×

Top Links:

Get A Golf Handicap

UK Golf Guide

Golfshake Top 100s

Find Golf Travel Deals

Golf Competitions

Search

Community Forum

Course:

Tee Times | Search | Reviews

News:

Gear | Tour | Industry Insider

Tuition:

Video Library | Tuition Sections

Community:

Join | Log In | Help | Useful Links

×
New Forum System - click here to visit our new & improved forum system >>>

Driving myself potty!

Posted by: user418412 | Tue 29th Jul 2014 11:22 | Last Reply

With the kids cricket season finishing for the summer hols now it's time for the peak of my golf season. Having just entered my last few rounds in the score tracker it has simply proved my theory. The state of my driving dictates a lot of my scores and my enjoyment. I have the ability to hit the ball a fairly good distance but the last week or so it has become rare for me to even be close to the hole I'm playing when using the driver off the tee! This has had a number of effects, not all bad;

  • I'm ending up with up to 6 penalty shots during a round when using the big stick
  • I've lost confidence with the club, something I used to really enjoy about the game
  • My irons have had a lot of hard work to do, my recovery shots from stupid places have improved massively and the new tactics of using long irons on tight tee shots has produced some surprisingly good results. Sure I'm going greens with a 6 iron rather than a wedge but GIR is GIR.
  • I've now removed my 3 wood from my bag (a shorter but no less wayward tee option) and added a 4 iron, which I've been hitting very cleanly not far off the 200 yard mark.

These surprising developments combined with the fact I always putt better on faster greens has meant my scores haven't really changed. The question comes then to I leave the driver at home and play irons golf? I think I'd probably score better but is that everything? Sure I'm trying to get my handicap down further but emotionally can I part with the driver? We all love the satisfaction of whacking a drive down the fairway and attacking with the next shot. My driving won't come back if I don't do it and my dislike of driving ranges (or more accurately having to pay for them) means correcting faults can be hard out on course. Tempted to try some different tactics this week and see what is more fun. Anyone else had a similar period?


Last edit : Tue 29th Jul 2014 11:22
re: Driving myself potty!
user118442
Reply : Tue 29th Jul 2014 11:40

Playing safe all the time is very dull - as is jacking your driver/3 metal all over the place from the tee.

Sensible advice as follows:

Driving won't improve unless you practice with it - bite the bullet and get a range card. Lesson wouldn't hurt either. Just out of interest, how old are the driver and 3 wood you are struggling to hit the fairway with? Recent models are mostly easier to hit than something made 10 years ago. Finally, hybrids over long irons any day for just about every club golfer.


Last edit : Tue 29th Jul 2014 11:40
re: Driving myself potty!
user418412
Reply : Tue 29th Jul 2014 12:08

Thanks Sean, driver is new (all be it last years model) and the 3 wood is probably around 6 months old (again previous model though). I am working on my swing and am fairly confident it will improve to it's previous level but I will never be a straight down the middle all the time golfer! My objection to paying for driving ranges is a long rant that I won't boar you with but I don't see why when I pay x amount to be member of a club I should to the whack a couple of range balls when I can play as much as I like out on course. I will indeed seek the advice of my teaching pro and as he knows my swing I'm sure he'll be able to help. It was more an interesting topic of debate rather than a cry for help

I'm tempted to try some of the new style of driving iron type things in a store just to see how they go. My 4 iron seems to sit nicely between my 5 iron and my hybrid. I've never been good at taking distance off of clubs and my hybrid is a little too long for some set up shots on my home course. I might swap that for my 3 wood with the loft cracked up. If I'm not having much fun with a driver why not enjoying trying different things.


Last edit : Tue 29th Jul 2014 12:08
re: Driving myself potty!
user53837
Reply : Tue 29th Jul 2014 19:29

David this may be worth watching:

Make Better Decisions on the Golf Course to Shoot Lower Scores

http://www.golfshake.com/improve/view/7569/Make_Better_Decisions_on_the_Golf_Course_to_Shoot_Lower_Scores.html


Last edit : Tue 29th Jul 2014 19:29
re: Driving myself potty!
user418412
Reply : Wed 30th Jul 2014 11:09

Really interesting video. Comes back to fun though, what's more fun being a monkey brain or cutting a couple of shots?


Last edit : Wed 30th Jul 2014 11:09
re: Driving myself potty!
user397466
Reply : Fri 1st Aug 2014 03:21

A very sound piece of advice was given to me and has helped my driving no end. Before your round starts take your favourite club out of your bag (in my case PW) and hit a steady ball from whatever lie. From that point whatever club come s from your bag never try to hit it harder than you hit your first strike, the distance might go down a little but I guarantee that your driving will be straighter and surprisingly a lot more fun as you see your ball bounce down the middle. It may still be an 8 iron instead of a PW but hey better than a 6 iron :P . All the best and enjoy the summer


Last edit : Fri 1st Aug 2014 03:21
re: Driving myself potty!
user88724
Reply : Sat 2nd Aug 2014 09:05

Possibly the biggest challenge with learning to drive well is that few teaching pros. know how to teach driving. Indeed most appear to teach driving in just the same way as playing an iron. Additionally 'YouTube' is inundated with teaching 'pros.' teaching extremely bad habits eg. only a few days ago I witnessed one advocating hands ahead of the ball at impact! A DRIVER HAS TO BE SWUNG ENTIRELY DIFFERENTLY TO ANY IRON.

Even some golfing legends (eg. Tont Woods) have some strange ideas eg. stating that the crotch to hands distance should be the same for every club, yet manage to do exceptionally well notwithstanding erratic driving.

The driver is a very demanding club. I know this all too well having competed with it in international longdrive comps. for just over seven years.

It is particularly difficult for two groups of golfers: Fast swinging international competitors often using very long drivers, and beginners.

A lot of technical things make up a great swing with a driver, but if I had to list the three most prevalent faults in order of importance they would be:-

  1. Failing to push the club head away slow, low, long, and square. Most golfers only push the club away around 30% of the needed distance. Push away until the leading foot begins to lift is a good guide. If the push away falls short one's driving foundation will ALWAYS be unsound, as will driving results. There is absolutely no recovery from this type of unsound swing arc.

One of the strangest things I witness golfers doing when practicing is stopping their swing at the top and looking over their right shoulder to see where the driver head is. It will always be located on the end of the shaft. Get the push away right and it will always also be located in the correct position for your individual natural swing. No need to check.

  1. Failing to keep the right shoulder back long enough when attacking the ball, i.e. retaining an inside line. When driving one's 'attack target' needs to be 15-20 yards right of true target. It's simple to learn this - simply think 'right shoulder back' as one swings down. Incidentally this is the correct way to learn to draw a ball. A great drive has two or three yards of correctly induced draw.

  2. Swinging at the ball instead of through the ball with a big follow through. One's thought must be 'let me lash the big dog across my back.' Imagine that one is really striking the ball at the top of one's follow through if you must imagine striking the ball somewhere. Don't strike and quit. It is quite easy to finish with the driver across one's back if you come in from the inside. Yet damn near impossible with an up and down vertical.swing. It has very little to do with flexibility, although weight transfer onto the left foot during follow through is important.

Basic good driving is very simple, The reason why endless practice often fails to secure improvement is that ingrained bad habits are being repeated instead of changed.

Hope that helps!


Last edit : Sat 2nd Aug 2014 09:05
re: Driving myself potty!
user88724
Reply : Sat 2nd Aug 2014 09:13

The site's technical fault gets worse:

Very often (but not always) one cannot correct a post. One has to re-post an edited post and then delete the earlier post.

It has today worsened insofar that although I correctly numbered my paragraphs, 1, 2, and 3 (shows up correctly on the on-site draft) the published version has been wrongly numbered by GolfShake's computer which is clearly developing a mind of its own.

This is my sixth or seventh request for the forum to be fixed. Will it ever happen?


Last edit : Sat 2nd Aug 2014 09:13

The Forums have now moved to a new version

We have now moved the forum to a new and improved system which provides more functionality plus provides easier access from desktop, tablets and smart phone devices.

Click here to view the new forum & register for free.

Scroll to top