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Can't Hit the Driver?
Drivers may be the hardest club to hit in your bag. Many players do well from the wedge to 3 wood but can't hit the driver.
They may be doing something different with a driver. So try to think what you are doing differently with a driver compared to your 3 wood.
The common faults with a driver are
1) Try to swing too much on the upswing
2) Trying to hit it too hard
3) Wrong ball position
4) Wrong Tee height
Lots of teachers will tell you to hit it on the upswing with your driver. But if you do it too much, it can cause slice. Some golfers start to hit well when I ask them to sweep the ball instead of trying to hit up on the ball.
Also, I see lots of players with the ball too far forward with the driver.
Tiger Woods said the ball position is the silent killer of your swing. You can have the good golf swing but not hit the ball well if your ball position is off.
So pay attention to your ball position. Put the ball in line with your left heel or little inside of left heel for a driver.
You need to experiment a little with the ball position for a driver.
First Thing to Do
If you can't hit the driver, the first thing to do is to catch the ball in the middle of the clubface. Lots of players start swinging harder if they couldn't hit it far.
But this is a wrong approach to the problem. You can't hit the sweet spot because you are swinging too hard.
So slow down you swing. Swing with 60% of your power.
Try to catch the ball in the sweet spot first and then increase your swing speed. It's not the other way around.
The good drill is to try to hit the ball more toward the toe of your driver face on purpose.
If you feel like you are hitting it toward the toe of your driver face, then try to hit it on the sweet spot.
This drill is good for fixing your slice as well.
Focus on a Small Target
When pros need more distance off the tee, they try to hit the ball more solid instead of trying to swing harder.
If I ask you to hit the volleyball instead of the golf ball, you will unconsciously pick the spot to hit because if you miss, you know that it hurts.
So you will try to hit it on the sweet spot rather than trying to swing harder.
It's a good idea to try to hit the volleyball or basketball. But when you do, don't try to hit it hard because you will hurt yourself. So do it in slow motion.
When volleyball players try to spike a volleyball, they focus on the specific spot to hit with their hands.
With golf, you can do the same thing and focus on the specific part of the ball. You will hit it on the sweet spot more often this way.
For example, you can focus on the back of the ball instead of just looking at the top of the ball. The clubface contacts with the back of the ball. So you should focus on the back of the ball as well.
Here is a good swing thought. Picture a nail stuck into the back of the ball. When you swing down, I want you to drive the imaginary nail through the ball.
By focusing on the smaller spot such as the head of the nail, you will hit it solid more often.
Tee Height could be the Cause
Another reason why you can't hit your driver could be your tee height. If your tee height is too high, that could be the cause.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying higher tee height is a bad thing.
There was the study done to find which tee height produced the longest and most accurate shot. The researchers found out that the highest tee height (where the lowest point of the ball is above the driver head) did the best with both distance and accuracy.
The problem is teeing up higher and placing the driver on the ground at address.
For example, let's say that you tee the ball up so that 2/3 of the ball is above the driver head. If you return the driver head to its address position, you will hit a pop-up.
So you will have to raise the driver head off the ground at impact. But if you do this, the driver head moves further away from your body and cause heel hits.
To fix this and hit it in the middle of your clubface with higher tee height, hover the driver head (off the ground) just behind the ball. I think you will be able to fix your heel hits with this adjustment.