Tee Trouble Getting Me Down

[Ndw7]

Hi all. Just a quick message to see if anyone else has had the same problem as me, and if so how you beat it!

Here is my golf in a nutshell recently. I am actually feel quite good about my game. I have tightened up my dispersion with my irons and I'm striking them the best I ever have. I've worked on my chipping and that's improved vastly (as I replied to a post yesterday, gone to the heel off the ground, high handle technique) and my putting isn't too offensive.

My big issue is getting off the tee. Whether it's with driver or 3 wood, where it goes is anyone's guess. I may absolutely bomb one and look fantastic. Or I'm just as likely to duck hook, pull, slice, push, or top one! At my course using an iron off most tees isn't really practical as you have to clear a lot or heather / vegetation etc. I actually feel like I could score really well and lose a few shots if I was in play more!

Any advice or success stories would be hardly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[PhilTheFragger]

What's your handicap buddy, the advice will be different if you play of 20 compared to if you play off 5.

My own problems off the tee result from trying to hit it way too hard, trying to swing smoothly with correct tempo, rather than lashing at it.

Better to be 200 yards on the short stuff , rather than 230 in the klagg .

 

[Imurg]

What's your handicap buddy, the advice will be different if you play of 20 compared to if you play off 5.

My own problems off the tee result from trying to hit it way too hard, trying to swing smoothly with correct tempo, rather than lashing at it.

Better to be 200 yards on the short stuff , rather than 230 in the klagg .

So you're not deaf then...😜😜😚

 

[bobmac]

Do you finish the swing in balance with the majority of your weight on your front foot and your back foot up on its toe?

 

[Ndw7]

You guessed it bang on! I play off 20. I just get caught all the time with the temptation of hitting driver / 3 wood of the tee to try and get a nicer second shot in. But I end up having a worse shot in most of the time. But then I nail a drive and make a birdie or a nice par and I feel like I've sussed it 😩

So your advice is to take the hit with less distance, but be on the short stuff, use my shots, and score that way?

 

[Marshy77]

I'll be watching this with great interest as my driving is woeful at the moment. I've tried Bob headcover drill but end up chasing my head cover down the driving range!!!

 

[Imurg]

Fragger's problem, well, one of them, is that every now and again, when he swings so hard he almost corkscrews himself into the ground, he gets it right and the ball sails away....he then thinks he has it and tries it again....and the ball could, literally, go anywhere...
His first game or two back from surgery saw him having to swing smoother and, by and large, it worked....
Now he's feeling better he forgets and brings out the "lash" with predictable results....
There may be other factors at work but swinging smoothly is a good place to start.

 

[Tashyboy]

Fragger's problem, well, one of them, is that every now and again, when he swings so hard he almost corkscrews himself into the ground, he gets it right and the ball sails away....he then thinks he has it and tries it again....and the ball could, literally, go anywhere...
His first game or two back from surgery saw him having to swing smoother and, by and large, it worked....
Now he's feeling better he forgets and brings out the "lash" with predictable results....
There may be other factors at work but swinging smoothly is a good place to start.

Imurgs analysis of Fraggers ( and mine playing off 20 / 19.9&#128521 Drive is spot on. One of my fave sayings when I am struggling is " let the club do the work". In essence try to get some kind of rhythm and stop trying to smash the living daylight savings out of it. Read a book where a guy talks about not getting a routine, but getting a ritual. If you can get a ritual and get the ball on the fairway, by the sounds of it the rest of your game will look after itself.

 

[Macster]

Ahhh the good old 'getting off the Tee' issue.......the quest for distance that curses us all, and I blame TV Golf for a lot of it. Its crap aint it when we see the Pro's launching it off and carrying it 318/325 with the Driver, and it brings out the very worst in all of us.
Imurg is spot on, and even I, as a 8/9 Handicapper, suffer relentlessly with Driver/Tee issues. I've always been 'relatively' rubbish off the Tee, and I'm always getting told to swing my M2 like I swing my irons, smoothly and rhythmically.

Thing is, when I do, the results are substantially better. I had a back issue recently, and 'had' to swing carefully, and low & behold, hit far more fairways than I ever normally do.
But even I fall into bad habits again, and need to constantly remind myself to keep things smooth.......

 

[Canary_Yellow]

I wouldn't give up on the driver altogether, but depending on how well you're hitting it on the day, decide whether it is the best club to use on each hole depending on the likely downside. If a wide shot wouldn't be punished, why not use it?

Practice with it a lot on the driving range, have lessons if necessary, and learn to use it. Not being able to hit driver off the tee definitely makes the game harder (but not as hard as being in the clag on every hole of course!) and for me, also less enjoyable.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

I think you can not swing fast enough....But

You must not start the downswing faster than your tempo. A lot of people(myself included swing to fast from the top/grab it from the top), rather than letting 'it drop to waist height'/transition nicely and then ripping it for all you have got from about waste height.

