Hate my driver

[njrose51]

I played in the Forum meet at Camberley. didn't use my driver, but my Ping Crossover. had a great game and scored 38 points.

Move forward 4 days, played The Shire, tried using my driver and had one of the worse rounds of the year.

The problem is that on the range, my driver works well. I do the pre shot routine, don't stand there and smack 10 shots in quick succession, put myself under pressure of trying to aim/land in certain areas/direction etc.

At The Shire, I had a really good practise/warm up session. was relaxed, went through the bag, practised specific holes that I knew I was about to play etc. And lets say that out of 10 drives on the range - 3 great, 5 okay and 2 poor. So I thought lets use the club - felt confident etc. The 3rd hole was the first hole to use it on and I shanked it. the next time, I topped it. I kept preserving, but it just doesn't work.

I seem to have this inability to use the driver, 3 wood or hybrid on the course and this is affecting my chances of lowering my handicap. I cant get near the green in two on long par 4s and find that on long par 3s or even long par 5s, I am still struggling with length. I have to use my handicap shots!

yes I can use my Ping, but that means i am hitting longer irons into greens. (on the plus side, my 6 and 7 iron are working very well!)

I'm having lessons, but as I said earlier, on the range or in the lessons I'm fine.

I play a TM rzr stage 2 and I cant see how getting a new club will help as its me swinging it poorly on the course which is the problem - lack of shoulder turn, sequence totally out, smashing the sh*t out of it etc. no point getting a £350 driver if I cant swing properly. I have even tried gripping down the shaft a little.

so why cant I deliver with my driver on the course?


Any thoughts or words of wisdom appreciated!

 

[duncan mackie]

Simple - you are only taking the driver when you need the distance on the course, and are swinging it to get more distance as a result.

Solution, take out all the other woods. Just play a few rounds with only the driver as an option (you have to physically not have the options to make this effective). Get used to the various mindsets of Need distance, need accuracy, need carry, and find your 7 iron swing with the driver in your hands. Also completely ignore where it's going until it's gone (not the same as keeping head down) but involves complete committee to and confidence that if the club head hits the ball the ball will go where you set up for it to go...

 

[User62651]

As well as choking down the grip a little for control, slow the backswing focussing on a nice long wide and low takeaway so keeping a wide arc, swing easy and make sure the ball position is off your left heel and the ball teed up nice and high. Sounds like you're too tense over tee shots maybe trying to steer it, probably gripping too hard and the ball position may be too central (even though you think its forward - get someone else to look). Consequently you're probably picking the club up too quickly and steeply and hitting down on it, tight grip wont release the clubhead correctly, need to sweep it away with an ascending blow. Start slow and work up, it'll still get you out there longer than a hybrid. Timing is key so slow backswing right down and making a wide arc are key imo.

 

[Capella]

Try a shorter backswing. So that it feels like you are only doing a half swing and the driver is pointing vertically into the air (which in fact means it will probably get close to paralell anyway once you transition to the downswing).

 

[londonlewis]

Welcome to my world njrose. I hate my driver with a passion.

I think it is all about confidence. I would recommend putting yourself under pressure at the driving range. Choose very specific targets and shot shapes you have to hit.
Change the target at the range often so you have to make sure your alignment is spot on etc...

I would recommend doing this with all your clubs though. Not just driver, so when you get on the course you are used to playing under pressure.

 

[tsped83]

I had a similar love hate relationship with driver. When it was good it was very good, but the bad ones were so destructive, miss left, miss right, red arrows it certainly was. When you're coming out of trees sideways every second shot, golf gets boring. Knowing it was me and not the driver, I did what any sensible chap would do.....bought a 3 wood and used it exclusively off the tee. Handicap fell 4 shots in a little over 2 months. I thank you.

However, now the 3 wood is misbehaving....

 

[njrose51]

Thanks everyone for the useful insights, tips etc. The problem I have is that I try to do all those. I just seem to have this...thing...happen when I get halfway up my driver backswing and it all goes to pot from there on in - there is an eagerness to hit the ball, see where it goes etc. The other major problem is that when I do hit the ball, it is arrow straight and long - 250 plus (Garmin S20) So I can hit the ball with the driver. But ...

Driving range - slow, smooth, specific targets, wide, etc
Course - swing it like a complete jerk!

Its a mental thing that I cant quite seem to conquer. have booked I to see my teaching Pro tomorrow and will discuss with her.

Keep you posted!

 

[Crow]

What helps me is to be very specific with a landing target for my driver when playing the course.

It's so easy to aim "somewhere down the fairway" and to actually be thinking of the hazards you're trying to avoid, and we all know where that leads...

Picking a small area to put your drive focuses the mind much better and also helps to clear thoughts of where you don't want the ball to go.

 

[hines57]

grip down and shorten the shaft to hopefully have a better chance of finding the sweet spot.

 

[351DRIVER]

ebay.co.uk can sort this problem for you

 

[tsped83]

ebay.co.uk can sort this problem for you

Amen.

 

[Foxholer]

You did it the wrong way around!

Camberley is a course where the Driver can be a great tool, but it's not essential, and there's tolerance if it's slightly wayward! The Shire is a course where a slightly off Driver (specially if miss is unpredictable!) can get you in all sorts of trouble - and it's the 5th before you should even think about getting it out!

