hitting down on the golf ball with driver

\u00a9 2023 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. Straight Back Straight Thru: The Best Mallet Putters, The Beginners Guide: Different Types of Golf Shots, Golf Warm Up Routine: Prepare to Play your Best, Grip it easy to remove tension in your arms, Get plenty of rotation: You want to make sure you feel loaded at the, Transfer your weight: Once you load up on your trail foot, make sure your first move in the. A tendency with a right-handed golfer is to have the shoulders open at address, which limits shoulder turn and creates an over the top move. which is the angle formed by a line that runs down the center of the shaft and a line running down the face of the club. If you hit half of the fairways with your driver, youre pretty close to PGA Tour players. Why am I hitting the ground first with my driver? How high should I tee my ball for a driver? Dont forget, even the best players in the world onlyhit about 60% of the fairwaysso make sure youre being realistic from the start. This means you then need almost a mirror image of the width youve created on the takeaway coming through the ball as you really extend down the line towards the target. Here are the top seven reasons you could be hitting the ball too high on the face of your driver. This should put the correct spin on the ball creating lift, to give you better distance. And that might make you hit the ball as far or farther than you ever did. USE OF AND/OR REGISTRATION ON ANY PORTION OF THIS SITE CONSTITUTES ACCEPTANCE OF OURVISITOR AGREEMENT(UPDATED 1/6/23),PRIVACY AND COOKIES NOTICE(UPDATED 1/4/23) ANDCALIFORNIA PRIVACY NOTICE. We got you covered. If your driver has too low of loft, you wont get the ball airborne. Should you hit up or down with driver? Sean Foley: Hit Down With Your Driver | Instruction | Golf Digest You must also retain width and extension through the ball to achieve maximum power as Top Coach Peter Finch is doing here. You may be hitting down on your driver because you're not swinging the club at its lowest point. This might feel like your club is a little bit too closed off at first, but thats okay. Spin Rate of a Golf Ball: Learning How to Control Your Spin Golf instructor Sean Foley shows you how to cure your slices and pulls by hitting down on the ball with your driver.\r\rTranscript\r We've been told that hitting up on a driver\r is the ideal way to hit it,\r and whether that may be true for tour professionals\r or players who play at the highest caliber,\r what I see too often in pro-ams\r and watching amateurs during lessons,\r is that in their desire to hit up on their driver,\r basically what they do is they stay back on the ball,\r keep their weight on their right side,\r and then try to create angle their to hit up on it,\r which ultimately turns into line drives and top shots.\r I'm gonna tell you,\r that in order for you to be more consistent\r and hit the ball straighter,\r I want your ball position with your driver\r to move back to maybe where about a three iron is,\r and then from there, like an iron,\r I really want you to feel like\r the lower body's moving forward,\r the upper body's on top of the ball,\r and that the hands are leading the golf club at the bottom.\r So, in essence, you're hitting down on your driver.\r So there's the ball position,\r and now I'm hitting down on it,\r and you'll find that your distance and your accuracy\r will improve a great amount.Still havent subscribed to Golf Digest on YouTube? If you are hitting lower that the sweet spot, tee it up higher. While you can hit it off the deck, I dont recommend it for most amateur players. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. No pro hits up on fairway woods unless they want to hit a tremendous hook. Your attack angle determines how well you hit every shot. Top 100 Courses in the U.S.: GOLFs all-new 2022-23 ranking is here! This will give you instant feedback and figure out if youre hitting it too low, too high, off the toe or off the heel. Sean Foley on How to Hit Down on the Ball With Your Driver | Golf If you want to hit your driver further, work onincreasing your swing speed. Once youimprove your setup, hitting it longer becomes so much easier. My putting is not too bad, and short irons are average. I now setup standing much more upright and farther back from the ball on the outside of my foot with only about a quarter of the ball above the crown and my hands a little forward. Foley doesn't mention how high to tee the ball, but I've noticed that Tiger, at least, usually tees it fairly low, and the equator of Foley's ball is just below the top of his driver, which is a little lower than what you commonly hear today. If youre over the top and starting your downswing with your shoulders, youre likely hitting down on it. Dont forget, less forward spin means shorter drives! When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Quite different than expected. Twist torso enough so back is to target (all the while keeping head still and on the ball, it can move a tiney bit, but only due to twisting of torso). But hitting it long doesnt mean you will automaticallybreak 80. First off, do you need to hit it straight? Sean Foley reveals the secret to better golf! A good thought is to try to take a little divot after impact or to hit with the shaft leaning toward the target (left). Then I played with a guy who was 10 years older than I am and he