If you watch pros, the release(waist to waist) is massively fast, but it looks effortless due to lack of excess moving parts and being silky smooth in transition but they are swinging almost as hard/fast as they can in that part.

I tend to try to think slow, slow, slow on the backswing and first bit of downswing if my tempo is off, sometimes it works sometimes it does not. Don't grab it from the top.

 

[Orikoru]

Maybe start with a hybrid or 5 wood and work your way up? I used to be like you and couldn't hit a wood to save my life - in all honesty I just practised it a hell of a lot. Often at the expense of everything else - I'd just take my driver and 3 wood down the range and hit 30 odd balls with each. But now I'm pretty happy with my driving. I eventually found some sort of technique that works more often than not. But as I say, I started with the 5 wood, got that to reasonable level, then moved onto the 3 and eventually the driver, which was the hardest to crack of course.

 

[GreggerKBR]

Finding fairways with a nice flushed drive is hard. Really hard, but it is worth the effort. And worth the risk at the right times.

Personally I dedicate probably 20% of my practice to hitting driver. Usually under pressure/test conditions.
And I'm slowly bringing it round from a bit of achilles heel at times into an absolute weapon.
But... "with great power comes great responsibility" - use it wisely.

Mainly I work on specific drills that have come out of lessons with my pro.
I'll hit max 10-15 balls doing each drill, then I move on. Usually just 2 or 3 drills.

Then I play pressure games at the driving range imagining that I'm trying to hit a specific shape to a specific area of a particular fairway of a particular hole. I score the shot. Once I've hit the shot, then I go ahead with the approach/iron shot, then back to the Driver for the next imaginary hole and shot. The worst thing I ever did was stand there and blast away at 50 balls with a Driver, more fool me.

I'm not particularly strong, I'm 45 yrs old with a dodgy knee and other ailments. Probably max out around 105mph on the range, more like 90mph on the course, But I'm still amongst the longer drivers in our club, and I'm getting more and more accurate.

Don't stop using driver - just keep working at it.
Avoid unnecessary risks and play to your strengths and you'll be fine.

 

[Sweep]

I feel your pain. My game is the same. Everything great but the driver. Even my chipping is OK and that is the part of my game that has held me back over the years. My driving used to be my strong point but since the start of this season it's become my weakness with hooks and snap hooks being the main result.
I have tried pretty much everything over the past few weeks, mainly concentrating on downswing initiation, swinging smoothly to a balanced finish, turning through and my grip. I seem to fix it on the range but it deserts me on the course. I have had no time for a lesson, so this weekend I will be concentrating on my take away and if that doesn't work I will book the next available lesson. Sadly though I have two knockout matches on Monday and Tuesday evening, so the chances of me progressing are looking bleak.

 

[patricks148]

had two years of it and at times it was a struggle maintaining my handicap.

i still have days when i can't hit a cows behind with a banjo and others i drive it well. Plus for me is its been very dry here, so can get away with a 3 wood or 2 hybrid off the tee.

you just have to work out a way to score when you are not hitting it well off the tee.

 

[ScienceBoy]

My fix was to forget all the changes for the driver and just set up off the left heel with no other adjustments.

Ok so I don't hit up on it that much but I do find fairways and get sufficient distances.

The other thing was lessons, took 3 on my swing in general. Not had a driver lesson but just turning properly and having that first foot of takeaway as "one piece" makes a massive difference.

 

[Ndw7]

Thanks for all your great responses guys! I've got a charity golf day tomorrow at a relatively short course so I'll be more selective when I turn to the driver!

It's also good to know I'm not alone 😂

 

[Evesdad]

I'm exactly the same. I did however drop the driver for the most of last season. Much more consistent taking hybrid off the tee, bad shots aren't so bad either. There's only one hole now where I really need to pull the driver out. In the off season I went back to the driver and it wasn't as bad, roll on to this season and I dropped it again last week!

 

[GreggerKBR]

If you are playing the Titleist 915 then I would have a play with some other drivers.
In my opinion - the 915 is not that user friendly.

 

[Ndw7]

Quick update. Today I drove the ball the best I have in a long time. But guess what.... my iron play let me down 😂 Golf is ridiculous 😂 Also. Where do you reckon my mate stands. On the 10th hole, two gentleman had parked there cars nearby (on the course) to cook hot dogs and burgers etc. On the 18th, my mate hits a decent drive, but slightly left straight towards to hotdog stand. Hit one of the cars right on the side panel and put a lovely golf ball sized hole in the side!