[Photos: James Farrell]
Poor contact with a driver is typically caused by a downswing that is too steep. Obviously, the club must move downward, but a driver ideally should reach its low point and then be ascending when it reaches the ball. If you hit a lot of drop-kicks or sky-balls or even take a divot now and then with your driver, let’s fix your swing path.
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My favourite drill is to lay an alignment stick on the ground on my target line under a teed-up ball. When you swing, the goal is to hit the ball without hitting the alignment stick [photos above]. If you’re struggling to avoid the stick, it means you’re probably swinging down too sharply into the ball. Try hovering the driver at address and standing tall [below].
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Your hands should be a little behind the ball position, too, not shoved forward [above].
Going back, make a full wind-up behind the ball, letting your hips and shoulders rotate freely [below left]. As you swing down, feel like your lower body is moving forward but your torso is hanging back a touch [below middle]. That will re-route your club on a shallower path than you created on the backswing and allow you to clip the ball off the tee with an upward strike [middle right].
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If you catch the ball in this manner, you’ll produce really good launch conditions. You’ll pick up a lot of distance by increasing your carry while reducing distance-robbing backspin. In other words, you don’t have to swing any harder to get longer off the tee.
Ryan Hager, one of Golf Digest’s Best Young Teachers in America, is director of instruction at Plainfield County Club in Edison, New Jersey