said he hits the ball farther today than he did when he was in his athletic prime. Read below or check out the video above for five keys for hitting a driver off the tee. THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED, TRANSMITTED, CACHED OR OTHERWISE USED, EXCEPT WITH THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF DISCOVERY GOLF, INC. 2023 DISCOVERY GOLF, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, Weekend Tip: Hit down with your driver. While Im not saying you should hit the driver on every hole, I would focus more on length than accuracy unless youre playing a super tight course with difficult rough. I know Ive mentioned it several times but I cant stress this point enough. It mercilessly exposes swing flaws and thinking flaws.. This should put the correct spin on the ball creating lift, to give you better distance. Your driver is a much different beast than your fairway woods, irons, and wedges. Your driver should never be anywhere near your back foot! But as you know, a divot with your driver is the kiss of death and clearly your swing mechanics are off. The angle of attack may sound like a term from the video game Call of Duty, but it simply is a measurement of your club head alignment at impact in relation to the horizon. 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. To hit a driver straight and consistently long, you need to work on your setup more than anything else, which makes sense as its the foundation of your golf swing. In the study, Trackman analyzed amateur golfers driving the ball and found a direct correlation betweenhandicapand attack angle. Swing through the ball, and you should catch it as the driver starts coming up from the bottom of the swing. If the club is open you may slice your ball. You've probably already heard this before. I'm 5' 7" and 48 and can still hit some bombs. I see too many people teeing the ball way too high and swinging up at the ball. The short answer yes. I feel I can get the proper swing path this way and I hit it just as I'm starting my upswing. I've been told to hit up on the ball with a driver to maximize hang time and distance. The only odd thing is that David Toms changed from hitting down to hitting up at 3-4 degrees (see Brian Manzella) and is now the best statistical driver (added 20 yards or so). If you want to hit bombs, you need to make sure the club is moving the fastest around impact. Heres the thing, if your irons and wedges are solid, focus on distance more than hitting it straight. I have shared my Trackman with about 50 golfers. 8 Simple Tricks To Stop Topping The Golf Ball - Golf Circuit wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. The driver contact is made just after the bottom of the swing (3 or so inches past the bottom of the hula hoop). Many golfers know theyve got to get the ball forward in their stance with a driver to promote an upward strike. I see so many golfers take the club back so fast that it makes it impossible to accelerate through impact. Prior to joining the team at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. Sometimes in the quest for improving we lose sight of the basic fundamentals. Michael Metz is a Golf Instructor and the Director of Instruction at Simi Hills Golf Course. What is your opinion? Basically, less-skilled players were hitting down on the ball while golfers who shoot in the 70s hit up on the ball. A good trick to create the ideal spine tilt is to first stand with your hands together and the grip in between them, before sliding your right hand down the grip and into position. He can be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com. But a lot of golfers don't hit drivers very far or straight because they don't consider the differences. These are the most commonly used clubs during the course of any given round. Doing so will allow you to compress the ball and make crisp contact. The common term used to refer to the vertical movement of the center of mass of the golf club at impact is called "attack angle." Although we've only recently been able to easily and accurately measure attack angle, the concept has been around for a very long time. Tempo shouldnt change with your driver (even if you want to hit it 300+ yards). Always swing your driver with a slightly upward angle for an optimum launch. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. Well cover all that and more in the rest of this blog post. Some balls are made for distance, others for spin, and some are a hybrid of the two. Bath Heres a good article onhow to shorten your backswing. So, I guess if you swing at 115 mph, you can still whack it out there. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.
\n<\/p>

\n<\/p><\/div>"}. The second thing to look at is your driver loft. Set yourself up for success by teeing it high and letting it fly! Hitting down on the ball is vital to produce good swing dynamics and to use . Pay attention to where on the club face you are contacting the ball. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.
\n<\/p>

\n<\/p><\/div>"}, {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/d\/d7\/Lower-Spin-on-a-Driver-Step-10-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Lower-Spin-on-a-Driver-Step-10-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/d\/d7\/Lower-Spin-on-a-Driver-Step-10-Version-2.jpg\/aid12464669-v4-728px-Lower-Spin-on-a-Driver-Step-10-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"