Hitting The Driver Made Easy

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2 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Equipment 4 The Golf Shaft 4 The Golf Grip 5 The Club Head 6 Equipment Summary 7 The Setup And Swing 9 The Grip 10 Ball Position 12 Alignment 12 Posture 14 The Take-Away 16 Conclusion 17 Page 2

3 Introduction This book is for the golfers that hit all their other clubs OK but fail to hit the driver consistently well, because I so often get a question like this sent to me: "I can hit all my irons well but I greatly lack consistency with my driver. Can you give me some advice on what I need to do to hit my driver like my irons?" And because of the regularity of questions like this I have created this book to address that very issue. Now in this book you will not find detailed instructions on how to swing a club. Because the driver is essentially the same as all your other clubs having a club head, grip, and shaft. So if you can hit all your other clubs OK there will only be a few critical things preventing you from hitting a driver well. And in this book I am going to expose those critical things. So with all that in mind, let's get started with the first most critical thing when it comes to hitting a driver well Page 3

4 Equipment Important Note: Before rushing out and making any changes to your equipment please read this entire equipment section first. A lot of these things that I'm suggesting here should be changed at the same time. By only doing one thing it could cause problems to the other things I'm suggesting. So read this entire section on equipment first and then decide what you should do. The Golf Shaft The shaft of any club is the most important aspect of the club that will affect performance. And if you have a club shaft in your driver that is not suited to you then you'll struggle to hit that club consistently well. So when a golfer comes to me complaining about great inconsistency with their driver over their irons I routinely ask this question "Does your driver have a different shaft than your irons?" And normally I get an answer back like this "Yes, but my irons have steel shafts in them and my driver has a graphite shaft in it. Although they are all regular shafts." Now what most people don't understand is that because a shaft has regular on it does NOT mean it is the same flex as another brand of shaft that has regular on it. There are no standards as far as golf flex is concerned. So don't ever assume that having the same shaft flex from two different companies means you essentially have the same shaft. So my first advice to people that can hit their irons well but not their driver is to get the exact same shaft as is in their irons put in their driver. And 9 times out of 10 just doing this solves there driving problem. Now after reading that I can almost hear you from here! You're saying something like Page 4

5 "What if I've got steel shafts in my irons and a graphite shaft in my driver won't I lose distance by putting in a steel shaft?" Yes and no. Listen carefully to this reply If you hit your graphite shafted driver perfectly and then did the same shot with the same driver but it had a steel shaft in it, then naturally you will lose maybe 10 yards (or slightly more) in distance. BUT, if you hit the steel shafted driver more consistently and straighter than the graphite shaft then overall the steel-shafted club will go longer and straighter than the graphite shafted one. Look, you've got to get rid of your ego if you want to score better and drive the ball better. If you will lose 10 yards on your best ever drive that you may only hit 1 out of 100 times then so be it. Common sense (and lower scores) dictates that you should go with the easier and more consistent option, i.e. the steel shafted driver. But experiment and see what happens. You can always put a graphite shaft back in your driver if you find that this is not true. But I bet when you see the increase in consistency by having the same shaft as your irons you won't want to put it back in. Important Note: Here's a general rule for golf flex. If you slice the golf ball with your driver but you re hitting your shots pretty good with all of your other clubs then that probably means you have a shaft that is too stiff. Then on the other hand, if you hook the golf ball with your driver and you hit the ball pretty good with your other clubs the club shaft may be too whippy in your driver. The Golf Grip When you're experimenting with different shafts in your driver you'll no doubt get a new grip put on your driver. Now I don't really have any recommendations on what type of grip you get on your club BUT I do want to concentrate on the most important aspect of a golf grip.and that is its thickness. You see, the thickness of a grip can greatly influence the shape of shots you can hit with a particular club and especially a driver. A golf grip that is too thick for you will encourage a slice, and a golf grip that is too thin will encourage a hook. Page 5

6 Now an easy way to tell if a grip is the correct thickness for you is to simply grip the club with just your left hand, then notice the positioning of your middle fingers. Here is a rough guide that will indicate whether your grip sizes are right for you or not. If the tips of your middle fingers barely touch the pad of your palm then the grip is OK for you. And here is a picture, which clearly shows this So I recommend you get a grip that is perfect for you in the beginning. Don't get a thinner grip straight away to try and prevent a slice. But if after you've tried everything else I suggest and you're still slicing a driver a bit then that's something you can certainly try. OK, that's the golf grip covered. Let's now look at This grip size is perfect because the tips of the fingers are just barely touching the pad of the left hand. The Club Head The major determining factor on how well you can hit a driver is the loft on the driver. Now lofts on drivers range from 0 degrees through to 12.5 degrees. And here's a general rule I have on driver lofts. If you swing less than 100 mph I recommend you don't have a driver under 10 degrees in loft. So if that's Page 6

