Driving lesson last night

[Paul77]

I taught myself how hit driver with a combination of corrections over the years. I got myself to the point where I managed a slight Draw of the ball and felt it was going far (for me) however with a creepy high push coming in when it felt like it. Much like the fright you get at 6am when you see one of those big house spiders in the bath.

Last night I had a lesson, I wanted to work on driver. We hit a good number of shots on Trackman and luckily I was hitting everything relative to my Game Golf stats. Right, right oh and right again. A few corrections at set up and some posture tweaks and I was getting better.


Things I changed...This was to cure a fade or high slice shot.

Before

• Hips and knees pointed right
• Shoulders pointed left
• Right arm was above left raising my right shoulder at address.
• Raising the hands at impact

Corrections

• Squaring up shoulders, hips and knees
• Dropping the right shoulder and relaxing right arm so it drops under the left when looking from the rear
• Keeping left shoulder high and tucked more to the right (I have a tendancy to leave shoulders open)
• Naturally swing the club back and through with a feeling of returning hands to original position and through to target line.

Stats on some of the better shots (roughly remember them so bear with me)

• Launch angle - 16.4
• Carry - 247 yards
• clubhead speed - 98mph
• smash factor - 1.47

It was all a bit of a mine field of info at the time but mulling over it now it does make sense. By the end of the lesson I really did come away with some great tips on totally eliminating that fade/slice now.

The first few shots I was only carrying the ball 200-209 yards at best. After the corrections I was up at the 235-240 consistently which I'm super pleased about. All with no real increase in swing speed just concetrating on strike and putting less cut spin on the ball according to him.

I thought I'd jot it all down in case other folk are having the same issues with driving the ball, might help you out.

 

[PIng]

Thanks for taking the trouble to share this Paul. I've always struggled with the driver and have over the last few months tried what you've done plus the following :-

Baseball grip to try to get the face square.
Making an effort to keep my back facing the target for as long as possible.
Dropping my right foot back a couple of inches.

When I get everything right it's going longer and straighter than ever, and I've finally broken 90 for the first time. But - it goes wrong frequently. I go through spells here I push slice it worse than I ever did, or I sky the ball high and left, something I'd never done previously. The only cure once I start doing this is to reach for the 3 wood!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Good stuff. I have a similar issues but it's my left shoulder that tends to rise and point right with everything else pointing left. Working so hard on posture and alignment but it soon creeps back and needs regular attention

 

[richart]

Good stuff. I have a similar issues but it's my left shoulder that tends to rise and point right with everything else pointing left. Working so hard on posture and alignment but it soon creeps back and needs regular attention

Are you working on that shorter swing I recommended a few years back ?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Are you working on that shorter swing I recommended a few years back ?

Strangely enough.... yes. And a slower tempo. Hard to break thirty years of bad habits but I'm trying

 

[SocketRocket]

Think of hitting a nail with a hammer. You would never come from the outside, have an open hammer face, cast the hammer early, hit out of the edge of the hammer face. If you did any of these things then how would you fix it?

You wouldn't start messing around with where your wrist, elbow, shoulder etc was at any point in the action. You would just try again and make sure the centre of the hammer hit the nail.

It's only in golf these these actions become complicated! Imagine there is a nail tacked into the golf ball at the angle you want to strike the ball. Imagine your club has no loft then swing back and drive the imaginary nail through the ball.

Forget about the mechanics of the swing and focus only on striking the ball.

 

[Paul77]

That's all i did for the hour was concentrate on the strike. Anything above was changed to get a better strike. I did'nt change my swing speed, however, I was delivering the clubface on a less efficient path for the work I was putting in, so a little adjustment to increase the smash factor and it was worthwhile. I might need earplugs though. That ARC in that new Titleist driver really does sound out on good hits.

 

[drew83]

Making an effort to keep my back facing the target for as long as possible.

Maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet, but when would your back be facing the target? I have visions of you stood looking away from the target....

