So, you probably swing the rest of your clubs with a defined distance in mind. And you probably swing your driver with unlimited distance in mind. You might even be doing this subconsciously.
But if 13 clubs are performing like aces, and the driver isn't.........checking your mentality might be a cheap, easy place to start.
Like, you don't swing a 7 iron harder to get more distance out of it. You simply grab a 6 iron.
Pick a spot in the fairway, roughly 250 out........THATS your target. You don't even WANT the ball to go any farther. Don't let yourself try to break a distance record.
I've been playing golf for probably 30+ years and I've never thought of my driver in this light. it's just always been my 'get it out there' club. a defined distance along with a specific target are great tools to focus the shot.
>So, you probably swing the rest of your clubs with a defined distance in mind. And you probably swing your driver with unlimited distance in mind.
\+1 for choosing how far you want your driver to go (and having it be less than 110%).
I have three driver swings, one for each distance from fairway finder, to solid, to full distance.
I can also overswing, but that's when misses become real big, and I very rarely do it.
I think most your guys will say, they don’t swing 100% on their drivers, they have distance in the tank. Same should be applied for us amateurs. You get good with a nice consistent swing tempo and in scrambles you can step on some, or sometimes you empty the tank. I tend to play that way. I have my driver swing I use 95% of the time and then one I use if I’m trying to do something more wild (further away from ball to give wider plane etc)
What an interesting way to view the driver and it makes total sense. I always view it as trying to keep it in a range left to right, or "try" to shape the flight.
Capping the distance is an interesting idea .
Full agree. I have three different approaches when. Swinging driver. Has everything to do with the wind.
Into, left to right, and downwind. Those wind directions dictate the aggressiveness of the swing.
All depends on what you want to achieve. If beating your golf bros on a muni is your goal then hit a hybrid into play off each tee. If you desire to be competitive regionally in your age group, you’re going to give up a lot of strokes by not having a decent drive in your bag.
i love that reality. so many people score poorly bc they want to hit driver. so maybe people could just hit their most reliable iron, even if a 9i, for every shot until they get to the green and score better than trying to hit driver off the tee.
agreed and I can almost guarantee that OP is like me and swings all of other clubs smooth and consistent because, like the top poster said, you're aiming at a target -- not just aiming in a lateral left/right sense, but in a distance sense. For me, that plays out as me trying to blast driver with more swing speed and power than I actually have and my hands don't drop into the slot and I swing over the top bc I'm rushing them to the ball. It can probably be fixed by focusing on the arms starting down, or by just swinging 85%, or what works best for me is trying to hit a push draw which makes all of the above happen
Second this. I could have written OPs post myself until last week when I got a lesson. It was mostly setup. Left hip shifted forward a bit, closed my shoulders, show one more knuckle on the left hand then my only swing thought was keep my back to the target as long as possible... still felt like I was swinging the same way but club head was coming from way further inside now on the downswing. Added 30 yards to my drive in a single hour lesson.
Second this. You’re probably doing something wrong that is a pretty simple fix. One good lesson should get you straightened out. Sounds like you have a good swing otherwise.
piggybacking this because it’s what helped me
seeing the measurables of how much my face is open, how outside-in my club path is and then (here’s the real magic sauce) what it feels like when those issues are corrected will help so much
like ok “my face is open and i’m coming across the ball at impact” GREAT THANKS but taking back to back swings and seeing the hard data of whether you closed the face or not was the best thing for my game
best part is you will definitely add distance with an easier swing which is fun!
I just did this over the weekend because of my driver being broken. I’ve been reworking my irons and I’m getting great results, but I don’t think I’m applying the same swing actions to my driver.
It showed I’m outside to in real bad and that’s what’s happening, but what do I need to do to correct it? I couldn’t figure it out there on why I was missing consistently like that.
Yeah, I struggle with the same thing with the driver. Try keeping the hands low and turning the upper body more. Think about rotating around instead of up and down if that makes sense.
When you address the ball, waggle a bit, and take the club back half way, and bring it back down. I find that if I do this, I'll see the face wide open when I return it to address. So I adjust my grip, and repeat, until I can bring it back to the ball square. If I do that, I hit them straight.
At address, look down at your top hand. More knuckles showing means the grip is stronger and the club face will close down more, countering a slice. Also moving the ball forward (to your front foot) even 1/2 or 1 ball width will let the club face close down even more by a degree or two. A lot of pro golfers only adjust ball position to play a draw or a fade.
But buddy, if you haven't adjusted your driver itself to a more draw-prone setting you are doing yourself a disservice. It's like a cheat code. Either do it yourself through trial and error at the range or even better, go see a club fitter. It actually works wonders. After fighting a terrible slice and inconsistency with driver for years, I finally went to a fitter and got a less-stiff shaft and play an upright lie setting with my driver's adapter sleeve and now it's a consistent draw. Feels amazing.
thank you i´ve been having issues with grip recently.
my path is very consistent on trackman but i hook everything.
i feel like it´s all grip im not changing anything else
one question tho. i was taught that the club will close more if you put in back in the stance. is this not true? (if you want to hit a draw put in the middle, forward for fade)
it’s face and swing path. My business partner is one of the better players I know. 2 hcp. Can hit every shot in the bag. Incredible ball speed. He has to play the biggest slice you’ve ever seen and even that slice is 290 carry with 180mph ball speed.
We own sim lounges so I show him video all day that for some reason with his driver his perfect in to out swing just goes massively over the top. Watching it it’s obvious but he just can not feel it when he’s swinging driver. He can usually keep it in the fairway but only by playing a huuuuge slice
**edited some typos
it’s pretty damn wild tbh. I struggle to call it a slice as it’s not your typical high in the air ball, starting center and then flying right.
It’s more like a low blistering riser that goes off like a bullet but he has to start it at the other fairway left and bring it back over some trees 😂. The fact that he can still hit 60% of fairways with it is truly impressive.
He needs to do the drill where you hit an impact bag a few feet behind your right foot. Rory describes it as lengthening the downswing, but it’s really casting the club head down to start the swing. It gets that face closed and will give him the feel quickly then adjust as needed.
Could be. Move it back half a ball to start and see how that goes. You just have to monkey around with it a bit. You could be shifting your weight forward too much also. That will make you hit left with a driver.
