My D$m%n# Driver!

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rsully

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I started to play golf seriously this past fall and now that spring is here, I generally try to hit the driving range 1 or 2 times per week. I have had a couple of lessons, but was somewhat under whelmed and feel I get a lot more out Brian's videos and this forum.

My Game: Overall, I am happy with my irons and tend to be pretty consistent with them, especially the short irons. I have a decent divot and shot shaping is sometime a part of my iron play. Hybrids are straight. I am scoring a little better almost every time I play.

However, my driver is all over the map. I often slice it, sometimes hook it, pull it, push it and duff it. In short, I am lost with it and can’t hit seem to hit my drives with any consistency

My question for the golf gurus out there is this:

Do you swing the driver the EXACT same way you swing an iron?

Are the subtle difference about a ball sitting on a tee that makes this swing different?

Thanks,

Ron
 
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pecky987

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you do naturally swing flatter, but you shouldn't try to. you should swing at the same tempo, same alignments at the top and, basically, at impact. dont feel just because its on a tee you have to hit up on it or scoop or lift it.

when i hadn't been playin long, i started hitting the big dog well after i visualised a very wide arc, almost a oval or eliptical shape, looking face-on. and you try to catch the ball barely on the way down on a very shallow angle of attack.
 
birdie_man

birdie_man

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This is what I need to test this year.

I've been using a steeper shoulder turn but I'm not sure it will get me the axis tilt I need with a driver.

We shall see.

I wanna try a flatter turn again (easier to have more tilt).....but then I may be swinging too far to right again. I may know how to make the steeper turn work like I want it though. (with driver)

Anyhoo.........flat vs. steep...........

Pretty huge for plane line, axis tilt, and forward lean.
 
birdie_man

birdie_man

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This was always a huge deal for me BTW.

Iron vs. driver play.

I had a too open clubface so I could flip it closed with the driver. (ball is forward enough and you can hit up on it so you get away with it)

Couldn't compress my irons though.

Then I go to a twistaway...............boom................irons get mashed. (with a soft draw)

Driver gets mashed.........with a low screaming duck-hook.

...

Pretty big deal actually...........held me back for a long time trying to figure it out.

Bottom line is:

You need to figure out what to do to get the clubface, low point, and plane line control you need for the shot at hand.

For me the twistaway fixed my face. (my hands are trained not to over-rotate and I arch it even if I'm not trying to nowadays)

This clubface fix ALLOWED me to make the Flipper stuff work. ("gotta fix the face first" peeps) Better low point control.

The steeper turn is working great with letting me draw a better plane line. (more to the left)

We'll see about the tilt.
 
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Jim Kobylinski

Super Moderator
rsully said:
Do you swing the driver the EXACT same way you swing an iron?
Click to expand...

No, i used to think so but once i realized you don't and you are trying to achieve something competely different in relations to ball flight and distance, i became much better driver of the ball.

Are the subtle difference about a ball sitting on a tee that makes this swing different?

Thanks,

Ron
Click to expand...

Yes, for optimum distance you will will have to make some setup adjustments, create more tilt and try to hit up on the ball. Brian has a free youtube on driver setup. Give that a try; also don't feel too bad the driver is the hardest club to hit beacuse it has the lowest loft.
 
R

rsully

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Today at the range . . .

Thanks for the feed back.

My ephiphanies* from today's session at the driving ranage:

You don't use with the same stroke with a putter as a wedge, so why would the driver swing be the same as a long iron? Thus, while the are characteristics shard by every swing(balance, on plane, sweet spot, etc) I began today with an open mind about how to hit the driver

After watching Brian's video and taking copious notes, I experimented with my set up began to hit some drivers by:

Bending a little more at the waist.
Setting up a little closed
Putting my left shoulder over my right knee on the take away
Keeping my hands less in front of the ball on set up. (With the irons I like to have my hands ahead of the ball)
and most importantly

moving the ball forward in my stance - way forward. I have the ball slightly ahead of my left instep now.