7 you then you should have a driver that is 10.5 to 12.5 degrees in loft. Why? Because you simply don't have the swing speed to hit a driver below 10 degrees in loft consistently well. And you may think you'll lose distance having a higher lofted driver but like the steel shaft example I gave you before you actually won't. You'll hit the ball higher, straighter and more consistently. You see, to hit a low degree driver well, you ve got to have a very fast swing speed. For example, the longest hitters in the world that do the long drive competitions have drivers that are anywhere between 0 7 degrees on average, and they swing above 135 mph. Then the pros on the PGA Tour generally swing between mph, and these guys have a driver loft between 5 10 degrees. Having said that, I do know that Vijay Singh used an 11-degree driver in a tournament. So these are just general loft examples. Finally, here's another general rule for choosing the loft you should have on a driver. If you hit your driver less than 250 yards on average then I would recommend a driver greater than 10 degrees in loft. As I've already said, you ll hit the ball higher, straighter and more consistently. In short, a higher lofted driver will give you more forgiveness and tolerance for error and seen as how a driver is the hardest club to hit, that will help you a lot! OK, with that being said, here is an Equipment Summary I have covered the major things that have a big impact on how you hit a driver, namely The shaft The grip The club head but you could go through a lot of trial and error in getting all of these elements correct for you and that could get expensive. So here's the absolute best advice I can give you when it comes to equipment. Go and see a qualified and good club fitter and tell them something like this Page 7

8 "I'm hitting my other clubs well but my driver is not going very good. Can you analyze me hitting a driver and suggest the best driver configuration for me?" By saying something like that you are hopefully not putting any notion into their head about making swing changes. Because some club fitters are closet swing coaches. So you want to make it clear that you're happy with the way you're hitting your other clubs but you want to hit your driver more consistently. Now they should have all the tools to help you do this by analyzing your current launch angle, swing speed etc. But also, make sure they look at your current clubs that you're hitting well to see what is working for you at the moment. And if you get a good club fitter they should make a suggestion to you that makes sense - considering what you now know about the major aspects of a driver. So the reason I gave you the information about grips, club shafts, lofts etc was to make you more aware of what to look for when making changes to your driver. And going to a good professional club fitter would be my first suggestion as far as getting a good driver for you is concerned. But if that's not possible and you think from reading my recommendations that your driver is not that far away from being suitable, e.g. it's got plenty of loft and the grip is fine then simply change the shaft. The shaft is by far the most important part of a golf club. So get a new shaft in your driver that is as close, if not the same shaft as what is in your irons and see how that goes. You probably will be very pleasantly suprized with the outcome. And with that being said let's now look at Page 8

9 The Setup And Swing When you swing a driver you'll naturally have a more rounded swing. This is simply because the driver is much longer than any other club and this naturally produces a more rounded action. You should not fight this natural tendency. You've got to let the driver do it's job. Don't force a driver to be something it's not. It's going to swing more around you so go with it. Now before we get into some nitty gritty here are some general things you can implement into your driving game 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 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 right 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. Page 9

10 4. Now naturally you need a mental and physical routine when you're setting up to hit a drive. That's a given and I cover how to create one of these in a lot of my other resources. But there's one critical thing you absolutely must do when you're driving and that's pick out an intermediate target when you setup for a shot. Why? Because it's much easier to aim your club at something that is a few feet in front of you than a target that is 250 yards away from you. Makes sense right? So if you're not doing it, start doing it. Pick out something just in front of your ball that is on a direct line to your target and line your driver up to that. And that brings me to the next important point. Most problems that people have with the driver (assuming they are hitting their other clubs ok and have the correct equipment) are due to setup problems. For some reason people setup poorly with their drivers compared with the other clubs they hit well. I don't know whether it's because of nerves or a macho thing, i.e. wanting to belt the ball a mile, or what. But there are only a few things that you should be doing differently with your driver than you do with your other clubs. And I'm going to cover some basics of setting up with a driver and then some things you should do specifically with a driver. So let's start by looking at The Grip I cover the grip in great detail in a lot of my other resources so I'm not going to repeat things here. But please understand that a draw shape of shot is going to go a lot further than a fade shot. So if you suffer from a slice and you want to fix it you've first got to make sure you have a stronger grip than a weaker one. And to make sure you have a stronger grip here's what I want you to do. Setup with your driver and have the ball positioned exactly in the middle of your stance. Then take your right hand off the grip and look down on your left hand. When you do this you should be able to see 3 knuckles on your left hand. If you can't see 3 knuckles then turn your hand until you can. Here is a picture that shows you what to do Page 10

