Whats wrong with my swing?

Question

I can hit my driver off the tee. I hit my irons very well, straight and long. But when I hit my driver, the ball goes straight up and lands about 90 yards away. I know you are supposed to sweep the ball off the tee, but I guess I am not doing it correctly. I suppose I want to know how my driver swing should differ from those of my irons. What should I do? How should I rotate? etc...

Answer 1

Stand farther away from the ball at address. It's just that simple. If your clubhead resting on the ground is lined up perfecly with your ball you are wrong. Think about it the tee is probably up about 1 1/2 to 2 inches right? What happens when you return that clubhead to that spot moving at 85+ mph? The answer is..."the ball goes straight up and lands about 90 yards away." A good way to correct your alignment is to hold the clubhead off of the ground at address so that the center of the clubface is in line with the teed ball. When you let this club back to the ground you will see the teed ball lining up with the toe of your grounded driver head. Relax and swing. You should like those results.

Answer 2

You are playing the ball too far back in your stance. Try playing it off of your left heel. The idea is swing through the ball at a slight ascending angle. You hit your irons OK because you are swinging down on them and the loft gets them air-born.

PS There is no substitute for lessons and practice.

Have fun....

Answer 3

If you resonate with that question then you'll want to read this entire article now. Because in it I'm going to give you some simple tips to improve your driving off the tee. And the first thing we're going to look at is your equipment.

You see, the shaft of any club is the most important aspect of the club that will affect performance. And if you have a shaft in your golf driver that is not suited to you then you'll struggle to hit that club consistently well.

Now in case that doesn't solve your golf driver problem here are three more tips to help you to hit the ball better and further off the tee.

1. Before you take some full swings with a driver you should always warm up by doing some stretches. The golf swing is incredibly hard on the body and you'll only do yourself damage by trying to swing a driver hard without warming up your muscles first.

2. If you tend to fight a slice with a driver you should tee the ball higher as this helps to promote a draw. Conversely if your problem shot with a driver is a hook you should tee the ball lower.

3. When you're teeing up to hit a golf driver you need to take into account the shape of shot you've been hitting with the driver and then tee the ball up on the best side of the tee to allow for that shape.

For example, if you've been fading your driver (and other shots) and you're faced with a long par 4 that doglegs to the left then you're going to be in trouble if you leave your ball on the left of the fairway. So to give yourself the best chance of success you should tee the ball up on the side you most want to avoid. And in this case you don't want to go left as you'll be forced to hit a draw for your second shot and that's not a shot you're hitting well.

So with this in mind in this example you should tee the ball up on the left-hand side of the tee box so you're aiming away from the left-hand side, and you should aim down the middle of the fairway. That way if you hit the ball straight you'll be in the middle of the fairway. If you hit a fade you'll be in the right hand side of the fairway and if you hit a little slice you'll be in the right rough still with a good shot to the green.

You see, you've got to be smart when you're teeing up your ball. And here's a general rule to remember to help you do this…always tee up your ball as the same side as the trouble and aim away from it.

If you're struggling to hit your golf driver well I'm sure if you put these tips into action you'll hit your driver longer and straighter.

good luck!!!

Answer 4

You are coming in too steep, Dan.  That's why you are a good iron player.  With your driver, drag the club along the ground for the first foot on the takeaway, you will hit it solid.

Answer 5

It sounds like you're getting too far ahead.  The club is thus bottoming out at the ball rather than several inches behind the ball.  While the weight is in your left foot at impact, your head should remain well behind the ball at impact.  The club will thus bottom out behind the ball and catch the ball on the upswing. Very common problem.

Answer 6

Difficult to pinpoint without seeing you swing, but I can think of 2 things:

1) maybe you are teeing the ball too high and catching it off the top of the club. If you've got ball-marks on the crown where it meets the face, you might need to tee it a little lower, so about half the ball is visible over the crown at address.

2) You may be 'flicking' the club so the clubhead is overtaking your hands before impact.