hitting a gentle draw with driver / woods

[garyinderry]

i have no problem hitting push draws using irons but i cant for the life of me hit a decent draw with the driver or woods from the ground. anyone got tips, hints etc ? if it rains again tomoro ill be at the range and would like to work on this!

 

[JustOne]

Driver off the tee is a different set up

Woods off the ground: try gripping down and hitting them like a 7-iron and see what happens.... don't try and kill them either. If you're trying to 'sweep' your woods the chances are your swingpath is either too straight through the impact zone, or even moving a little left.

 

[garyinderry]

Driver off the tee is a different set up

Woods off the ground: try gripping down and hitting them like a 7-iron and see what happens.... don't try and kill them either. If you're trying to 'sweep' your woods the chances are your swingpath is either too straight through the impact zone, or even moving a little left.

any videos or pics to help with driver set up?


would the bolded text cause me to nearly always slice the shots?

 

[Mattyboy]

JustOne is refering to the 'new' ball flight laws. There are lots of threads on here for you to take a look at.

The ball starts on the face angle and curves accrding to the club path. Therefore, to hit a draw, the face needs to be open (to start the ball right of target). The swing path then needs to be on the outside of the face alignment to put the necessary draw spin on the ball. Hence if your club path is 'straight' its on the inside of the open club face so the ball will start right and fade/slice.

Hope that this makes sense.

 

[garyinderry]

i struggle with the swing in to out bit. as i say ive more or less got it dwn with the irons. driver and woods today?

 

[Aztecs27]

My (ropey) advice would be to try and exaggerate (and have this in your mind as a swing thought) an in to out swing path. It won't be as in-to-out as it seems but will get you on a better plane and you might get the results your looking for.

The above helped me no end of the winter and I'd got rid of my slice/fade and developed a lovely 5 yard draw....Can't for the life of me replicate that swing now though

 

[garyinderry]

thanks. id say your right though. with the irons, sometimes i think im swinging in to out but the divots tell another story and the fact the ball didnt draw. lol.


someone said on here before, to fix a fault, do the complete opposite then work back towards what you were doing and stop at the appropriate point.


being alble to work the ball both ways is a HUGE advantage. off the tee with driver and woods is my weak point at the moment. if i nail this im moving onto putting.

 

[JustOne]

With the driver it's important to know whether you're hitting down or up on it. For every degree you swing UP you need to swing OUT the same amount..... just to keep it straight. Most of us would then tend to leave the face too open (matching the path) and subsequently block it right... to draw it you need more like 2 degrees out for every 1 degree up. McIlroy is 11 out and 4 up. With driver only you can align closed a fraction to 'assist' the swingpath for a draw, if you're hitting UP on it.

 

[garyinderry]

i swing very much up on the driver. using 8.5 degree at the min and no problem getting it airborn. will attempt to really swing in to out today.

rory 11 out to 4 up - thats how he gets those awsome big draws. cool!

 

[One Planer]

With the driver it's important to know whether you're hitting down or up on it. For every degree you swing UP you need to swing OUT the same amount..... just to keep it straight. Most of us would then tend to leave the face too open (matching the path) and subsequently block it right... to draw it you need more like 2 degrees out for every 1 degree up. McIlroy is 11 out and 4 up. With driver only you can align closed a fraction to 'assist' the swingpath for a draw, if you're hitting UP on it.

What about if you're hitting down James?

 

[JustOne]

50% of tour players hit down Gareth, however, it doesn't then go on to say what shot shape those guys play.

The principle of hitting down is fine but the reality (as I've struggled with this myself) is one of getting the ball airborne. The idea (and this is going down the S&T track as that's your pattern) is to shallow out the descent with a spinetilt away from the target as the hips press 'targetwards'.

My personal struggle was that in order to get the ball airborne I would open the face (to start the ball right and add loft) but then couldn't swing out quite enough to impart enough drawspin...the ball would often start right but not turn back enough. In reality I think the true answer is to start with a club that has sufficient loft to NOT NEED to open it at all...then just rip it..... miles! High launch low spin without needing to manipulate the clubface. I'd love to get on the range with a 12.5 degree driver...and hit down on it.

Effectively all shots are a numbers/geometry game... assuming a square stance and swingpath, if you are hitting down then your clubface will be a fraction open at impact and a fraction in-to-out..... this however results in a straight block right... might be 1yd or 10yds.... so the clubface needs to be a millifraction more closed to the path to get the draw...whilst remaining a millifraction open to to target. It's going to depend just how much draw you are playing for... and what trajectory.