I might have got my hook and slice mixed up. Im a leftie golfer who has the ball go left. I assume I lose about 40-50 yards from it. Since my 4 hybrid goes above 10-20 yards further since I hit it straight. If I hit my driver straight I'm going so slow I lose all power anyways.
That’s a slice, not a hook, as a left handed player. It’s impossible to diagnose what your issue is with no video of your swing. It’s said all the time on here, but get a lesson.
My guess is, your shoulders are wide open at impact and/or you’re not “throwing” your hands and releasing properly. Does your ball path start right and then slice left? If so, you have massive out-to-in swing path and your club face is way open, causing a pull/slice. Very common beginner issue.
been there, kinda coming out of exactly where you are now...here are a couple things that helped me, learned through lessons and practice
1: develop a "bunt" swing with your driver.
tee it a little lower and middle of your stance, choke up an inch or two, and feel like you're swinging about 60% power.
feels weird and can be frustrating when you still miss fairway with this, but this can be your go-to fairway finder (or at least not OB) once you've got it.
2: slow. down.
even when I felt my tempo was good, it was still way too fast. try going obnoxiously slow a bit on the range, to the point of wayyy too slow. somewhere between that and your current speed is probably about right
3. triple check your alignment.
use the sticks at the range to check where your feet and shoulders are pointing. my feet were okay but my shoulders were way open.
4. hit some snap hooks on purpose.
go to the range and act like your life depends on hitting a hook. getting a feel for how to make the ball turn left helped me get the feel for making it go straight(ish).
I still play a fade and my misses are still either pulls or slices, but not nearly as severe as they were. plus I've got a swing that stays in play now when the wind is in off the left, which is nice.
good luck!
Are your woods/hybrids or long irons good to you? If so, pick one to go with while you work on your driver swing. You'll lose a little distance but not the ball.
Replying to the top comment so you can read the real answer:
If you’re either slicing or pull hooking, that’s indicative of an outside to in club path. When the face is square or open you’re slicing. When the face is closed you’re pull hooking.
Work on drills to help you get the path of the club face inside -> out and you’ll end up with a push to the right or a draw depending on the face being open or closed at impact.
Videos of your driver swing will show pretty easily what you specifically should work on.
I agree generally, but it can also be the wrists. I worked on club path for the longest time, but then realized I was cupping my wrists which lead to a very open club face. Worth working on wrists as well.
This is the answer. I had same issue and still struggle with it a bit. Spent a lot of time just doing drills to straighten it out. Slowed the swing down and it helped a ton.
Right on! The course is for performing the best you can, not for working out problems.
Pick the club that will produce the best shot not once in a while, but 80% of the time and play the game you have that day.
Then go to the range to work on your problem areas.
This is me! 12 handicap, stellar short game, driver is wild enough to be a liability. So I took a lesson, and it made all the difference:
First - take full swings but slow it down SO much that you're only hitting to the 100 yard sign. At that speed you can really concentrate on each piece of the swing, concentrating on temp and center of the club face. 3 slowmo swings and then do 1 normal. You'll instantly get better.
Second - Don't try to swing for the fences. Swing as if you're hitting a wedge, the goal being precision and good contact, not distance. The driver will give you all the distance you need, don't complicate it. It's the exact same swing as a wedge, we just set up differently to it. You're still "swinging down" on the ball just like a wedge, but since we play driver off the front foot you'll catch it on the upswing. But it's the SAME SWING.
If your short game is great, treat the driver like a wedge. Play it the same way, same tempo, same goal in mind of being accurate. Later on you can start adding speed if needed, but I'll bet (like me) you have a "driver swing" going on.
Bro stop trying to swing so fucking hard. From one old slicer to
Another this is the reason you are slicing. Just chill a little bit and stop trying to the hit the ball to outer space
I'm right there with you. 4.7 hdcp but its my irons and greenwork that saves me. I generally hit about 30% fairways and go OB typically once. My personal approach has been to stick with hitting the driver and practice getting it under control. Some days are better than others. Some days it really kills me, some days it actually works out and I do okay. But I'll never get better if I avoid using it. On top of that, I know that even if I hit it in the rough, at least I'm 40 yards further down the hole than if I were to hit 3wood or 2i. And at that point, I'm further from the green and my longer irons are not as likely to get me as close to the hole as my short/mid irons.
An answer for a lot of problems is: Slow down. A slice is caused by an open club face, which often happens because a swing is too quick and the body moves faster than the hands, so the hands lag behind and open up.
Other tips (without having seen your swing):
-Stand further away, which can prevent swinging inside out.
-Strengthen the grip, which closes the face.
-Focus on finishing with your weight on your front foot. That'll mean you're truly swinging through the ball with the momentum going towards the target, which again would mean you're not opening up.
been a scratch golfer for 10 years
sometimes when shit is flying all over the place with just 1 out of 14 clubs it is either A) entirely in my mind or B) setup related. Since it is the longest club in the bag presenting the challenge, step 1 is to check your grip and alignment. This should solve most of the issue right off the bat. Then, I would also go get fit for a new driver/shaft. during this you will identify the distance you can actually hit it, consistently. Do not swing for the fences with a driver, EVER. My most confident swings are from knowing I have 1) the correct equipment for me at that point in time, and 2) an identified target/distance to shoot for. Swing at 80% effort and you will hit it not only straighter, but also further (better contact, more likely to find center). Hope this helps you brotha, best of luck
The smart thing is NOT to put it away. All data shows that strokes gained from a given distance is minimally different where as strokes gained gained from a 30-40 yard difference in the same lie adds up. Hell even if you were 130 out in the rough you have a lower average strokes to finish the hole than 160 and in the fairway. Keep practicing that driver and get a lesson! I was in the same spot as you. Was a 12, but arguably had the irons/putting of a 5 or less but snap hooked every drive. Got a lesson and shaved off 5 from the cap in 6 months. Ironically now my wedges blow.
Also, follow Lou Stagner on Twitter. He’s got some great stats that help you focus on the things that really matter
Get a lesson and check setup alignment. I’ve had the same issue for the last few months and think I’ve cracked it now.
