If you are like many beginner golfers, your first thought when stepping up to the tee on a par-4 or p-5 hole is to try and hit the ball as far as you can with the driver. There is nothing wrong with being positive and if successful, you will be in a good spot for your second shot.
However, how often do you try and crunch the ball with the driver only to find your next shot is being taken from the rough? Hitting the ball a long way is great but if you keep a record of how many fairways you are hitting when trying to hit the ball maximum distance, you may find it is very few.
If you are focused on swinging at 100% on every drive but are failing to find the fairway at least 50% of the time, perhaps it is time to consider a different approach?
When you stand over the ball over the tee, try and take a more relaxed approach to the drive. Do not concern yourself with hitting the ball as far as possible or trying to match the distance your playing partner has hit the ball.
If you begin to feel some tension creeping into your body as you are about to swing back, stop, take a breath and re-set before beginning the backswing again.
Although you want to increase the accuracy of your drive, you do not want to be losing a great deal of distance as a compromise. With that in mind, when you begin the backswing, move your arms away from your body but do not allow your front arm to bend too much as you reach the top of the backswing.
You will know if you are doing this successfully as you should feel a little stretch in the shoulder of the lead arm. Keep that feeling as you begin the downswing and remember you are using a driver, not an iron, so the club should be moving closer to the level of the ground as it contacts the ball.
As you begin moving through the downswing, you want to start switching the weight to your front foot. If many of your drives are being sliced, having too much weight on your back foot could be the problem.
Think about turning your body towards the target on the downswing. This will help to transfer the weight to the front foot and will combine with the tips above to result in a more controlled drive.
Recent Comments