How Do I Hit "UP" With Driver?

[rwh]

The Brian Manzella Live show for 02/16/10 is very good.

I am interested to learn the technique for hitting "up" with driver. Is that simply a matter of placing the ball more forward in the stance or is there more involved?

Thanks in advance.

rwh

 

[suns11111]

For me its more mental then anything. I try to find a target out in the distance and try and hit it 100 feet over it (forces me to unwind like the man talks in NHA). You can practice this with the aquired motion and flw. If that doesn't work see or talk to the man, the bman.

 

[bagger1rick]

When I worked with Brian in addition to moving the ball forward in my stance, he widened it for the driver.

 

[18in2hours]

I have wondered about this as well. Seems to me that just moving the ball up in your stance isn't a silver bullet to hit up on the ball as you're going to have to modify your swing slightly to catch the ball on the sweetspot as opposed to a little further toward the toe which is what I think would happen if you made the exact same swing. My personal experience messing around with this on launch monitors is that moving the ball forward doesn't necessarily take off any backspin. I believe an more upward strike should reduce the amount of backspin on the ball. My thought is that to accomodate for a different ball position one can still hit down on the ball just as easily as they can from a "standard" position, but I'm looking forward to see what some of the more knowledgable people have to say.

 

[Bigwill]

According to Fredrik Tuxen at Trackman, attack angle (hitting up or down) dosen't significantly affect spin rate. Your experience verified that. What hitting up will do is allow you to correctly launch a lower lofted driver; the lower loft will lower the spin.

 

[willgolfer]

Axis tilt?

 

[curtisj76]

I like this:

"Achieving a level or even upward angle of attack is not the same as hitting "up" on the ball. It is important that your hands be in line or slightly ahead of the clubhead at impact. Note I said "clubhead" and not the ball. There is a big difference. In other words, you never flip your hands at the ball in order to increase your angle of attack, rather, you need some spinal tilt away from the target to achieve this position."

 

[mb6606]

Sadlowski longest in the world - sets up with axis tilt and adds even more tilt during the swing. He uses a 6.5 degree Adams and carries the ball 365.

 

[jenhaoyen]

Sadlowski longest in the world - sets up with axis tilt and adds even more tilt during the swing. He uses a 6.5 degree Adams and carries the ball 365.

Over 100 yard roll??

I have seen him hit 470 or something on tv before

 

[rwh]

Thanks, guys. Lots of good information.

 

[bgoodyear]

I like this:

"Achieving a level or even upward angle of attack is not the same as hitting "up" on the ball. It is important that your hands be in line or slightly ahead of the clubhead at impact. Note I said "clubhead" and not the ball. There is a big difference. In other words, you never flip your hands at the ball in order to increase your angle of attack, rather, you need some spinal tilt away from the target to achieve this position."

Hmmmm this confuses me. I understand the importance of not throwing the clubhead but how can the hands be in front of the clubhead at impact (on an upward angled swing) and not the ball? It certainly feels like the head starts to pass the hands around low point.

 

[bgoodyear]

I'll try to answer my own question. "Ahead" means relative to the position in my swing plane which can be axis tilted away from the ball a bit. What does this mean? I should tilt back behind the ball a bit when hitting with an upward angle of attack?

 

[spktho]

The ball should still be contacted with as much of a forward leaning shaft as you can, the clubhead will just be on the slightly upward portion of the arc.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN-8KT-OiGI[/media]

 

[ZAP]

If i remember right Brian addressed this in the video he did with Mike Jacobs with the Ten things every golfer should know or do or something like that. It is in my library somewhere but I am too lazy to go look.

 

[dlam]

I think everyone has a different swing thought to get that positive angle of attack.
For me it's not thinking about hitting up, or axis tilt, I do tee the ball up high enough to make sure that I rotate up through the ball.
The key for me is keeping my right armpit tight and left armpit a bit looser........similiar to what sean o'hair does when he practices with his driver. He puts a glove under the right armpit.... Then I feel the what others describe as axis tilt without tilting my spine.

This works for me and may not work for others.

 

[HOT CHILLI]

it's possible

Hmmmm this confuses me. I understand the importance of not throwing the clubhead but how can the hands be in front of the clubhead at impact (on an upward angled swing) and not the ball? It certainly feels like the head starts to pass the hands around low point.

Thongchai Jaidee +AoA with Hands foward -

 

[gaspasser1]

Brian mentioned it in one of his free videos. I think it was the D-plane one. If I remember correctly, it involved coming in with hands pretty neutral or slightly ahead (not scooped) but with more extension with the body. Belly button is like a dart gun....

 

[bgoodyear]

Thanks Guys, this is starting to make more sense.