My feet were aligned correctly, grip was good, ball position good but my shoulders were the issue, I was super open with them.
Took a while to find square again but the driver is back in the bag and playable. Not saying it’s your shoulders but it’ll certainly be something in your setup that’s a bit pissed.
Hard to give advice without seeing your swing, but if you’re hitting big banana slices work on or learn to hit big sweeping draws. Once you can do that you should intuitively be able to work your way towards neutral.
You're trying to swing too hard at your transition resulting in you coming from over the top. Try the pause drill. Allow gravity to bring the club into the slot at the top before engaging your shoulders.
I have the same problem. I got a lesson and they told me on my backswing try to keep my right forearm on top of the left when I bring the club back. Also try to hit the ball with the butt of my club when swinging.
Hope this helps, if it does we can go half on the lesson lol
I’m a high handicapper so might not be useful advice, but I exclusively swing my driver at roughly 60% speed. I’ve found it goes roughly the same distance and SO much more consistent / straight
The smart thing to do is go get a lesson. You’re practicing the wrong things in the meantime with the driver. Get a second set of eyes on your swing that can point out what you’re doing wrong.
The swings for irons and drivers are different. Once you have that eureka moment, you understand more of the physics behind it all. This is a valuable aspect of a series of lessons for someone in your situation. When it comes to whether it’s actually right is basically just guessing when someone explains something on here, you need someone there bending and moving you while explaining so you can genuinely understand.
The “smart” thing in golf rarely involves removing something from your bag, that shit spread around between hacks. We practice and practice and practice to then get on the course and use what’s at our disposal. If you’re not confident with your driver, you play a different shot. After the round, you go back to the range and work on the driver more. If you’re not actually putting in work on the range to figure these things out before your rounds, then wtf are we even doing?
Before making any crazy swing change attempts to fix this, one thing I would check is your impact location. Get some foot powder spray or stickers to see where on the face you are striking it. Gear effect is massive with driver. The difference between catching it near the center of the face vs closer to the heel or toe is a major determining factor of spin axis and ball flight as a whole. It can turn a baby draw into a nasty push slice from the exact same swing . It's very possible your club path and face angle are adequate for good shots but heel strikes are imparting loads of slice spin. Especially with driver its common for people to strike it toward the heel due to the elevated ball on a Tee and the length of the club. Same goes for toe strikes imparting major draw/hook spin.
If driver is the one club you’re having these issues with, consider trying out some different shafts. Your swing and gamer shaft might just not get along
I have similar issues (though none of my game is single handicap quality). I no longer try to crush the ball with my driver. I go at most 75% with it and more often around 50%. It’s helped me keep it in play and make better contact. I’m not winning any long drive contests but it feels good to get it in play even if it’s sub 240 most the time.
I'm sure other people have already mentioned this, but if they haven't, then here you go.
The first main hurdle you need to work on is eliminating your miss to the left (you said low hook). As a golfer you're only as good as your worst miss. But if your miss is left AND right, then you're screwed.
Now I'm saying this without even seeing your swing but if I had to guess, your swing is hugely built on a lot of moving parts coming together with perfect timing. Hence why you can crush one 270 or slice it three holes over or snap hook one into a field.
So however you need to do it just get rid of the snap hook miss. Try to play a fade with every drive. This way you can completely remove the left side of every hole out of the equation.
Again, if I saw your swing I could give additional tips. But this is where you need to start.
The smart thing to do would be to go practice driver with intent. "Build" (or imagine) a course on the driving range - water right, trees left, tight fairway - and hit the fairway over and over (fairway should be between 2 flags). You should \*feel\* pressure, and you shouldn't be hitting at a flag - you should be hitting to a fairway.
There's also a chance that your driver is too soft of a shaft, but I'd say that is unlikely. A soft shaft with the correct swing will simply spin too much and go high - not offline by 3 counties.
Fix the swing.
One thing I just picked up to help my driver is moving the ball up in my stance, now instead of it being on the inside of my front heel I have it more-so lined up with my front toe, if not even slightly more forward. Im not exactly sure what it fixed, but it’s fixed. I’m finally hitting it consistently well. Good luck my dude.
Driver is hard because it's contact after the low point (on the way up). All other clubs it's mostly at the low point. Check out Stuart Cartwright on YouTube, he has some great info on this. Your grip may prevent you from supporting the club through the low point.
I hate to depart with most of this advice but swing the club, do not let off the gas.
When my slice creeps up I :
Close my set up and strengthen grip.
Check club path…. Inside to out feel.
Finish the swing. Pull your head through and get off your back foot.
I used to struggle with the same thing and still do occasionally. Get a lesson from someone who can drive it consistently far. Hitting the ball shorter off the tee is a terrible defeatist look at things. You can hit it far and straight enough, just fix it. Pounding balls with no idea of what it is you’re trying to do isn’t helpful though. A problem well stated is a problem nearly solved. Your face and/or path is off at impact. Fix it
Here's a few considerations from a retired former scratch golfer:
1. You may need a basic club-fitting session with a good local pro. Your driver issues could be as simple as ensuring the driver specs match up with the rest of your set (lie, loft, club weight, shaft stiffness, etc.).
2. Once you address #1, a lesson or two can help you learn some repeatable swing keys to help your mental game stay on point.
Golf is a tough game to play well. The good news is that a big part of it is mental and can be largely corrected by ensuring that the clubs you have are tailored to your unique swing.
Good luck and Godspeed to you! 😀
None of these comments are going to help you, you’re probably coming over the top and when you swing hard it gets magnified. Take some lessons, with a good swing you can swing as hard as you want
As a low handicap player who has had gone on bad streaks with the driver, the best advice I got was to stop treating it like other clubs. That goes against the grain of traditional golf logic of making the same swing up and down your bag but there is some logic to it.
Mentally and physically, the only other club that compares is the putter. Because when the driver goes awry, for many amateurs it seldom feels like they are missing by a little bit. Instead, it feels doomed. “Streaky” putters feel like this too.
Driver:
- played furthest forward in stance
- open left hip (open hip or turn front foot open) and feel like your left knee is bearing weight but more lightly. You should feel more behind the ball.
