In our last discussion we talked about the tee shot and getting off to good start off. I may have this one a bit out of sequence for you… if so apologies… but today I want to discuss the driver and how to keep it as your friend.

First of all… and I speak with the folks I work with all the time… know when to use your driver off the tee. Tee box plus enough distance doesn’t always equal… pull my driver out of the bag and give it a rip.

Hey… even for all of us… sometimes your driver just refuses to show up. Remember… golf is a game of many parts and nuances… and it’s a game of scoring.

If you are not hitting off with your driver on a particular day… hit the club that gives you the best chance to put the ball in the fairway. This can be difficult I know… ego and all. But it’s the best decision for your game at that point in time.

Sure, hitting a good solid driver off the tee can set the tempo for the hole or even the day… but hitting bad drives off the tee with your driver can also set a different tempo and mood for the day as well.

Your goal with the any golf club off the tee is to get the shot in the proper location… the driver is no different. The goal of the driver is not unmitigated distance… we’ll work on your distance at another time. Getting the fundamentals of the driver and making consistent, solid contact that results in the ball landing in the fairway is the goal.

First of all, you must understand that since the driver is the club in your bag with the longest shaft it is going to be the most difficult to master. It’s just a physics thing… trust me. Knowing that the driver is the most difficult to and the most prone to error anyway will go a long way in keeping your frustration down. It’s tough club maintain a swing with… for everyone.

With the driver, you actually want to make contact with your golf ball on a slight upswing so as such you don’t want to do anything in your swing or mechanics that will promote hitting the golf ball with a descending blow.

With that in mind you want to position the ball just off the inside of your heel of your front foot. In other words, more forward in your stance than with your irons.

You backswing need to be low and slow… take the club back lower to the ground and maintain that low swing path until your arms begin the upswing naturally. Again, any type of lifting with hands or prematurely cocking of your wrist will only encourage a descending blow which is what we don’t want happening.

I can see that I’m getting a bit lengthy hear with the lesson, so what I am going to do is leave you with this thought process and mechanics and let you work on:

1. Your approach to using your driver
2. The set up to your ball
3. The low and slow backswing with no premature lifting or wrist cocking

Let’s have you work on this and I want to next work with you on your hip and body turn and getting back to the hitting zone. 

Befriending your driver conclusion next...

Play Good Golf!

Jeff O'Brien