Hitting down with driver

I can counter the path going more to the right with a negative attack angle. More spin, less spin, or is it a case of the manufacturer creating a driver fit for pm swing. The key to hitting the ball farther with the modern, 460cc driver and modern golf ball which spins much less off of a flat face than balls of the past is high launch angle combined with a low spin rate. Hitting up on the driver can give you added distance and an improved flight, but there are right and wrong ways of doing this. I followed lee trevino one year at the greater milwaukee open. Well, although hitting up on the ball and hitting down on the ball both work to get the ball in the air, we cannot actually hit up on a golf ball if it is resting on the ground because the ground is in the way. If youre feeling uncomfortable on the tee, check your distance from the ball. The pga tour average club head speed with a driver is 1 mph. While tiger does hit down on his driver, he hits less down on it now with foley than he did with hank and that is mainly why his distance has remained constant despite losing a. Driver jailed 6 months for hitting down schoolgirl on. Jun 10, 2014 hitting your driver with a sweeping motion rather than a downward angle will help to bring down the spin rate and give you a better, more penetrating ball flight.

The driver is a highrisk, highreward club for many golfers. Nov 10, 2011 shots struck off the ground need to be hit with a descending blow and shots struck off an elevated tee are better when hit with an upward blow fact. Everyone wants to hit their driver as far as possible that is no secret. But because its the longest and leastlofted club other than your putter the driver also can be the most. Hitting down on the golf ball with irons liveabout. May 10, 2017 choking down on your driver is also a good method when you need to play a tee shot into the wind. Shots struck off the ground need to be hit with a descending blow and shots struck off an elevated tee are better when hit with an upward blow fact.

Personally i think trying to hit down on a driver is a terrible thought for 99. Getting more out of your driver august 07, 2011 andrew rice. Here we discuss 5 ways to hit more fairways with your driver. But basically, people struggle with the driver because low point and the ball overlap. Once in position, sweep the clubs head back in an arc until its behind your head. If you have been hitting your driver this way for many years, you will be amazed at the distance potential that has been hiding in your swing once you unlocking it by fixing your downswing path. The pga tour average attack angle with a driver is 1. He is the founder of innovex golf and the author of the art and science of breaking 90. Remember, the goal is to hit the driver on the upswing as it will result in maximum ball flight and translate into more distance and carry. But many amateur golfers have a misunderstanding of what hitting down on the golf ball actually is and they do it wrong. Hitting a driver with too much backspin will cause the ball to balloon up in the air and land with no roll, resulting in lost distance.

This causes the ball to come off the driver with too much backspin. Why you shouldnt hit down on the golf ball adam young golf. What scares the devil out of me is hitting a driver from a tree lined, narrow space tee box in order to get the ball to the fairway. A good thought is to try to take a little divot after impact or to hit with the shaft leaning toward the target top photo. With irons, wedges, and woods you want to hit down on the ball creating a divot. You should always swing down and allow the differences in the setup to collect the ball on the upswing. How i hit drives 56 yards farther with one adjustment golfwrx. Since you dont need to worry about hitting down, there is no need to use a steep swing plane. The basics of hitting up vs hitting down with driver dwg golf. Choking down on your driver is also a good method when you need to play a tee shot into the wind. Jan 30, 2020 kevin downey is a golf equipment professional. Compressing the golf ball is the actual term that should be used. Amateur golfers commonly hit down with their drivers, like an iron shot.

Theyll play the ball a fraction further back in their stance with a very slight descending blow on the ball, 34 degrees at most. How to hit more fairways with your driver golficity. In fact, the average angle of attack aoa on the pga tour is 1. Point the butt end of the club at your belt buckle or where it would be. A week ago i hack sawed the driver shaft down to 44 and have had no regrets. If you are a normal human, you probably need to hit up. About seven or eight years ago i was playing a round down in florida with a few topnotch golfers. And until it becomes logical to you, your muscles may resist as a result. Apr 22, 2009 hitting the heel of the driver is most likely as someone said, an over the top issue, as the left arm folds too soon before impact the body comes forward to catch the ball at least on the heel. In this article, i break down each of these problems to give you the tools to handle your nerves, your slice, or your inconsistency. When hitting a driver, you are not hitting down as you would when hitting irons from the fairway.