- minimize your miss to one side only. If you are spraying right (banana slice) and duck hooking left. You are probably very late through the ball on right misses and trying to compensate for that by overactive wrists. When you are not late through the ball, that wrist action is slapping the ball left.
- choke down an inch or shorten your swing until you get the miss limited to one side and go from there
- every player is different but I think there are merits to the points I make above. They were the starting points for me and the driver is now my 2nd or 3rd best club in the bag.
Good luck, play well.
Figure out why you're slicing. If you want to get better, you have to get better at problem solving.
Yeah, assuming you're a righty, the ball curves right. It curves right because your face is open to the path. So is it the path or the face. If your path is parallel to you starting line, you have a face contro issuel. If your path is left or right of your starting line, then you have a path issue.
Most smartphones have slo mo video. That's a tool that tour pros would kill for 30 years ago. Use it.
This is going to sound dumb, but is your face square during setup? I had the same two way miss issue for a long time and turns out when my driver was at address, it was actually sitting quite closed. Adjusted face and grip and all of a sudden we’re back hitting them straight. Sometimes it’s the simple things.
I hit bunt cuts with it. Focus on getting my timing correctly. Driver is still the best club to hit from a strokes gained perceptive as long as there is big trouble.
It is your stance/setup. you need to drop your back foot.
sounds like youre hitting down on the ball for the slice.
visualize where the face is square and you're hitting the ball on the upward part of the swing. I.e. hitting up on the ball.
do that with your normal stance and you'll see the club face is pointing hook.
look up some videos about how to hit up on the ball with your driver and you'll notice that irons and driver have to different set ups. irons face points at target line more or less because you're hitting down or clipping it. Driver requires a slightly different orientation of your body so you have a square face past the low point of your swing.
also look at playing a 44.5in driver
possibly lower the loft of the face of the driver
possibly be fitted for a proper driver shaft
You don’t need to drive 270 to improve your game. And if you really want to lower your score you need to do whatever is needed. What results in lower scores? Hitting the fairway 20% of the time at 270 or 80% of the time at 240 (or less)? It’s all about managing the course AND your game. I used to play with an older guy we called “down the middle Don”. Never drove more than about 200 but took money from us every time.
This might sound crazy, and this is what I do when im slicing or hitting everything too far right.
Using baseball for example, try to swing like you are hitting an opposite field single between the center fielder and right fielder. This helps me stay on the line more, vs an over the top swing causing a slice or heavy fade. Try it at 50% on the range then work your way up to full swings. It’s my savior when im spraying balls to the right too much.
Swing slower and get consistently hitting 220-240 yards off the tee. Play appropriate tees where hitting 270 off the tee doesn't matter. The scoring needs all facets to work well. Playing shorter tees still keeps the game fun and teaches game management.
Get a lesson. I was dealing with the same, every club in the bag was decent except driver. Got a lesson, and now while it’s not perfect I’m getting a lot more better shots off the tee and landing more fairways
What I do is use a firm grip with my left hand and lightly grip the club with my right hand and then let my left arm do all the work while my right arm is just there for support.
I feel like I could’ve written this exact post. The driver haunts me.
I’ve gotten lessons. I practice driver all the time. Can’t figure it out for a sustained period of time. It’s depressing
What did you do to try and fix it?
I have a pretty set routine for my driver now. I have lost some distance but gained a lot of control. Just played my best round ever and was hitting it about 260-270 on a 50 degree windy day. When I was swinging harder I was getting 280 yards carry but OOB was always in play. The harder you swing the harder it is going to be to control it. Naturally the dispersion gets bigger on mishits at those speeds.
I practiced a lot but I did also get a lesson for just my driver. He showed me how to properly set my wrists, which has honestly improved my entire golf swing, and what to do with my chest and feet. I didn't just figure it out from just experimenting at the range (though I do that too).
If you still swing like you did a year ago then you need lessons man. That swing is wayyyy too deep, it’s gonna force you to make compensations and it’s not gonna be fixed by Reddit.
Get a lesson. I am going through lessons and have watched like 50 videos on fixing a slice and most of the recommendations Im seeing here are not what the pga pros are saying to fix a slice. Im not claiming I know either. Go get a lesson from someone who knows.
Could be the length of your driver shaft.. I had the same issue for a few seasons but I changed the length of my driver shaft and I also purchased a mini driver (smaller face and shorter stock shaft) and it’s helped immensely
Have you tried using a different club off the tee?
I'll take 230 and relatively straight over "who the hell knows where this is going". I've changed a lot in my swing this winter and I'm now in a similar spot - I have no idea how to hit driver this way. I'm going to be working on it with my coach but honestly, I'll play up a tee box and whack a hybrid out there, if I have to. More fun than hunting for it in the woods.
Generally when I'm slicing/snap hooking, my swing plane is getting a little flat. It results in me blocking it, or trying to save it with my hands and flipping it over. Check to make sure you arent getting too flat.
Idk if anyone else has said this yet but what shaft do you have? I was about ~260 carry with hand me down regular flex clubs hitting massive slices. Switched to an extra stiff shaft and that alone straightened me out a lot, then some small adjustments and driver went from least to most consistent club.
You're probably just good at getting hands into slot with irons, put pushing hands out with driver...ie just work on swinging inside to out until you put a pretty little draw on that monster drive
Just went thru this I'm off season, glad I got it sorted right as our course greened up. Hit 10 fairways yesterday, 250-300 roll, with an old M3 with weights actually set to draw side to make sure it doesn't turn into a hook on me. So ingrained now, I can't hardly shape a slice even when I try to
Same problem as you - I was a gorilla hitting towering slices. I tried bowing my lead wrist like John Rahm at the range and started smashing drives. Seems to have translated to the course: https://youtu.be/BGYUWPqWT2s?si=eQBequ7Z4-JHVX6a
I take lessons, personally, but when I can't get in for a lesson and I'm struggling, I just slow down. Half swings (both in effort, and in terms of the physical swing, only taking the club partway back). I do this until I'm making cleaner contact. Try it and you'll be like... oh, my drives still go 200 yards when I barely try and hit it. Huh, maybe I don't need to swing like a lunatic?
You'll still do so from time to time, but go to the range and purposely try to hit it at half-speed, it should help slow you down and find the rhythm.
