A confused driver lesson

[turkish]

So after getting my driver chopped down an inch and hitting it reasonably well went for a lesson on GC2 with my usual pro.

Was hitting it well for period of time with every 1 in 6 having a bit too much fade(slice but still in play). Done swing path drill with a plastic bottle to make sure never came over the top- never knocked it over so path was fine.

My bad shots was a sky which I know I do too often so he started teeing it down lower to get me hitting out the bat but still occasionally managed to sky it. The lower he teed it the more I hit it out the heel for some reason too. He also told me to get the feeling I was hitting down on it rather than up.

So I'm a bit confused as I thought I should be teeing it higher and trying to hit up was the aim of the game. On my good hits with me trying to hit down the launch was anywhere between 9-15 degrees (with my driver set at 10.25).

Confused now!!!

I've been told in my drills to use footspray and get more control on club face, also to stand a bit further back but getting the feeling of hitting down is the confusing bit. He also told me to use pink tees instead of orange for my swing which again confused me.

My SS was 95mph. Is a 9-15 degree launch angle at this speed optimal?

 

[bobmac]

I'm a bit surprised too but then I haven't seen your swing. Your pro has so I'd follow his drills. If it's not helping, go back and tell him your confused.

 

[pendodave]

Is a 9-15 degree launch angle at this speed optimal?

9 to 15 is a bit of a spread.

On Andrew Rice's website (trackman expert) he suggests :

ss ball s launch carry carry+roll
95 mph 140 mph 13.7 225 271

He proposes an attack angle of up 5deg as well.

If you put "andrew rice golf driver optimal launch" you'll get some links to read.

And then you'll be even more confused !!!

 

[pendodave]

I just noticed he also has an article about driver shaft lengths.

He comes out strongly in favour of your recent course of action, so hopefully that will offset the confusion re. everything else !

http://www.andrewricegolf.com/andrew-rice-golf/2012/10/which-driver-shaft-length

 

[the_coach]

So after getting my driver chopped down an inch and hitting it reasonably well went for a lesson on GC2 with my usual pro.

Was hitting it well for period of time with every 1 in 6 having a bit too much fade(slice but still in play). Done swing path drill with a plastic bottle to make sure never came over the top- never knocked it over so path was fine.

My bad shots was a sky which I know I do too often so he started teeing it down lower to get me hitting out the bat but still occasionally managed to sky it. The lower he teed it the more I hit it out the heel for some reason too. He also told me to get the feeling I was hitting down on it rather than up.

So I'm a bit confused as I thought I should be teeing it higher and trying to hit up was the aim of the game. On my good hits with me trying to hit down the launch was anywhere between 9-15 degrees (with my driver set at 10.25).

Confused now!!!

I've been told in my drills to use footspray and get more control on club face, also to stand a bit further back but getting the feeling of hitting down is the confusing bit. He also told me to use pink tees instead of orange for my swing which again confused me.

My SS was 95mph. Is a 9-15 degree launch angle at this speed optimal?

from the description of the shot outcomes - high shots, kick drops off of the crown, the slice or big overfade

would tend to indicate a still out to in path - maybes the bottle not in the place it should be - plus is still a ways oversteep attack

9º to 15º would be too much variance - would say 'generally' this would tend to indicate lateral moves off & back to the ball which tends to lead to a flip to release

generally such outcomes, that the posture angles not being kept - so vertical height being changed some also

would be real interesting to hear how this all pans out in to what the next lesson is about
along with the explanation for the advice of this lesson

 

[turkish]

Definitely not OTT coach it was him placing it there for the hours lesson we had I haven't been to range yet to practice it. Also showed me playback on his ipad and swing looked decent.

As soon as I was connecting I knew straight away when they were coming out the heel and he also put impact tape so I'm definitely thinking its clubface- both impact spot and face control

 

[the_coach]

ok understand
(as been said earlier he's the Pro that's working with the seen swing action - get he may well want to see if changes can be achieved good from just trying to do 'it' - if that doesn't work as planned may then get further explanation as to why - depends if you able to work that ways, though worth giving the asked for changes a real good go then if not really happening maybes 'the explanation' may help some)

would stick with it

so sounds looking for better clubhead positioning awareness with face angle awareness
with the 'left to rights' more about 'gear effect' from the impact location - off of the driver heely strikes will close the face at impact & that mostly (though not always) will tilt the spin axis of the ball to positive (LM numbers) so gives the left to right flight

don't know if you play other 'racket' type sports but those & baseball (guess you don't play that - but 'cricket' would be the same) the part that strikes the ball in all those from the 'sweetspot', has that sweetspot directly 'in line' with the hands - with golf this isn't the case the 'sweet' is not directly in line with the hands - as the shaft is into the heel so sweet some inches removed from a direct line

just as a small exercise to see if the above has any bearing at all - if you put a ball down then in between you & the ball place an upturned tee just 1/4" to ball

0 (ball)
T (tee)

player

turn a club on it's end so holding shaft by the clubhead - can you make a full swing to have the handle hit the Tee only - when done this with a bunch of folks with heel strikes issue they generally first off hit the tee & ball together
if you take out the tee only 5 out of 5 then all good straightways after- (if not keep going till you can then do the following)
- tee up ball as normal (though at the height the Pro is asking you to) make swing with the same feeling of where the shaft is at impact (with the upside-down club tee drill so shaft just inside the ball) to then deliver a centered impact location

one other thing that's helped others often times is just have ball on the tee (height again to your Pro's guidance) but place a plastic bottle 1/4" the other side of the ball to just leave the driver head a 1/4" clearance off of the 'toe' to the bottle given the ball at center face at address
swing to miss the bottle

PB (bottle)
0 (ball)

player