After doing Brian's drill in confession's of a flipper, my ball position keeps creeping foward, so I am thinking I hadn't adjusted my driver yet -

What happens if the ball get's to far forward? Is this going to be a problem in the future?


Ron

* my golf ephiphanies seem to have an extremely short shelf life. What worked great yesterday rarely works at all today . .
 
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pecky987

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rsully said:
Thanks for the feed back.

My ephiphanies* from today's session at the driving ranage:

You don't use with the same stroke with a putter as a wedge, so why would the driver swing be the same as a long iron? Thus, while the are characteristics shard by every swing(balance, on plane, sweet spot, etc) I began today with an open mind about how to hit the driver

After watching Brian's video and taking copious notes, I experimented with my set up began to hit some drivers by:

Bending a little more at the waist.
Setting up a little closed
Putting my left shoulder over my right knee on the take away
Keeping my hands less in front of the ball on set up. (With the irons I like to have my hands ahead of the ball)
and most importantly

moving the ball forward in my stance - way forward. I have the ball slightly ahead of my left instep now.


After doing Brian's drill in confession's of a flipper, my ball position keeps creeping foward, so I am thinking I hadn't adjusted my driver yet -

What happens if the ball get's to far forward? Is this going to be a problem in the future?


Ron

* my golf ephiphanies seem to have an extremely short shelf life. What worked great yesterday rarely works at all today . .
Click to expand...

if the ball gets too far forward in your stance, it can become very difficult to close the face properly, as you're now stretching for the ball
 
D

d0n

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Rsully, thanks for starting this thread. I too have problems with the driver. I can smash the 3w and hit almost every fairway. Give me a driver and who knows where the ball is going.

After reading this thread I watched the Manzella Show Episode 7 last night and again today. Went and played 9 holes today and did a lot better with the driver. I primarily focused on 3 of the tips.
1. Driver comes in to the ball like an Airplane coming in for a landing
2. Hover the club instead of addressing the ball with the driver head on the ground
3. When setting up to the ball don't turn toward the ball move your arms forward.

Wanted to try a forth thing and pull my right foot back but the 3 above mentioned things were enough for me to focus on. I hit 2 bad drives but I hit 4 good ones (2 of which were bombs.) This is a major driving improvement for me!

I'm going to spend some time at the range this weekend trying to solidify these thing. Thanks again for starting this thread and thanks for the suggestions!
 
R

rsully

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Left should BEHIND the ball!!

Though this maybe obvious to most of you I just noticed that when hitting the driver, at impact postition the pro's have the left shoulder behind the ball. (In the past I had the ball positioned just forward of the middle of my stance for the driver)

By moving the ball forward just past my left instep, I am able to keep my left shoulder behind the ball, and for the second day, had a GREAT session at the driving range with my driver. This is such a dramatic improvement for me, I can't wait to get to the course!

I seem to be hitting my short irons fine, my question for the experts: Does the left shoulder stay behind the ball for all swings, thus the ball position needs to more forward for longer clubs?

Ron
 
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pecky987

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rsully said:
Though this maybe obvious to most of you I just noticed that when hitting the driver, at impact postition the pro's have the left shoulder behind the ball. (In the past I had the ball positioned just forward of the middle of my stance for the driver)

By moving the ball forward just past my left instep, I am able to keep my left shoulder behind the ball, and for the second day, had a GREAT session at the driving range with my driver. This is such a dramatic improvement for me, I can't wait to get to the course!

I seem to be hitting my short irons fine, my question for the experts: Does the left shoulder stay behind the ball for all swings, thus the ball position needs to more forward for longer clubs?

Ron
Click to expand...

the left shoulder is alomost the location of the low point of the swing. with a driver it can be slightly behind, in-line with or infront of the ball. the shorter the clubs, you want low point INFRONT of the ball. therefore you want your let shoulder INFRONT of the ball
 
R

rsully

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AHA!

Pecky - thanks - ok, that makes so much sense to me now.

Of course one would be ahead of the ball to hit an iron otherwise there would not be a divot -

Ron
 
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