Driver trajectory

[geejayboy28]

Hi there everyone,
I really need a good bit of advise.

When I played golf all those years ago I was always launching my drives very high. You know the kind..looks like I was hitting an 8-iron rather than a driver.

When I started back again last year as a semi serious golfer I still found the drives were going straight (well straightish) but were still of a high trajectory and practically no forward run, and God help me if a had to play INTO a wind of any strength.This makes life wee bit difficult when my home course is on the NE coast of Scotland

I have since tried swinging flatter,...moving my address position to the middle of my stance, and to be honest I am not someone who knows very much about the 'mechanics' of a swing and it is starting to get me down, as, although I have a decent driver, I still sometimes just hit a high iron, and even these dont fly the way I would like them too.

Wot do you reckon ????

Cheers

GJ

 

[bobmac]

Does it fly a little left to right with the ocassional divot?

 

[geejayboy28]

Hi Bobmac,

My handicap is 20 so Im afraid all my drives take different routes to the fairway or rough.
Having golfed many years ago using a set of 'Dunlop' Peter Thomson woods which had a very small 'sweet spot',I had a lot of pretty poor drives but when I started back last year I got myself a Callaway FT Driver and with all the advances in technology I can hit them a lot cleaner.

So Bobmac........sorry for the blethering above, but in answer to your response, mostly they go right to left, because the club had a Draw Bias, and there is very rarely any divots taken.

Cheers

GJ

 

[viscount17]

No expert but i can hit a high driver too.
Are you trying to help the ball rather than hitting through it, and in consequence leaving too much weight behind you.

I'm currently teeing a bit lower (by about 1/2 inch but lower still into wind*), a little further back (inside front foot), and making sure the front foot is planted at impact and that you drive all the way through.

Whether this the correct way to do it or not it has been working reasonably well for me.

* I used to use blue/whites but now yellow/whites sunk at least to the top of the yellow band.

 

[JustOne]

I have since tried swinging flatter,...moving my address position to the middle of my stance,

Driver should be hit on the way UP with the ball on the left side of your stance. Moving the ball back that far will make you swing down onto the ball more, thus imparting more spin and hitting the ball higher into the air.

Chances are that you'll also have more difficulty getting the clubface square from that position as you'll have robbed yourself of a few milliseconds of swing time

You should be hitting 7-iron from the middle of your stance...not driver. If you are into the wind then just tee it 1/2inch lower and swing smooth.

 

[RGDave]

Recently, I've been very careful about my ball position with a driver.
I have adopted an old and tested regime of standing with my feet together then adjusting the width of my stance to suit the club used/using. In the case of the driver, all I'm doing is turning out my left foot to 11 o'clock, then moving my right foot wide out to the right.

If the heel of my left foot stays where it is and I simply turn the toe end 30 degrees out, then the ball position is dead level with the inside of my left foot. I'm setting maybe as much a 3/4 of my weight on the right side and trying to keep it there on the way down.

I'm driving straight and long (for me), and as J.O.uk says, there is a fraction more time to get the face squaring through impact. I can tee the ball another inch forward and hit it even nicer, but it goes high(er) and I only consider this for bombing a long shot downwind.

f.w.i.w. I use the Pink Castle tees or tee a big wooden one up to the same height. PLUS I also address the ball off the toe end, before hovering for a split second, then pulling the trigger. If I've hit it properly, as the sweet spot is now a few cm.s higher than at address, the face is sort of "lifted" into the correct position...i.e. dead centre on the massive 460 face.

It is by far the straightest shot in my arsenal...but it's taken lots of "thinking" to get it sweet.

 

[USER1999]

It might be that you are hitting it with a downward blow, imparting too much back spin. I do this. I didn't know until I got on a launch monitor. I still struggle to get my head round this, as I tee it way forward, and quite high. It is just me, but the stats don't lie.