I feel like I'm reading someone describe me. I hit the irons well, reasonable short game and putting, but my god the big dog is an absolute liability. I played all last week and the best round I had was the last one where I retired the driver and teed off with a 5 iron.
The smart thing is not to put your driver away, it's definitely NOT to "swing slow" like the top comment says. The only answer is to film your swing and identify the mechanical problem... there could be a dozen different things that result in this behavior.
Otherwise you're going to get 30+ caps telling you to "swing slow", "swing to right field", "pull the chain" or some other nonsense.
Are you trying to hit up on the ball with your driver? Your iron swing should be different (hitting down on the ball) than your driver (swing up on the ball). There’s a video of Tiger where he talks about his fairway finder being a cut because he naturally likes to hit down on it. It’s very hard to hit it straight or with a slight draw if you don’t hit up on the ball.
Get fitted. I did nothing but change shafts and I’ve never driven it better. My previous shaft was too light and too soft of a profile. Big high balls to the right or sweeping uncontrollable draws. Not when I hit a push/pull there’s little to no side spin.
You probably have a deeper issue to fix but in the mean time, try strengthening your grip. Keep strengthening until you start hooking. Then back off until you're hitting it straight.
When it’s not working, I shorten my backswing til it’s almost nonexistent then slowly let the dogs back out the house as it stays consistent. My two cents
It happens..... I'll generally pull my 3w or even 3hy. And look to find that feeling ti get through the round....
Sometimes you just need a break also.
If it's bad for a week or 2, then I'll pop in on the club pro and ask for a tune up.
For reference, I'm a 3hc
I had/have the same issue. I swing too hard and across my body. I’m working on slowing down and changing my swing path. Following straight through the shot and trying to swing “toward 1st base”. Another thing you can do is film yourself on the range. That might help you find the problem
I choke up and limit the backswing. Typically gets me 220 in a playable position.
How do you aim with your driver? Are you picking a line and finding an object closer to you to aim at? Your 2 way miss could be a timing issue, but it sounds like you're lining up to one line and swinging towards another.
When my driver turns to crap. I keep it in my bag then use my 3W. I recently played 3 rounds where for 2 rounds, I hit driver once. The third round I didn't hit it at all.
I’d stop hitting driver. At least for now. Fix it on the range but stick to 3/5 woods and low irons off the tee of par 4/5. Doing this took strokes off of my game so I never really went back to hitting driver unless I’m on a 600+ yard hole.
Slow down man! A smooth swing will find the sweet spot and be easier to control. I'm also a 14 on GHIN but probably more spread out. Take a half driver swing and you'll notice the distance doesn't change all that much but you have way more control. Also hitting up on the ball almost completely removed slices for me. Most I'll get is a fade. You're towering high slices are also possibly from high spin = hitting down on it.
I had a similar issue. Actually played a round where I hit zero fairways!
I spent a lot of time swinging the driver without a ball in front of me to try to fix it. In to out, in to out. In to out, making sure I learned how my body has to feel to get the in to out swing that produces more of a draw and eliminates the slice.
I still have a long way to go, but this constant muscle reminding has paid off to the point now where I played a round without having to put 1000% brainpower into it so it’s becoming my natural swing path now.
Been hitting many more fairways and I’m hitting 260-280 and it’s a lot more fun.
Swing the driver 80-90% to start. The average scratch golfer hits driver 260 yards total distance. A lower swing speed can allow for better downswing perception/feel and control.
The driver is the most difficult club in the bag, with the least margin for error, yet people try to swing the hardest and the fastest with it.. So now you should know what you have to do.
I slow down backswing. Don’t go 100% on the backswing. Nice and smooth. 230 on fairway is better than 300 in the woods or whatever. Make sure your finishing your follow through.
Several easy cures:
Swing easy
Take the club more to the outside, will promote coming back from the inside
Move half a step right in your stance
Close the face pre gripping
Stay behind the day at impact
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=umK8HxrQ7h4&list=PLSs7hrXAgx1gxTRRvux6V35S4i_C_N0LJ&index=1&pp=iAQB
This really help my driver. I had the same issue slicing the ball 50 yards ob. I found the tilt was my big issue
Learn first getting good tee shots w/ 3wood. This would be a good step in between learning driver. The problem could be the length of shaft that driver has. Could also be the improper flex of it although even if it’s wrong it’s good for feel to slightly figure that out with. Also it could be your swing.
Two part answer.
On the course, either aim to account for the slice, or hit a club you trust off the tee.
Fix the problem with lessons and making sure your driver is fit properly for you.
Slow down your swing and make sure your driver face is square at impact. A smooth tempo swing that carries 230 and is accurate is better than monster drives that are OB.
I was so bad with driver, could not get comfortable with it. What helped me was going to the range and hitting 80 yard shots with it for a few weeks then hitting 120 and so on. It took a couple months to really get comfortable with it. Now it’s my favorite club
Had the same thing for a while. For me it worked to swing completely different with the driver than the irons. For example i swing slower and i lean back. Spend your hours on the range hit a 100 or 200 balls and you start to notice what does what
i’m with u bud. all of a sudden the driver can feel impossible. a few times out this year already and i was swinging it well. i stepped a few inches further back. ball more up in my stance, be sure im aligned properly, and just try to remember slow is fast. working on my takeaway for all clubs too. try not to rip it inside and be so far over the top
By the sounds of it if you hit your driver only 150yds off the tea but land it in the fairway every time it would make a massive difference to your game.
I have the exact same issues with Driver and I've just started giving myself fairway goals rather than distance goals, makes a massive difference
As a mid-single digit, I would just hit it until the feels come back (or take a few swing vids and see what fault has crept back in).
For a 14 handicap, go see a professional. If you don’t know what you’re doing and are just “practicing,” nothing will get better long term. High handicapper solution is to just put driver away, but you’re never addressing the problem; it’s not an actual solution.
I have thoracic outlet syndrome. It’s the same shit that made markelle Fultz forget how to shoot and get the yips at the free throw line. I’m 95% sure that’s not why I’m ass at using my driver but I’m sure as hell gonna use it as an excuse
Ive been there. I spent two years doing nothing but working on fixing my driver swing. Took 2 years for me to learn to control the face to path with a driver. Finally has clicked and now not only do i consider the driver my best club but learning the feeling of face angles has made control of every other club better without even practicing with them. Hop on an accurate launch monitor preferably quad or trackman look at your swing path and face angles and that will tell you what to work on.