We never, ever, never want to hit down on the ball. If you were to play the ball on the ground instead of on a tee and provided you perform a geometrically perfect stroke, there would be no divot. All else being equal, youll hit the ball farther with a driver than any other club in your bag. So, i guess if you swing at 115 mph, you can still whack it out there. The complete guide to maximizing driver distance everyone is currently focused on how far the pros are hitting the ball, and whether or not the golf ball should be rolled back. Has anyone else found that hitting down with the driver allows them to better control their face angle at impact on trackman. Hitting down with the driver is a concept that deserves a post on its own. The aoa is simply a measurement of whether the club head is moving upward or downward through impact. Because if you were teeing the golf ball this high the only way youd be able to hit the center of your golf club would be to hit the ground first slowing your club and causing you to hit the ball shorter and offline or to avoid hitting the ground first, it would cause you to swing down on the back of the golf ball causing it to popup. If your ball striking is struggling, one of the most common tips youll hear instructors tell you is that you need to hit down on the ball more. Instead, you are going to sweep the ball off the tee with the club head moving roughly parallel to the ground at impact. I guess i will play the driver in the middle of the stance and try to take a divot. Hitting your driver better does not take hours of learning a new swing.

However, that doesnt mean im hitting up on the ball. Take your golf posture and hold as normal but now pull your arms and hands in close to your chest. Practice your swing as often as possible, then adjust your. Certainly on the surface anyway hitting down at something you want to go up is not logical. A good drive will come off the driver with a low amount. In a simulation with all other factors equal, hitting just 12 34 below. Its merely a thought i use to keep me from moving my whole body forward during the transition. The speed of your swing will be reduced when you choke down, which means your spin rate should be reduced as well.

Hitting down on your driver is something that should be avoided at all costs. Rating is available when the video has been rented. If you are a beginning golfer, make sure your driver has a flexible shaft, a large clubface with a large sweet spot and a loft of at least 10. Wind up your torso over a stable lower body with your main focus on leaning your upper body away from the target. Hitting a driver with too much backspin will cause the ball to balloon up in the air and land. Many golfers fail to get maximum distance with their drivers. Been out a couple of times since i read this and my driving seems to have improved although no extra 56 yards, maybe close to 15 or so. This was primarily due to the fact that the pga tour average for attack angle hitting up or down was 1.

Hitting off heel of driver instruction and playing tips. Hitting down causes more spin and therefore more control. I know what a good flight looks like and i already have one playing it off my right foot and trying to hit it just past the low point in my swing. Jul 10, 2018 certainly on the surface anyway hitting down at something you want to go up is not logical. With recent advancements in golf technology, we now have the ability to track this information. To cure your slices and pulls, hit down on the ball with your driver. Players who are struggling with hitting driver inevitably start to feel awkward when they address tee shots. While trackman stats for the pga tour may show that on average tour players hit down on their driver 1. Hitting down on the ball with the driver is a distance killer. Hitting the driver straight duke university golf course.

Thinking about cutting my driver shaft down an inch. How to hit down on the golf ball swing tips if your ball striking is struggling, one of the most common tips youll hear instructors tell you is that you need to hit down on the ball more. Basically, lessskilled players were hitting down on the ball while golfers who shoot in the 70s hit up on the ball. Watch the best of sean foley hit down with the driver. How i hit drives 56 yards farther with one adjustment. Hit up or hit down with driver rick shiels is joined by pga golf professional dan whittaker at quest golf academy and are going to. You need to keep spin rate down while playing drives into the breeze, so this is the perfect adjustment to make. In any event i have sort of been down this road before but as time went by i lost this approach and was actually i am sure hitting down with my driver.

Hitting with my natural swing now with no thoughts, hitting a slight draw once again, hitting longer, hitting a much higher trajectory, and scoring better. Swinging up on the ball leads to hitting a lot of shots low on the club face, inconsistent contact and sore backs. Sep 06, 2019 grip the club like a baseball bat with your dominant hand in front. Our goal is to get enough spin to achieve lift, while minimizing hopefully eliminating drag. Grip the club like a baseball bat with your dominant hand in front. I cant seem to stop a negative face angle even if i open the face at address. The problem with this assumption is that it is excluding club head speed from the conversation. Hitting down with a driver is easier to control and therefore straighter. The only odd thing is that david toms changed from hitting down to hitting up at 34 degrees see brian manzella and is now the best statistical driver added 20 yards or so.

