Irons only off the tee

[Roops]

It's a way to score, but if you want to improve then at some point you need to be able to hit some kind of wood of the tee. I never had a driver for the first few years that I played and could score, but couldn't get my handicap down. A driver changed all that, when you only need a short iron into a green after a good drive your chances of making par or better are vastly improved. Apart from the putter a modern driver should be about the easiest club in the bag to make decent contact with. You don't need to hit them, go to the range and try and hit your driver no more than 100 yds, guarantee it will go at least 150 reasonably straight. Work from there.

 

[Orikoru]

If you can hit a driver you are probably trying to smash the cover off the ball. You should be able to poke , clip, cosey, what ever you want to call it. A simple prod of the driver should be able to match and beat any pounded iron off the tee.

You would be surprised how far one of these clipped drivers will run in right conditions as it hasn't been struck hard enough to produce too much back spin.

This, and try gripping further down the grip to essentially shorten the club. I've noticed recently that if I grip my driver normally, at full length I tend to hit a bit of a fade, but if I grip down it's more of a fairway-finder with a bit of draw. So I tend to do that on the narrower fairways.

 

[Curls]

Hitting an iron off the tee is like riding a 3 wheeler bike.......easier than a 2 wheeler but not as much fun.

Plus it'll get you there, but it take you a lot longer

 

[Wolf]

If you can hit a driver you are probably trying to smash the cover off the ball. You should be able to poke , clip, cosey, what ever you want to call it. A simple prod of the driver should be able to match and beat any pounded iron off the tee.

You would be surprised how far one of these clipped drivers will run in right conditions as it hasn't been struck hard enough to produce too much back spin.

I don't agree with this at all I know my driving issue don't come from trying to smash the cover off the ball and if I try to cosy, clip or poke a driver I get literally the same result straight right or a a straight pull so I end up with a 2 way miss. It's frustrating as driving always use to be strong point.

 

[Grant85]

I don't agree with this at all I know my driving issue don't come from trying to smash the cover off the ball and if I try to cosy, clip or poke a driver I get literally the same result straight right or a a straight pull so I end up with a 2 way miss. It's frustrating as driving always use to be strong point.

Agree. When I am hitting well and straight, I need to be playing a full swing at a decent pace. Not trying to hit it hard, just hit a full swing with good rhythm and being fully committed.

i.e. not babying it around.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

The only way you're going to learn how to use your driver in proper play is to use it in proper play. Using irons all the time isn't proper golf. The match you're playing isn't that important that the score is the most important thing. Just persevere with it. It you're thinking of too many things stop. One key thought on the backswing & one on the downswing is as much as anyone can manage. Understand what the clubface is doing when it meets the ball, face open /closed, swingpath in to out / out to in, then do ONE thing to correct it. Get to know your own swing. When you have a lesson make sure the pro explains the mechanics of your bad shots. If you don't know this you don't understand your own swing & can't help yourself. And, having seen your swing, I would say, SWING IT FURTHER BACK!

Oooh - now there is one contentious statement I might suggest...

Tiger winning Open 2006 at Hoylake - didn't use driver once after the first round. Now I don't know whether it was all irons but I have a feeling it might have been for the final round (?). But even if it wasn't - it was playing the course in the conditions as required to win. It was magnificent golf.

 

[Wolf]

Agree. When I am hitting well and straight, I need to be playing a full swing at a decent pace. Not trying to hit it hard, just hit a full swing with good rhythm and being fully committed.

i.e. not babying it around.

Exactly the same if I try to steer it in anyway I make a less committed swing and it can go anywhere. I've got a fairly lazy rhythm anyway so if I slow that down further I go from a bad shot being straight right to a complete 2 way miss.

Oooh - now there is one contentious statement I might suggest...

Tiger winning Open 2006 at Hoylake - didn't use driver once after the first round. Now I don't know whether it was all irons but I have a feeling it might have been for the final round (?). But even if it wasn't - it was playing the course in the conditions as required to win. It was magnificent golf.

Wasn't that open that the Stinger 2 iron won. Hit the shot off pretty much every tee much like his earlier win at St Andrews, a master class in Links golf

 

[Maninblack4612]

Oooh - now there is one contentious statement I might suggest...

Tiger winning Open 2006 at Hoylake - didn't use driver once after the first round. Now I don't know whether it was all irons but I have a feeling it might have been for the final round (?). But even if it wasn't - it was playing the course in the conditions as required to win. It was magnificent golf.

What I mean is, I suppose, hitting a club off the tee guaranteed to make you unable to reach the green with your next shot. Don't think Tiger had that problem.

 

[Curls]

If I could hit Tigers Hoylake 2 iron stinger I'd never hit anything else off the tee.

But yeah, can't.

 

[rudebhoy]

Grip down your driver until almost on the shaft


I could not hit driver for most of this year, the last month I changed nothing else but gripping right down and now find hitting driving as easy as hitting a 7 iron.

went to the range this morning and gave this a try. was hitting it ok with my hands just about on the shaft, but wasn't getting any distance, it was going about 150.

done a fair bit of messing around with grip and clubface, and found that if I had my hands a bit lower on the grip (but not just above the shaft), brought my left hand further round on the grip, and closed the clubface more than usual, I was hitting it really nicely, good trajectory, and going 200 or so. tried not to think about anything, particularly not windows in the sky!

not playing again until next Friday, so will be interesting to see how that technique transfers to the course.

