Question:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Mechanics or Mental is my question? I’ve been golfing for about 12 years now and have witnessed most of my game gradually improve from season to season. I’m about a 10 handicapper depending how much I’m playing. I consider myself a very good iron player, long and short, but very bad and very inconsistent with the driver. My question is that if my mechanics for iron play are fundamentally sound and that the basic club swing is the same for each club in your bag, why-o-why does my driving suck so badly? In this situation what would be more likely. I’ve developed bad Mechanics with my iron play that does not rear it’s ugly head until my Driver delivers me yet another hacker special. Or is it my Mental approach to Driving the ball, something in the dark recesses of my mind tell me that it is a totally different type of swing. If anyone has had a similar situation with their game and can add some insight I would like to hear from you. Or if anyone knows of a instructional video that deals solely on the Driver I would like to know the name of it.
I don’t know about your specific case, but it certainly is possible that your mechanics are to blame. If your swing is narrow and steep, you can still be quite successful with your irons, especially the short irons. But a steep swing will kill you with a driver. Not only will you hit more than your share of sky balls and thin shots, but your solid hits will have too much backspin and climb too high for max distance. The kind of swing you want to make with the driver is one where the club approaches the ball on a shallow angle, such that it travels roughly parallel to the ground for several inches before and after hitting the ball. Kevin
Response:
I consider myself a very good iron player, long and short, but very bad and very inconsistent with the driver.
<SNIP Don, A few years ago, I was in a similar situation. Not a great iron player, but fairly good, and not afraid of the long irons (though more consistent with the short irons). And never had a problem with fairway woods. But couldn’t hit the driver a lick.
<Good stuff snipped Randy
Don, The answer is probably both, and add the tool as well. One is the instinct to crush the ball off the tee. In other words, trying to hit it too hard. The other is that the driver is the hardest club to hit properly. All errors are magnified through the shaft length, swing speed and lack of loft. Look at the ball flight and the ball. If the ball tends to "float" at the end of it’s flight rather than "bore", it’s likely that you’re hitting down on the ball- like you do with an iron. The other dead giveaway is to use a coloured tee, and see if there’s a "tee ring" on the ball after you hit it. You are definitely hitting down on it then. It happens to me from time to time. I use only white tees now so I don’t fret about it! 
Exercise to get around it- go to the driving range, tee the ball up as high as you can, and hit it. Several times. It flattens out the bottom of your swing. Think of sweeping the ball off the tee. However, don’t just hit driver after driver after driver. You’ll get tired, discouraged, maybe even hurt yourself, and groove that part of the swing in. Instead, play a round on the range. If you hit driver 6 iron to the first, hit driver 6 iron, and go through the 18. *Never* hit more than half a dozen drivers in a row. Best of all, get your local pro to check out the club and the swing. Easiest way I can think of… You may be using the wrong club specs. My driver specs are nothing like you would expect compared to the rest of the set. I don’t care- I use what works. In the meantime, hit another club off the tee. There’s no rule that says that you have to hit driver. I carry a strong graphite shafted Tic driver, and a 13 degree steel shafted fairway wood. Generally, I’m more likely to hit the fairway wood or my 1 iron off the tee on any hole where it will leave me with 7-iron or less in anyway. If my swing’s off for the day, I don’t pull out the Tic. Period. Or, to put it another way, two 3 woods to a par 5 will leave you ~20-30 yards back of driver 3 wood- if you catch the driver, and put it in the fairway. The scorecard only has room for the score, not a description. Remember- you cover a lot of real estate in golf. Like real estate, the three keys to success: are position, position and position. Ciao! Dive. David McAuliffe (speaking in strine) Acronym Computing Developments
Response:
Mechanics or Mental is my question? I’ve been golfing for about 12 years now and have witnessed most of my game gradually improve from season to season. I’m about a 10 handicapper depending how much I’m playing. I consider myself a very good iron player, long and short, but very bad and very inconsistent with the driver. My question is that if my mechanics for iron play are fundamentally sound and that the basic club swing is the same for each club in your bag, why-o-why does my driving suck so badly? In this situation what would be more likely. I’ve developed bad Mechanics with my iron play that does not rear it’s ugly head until my Driver delivers me yet another hacker special. Or is it my Mental approach to Driving the ball, something in the dark recesses of my mind tell me that it is a totally different type of swing. If anyone has had a similar situation with their game and can add some insight I would like to hear from you. Or if anyone knows of a instructional video that deals solely on the Driver I would like to know the name of it. Thanks in advance, Don dlarsh wwdc com
Response:
If the driver’s that bad, I’d suggest hitting the 3-wood for a while (teed very low). That’ll keep it in the fairway and build up your confidence. You’ll be surprised that the loss of distance won’t be that great…. There MAY be an equipment mis-fit here, too. If the 3-wood works for you, you might want to investigate a driver with slightly more than "standard" loft – i.e. 10 degrees or more.
Response:
I consider myself a very good iron player, long and short, but very bad and very inconsistent with the driver. My question is that if my mechanics for iron play are fundamentally sound and that the basic club swing is the same for each club in your bag, why-o-why does my driving suck so badly? If anyone has had a similar situation with their game and can add some insight I would like to hear from you.
Don, A few years ago, I was in a similar situation. Not a great iron player, but fairly good, and not afraid of the long irons (though more consistent with the short irons). And never had a problem with fairway woods. But couldn’t hit the driver a lick. Then, I switched drivers to my first Great Big Bertha. The brand is not as important as two factors: (1) the length — it’s 45 inches, and (2) it was the first time I’d ever used a "regular" flex in a driver. Since that time, I’ve learned considerably more about the golf swing (and MINE in particular), and discovered that one of the reasons I’d hit my irons better than my driver was my tendancy to chop down on the ball. It was escpecially effective on short irons (like I said, I was less consistent with long irons). The extra LENGTH of the 45-inch driver forced a shallower, flatter swing plane, which I think put me more on-plane (I had always hit my fairway woods well, and for whatever reason, I had always swung them on a shallower, flatter plane). And I think the longer driver helped in that regard. And the regular flex gave me the confidence to swing smoothly (without jumping at it) and still get that "kick" at impact. Whether your shaft flex is too firm or too soft is something only you and your pro can determine. For me, I had to set my ego aside long enough to lay down the $$$ for a regular-shafted driver, and it was well worth it. Funny how hitting a regular shafted driver 20 yards past your buddies who are hitting stiff shafts can make ‘em shut up real quick. Randy