PS: It can pay to be seriously wayward, provided it's the 'correct' side! On Saturday, my mate missed the 10th fairway right from 9th Tee (scored 5 for 2 from there), played 10 from rough on 18 (5/2) and 18 from centre of 10th fairway (5/2)!

 

[jusme]

Certainly sounds a mental issue, which no amount of practice is going to resolve. I agree with one poster. Force yourself to use it (by removing all other options) week after week until you start replicating your practice game. This game is all confidence based. Once you believe your going to hit it clean at the target, you more often do.

Took me sometime to get confident with driver. I now expect to hit it well, and even a mishit is not terrible now. Confidence breeds good repetition and you have to hit it lots to get there. I will add that shortening the shaft helped a lot. I doubt there is one tour pro playing the length of your driver (assuming it's stock as you didnt indicate otherwise). There are good reasons for that

 

[Face breaker]

A little trick I've been working on as of late is to ignore the ball and just swing the club...

You can obviously hit the driver as you say you do it fine on the practice range but turn to jelly once on the tee which to me says 'confidence issue' and believe me when I say I know where your coming from as I've exactly the same issue 'hit it fine on the practice ground but turns to Shoite off the tee' anyway I digress, a friend told me 'don't hit the ball, just swing the ferkin club' so that's what I do, couple of practice swing to get me eye in then setup behind the ball and just swing me club as I did in me practice swing, only difference this time is that there's a ball in the way of me club head, you'll be very surprised at how well this little tactic works. :thup:

 

[Hendy]

Not sure if this info will help but when I read you have a rbz stage 2 I was thinking about the mate.

He had one it was a standard stiff shaft. He got maybe 2/3 drives out of 12 on a round. Other hits were duck hooks or high fades.. both not great distance wise. I could hit my 2 iron passed them.

Anyways he came up to American golf with me when I was up getting my irons etc and I told him look go up and test a few drivers see what you think


So first of all he said he try a few of his own to set a marker down. What we found was first off he was only swinging at 80 odd mph. So he wasn't a stiff. Then he tested a ping driver g25.

And what a turnaround with the ping forgiveness and having the regular shaft hes like a new golfer. He was that impressed he added the 3&5wood.

Result hes took the money off me now the last few rounds and to be honest his wood play hasn't been this good in at least two.years. I can't remember him even missing a fairway. Hitting the 5 wood like a arrow off the deck. Just a different golfer.

He has problems with hip and lower back and was finding it hard to turn. Which meant he lost alot of speed. And look not saying hes a 300 yard bomber now but getting out there 220ish. And finding it alot easier. I see the rest of game coming on as well now even after a few rounds there is a new found confidence with him hitting the driver like it should be.

As I said not sure if the info will help but if the above sounds anything like your issue then I recommend you try a ping a nice 10.5 aswell his rbz was 9.5 adjusted to 11 in the end. Awful golf club for him

Edit: forgot to add he was the same on the range was hitting the driver and woods no problem. Only on the course these issues came.into play

 

[ScienceBoy]

our forum friend Franco has a 5 wood.

When we first played it hit the shot that turned around our match.

2 years later he tells me he doesn't like it and doesn't use it now.

I tell him it's the one club in his bag I fear.

He uses it twice to hit monster shots to once again turn the match around.

Bottom line, it's all confidence. If you fear it then it will not work.

 

[njrose51]

Quick update.

I had a really positive lesson with the fab pro - Sarah - down at East Sussex National this morning. We spoke for about 20 minutes on how I've been playing, and the problems/challenges faced before we even picked up a club.

So having filmed a few shots - good and bad - she was able to pick up what she called "a couple of very small Gremlins" in the swing which were all linked.

(1) I was stretching forward slightly, throwing off my balance/centre of gravity
(2) My initial take away was controlled by my arms rather then arms/chest making the swing sometimes too "armsy" and disconnected
(3) My right knee was straightening

I also had a closed club face at the top of the swing and was lifting up ever so slightly on the back swing.

We also changed the position of the tee, moving it back slightly in my stance.

A new pre shot routine is now being worked on.

The great thing about the above, and Sarah, is that she completely breaks things down to allow me to understand where the problems are, and we therefore have a few things to work on, but I don't come away with masses of swing thoughts, maybe two or three at the most.

We also spoke about mental side of the game when standing on the tee with the big stick - Fear of failure, one shot only, striving for distance etc.

So hopefully this will help build the confidence and consistency I am looking for.

Thanks everyone.

Nick

 

[jamielaing]

Nick, I have had clubs like this that I just couldn't hit. Struggled with it hugely and got about 1/10 with them. Through the last few years it's been driver, 3 wood and putter that I struggled with. How did I fix it? I bought new ones. As stupid as this sounds I had got to the point that I had zero confidence in them. Nothing massively wrong with my swing except second guessing and thinking about how to avoid the miss. A new club gives you a reset. Most will tell you this is the wrong advice and it probably is but it worked for me. 3 wood was never touched in a round because I didn't trusted. Trade in and 90 quid later, it's my go to club.