 

[Curls]

went to the range this morning and gave this a try. was hitting it ok with my hands just about on the shaft, but wasn't getting any distance, it was going about 150.

done a fair bit of messing around with grip and clubface, and found that if I had my hands a bit lower on the grip (but not just above the shaft), brought my left hand further round on the grip, and closed the clubface more than usual, I was hitting it really nicely, good trajectory, and going 200 or so. tried not to think about anything, particularly not windows in the sky!

not playing again until next Friday, so will be interesting to see how that technique transfers to the course.

One other thing that may be at play here is alignment. At the range it's very easy to align your feet to the target because there are so many paralell lines around. Indeed we still manage to misalign even so. And we often misalign our bodies, the most common being shoulders open to the target line (think about your body/shoulders being turned more towards the target at address). However on the course the teeing ground usually doesn't have the same effect, so we can end up aligning way left or right of where we intended with either our feet, clubface, shoulders, maybe all three. Even the best pros in the world have to constantly work on their alignment, stands to reason we should work on it more than we do. If in doubt maybe ask a playing partner to check if youre aligned properly, can't do this in a comp but in a bounce game you can. If you are way out but then subconsioucly swinging to compensate (your mind knows where the target is) that would produce crazy results. Best of luck this weekend!

 

[Wolf]

Had a play at the range myself today as it was far to wet.. Driver straight right, made some tweaks to set up then straight right with a slice to boot so pretty much hit it wide of the range. Went back to normal set up shot service resumed to a straight right shot, only common denominator was nothing was coming out the middle of the club face. Tried hitting the 3 wood everything was nice and straight or straight with a nice soft cut my usual preferred shot shape plus out the middle of the club.

So have now ordered a 43 inch shaft to put in the driver to try that out over the festive period to see if in my case it really is those extra 2.5 inches in shaft length that is causing my issue.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

went to the range this morning and gave this a try. was hitting it ok with my hands just about on the shaft, but wasn't getting any distance, it was going about 150.

done a fair bit of messing around with grip and clubface, and found that if I had my hands a bit lower on the grip (but not just above the shaft), brought my left hand further round on the grip, and closed the clubface more than usual, I was hitting it really nicely, good trajectory, and going 200 or so. tried not to think about anything, particularly not windows in the sky!

not playing again until next Friday, so will be interesting to see how that technique transfers to the course.

If I was being brutally honest, rather than adding in all the tweaks and compensations get a driver lesson and get it sorted once and for all. If you can start hitting a driver a reasonable distance (220-230 but on the fairway or semi-rough at worse most of the time) then it does make the game a tiny bit easier.

 

[Dasit]

If I was being brutally honest, rather than adding in all the tweaks and compensations get a driver lesson and get it sorted once and for all. If you can start hitting a driver a reasonable distance (220-230 but on the fairway or semi-rough at worse most of the time) then it does make the game a tiny bit easier.

Why would a lesson work?

They are not some magic cure

 

[Deleted member 3432]

Why would a lesson work?

They are not some magic cure

Problems with lessons is the majority of people who have one don't put the work in after the lesson to get any benefit.

Work hard, carry out the drills given you by your pro, practice properly and you can see real benefits.

 

[chrisd]

Why would a lesson work?

They are not some magic cure

Exactly why they should work. The pro improves your swing, you play better, you score better, your handicap comes down - no magic you just learn something that makes you do it better

 

[bobmac]

As long as the changes the pro gives you make sense and you understand how they will help your game.

 

[Hobbit]

Does it matter if you miss 50%-60% of the fairways? If you're playing off a relatively high handicap, you've got shots that you can use to knock it back in play. I'm all for ambition and hitting good shots but it sounds like some are almost too fussy about missing left, missing right. Unless you've got a really destructive shot, which a pro can help you with, just get out there and smash it. Its only a game.

 

[Deleted member 3432]

As long as the changes the pro gives you make sense and you understand how they will help your game.

Agree with that.

I think its very important the the pro works with what the player 'has'. No point in teaching certain things if the player cannot physically get into a particular position.

I'm really enjoying working with my current pro, yes progress in erradicating totally my main swing fault is slow but recent practice sessions are showing a big improvement in tightness of dispersion and consist quality of strike. Clear idea of what we need to do at present and the next step in the process which is going to be a Trackman combine test to add a pressurised situation and highlight weaknesses.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Does it matter if you miss 50%-60% of the fairways? If you're playing off a relatively high handicap, you've got shots that you can use to knock it back in play. I'm all for ambition and hitting good shots but it sounds like some are almost too fussy about missing left, missing right. Unless you've got a really destructive shot, which a pro can help you with, just get out there and smash it. Its only a game.

Its a valid point unless a player has a two way miss and doesn't know which way the next one will go and more importantly why. I seem to have managed to take the left to right out of the equation which really helps as I can aim centre right with more confidence.