 

[Paul77]

Maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet, but when would your back be facing the target? I have visions of you stood looking away from the target....

The pro was standing to my right looking down the target line. Was harder to write down than I thought tbh lol

 

[drew83]

The pro was standing to my right looking down the target line. Was harder to write down than I thought tbh lol

ah so in other words keeping shoulders in line with target?

 

[Marshy77]

Think of hitting a nail with a hammer. You would never come from the outside, have an open hammer face, cast the hammer early, hit out of the edge of the hammer face. If you did any of these things then how would you fix it?

You wouldn't start messing around with where your wrist, elbow, shoulder etc was at any point in the action. You would just try again and make sure the centre of the hammer hit the nail.

It's only in golf these these actions become complicated! Imagine there is a nail tacked into the golf ball at the angle you want to strike the ball. Imagine your club has no loft then swing back and drive the imaginary nail through the ball.

Forget about the mechanics of the swing and focus only on striking the ball.

When you break it down like that it makes sense.

 

[TheCaddie]

When you break it down like that it makes sense.

Except for the fact the movements are completely different.... :rofl:

 

[Marshy77]

Except for the fact the movements are completely different.... :rofl:

Yes apart from the movements.....

 

[SocketRocket]

Except for the fact the movements are completely different.... :rofl:

The hammer must strike the nail square . The clubface must strike the ball square. The movements and actions of your arms, legs, torso etc can be carried out naturally, just like they do in every other case. There is no reason why you need to overcomplicate the action just because it's called golf.

If you disagree try to justify why! If you can, that is

 

[Paul77]

To add an annoyance to the mix. When I pushed a shot right, the clubface was only open by 1.4 degrees. A minor amount, however, based on spin and the length of the shot it looked a lot worse. I just don't let my driver sit in it's natural position anymore which seems to be open to target. I tuck it in. I also don't do a full backswing either. Pull my hands back to about the 10pm spot and then down visualising the strike. It's odd to do at first but once you get the hang of it, it's easier.

Get my hips through to facing the target on follow through too helped a lot. Don't be scared of the driver. Teach that ball a lesson with it. GRRRRR lol

 

[Dan2501]

Clubface degree angle isn't really relevant though, it's how open it is related to your path.

 

[PIng]

Maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet, but when would your back be facing the target? I have visions of you stood looking away from the target....

Excerpt from one of Butch Harmon's websites :-

Your best swing thought is to keep your back facing the target longer in the downswing (above). Make a full turn behind the ball, and then keep that right shoulder passive so your upper body doesn't spin out. With the club dropping to the inside, you can swing out to the ball, which lets your arms release and square the clubface.

Our own Bobmac posted something similar some time ago, which is where I first came across it.

Put the kettle on!

 

[Paul77]

I get totally confused when people try and explain a swing to me. I rely totally on feel and its taken me ages to work it out from being shown things. Was out for nine holes tonight, driving a lot crisper. Alignment on the course could be better. I actually drove the green on the 9th (254Y), and I nearly dumped my back end on the tee.

Getting rather demoralised to be honest now. It's actually pretty crap playing golf on your own.

 

[UlyssesSky]

Maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet, but when would your back be facing the target? I have visions of you stood looking away from the target....

Your back is facing the target once you complete your backswing. With your shoulders turned 90* to the right, the line of your shoulders is square to the target line.

Trying to keep your back facing the target as long as possible should help you start the downswing with your lower body, since it means your shoulders have to stay square to the target line as long as possible.

 

[TheCaddie]

The hammer must strike the nail square . The clubface must strike the ball square. The movements and actions of your arms, legs, torso etc can be carried out naturally, just like they do in every other case. There is no reason why you need to overcomplicate the action just because it's called golf.

If you disagree try to justify why! If you can, that is

I agree that both need to be hit square. However, the physical movement of hitting a golf ball with a golf club, and hitting a nail with hammer, are bio-mechanically different, using different muscles and limbs, and both have completely different swing paths.

Hope that justification manages to cover things off for you.... :rofl: