Driver Inconsistency

Most of the time when I use my driver I hit it straight (ish) and a reasonable distance, however every so often I will catch one right off the heel and it flies left at about a 45 degree angle which most of the time results in my ball being lost.  Or even worse than this the ball comes off the underside of the hosel (i know this because there is a ball mark there) and shoots along the ground to the left.  anyone else ever experience this and know the cause of it?

Hi Matt, I too suffer from the occasional driving woes... For me, my problems originate from trying to smash the ball miles, i lose grip, turn the clubface etc, resulting in wild slices or horrendous slaps. Keep it simple and slow the swing down a touch so you can see the club head hit the ball square at impact.

Matt, are you concious of doing anything different on these shots rather than your normal drives? What makes you go outside the line? Next time you do it, mentally review the swing. Failing that, follow Chris' advice. Remember to concentrate on the strike and forget about distance. When you're sorted out, don't fall into the trap of 'I'll just give this a bit more welly' remember it takes just a minute to fall off that plateau that took you weeks to get there.

I have been known in the past to not rotate my hips enough and as a result the swing is 'all arms'.  Not sure if this could be a reason for the bad drives?

there are loads of possibilities, I would suggest a lesson is the best option, but the most simple explaination would be that you'e standing too close.

cheers colin, im having a lesson on wednesday so will hopefully get to the bottom of why I do it.  my coach has already sorted my iron play out, i was struggling big time until i found him - he's worth every penny of the £15 that i pay him for a lesson!

I went through the same problems last season.  In my case my bad back did not help.

It is normally the hands getting a little too involved.  The hips must shift & the body come through, if you stop this then the hands take over flipping the clubhead. Duck hook, slap, bloody frustrating!

My stats for last year on fairway hits were 85 percent, if only I could stop this.

Sometimes it came from tiredness or teying to hit 5000 yards down the fairway.

Stay smooth, try to allow the hands to rotate naturally & try to let the lower body start the downswing & continue the momentum!