A question about distance with the driver?

Question

180 was my best swing, I usually hit it around 150-170ish...Forgot to mention that..

Answer 1

I agree with the above answer, except for trying to emulate Tiger Woods' swing. Many pro golfers such as Tiger Woods use a very late wrist "uncock", which for them results in extra power but which for amateur golfers just results in frustration.

Watch Tiger and the other pros to get an idea of how a fluid swing should look and feel,  but for now don't try and get as much power into your swing as they do.

Definitely use hip rotation and weight shift to propel your club through the ball, but keep your hands quiet and don't break your wrists at the top of the backswing like many pros do. What you may gain in distance you will surely lose in accuracy. Remember, a one inch putt counts the same on your scorecard as a 300 yard drive.

Answer 2

15 degrees is a 3 wood loft.  and as far as your distance... it's not how far it's how many.

Answer 3

First off, your driver is definitely too small.  Also, 15 degrees is a lot of loft, way more than you want for a driver.  I would suggest for a beginner to get a driver with a loft of about 10.5.  Mine is a 9 degree.  And to compare driving distances with you, I am 16 and my average drive is about 285, but I have been playing my whole life.  For someone who hasn't played for 3 years with that kind of driver, it sounds like you're hitting it about right for right now.  But you definitely need to work on your swing, because you should be getting about 230 out of that.  I hit my 17 degree 5 wood about 230.

For your swing, it is really hard for me to just tell you and not show you, but just try to use your hips more.  If you're looking down during your swing, on your backswing your belt buckle should point to your right toe, and on your follow through it should be straight at your target.  Also, on your backswing you should have about 70 percent of your weight on your right foot, and on your follow through it should all be on your left.  Try taking the club straight back from the ball and just have it travel along a line around your shoulders from there.  My best suggestion for you would be to watch videos of Tiger Woods on YouTube, take a mirror, and try to duplicate his swing.