any ol ball he finds. His follow thru gets to about 45* above the horizon in front of him. He does not appear to swing hard, just firmly. I hit a higher shot with a more conventional swing and often outdrive him, but get less carry and I cannot duplicate his accuracy. (He’s an uncanny putter and chipper too, so guess who gets to buy this 65-yr old’s beer?) Anyway, Googled “hitting down on a driver” this am and found your post. I’m heading for the range tonight to try this!! I’m guessing you have to really swing out “towards 1st base” to make this work (don’t want those pull-hooks jhantonio mentions.)
The PGA Tour avg for the last four years has been an attack angle of -1.3 degrees. Thats 1.3 down! The club manufacturers love to promote UP because that makes the ball go further, but not necessarily straighter (IMHO). I do believe that top golfers swing the same at the driver as an 8 iron – the difference is the ball position, stance width and obvious elevation of the ball with a tee for the driver. They hit down on an 8 iron 4.5 degrees. My thinking is that as the ball position migrates forward the angle of descent must decrease.
Don’t do too much different with the driver other than perhaps lowering the tee height and being aware that the best in the game hit down very slightly.
I hope it helps.
Thanks for reading,
Andrew
If hitting down on the ball will produce straighter drives, then wouldn’t using a more lofted driver while hitting down produce longer, straighter drives than a lower lofted driver would? This could be the key for a lot of golfers that struggle off the tee.
Steve,
Thanks for your input. It is arguable that hitting slightly down on the ball produces straighter drives, but I certainly am of the opinion that is does. However adding loft to compensate for a downward strike will only create more spin and not more distance. Also keep in mind that it is quite possible to hit down on the ball too much. I believe that there should be a balance between hitting down and creating distance as one negates the other to a certain degree. That most often falls somewhere close to a “zero” angle of attack – where the club is travelling parallel to the ground at impact.
Cheers,
Andrew