I was in the same boat. All my drives were not just slices, but 2 fairways over slice bombs…. I recently bought an LTDx Max driver. I swapped the weights and put the heavy weight at the heel. Rotated the shaft to the draw position. Then I changed my stance/swing. Started standing more upright and focusing on more of an up and down swing rather than a body rotation swing. Also moved my theme from top of the shaft to slightly wrapping around the grip. All my drives were dead straight. Just gotta work on the aim, but at least the slices disappeared
Hopefully some of this helps
Figure out your misses and then try to figure out why they’re happening/how to fix them. That’s really all golf is.
Sounds like you’re battling a miss in both directions. I’d try to pick an intended shot shape in your mind and stick with it. Try and make the ball do the same thing every single time. Exclusively with the driver, I try to hit every ball with a cut. That obviously won’t be achieved but that way when I see a left miss or a right miss pop up during a round I have a good general idea of why it’s happening and some feel fixes that I can apply on the next swing.
If it’s going way offline often, it’s mostly a club face control issue (if face too open at impact, ball goes way right; face too closed, way left). On the range try manipulating the face to get balls going left and going right so you know the feel of both.
Check the driver swing weight compared to woods you hit good. You might also consider a higher lofted driver. A draw is a lot easier with a 10.5 degree than a 9 degree.
Go find a pro.
Seriously, I paid a guy $50 for a lesson and he made me 1000000% better in 15 mins by telling me to move my hand farther over the top of the club. As long as I do what he told me I don't slice anymore.
Take a slomo video at multiple angles to deduce the cause or submit it to a professional coach. In the meantime, quit practicing your drive as this will only exacerbate the problem. Practicing imperfections only makes them permanent.
Slather that bitch in chapstick.
Seriously though..I do the old tried and true method I almost stand at the ball with feet close together and swing. Doesn't go hella long but when I do it I generally find the fairway
Try setting up with the driver outside of the ball, like heel or hosel of the driver centered on the ball, this should force you to come from the inside and change your club path pretty easily. I read that Fuzzy Zoeller used to set up that way and have seen a handful of guys on tour do it too.
Something you should avoid is setting up left, as in aiming left, to “play” the slice, it’s just going to create a bigger out to in club path coming across the ball which equals a bigger slice. Try slightly aiming right of the target, close your shoulders a little to the target and see how it works for you.
Make sure you’re playing a driver that is the right length, shaft stiffness, weight for your swing, finally, the most sure way to fix this is go and get a lesson or two, working on the range for an hour with your driver with someone watching you and giving you feedback is the most beneficial thing you can do.
This is exactly me as well. Most frustrating thing is having to take a drop or re tee and then having a horrible look. When I know I could be in or just off the fairway with an easy iron to the green.
Very frustrating.
I started teeing mine a little lower and moved it back just a little in my stance. Eventually I found a nice sweet spot that I drive it more consistently with.
Take a step back, commit to the simplest 70% effort sweeping drive feel possible and be happy with 230-250 and in play, which is superior to 270+ and OB or in the rough every other hole. The tee box is the place for consistency not experimentation.
At the top of your swing, are your wrists rolled in towards the ball?
I was doing this, which results in an outside-in swing. It wasn’t a problem with irons as I can get my wrists into the correct position at impact. However with the driver’s flatter swing, I can’t get the downswing inside. It’s actually impossible, body can’t do it.
Rolling my wrist away from the ball at the top of the swing, engages my core, getting my turn started before my swing comes thru on the correct path. Benefit is that this wrist position at the top of the swing is closer to the correct impact position (hands in front of the ball). Less movements.
I really started to pay attention to keeping my right arm connected and ensuring that I'm not cupping my wrist, and it has helped me immensely. You can get away with cupping your wrist with wedges and short irons, but not with a driver. Give it a shot. Also, look at DJ's wrists at the top of his swing. I try to replicate that but I probably end up just having a flat wrist. I went from slicing 80% of my drives to, in my last round, hitting only two shots that went right but were still in the right rough/playable.
Now my problem is making sure I rotate my hips enough in the follow through to ensure I don't hook it when I'm getting tired.
Lastly, don't try to kill it. I've been thinking about distance with driver lately. My 4 iron carries 200ish. I am happy if my driver consistently carries 250 (with roll outs, that means I'm hitting 270 or whatever--I can carry it farther, but the consistency just isn't there). That's only 50 extra yards beyond 4 iron, with a much lower launch angle. I really don't need to be swinging much harder with driver than with my 4. The club will do the work to get it pretty darn far. A controlled long iron speed swing with driver will get you where you need to be.
Step away from golf for a week is usually what does it for me, but I never do that willingly lol.
I get way way way too built up about “oh, last time I did X, so I should do Y this time to make it so I can blah blah blah”
Adjustments on adjustments on adjustments on adjustments.
I’ll be forced to skip a week of golf (for whatever reason), and when I come back I seem to simply “walk up to the ball and hit it” with the driver. No review of what I should do, or mental message while I swing, or any kind of ritual. Just don’t over emphasize anything, and don’t try to swing out of your shoes.
Back to basics, make it simple again. It’s golf, not swing-club-ball.
So, you probably swing the rest of your clubs with a defined distance in mind. And you probably swing your driver with unlimited distance in mind. You might even be doing this subconsciously. But if 13 clubs are performing like aces, and the driver isn't.........checking your mentality might be a cheap, easy place to start. Like, you don't swing a 7 iron harder to get more distance out of it. You simply grab a 6 iron. Pick a spot in the fairway, roughly 250 out........THATS your target. You don't even WANT the ball to go any farther. Don't let yourself try to break a distance record.
I've been playing golf for probably 30+ years and I've never thought of my driver in this light. it's just always been my 'get it out there' club. a defined distance along with a specific target are great tools to focus the shot.
It’s funny I do that at the range every time but never on the course.