11 Although this golfer is doing this exercise with an iron, you should do it with a driver. And at this point you should see three knuckles when you look down on your completed left-hand grip. Then simply put your right hand back on the grip so it compliments (points in the same direction) your left hand. So make sure you get your grip right before doing anything else. Once it is then you should check your Page 11

12 Ball Position When you setup to hit a drive you should have the ball positioned near your left heel. And a lot of the reasons why people have problems hitting a driver is because of a poor ball position (generally too far back). So setup to your drives as normal and check to make sure your ball is positioned inside your left heel like this. If it isn't, move yourself so it is. Now when you move yourself you have to be very careful about your Alignment When you align yourself for a drive you must be very particular that all parts of your body are pointing in the same direction. For example, you don't want your feet to be aligned parallel to your target line but your shoulders are wide open. Equally, you don't want your shoulders to be parallel to your target line but your feet are closed. Page 12

13 Perfect Alignment Now although the picture above is showing perfect alignment it's much better to have all your body aligned one way or another, e.g. to the right or to the left of your intended target. Why? Because by doing this it will help you to put a little bit of sidespin on the ball. You may be thinking that's not a good thing especially with a driver. And a lot of sidespin is not a good thing they're called hooks and slices. But you do want to be able to hit fades and draws. Because if you know for a fact that you're going to stand up on a tee and hit a fade then that will give you a lot more confidence than trying to hit a straight shot and not knowing if it's going to go right or left. So pick a shape of shot you're confident you can hit consistently whether it's a draw or fade and align yourself to help encourage this shot. But this misalignment is only slight mind you. You don't have to go to extremes on this because if you do then that definitely will promote a slice or hook. And you should regularly check your alignment of all parts of your body to make sure they are all aligned where you want them to be. Because if they're not this will cause you a lot of problems with your driver. Page 13

14 A simple way of checking your feet alignment is to place balls behind your feet after you've setup.then simply move away and check to see where your feet are lined up to. Then after you setup again you should get someone to place a club across your shoulders, arms, hips, knees etc., to check that you're aligned correctly. If you're not move your body so you are. It may feel weird to start with but persevere because alignment plays such a big role in being able to drive well. Don't take alignment for granted because it's very easy to get into bad habits. So consistently check your alignment and you'll hit your drives longer, straighter and with less effort. Posture With a driver you ll naturally stand further away from the ball. So don't fight this because this will naturally cause a much more rounded swing plane. Now one thing I often see is golfers trying to add loft to their drivers or take it away by moving their hands either more in front or more behind at address. Please don't do that because it will cause you to make compensations in your swing to account for your poor setup position. At address your left arm and driver should form a pretty much straight line. And this will happen naturally when you have the ball positioned correctly just like this picture shows Page 14

15 Now there is one more important thing I need to mention about the setup. With a driver I suggest you hover the club off the ground at the address position like this The reason for doing this is because it will help you to sweep the driver away from the ball more smoothly and with less resistance. And keeping that in mind let's look at Page 15

16 The Take-Away When you take the club away with the driver you must do so a certain way. And like I've said before, I'm not going into lot's of details on how to build a swing in this book.because I have lots of other resources where I talk about those sort of things. But I do want to talk about something important that you should do more with the driver than any other club and here it is When you're taking the club away with the driver you want to create as wide an arc as possible. Or in other words take the club away as far away from you as you can, like this. By doing this it will help you to create a wide arc with your driver and you'll hit the ball a lot further. OK, those are the main things you should be doing in your setup and swing to help you hit the driver better than you ever have before. So let's wrap this all up Page 16

17 Conclusion There's nothing quite like the feeling of hitting a well hit drive. Watching your ball soar straight and true and then land a long way down a hole right in the middle of the fairway feels awesome. And to help you achieve that more often with a driver you need to follow the advice I've given you in this book. So just to recap The first thing you need to look at is getting a driver the suits you and your golf swing. Remember, the top three elements of a club are The shaft (the flex is most important) The grip (get the correct size) The club head (have a head with the best loft for you and your swing speed) Once you have a driver that suits you then you need to constantly monitor your setup. And whenever you go through periods of bad driving always, always go back to the setup and check that it's correct, because most ball striking problems are as a result of poor setup positions. If you're setting up poorly with a driver then you'll get the magnification of the errors that you have in your setup and swing. The driver is the least forgiving club in your bag so you have to be very particular about your setup and take away with the driver. OK, that wraps up this book. I hope you've benefited from the advice in here and I know once you apply it you will finally be able to hit your driver as well and as consistent as your irons. For Consistent Golf, Jeff Richmond Director of Instruction The Consistent Golf School Page 17