Over the years the expression ‘you drive for show and putt for dough’ has led many club golfers to believe that putting is more important that hitting the driver well. But there are few things more annoying and destructive to a golf score than hitting drives into thick rough, or worse out of bounds or in the trees. Practice the following swing drill to help strike the driver correctly for longer straighter drives.
How to Hit Long Straight Drives
Good contact of the golf ball is crucial for hitting long straight drives. The more the ball comes out of the toe or heel of the driver the more inaccurate tee shots become. Not only does poor contact impart sidespin on the ball but also power is lost as the ball is not compressed to it’s maximum. The key to hitting the ball straighter off the tee is to make sure the ball is struck out of the middle of the club or the sweet spot.
Build Up the Golf Swing for Solid Contact
To become a better driver of the golf ball solid contact must be established and that is achieved by gradually building up the length and power of the swing. There is no point thrashing away on the range with a full swing at maximum power if you are missing shots. With a wedge you have half swings and build up to full shots. With a putter a golfer practices from a range of different distances. Likewise, when practising with a driver a golfer should build up to a full swing by establishing good contact with a small swing first.
Hit Drives Correctly with this Swing Drill
To benefit fully from this drill a golfer must let go of their past philosophy of hitting the driver. No matter what skill is involved, from playing the violin to a carpenter using a hammer, a full range of power is utilised. A violinist must be able to play quiet notes, a carpenter hammers gently with small blows when initially hammering a nail. If a golfer can shake off the concept that a driver must always be swung at full length, at maximum power, they are on the road to being able to use the driver correctly.
- Go to the range, buy fifty balls and divide them up into batches of ten.
- Tee a ball up and with your driver pretend you are hitting a fifty-yard pitch. The driver should not go more than half way back and half way through.
- With this small swing a golfer should be able to establish solid contact of the ball. If you find that the ball is shooting off along the ground then be prepared to reduce the length of swing even more.
- Solid contact of the ball must be found and if it means reducing the length of swing to only a foot back and a foot through, so be it.
Build up the Driver Swing Gradually
If a golfer patiently perseveres with this drill, at some point a succession of well-struck shots, out of the middle of the club, will take place. Even if the ball has only travelled fifty yards it should be considered a break through.
Once this has taken place extend the length of swing so the ball only travels another fifty yards and again wait until a succession of well struck shots occurs. Building up the swing in this way is a cleansing operation for faults in your normal swing that have resulted in poor contact when using the driver.
It might well take two or three practice sessions, and five hundred balls, before you start to find the sweet spot regularly, but with every series of well-struck shots you will be getting nearer to hitting the ball longer and straighter off the tee when using a full swing with the driver.
See Also: What Does Over the Top Golf Swing Really Mean? or The Perfect Golf Swing Explained
John Hoskison - John is a class 'A' member of the British PGA and author of the acclaimed book 'Inside - One Man's Experience of Prison'.