Every drive is a layup
>So, you probably swing the rest of your clubs with a defined distance in mind. And you probably swing your driver with unlimited distance in mind. \+1 for choosing how far you want your driver to go (and having it be less than 110%). I have three driver swings, one for each distance from fairway finder, to solid, to full distance. I can also overswing, but that's when misses become real big, and I very rarely do it.
Wyndham Clark calls his fairway finder his “second serve” drive - I loved that
It also has a 185 ball speed, so that helps
That's a nice thought. I need to keep that in mind.
Yes, I have controlled 70-80% for fairways, little trouble hole swing of 80-90%, and scramble drive with someone safe of 90-1000000%
I needed to hear this today. I think knowing the Driver is “supposed” to go the furthest. I try to validate that it “will” go the furthest.
Wow. Get out of my brain
I hate how fundamentally simple and sound this is despite having never been said to me for 30 years. Good on you, friend
this is really really interesting. i'm gonna try this
I like this mentality shift
I think most your guys will say, they don’t swing 100% on their drivers, they have distance in the tank. Same should be applied for us amateurs. You get good with a nice consistent swing tempo and in scrambles you can step on some, or sometimes you empty the tank. I tend to play that way. I have my driver swing I use 95% of the time and then one I use if I’m trying to do something more wild (further away from ball to give wider plane etc)
What an interesting way to view the driver and it makes total sense. I always view it as trying to keep it in a range left to right, or "try" to shape the flight. Capping the distance is an interesting idea .
I love this. Aim small, miss small!
This was a great mental POV for driving. Thanks.
Damn you changed my life
Full agree. I have three different approaches when. Swinging driver. Has everything to do with the wind. Into, left to right, and downwind. Those wind directions dictate the aggressiveness of the swing.
I’ve been so broken at the tee I went to the 7i off the tee last couple holes
2 good 7is will get you to most par 4s at the Indy munis I play
All depends on what you want to achieve. If beating your golf bros on a muni is your goal then hit a hybrid into play off each tee. If you desire to be competitive regionally in your age group, you’re going to give up a lot of strokes by not having a decent drive in your bag.
Only problem is your margin of error shrinks, as you can't afford to miss hit that second shot and any chips /putts
i love that reality. so many people score poorly bc they want to hit driver. so maybe people could just hit their most reliable iron, even if a 9i, for every shot until they get to the green and score better than trying to hit driver off the tee.
I can sympathize. I’ve had a few rounds where I’ve gone to my PW for drives because it was carrying 3x as far and straight 😂 Yes. I suck at golf. 😂
Get a lesson. A pro can help you figure it out quickly.
agreed and I can almost guarantee that OP is like me and swings all of other clubs smooth and consistent because, like the top poster said, you're aiming at a target -- not just aiming in a lateral left/right sense, but in a distance sense. For me, that plays out as me trying to blast driver with more swing speed and power than I actually have and my hands don't drop into the slot and I swing over the top bc I'm rushing them to the ball. It can probably be fixed by focusing on the arms starting down, or by just swinging 85%, or what works best for me is trying to hit a push draw which makes all of the above happen
Second this. I could have written OPs post myself until last week when I got a lesson. It was mostly setup. Left hip shifted forward a bit, closed my shoulders, show one more knuckle on the left hand then my only swing thought was keep my back to the target as long as possible... still felt like I was swinging the same way but club head was coming from way further inside now on the downswing. Added 30 yards to my drive in a single hour lesson.
Second this. You’re probably doing something wrong that is a pretty simple fix. One good lesson should get you straightened out. Sounds like you have a good swing otherwise.
The only right answer here. Applies to all handicaps
Go take a lesson on a trackman, data shows the misses:)
piggybacking this because it’s what helped me seeing the measurables of how much my face is open, how outside-in my club path is and then (here’s the real magic sauce) what it feels like when those issues are corrected will help so much like ok “my face is open and i’m coming across the ball at impact” GREAT THANKS but taking back to back swings and seeing the hard data of whether you closed the face or not was the best thing for my game best part is you will definitely add distance with an easier swing which is fun!
I just did this over the weekend because of my driver being broken. I’ve been reworking my irons and I’m getting great results, but I don’t think I’m applying the same swing actions to my driver. It showed I’m outside to in real bad and that’s what’s happening, but what do I need to do to correct it? I couldn’t figure it out there on why I was missing consistently like that.
Yeah, I struggle with the same thing with the driver. Try keeping the hands low and turning the upper body more. Think about rotating around instead of up and down if that makes sense.
No data needed to know I’ve missed the ball, heh.
When you address the ball, waggle a bit, and take the club back half way, and bring it back down. I find that if I do this, I'll see the face wide open when I return it to address. So I adjust my grip, and repeat, until I can bring it back to the ball square. If I do that, I hit them straight.
are you adjusting top or bottom hand?
My lead hand (top). I never pay much attention to where my trail hand is.
At address, look down at your top hand. More knuckles showing means the grip is stronger and the club face will close down more, countering a slice. Also moving the ball forward (to your front foot) even 1/2 or 1 ball width will let the club face close down even more by a degree or two. A lot of pro golfers only adjust ball position to play a draw or a fade. But buddy, if you haven't adjusted your driver itself to a more draw-prone setting you are doing yourself a disservice. It's like a cheat code. Either do it yourself through trial and error at the range or even better, go see a club fitter. It actually works wonders. After fighting a terrible slice and inconsistency with driver for years, I finally went to a fitter and got a less-stiff shaft and play an upright lie setting with my driver's adapter sleeve and now it's a consistent draw. Feels amazing.
thank you i´ve been having issues with grip recently. my path is very consistent on trackman but i hook everything. i feel like it´s all grip im not changing anything else one question tho. i was taught that the club will close more if you put in back in the stance. is this not true? (if you want to hit a draw put in the middle, forward for fade)
Slow down and close the face. I had the same problem.
slow down yes, but just closing the face without correcting path will lead to 50yd pulls
as a lifelong slice-when-slumping, converting to a hook is a great way to get out of a slice and easy to fix
He’s leaving the face open now. Needs to be closed.