I know that in the past i have made it known that it is okay to hit down on the ball with the driver. Hitting down on the ball is a great way to hit drivers. Follow my tips and youll be hitting driver with some. Whenever i discuss the impact position, i usually include my thought process of swinging up to the tfinish. You can try interlocking the little finger of your dominant. Really work on flattening the swing by making practice swings 6 inches above the ball. By hitting down with the driver, you will make contact with the ball slightly above the center of the clubface and your ball will launch off the face like a cannon. While some backspin is needed to keep the ball in the air and on line, too much backspin will generate a weak shot that floats high in the air and falls short of its distance potential. Chris ryan explains how to achieve this correctly in this video. This is because the club is longer than the other clubs, and it has a lower loft angle.

A good day is hitting two or three fairways in an entire round. Every golfer wants to know how to hit a driver farther, and were going to explore some actionable methods you can use in this article. Jan 15, 2010 hitting down on the ball is a great way to hit drivers. Hitting down on the ball swing surgeon don trahan peak. The reverse spine swing fault is a killer when it comes to hitting your driver as well as causing injuries.

A good tee shot is often the leadin to a good golf score. Then, bend your knees and lean forward from the hips. Then, swing the driver back down and straighten your arms as it approaches the ball. Mar 19, 20 hit down with the driver sean foley show you how to cure your slices and pulls by hitting down on the ball with your driver.

Problems with hitting the driver in golf healthy living. Driver jailed 6 months for hitting down schoolgirl on pedestrian crossing. The driver is one of the most difficult clubs to hit in golf. Place both your hands on the grip of the driver, the same way you would hold a baseball bat, but with the club angled down towards the ball.

Gaining a firm understanding of the golf swing and especially the mechanics of hitting down with an iron is vital to programming muscle memory. Mastering the swing depends on both stance and swing mechanics. Due to the fact that it is the only club in the bag that does not make contact with the ground through impact, has the lowest loft angle of any golf club, and is used to hit a ball that is. Does this mean hitting down is better because the best players in the world are slightly negative. Most recreational golfers are hitting down on the ball with their drivers for a number of reasons, and because of that they are not optimizing their distance. If an upward hit is desired, as with a driver, the ball should be placed up in the stance and the golfer told only where the swing is to bottom out.

Doug boone sent in a few questions and one of them was on the subject of hitting down on the ball. Is their an advantage of hitting down with a driver as opposed to up. The driver is unlike all the other clubs in your bagyou really dont want to hit down on the ball at all. Move the ball up in your stance, get some axis tilt away from the target and tee the ball up higher to catch it on the upswing. Ronald jairam, the driver who struck down an 11yearold girl, whilst she was using a pedestrian crossing along the grove public road, east bank demerara ebd was on monday sentenced to six months imprisonment at the providence magistrates courts. Mar 29, 2019 to swing a driver, start by standing 3 steps behind the ball with your feet shoulder width apart. Hitting the driver by david lake the very nature of a driver and its designed purpose makes it a very individualistic golf club requiring its own swing, etc. The secret to hitting your driver better the left rough. With so many pga tour pros in that measurement, its basically that some pros hit up and some hit down, within a range. We know without a doubt that in order to maximize your distance when hitting the driver, based on whatever your club head speed is, that you want to hit up on the driver. No need to club down how to hit more fairways with your driver.

Where the ball strikes the club face affects distance more than anything else. A high rate of backspin is the enemy of hitting good shots with your driver. A good thought is to try to take a little divot after impact or to hit with the shaft. Hit down with the driver sean foley show you how to cure your slices and pulls by hitting down on the ball with your driver. How to hit down on the golf ball golf practice guides. When they say that some pros are hitting down on their driver its not to the extent of an iron shot. Being able to swing a driver properly leads to tee shots that land with distance and accuracy on the fairway. Oct 02, 2014 hitting up on the driver can give you added distance and an improved flight, but there are right and wrong ways of doing this. We were engaged in a friendly team match for a few bucks, and one of the guys in our group was a former. I tend to struggle off of the tee because my driver can send the ball in both directions slice and hook. When using your driver, kolb says the most common cause of power loss is hitting down on the ball.