Driver Swing

[forefortheday]

Finally took the plunge and bought a driver at the weekend.

Got myself a Ben Sayers M3 10.5 regular shaft for £40 so haven't broke the bank.

Just wondering what (if any) adjustments people make when swinging a driver over an iron?

I'm getting some low runners to the 200 yard mark at the range or big bannanas at present so any tips are more than welcome!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

It should ideally be just inside your left ankle to promote a connection fractionally on the up swing. Feet should be shoulder width or just wider. make sure you have plenty of flex in the knees to allow a good full turn. Have a play around with tee heights to as a ball teed down will encourage a steeper downswing which with only 10.5 degree of loft to play with will cause problems.

 

[madandra]

FFTD, please try and avoid teeing the ball too high. Since my brother in law told me to try a shorter tee I have been mega consistent. So I tee it about an inch and a half high and it goes for miles whereas when I pegged it up high I always seemed to slice it.

 

[evita4]

Totally agree Mad, I discovered the same thing about 10 days ago, Also following Anthony Kims grip down the shaft an inch so has really helped with the consistency.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I wasn't advocating it way high. You see some guys barely put the peg into the ground and the ball sits way over the top of the driver head thinking they will get it airborne. Personally I like to have about 10% of the ball over the top of the club and a tad forward to get it on the way up. My driving is my strongest part at the moment (DOH thats jinxed it) so it seems to work for me. For those of you on rnges with Powertee think the 3rd tee setting.

 

[TonyN]

I'll second that Madandra, I used to use the 'driver tees' and probably have 3/4 of the ball above the club head at set up.

I now buy the shorter white wooden and I have maybe 1/4 of the ball above the clubhead at setup. I find it easier to hit the sweetspot and the ball launches alot better.

 

[nmartyn]

in terms of the swing itself i've had mixed advice....
been told to make a really shallow/low back swing (think baseball swing) by one instructor and another told me to make the same swing as per my irons. with the longer club length i guess this forces a lower downswing but i'm still not quite getting it.
saw a tip in a mag this week to try and lock your right elbow into your hip on the downswing which forces an in to out swing so am going to try that tonight.


anything to help with the slice!

 

[TonyN]

I almost lock in my right elbow with al my shots, it helps to stop it flying but its makin my left arm stay pretty flat.

I would like to get it a bit higher so it means raising the elbow a bit more.

 

[Fore]

I found thinking to myself 'move left shoulder first', helped me keep my arms in front of my chest and make a proper turn from the hips instead of just turning my arms fully and my shoulders a little bit. This along with working on weight shift has improved all my tee shots a lot. Also, sticking your bottom out and keeping your chin up helps keep your spine straight.

 

[Doh]

The big difference betwwen hitting irons and a driver is that with an Iron you are hitting down on the ball where as with the driver you will be sweeping the ball off the tee.

So your setup is very important get the basic's right Grip Alignment stance Posture set the ball up opposite your left heel and drop your right shoulder slightly lower than your left. This will encourage that sweeping feeling.