Cannot hit far using a driver

I have problems when using a driver. It does not give me the distance and always hit it top part of my club face. Not able to hit at the sweet spot

Have you considered seeking professional for help?
Unlike iron shots, driver is much longer hence a bigger arc of swing.
Tempo will also be different. It will take you a lot of practice and understanding of your own swing to square your club face and hit the sweet spot to get the optimal from driver.

How far do you hit your driver? How far do you expect to hit your driver?

how far do you hit using ur driver? 

hope this helps =)

http://www.thenewgolfer.com/index.php/27-3-keys-to-improve-your-power

gcwlim, the driver is the longest club in the bag and the hardest to swing well. It really sounds like you need to seek professional help to sort your swing out.

As a bandaid measure in the meantime, you can try teeing your ball lower such that only a quarter of the ball shows above the top of your driver at address. It should bring impact closer to the sweetspot.

Maybe you can share how majority of your ballflight looks like and distance with your driver. I would say you are probably skying your ball and hitting too much downwards with your driver, JUST GUESSING. I used to have this problem where my drive suddenly drop from 230m to 210m just because i realise i was hitting too much downwards and it just sky and dive down.

1. For starters, you may want to place the ball in the middle of your stance. It might help as you are hitting the ball sooner as compared to having the ball on the left foot.

2. As pointed in the above, the driver is the longest club in the bag. You many want to attempt a 3/4 swing vs a full swing. There are tendencies for mistakes as the swing arc is longer. Also, usually golfers are affected by par 5s distance to whack and rip the ball furthest. 

3. As we enjoy seeing the ball take flight, it is impt to keep the eyes on the ball till you have completed the swing. This complements the tempo you are going to adopt with your arms and hips. Will have to take some time getting used to.

Bro gcwlim, check yr tee height first. Also, try to shift yr club further away from the ball/tee...

flamer0454 wrote:

1. For starters, you may want to place the ball in the middle of your stance. It might help as you are hitting the ball sooner as compared to having the ball on the left foot.

I found this one tip to be a very tricky one.

I've tried doing it before and didn't realise as the ball position moved back, I leaned more to the right. My eyes were telling me that was the right thing to do.

When the ball is positioned off the left instep, the head is behind the ball. Moving the ball to the middle of my stance, my eyes told the brain that this was not the right position it's used to looking down on. My body then leaned to the right subconsciously till my eyes had the same view as before when my ball was off my left instep, resulting in me having my head behind the ball again even though my ball position had shifted back to the middle of my stance. Bad news! I ended up getting stuck behind the ball on the downswing and hitting the ground more than the ball.

Even if I didn't make all of the above compensations at address, I later learned that because of the swing path, a middle stance ball position for the driver leads to an open clubface and hitting down on the ball.

As explained to me, this was because of two things.

Assuming the low point of the swing where the club is level with the ground is off the left armpit, then off the left instep the club is ascending (ideal) in the swing arc. Anything behind the left armpit would mean that the club is on a descending swing path, and a middle stance ball position would mean a severely descending path into the ball resulting in contact with the top of the clubface and scratches on the crown.

Second assumption is that the clubface is square at impact when the ball is positioned off the left instep. Again because of the swing arc, a middle ball position results in the clubface being open at impact since the driver is still approaching the ball from the inside swing path. There simply isn't enough time or room to square the clubface without some forced compensation. Compounding the problem is that the longer the club, the harder it is to square the clubface.

Like I said, ball in the middle of the stance for the driver is tricky one.  

I think some of the bros mentioned (in other threads) choking the club. I personally tried it and found that it helps. My drives were straighter, and although there's a slight loss in distance, at least the ball is in the fairway.

One thing that I keep telling myself is to keep my driver head down during up swing. This prevents me from getting into a iron-like swing, and keeping the AOA low. Of course having a smooth swing helps. I realized that means same tempo for up swing and down swing. Sometimes we have the tendency to "rip it", and that's when the horrible slices happen.

Hope this helps!

i dont quite agree with shifting the ball position, as i think that encourages the incorrect swing mechanics and you are just going to compound the problem.... what then are u going to do with the ball position for your irons, and wedges? put it beyond your right foot?

mine is the cliched advice, "See your Pro!"

weaponx wrote:

i dont quite agree with shifting the ball position, as i think that encourages the incorrect swing mechanics and you are just going to compound the problem.... what then are u going to do with the ball position for your irons, and wedges? put it beyond your right foot?

mine is the cliched advice, "See your Pro!"

whatever that helps me may not help you. it does work for me when i have erratic shots off the tee. but as i said, the shifting of the ball position might help the golfer for now. but over time, the golfer should see his coach for professional advice if problem is persistent.

Prob because he is not asking help in the first place but merely stating a situation in his current golf swing

flamer0454 wrote:

weaponx wrote:

i dont quite agree with shifting the ball position, as i think that encourages the incorrect swing mechanics and you are just going to compound the problem.... what then are u going to do with the ball position for your irons, and wedges? put it beyond your right foot?

mine is the cliched advice, "See your Pro!"

whatever that helps me may not help you. it does work for me when i have erratic shots off the tee. but as i said, the shifting of the ball position might help the golfer for now. but over time, the golfer should see his coach for professional advice if problem is persistent.

Very True Flamer, moving the ball to the middle of the stance may work for you, but it's probably because you have some other form of compensation that in the end ends up with you hitting the ball straighter. It's one of those instances where two wrongs end up being a right, or should I say straight?

Perhaps you missed out on gcwlim mentioning that he makes contact with the ball on the top of his clubface (the only clue to his swing), an indication that he probably has a very steep angle of attack already. In which case, middle of the stance is probably just going to have him stick the driver into the ground behind the ball.

To even hit the ball, there will be a need to compensate with a very bad move, a reverse weight shift where one ends up falling backwards after impact. Apart from the backaches, even if contact is finally made on the sweet spot, the ball isn't going to fly anywhere because now there's no power behind the swing.

In physics, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

In golf, every action can lead to a multitude of other reactions.  

What's with all the speculation & advisory……??     

Go see a swing coach!!!

The funny thing is that we did rather spend all that $$$ on new golf toys and bling bling accessories than see a swing coach to correct our swing and eventually enable us to work with all kinds of equipment……  

Penny wise, pound foolish……??

Vinny wrote:

What's with all the speculation & advisory……??     

So you got something to read in the loo.  

Vinny wrote:

The funny thing is that we did rather spend all that $$$ on new golf toys and bling bling accessories than see a swing coach to correct our swing and eventually enable us to work with all kinds of equipment……  

And your latest new toy is a......?   

Yes, saw this post title on the side bar over several occasions now but never bother to click on it……

And yes, the new Ping G25 driver certainly does hit a lot longer and straighter  than the CG Black (after a shaft change, the club now plays at 44.5 inches) over the last 3 days of back-to-back golf in BKK ~ most approaches were left with anything from 90 to 120 yards on most Par 4s, and combined with the X-hot 3 wood ~ most Par 5s were reduced to 2 ON, 1 stroke below regulation……

Ok, new equipment does help provided correct swing mechanics are in place      

Bravo Vinny!     

bro vinny, free for game?

Vinny, let's arrange a game with ZX. 
Sembawang ok?
I book for May weekend?

Bro Birdman, Like what you said, I've enjoyed reading this thread in the loo.
Bro Vinny, you motivated me to go test out my friend's G25.
The bro who started this thread has yet to "appear".

Aquaman and Birdman do the same thing in the loo.   

Bro Vinny is absolutely loving his G25 now....

until his next new toy.   

You both can go challenge for longest drive, I just want to keep it in the fairway.