Getting More Out of Your Driver
August 7th, 2011 | 
Author:
The Correct Set Up
Let’s start at address: In order to move your swing plane to facilitate an in-to-out path drop your back foot and shoulder inside the target line - basically set up with a slightly closed stance.
- Face On Set Up
Tee the ball high and make sure it is not too far back in your stance. You should have a sense that you are behind the ball and are preparing to “swing uphill” as you get set.
Hitting Up and Out
In the swing you will need to feel that you are staying behind the ball with your upper body as you aggressively drive the hips and weight over onto the front foot. This is where the “uphill” sense comes from – as the hips drive the head stays back you create the body motion that allows for the clubhead to move up into the hit. I like to refer to this as body curve.
Hitting Up - Notice the Body Curve
Believe it or not when you hit 5 degrees from the inside, coupled with 5 degrees up on the ball the clubhead is travelling straight at the target at impact (assuming you aligned correctly of course)! A fantastic recipe for long and efficient tee shots.
If you cannot seem to get the sense or feel for hitting up on the ball it could well be that your are working your body incorrectly through impact. It is very common for golfers with tight hips or general flexibility problems to overuse the upper body and try to muscle the hit with their arms. This will always result in a downward, spinny strike on the ball. You may also need to consult with a golf specific fitness trainer to help you become more physically able to get your body into the correct position.
Hitting Down on the Driver
Posted in Long Game, Practice, Swing Philosophy | 
Tags: behind the ball, body curve, driver set up, driver swing, gain yardage, head back, high draw, high draws, high launch, high launch low spin, hit driver, hitting driver, hitting up, hitting up on the driver, impact, longer drives, low spin driver, muscle the hit, roll on tee shots, swing direction, swing plane, swing up, swing uphill, up and out, upward strike
I am 50 years old and have played golf for over 40. I have played good golf and played bad golf. For years I could hit an old Wilson Staff wooden driver and a Hogan persimmon driver with my eyes closed. However, for the last 20 years even with the latest technology, I have not been successful off the tee box. Thanks for the tips. I am anxious to give them a try.
Hi Andrew,
I’ve tried this for a couple of rounds now, dropping the rear foot back a couple of inches on my 3W and Driver shots and teeing my driver up with ball 50% above the face however I find that I’m hitting a long push that turns push-slice in the last 15% or so of the flight. The contact is superb and the distance is great but the direction is all wrong and ball flight not ideal. It feels as though I’m pretty much hitting the ball along my toe line which faces to the right.
What can be used to verify my alignment if the rear leg is 2 inches or so back? I know I could strengthen my grip more to turn it into a draw but that’s just a sticky plaster, not a fix.
All ideas and suggestions greatly appreciated.
Kind regards,
David
Hi David,
I wouldn’t regard strengthening the grip as a bandaid. The clubface is clearly open at impact and if the ball is flying straight the face matches the path. By getting the face a degree or two more closed at impact that push turns into a nice draw down the fairway. Give the grip a try first and make sure (as best you can) the clubhead is travelling up coming into the strike. If it’s going down the clubpath might be too far to the right and thus assist with the push.
Andrew
Craig,
There is something to be said for practicing with equipment that requires us to be very precise. It’s almost like Harvey Penick said, “Take dead aim!” Well the smaller heads forced us to do just that and with bigger, more modern equipment we feel like we might be able to get away with a little more and get careless.
Try practicing with an old persimmon every now and then – it’ll help you take dead aim!
All the best,
Andrew
Thanks Andrew. I only recently added the driver to my clubs as I’d never needed one before now. Thinking back to my issues it may well be that I was using a neutral grip rather than my normal 3-knuckle iron grip that draws all my iron shots. At the very worst I could always look at aiming a little more left.
andrew, do you have any idea why a lot of the PGA tour players are still hitting down on their driver when it’s clear with some of these trackman numbers that an ascending blow seems to be superior? are they behind the curve on this?
Hi Bryan,
The stat is from 2009 and I believe many of the younger players are now aware that hitting up makes the ball go further. It would be interesting to see what happens to the number when TrackMan releases their next stat on attack angle….
andrew, great job on your hogan drill. really good to get rid of curves! loved the box of balls drill to get a little more up on the driver. happy medium to everything!! thanks dk
Thanks a ton Darrell! All the best at the British Senior and the PGA Championship. I know the extra 20+ yards you gained on TrackMan will come in handy at Kiawah.
Andrew
I can hit all my clubs (except the driver) with my standard setup (square). But for my driver, usuallly with slight curve to the right, low ball flight, less distance. Try your recommennd set up with right leg back, I hit the driver high and straight! Wonder what is the reason? I mean is that I am not in enough on the backwsing with the driver on standard set up due to flexiblity?
Andrew, what’s going on?! It’s Dougie Wade! This is the first of seen your website, beyond impressive! You were always a great teacher to me and I am planning on getting your book to read. Hope to see you again soon! Take care.
Hi Dougie – hope you are well bud! Thanks for reading and feel free to comment on anything….
Try this slightly closed set-up Danny – it will help.
Just as an addition to one of the points Bryan made regarding some of the elite golfers hitting down slightly on drives still even though we know hitting up generally will give more distance . When the club head speed is up at around 120 mph you can carry your driver 290 and still be hitting down slightly because the ball speed is so high, as the club head speed reduces a more upward angle of attack will generally carry the ball further . Just imagine hitting down on a driver with 85 mph club head speed , you will not keep the ball airborne long enough as your launch angle will not be very high and the ball speed will not keep it off of the ground for very long .