Struggling off the tee

[jak kez 187]

Only been playing a year, had a handful of lessons and my swing has improved quite a lot. I got my wedges/short irons going straight with a good ball strike, and my longer irons going straight, but just need to work on a bit more consistency with the ball strike to get the same yardages each shot.

My problem however comes with the first shot. I can hit irons fine off the tee, but using my driver/3 wood and hybrid, i just can't seem to strike the ball cleanly, which results in me losing distance. With the driver and 3 wood it feels as if i'm coming down on the ball too much, and popping the ball up in the air and getting minimal distance. I used to have a horrible over the top swing when i first started playing, which resulted in horrible slices on all clubs. I have sorted that out now with my irons and have a lot straighter club path.

I have read somewhere that shots with the driver/3 wood require a different swing? I know about putting the ball inside your left heel and having a slight bit of spine tilt to almost sweep the ball up off the tee, but do i need to have a totally different swing to my irons. I did read something about a more rounded swing.

Just getting a bit annoying now as on par 5's and long par 4's i'm really struggling to play a decent hole. Any help is appreciated.

 

[JT77]

any video clips chap?
coming in too steep I would say is causing a slice. are you cutting across the ball off the tee too?
personally I dont think you need two separate swings. to me that would just complicate things

 

[lyden]

You don't need two different swings as such but there are subtle differences in setup. When I'm hitting it well as I was today there is no difference in the swing but if you don't get everything right at the start any faults will be highlighted. If you hitting it high I'd imagine your doing the opposite of hitting down on it. If you were it would start low and climb which I rarely see as personally I don't think that's a bad flight, although the experts tell you to hit up.

After you've made sure your set up perfectly I'd check to see if your flipping your hands through impact because you'll never gain any consistency if you are.

 

[Sid Rixon IV]

Im not smart enough to know the answer, but .......
There's a mid handicapper at our club who only uses irons starting with a 4i.
He doesn't like using woods at all.
Earlier this week I took a 5i off the tee on a par 5 for "safety" as I decided to make hitting the fairway a priority.
Nine times out of ten a driver invites trouble left and right.
I got down in 5.
Two days previous I hit our 1st hole par 4 green in two with 5i x 2 - another hole that I've always used a driver.
(the rest of the round was rubbish and was my worst ever by far)

There are a few recent threads questioning the need for a driver.
The guys in our club are snapping up the TM "Slider" and I'd love one

 

[SocketRocket]

You should not change your swing, it will be flatter only because the club is longer and sits at a shallower angle at address. What you need to start with is ball position and tee height.

How high do you tee the ball with your driver?
Where do you place the ball in your stance?

 

[jak kez 187]

I don't have any videos unfortunately.
The feeling i have when i pick up either my driver or 3 wood is that the club is far too long to swing.
The driver always feel like i'm going to end up hitting the ground first, and sometimes this does happen.

My iron shots have improved as i said, which is mainly due to me shifting my weight onto my left side and compressing the ball instead of sweeping it off the floor as i used too. Maybe i'm trying to hit down on the ball too much and that's the problem?

Just doesn't feel right hitting a driver, feels like i'm playing baseball or something haha

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Simple and quick answer is to get a lesson. The pro will see the problem in seconds and get you hitting it better off the tee.

 

[jak kez 187]

Simple and quick answer is to get a lesson. The pro will see the problem in seconds and get you hitting it better off the tee.

Tried that mate, Worked up through my clubs, as soon as i got to the 3 wood and driver it all went down hill, couldn't hit a thing. By that time the lesson was nearly finished so didn't have enough time to correct anything. I do have another lesson I need to book in for though, just thought i'd ask on here first and see if anyone had any ideas/solutions.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Tried that mate, Worked up through my clubs, as soon as i got to the 3 wood and driver it all went down hill, couldn't hit a thing. By that time the lesson was nearly finished so didn't have enough time to correct anything. I do have another lesson I need to book in for though, just thought i'd ask on here first and see if anyone had any ideas/solutions.

You need to speak to the pro and get a lesson solely on the driver and three wood. I wouldn't want my pro to be cramming too much in and it sounds as though he was doing that. If I want my pro to work on something that is what we focus on, not swapping from one fault or one aspect to another

 

[duncan mackie]

Tried that mate, Worked up through my clubs, as soon as i got to the 3 wood and driver it all went down hill, couldn't hit a thing. By that time the lesson was nearly finished so didn't have enough time to correct anything. I do have another lesson I need to book in for though, just thought i'd ask on here first and see if anyone had any ideas/solutions.

go to the range with just a hybrid and an 8 iron - hit 3 shots with each then switch; repeat untill out of balls.

focus on a specific target landing area with both; not just a line.

if this progresses your comfort with the hybrid (ability to use fundamentally the same swing with both) then progress to 3 wood and 6 iron.....

don't take all the clubs planning to only use those 2 - strangely people simply don't follow through (no pun) and either end up trying the 3w/driver when things seem to be progressing well with the hybrid; or quit and grab a 5i

the real issue tends to lie with not having a targer, or appropriate target, with the longer clubs when used off the tee.

example - put the average 18 handicap golfer on the tee of a wide open 230yd par 3 and they will normally hit shots that would be on the fairway of the average par 4/5 if they were playing it (although the probably won't hit the par 3 green that often!)

there's also the lack of 'practice' with the longer clubs - the average 18 guy will probably play about 12 long club tee shots in a round (provisionals don't count they are a different mindset!) against at least treble that number of shots with iron clubs.