Hitting up with the driver
- Thread starter mb6606
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What's that?
willgolfer
New
pull-back, run-up, and jump.
mb,
Teeing the ball off your left heel should suffice for an upward hit.....any further and you will probably be too far forward leading to a fade/slice every time (because you will effectively be addressing the ball with a too open face)..
Jim Kobylinski
Super Moderator
huh?
Wouldn't it cause the ball to go further left????
Jim,
This is based on my own experience...
My clubhead arc starts rising just before the left heel position (I use a 12-15 inch width stance (at the heels))...yours may be different...
If the ball is too far forward, then the basic clubhead arc is in pull territory. Combine that with the face angle at address, it would become more open to the clubhead arc the farther forward the ball is placed, unless you want to pull it straight left........
Richie3Jack
New
I don't think Clampett had access to Trackman or it wasn't even around when he wrote Impact Zone.
IMO, I firmly disagree with the notion that you need to hit down with the driver to hit it accurately. I've seen golfers who hit the ball just as accurate and further by hitting up on the driver. Cristy Kerr is an excellent driver of the ball and she hits up about 5* with the driver according to Trackman.
Much of Impact Zone revolves around the 'Aiming Point' concept prescribed in The Golfing Machine. But if you read The Golfing Machine it says pretty clearly that the aiming point moves more towards the ball with the longer the golf club and with a driver, it's pretty much at the ball. Another reason why I don't agree with Clampett's assertion that you should hit down with a driver because where he got that notion from (TGM) really doesn't say that either.
I do like Impact Zone overall. Very good book for beginners and very good for many golfers who tend to worry about other things that are not important and have no idea about impact alignments.
3JACK
IMO, I firmly disagree with the notion that you need to hit down with the driver to hit it accurately. I've seen golfers who hit the ball just as accurate and further by hitting up on the driver. Cristy Kerr is an excellent driver of the ball and she hits up about 5* with the driver according to Trackman.
Much of Impact Zone revolves around the 'Aiming Point' concept prescribed in The Golfing Machine. But if you read The Golfing Machine it says pretty clearly that the aiming point moves more towards the ball with the longer the golf club and with a driver, it's pretty much at the ball. Another reason why I don't agree with Clampett's assertion that you should hit down with a driver because where he got that notion from (TGM) really doesn't say that either.
I do like Impact Zone overall. Very good book for beginners and very good for many golfers who tend to worry about other things that are not important and have no idea about impact alignments.
3JACK
Burner
New
Hitting down with the Driver is more a matter of directing the thrust of the motion down to low point than physically hitting the ball into the ground with a delofted club face. The ball can, nevertheless, still be hit "on the up" whilst directing the thrust downwards.
Setting out to hit the ball from underneath (scooping it, or hitting on the up in a literal sense) can, however, lead to all sorts of problems - i.e, flipping, throwaway, "fore left", "fore right" and simply topping, or blading the thing. It is not a practise to be encouraged, unless the player has real control over what he is trying to achieve.
Setting out to hit the ball from underneath (scooping it, or hitting on the up in a literal sense) can, however, lead to all sorts of problems - i.e, flipping, throwaway, "fore left", "fore right" and simply topping, or blading the thing. It is not a practise to be encouraged, unless the player has real control over what he is trying to achieve.
I remember this being discussed some time ago on this board. I participate in clubfitting forums and I think the basic consensus is that, just from a physics perspective, you can achieve maximum distance by swinging up with a lower lofted club than otherwise. I think the bigger issue is can a golfer achieve this without ruining his normal swinging action which is generally down for all other clubs.
Regarding the shaft bend, I think that most of forward bend occurs well before impact (looks this way on this video also) and so any upward movement of the head due to shaft bend is minimal. The primary effect of the forward bend is the increase in the effective loft which increases launch angle (and spin rate).
Why should it be any different than a wedge versus 3 iron? I suggest you give the driver a try - aim right, play the ball forward and swing up it works.
Richie3Jack
New
I don't think there's anything 'wrong' per say with hitting down on the driver. I just believe that you can hit it with good accuracy by hitting up with the driver and thus optimizing or coming closer to optimizing your driver performance.
I just disagree with the 4" in front of the ball for the driver. Impact Zone is essentially 'TGM for Dummie' and even in TGM when it talks about the 'aiming point concept' it says that the aiming point moves closer to the ball with the longer clubs due to the radius of the club and the increased clubhead speed.
And when I say 'disagree', I think it's fine if it works for you as that may be the aiming point you need to use to hit it well on a consistent basis. But from a general standpoint I believe the aiming point goes more in front of the ball with the shorter the club you hit.
I also believe that hitting up with the driver should be done through adjusting your address positions. Trying to actively hit up on the ball is extremely dangerous.
I know for me that once I got rid of the flip I started hitting 78% of my fairways (the driver is now probably the strongest part of my game) and I hit about 2-3* upward the last I checked.
My best suggestion is to give it a try through changing the address position. The possible benefits of more distance, in some cases a noticeable amount of distance without losing accuracy is too great IMO to not give it a shot.
3JACK
Only because "swing up" could mean something different to some people. Without some instruction, I can envision folks possibly flipping to get the "up". That's where I think a setup change with the ball forward will allow someone thinking about hitting down or level to actually hit up - and keep a flat left wrist.
I wasn't suggesting that hitting up on the driver is bad.
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