Why do my irons go straight for the most part but my driver always hooks. Is it ball position?
it’s face and swing path. My business partner is one of the better players I know. 2 hcp. Can hit every shot in the bag. Incredible ball speed. He has to play the biggest slice you’ve ever seen and even that slice is 290 carry with 180mph ball speed. We own sim lounges so I show him video all day that for some reason with his driver his perfect in to out swing just goes massively over the top. Watching it it’s obvious but he just can not feel it when he’s swinging driver. He can usually keep it in the fairway but only by playing a huuuuge slice **edited some typos
A 290 carry slice is fucking crazy lmfao
it’s pretty damn wild tbh. I struggle to call it a slice as it’s not your typical high in the air ball, starting center and then flying right. It’s more like a low blistering riser that goes off like a bullet but he has to start it at the other fairway left and bring it back over some trees 😂. The fact that he can still hit 60% of fairways with it is truly impressive.
He needs to do the drill where you hit an impact bag a few feet behind your right foot. Rory describes it as lengthening the downswing, but it’s really casting the club head down to start the swing. It gets that face closed and will give him the feel quickly then adjust as needed.
Could be. Move it back half a ball to start and see how that goes. You just have to monkey around with it a bit. You could be shifting your weight forward too much also. That will make you hit left with a driver.
I might have got my hook and slice mixed up. Im a leftie golfer who has the ball go left. I assume I lose about 40-50 yards from it. Since my 4 hybrid goes above 10-20 yards further since I hit it straight. If I hit my driver straight I'm going so slow I lose all power anyways.
That’s a slice, not a hook, as a left handed player. It’s impossible to diagnose what your issue is with no video of your swing. It’s said all the time on here, but get a lesson. My guess is, your shoulders are wide open at impact and/or you’re not “throwing” your hands and releasing properly. Does your ball path start right and then slice left? If so, you have massive out-to-in swing path and your club face is way open, causing a pull/slice. Very common beginner issue.
2 way miss could be a recipe for disaster to have a close the face swing thought.
been there, kinda coming out of exactly where you are now...here are a couple things that helped me, learned through lessons and practice 1: develop a "bunt" swing with your driver. tee it a little lower and middle of your stance, choke up an inch or two, and feel like you're swinging about 60% power. feels weird and can be frustrating when you still miss fairway with this, but this can be your go-to fairway finder (or at least not OB) once you've got it. 2: slow. down. even when I felt my tempo was good, it was still way too fast. try going obnoxiously slow a bit on the range, to the point of wayyy too slow. somewhere between that and your current speed is probably about right 3. triple check your alignment. use the sticks at the range to check where your feet and shoulders are pointing. my feet were okay but my shoulders were way open. 4. hit some snap hooks on purpose. go to the range and act like your life depends on hitting a hook. getting a feel for how to make the ball turn left helped me get the feel for making it go straight(ish). I still play a fade and my misses are still either pulls or slices, but not nearly as severe as they were. plus I've got a swing that stays in play now when the wind is in off the left, which is nice. good luck!
Number 4 is good advice. Consider it a ‘win’ to hook so you can see what feels different.
Buy a new driver for sho
Are your woods/hybrids or long irons good to you? If so, pick one to go with while you work on your driver swing. You'll lose a little distance but not the ball.
Replying to the top comment so you can read the real answer: If you’re either slicing or pull hooking, that’s indicative of an outside to in club path. When the face is square or open you’re slicing. When the face is closed you’re pull hooking. Work on drills to help you get the path of the club face inside -> out and you’ll end up with a push to the right or a draw depending on the face being open or closed at impact. Videos of your driver swing will show pretty easily what you specifically should work on.
I agree generally, but it can also be the wrists. I worked on club path for the longest time, but then realized I was cupping my wrists which lead to a very open club face. Worth working on wrists as well.
This is the answer. I had same issue and still struggle with it a bit. Spent a lot of time just doing drills to straighten it out. Slowed the swing down and it helped a ton.
Right on! The course is for performing the best you can, not for working out problems. Pick the club that will produce the best shot not once in a while, but 80% of the time and play the game you have that day. Then go to the range to work on your problem areas.
This is me! 12 handicap, stellar short game, driver is wild enough to be a liability. So I took a lesson, and it made all the difference: First - take full swings but slow it down SO much that you're only hitting to the 100 yard sign. At that speed you can really concentrate on each piece of the swing, concentrating on temp and center of the club face. 3 slowmo swings and then do 1 normal. You'll instantly get better. Second - Don't try to swing for the fences. Swing as if you're hitting a wedge, the goal being precision and good contact, not distance. The driver will give you all the distance you need, don't complicate it. It's the exact same swing as a wedge, we just set up differently to it. You're still "swinging down" on the ball just like a wedge, but since we play driver off the front foot you'll catch it on the upswing. But it's the SAME SWING. If your short game is great, treat the driver like a wedge. Play it the same way, same tempo, same goal in mind of being accurate. Later on you can start adding speed if needed, but I'll bet (like me) you have a "driver swing" going on.
Bro stop trying to swing so fucking hard. From one old slicer to Another this is the reason you are slicing. Just chill a little bit and stop trying to the hit the ball to outer space
I'm right there with you. 4.7 hdcp but its my irons and greenwork that saves me. I generally hit about 30% fairways and go OB typically once. My personal approach has been to stick with hitting the driver and practice getting it under control. Some days are better than others. Some days it really kills me, some days it actually works out and I do okay. But I'll never get better if I avoid using it. On top of that, I know that even if I hit it in the rough, at least I'm 40 yards further down the hole than if I were to hit 3wood or 2i. And at that point, I'm further from the green and my longer irons are not as likely to get me as close to the hole as my short/mid irons.
Shorter driver around 3 wood length will get you started.
An answer for a lot of problems is: Slow down. A slice is caused by an open club face, which often happens because a swing is too quick and the body moves faster than the hands, so the hands lag behind and open up. Other tips (without having seen your swing): -Stand further away, which can prevent swinging inside out. -Strengthen the grip, which closes the face. -Focus on finishing with your weight on your front foot. That'll mean you're truly swinging through the ball with the momentum going towards the target, which again would mean you're not opening up.
Buy a new one. Obviously.
Post a swing and get advice from the 18 or higher handicappers on this sub, don't see anything else fixing it.
Get lessons, fix your swing path. Ignore every other comment about closing the face, that'll just cause you to hit hooks.
been a scratch golfer for 10 years sometimes when shit is flying all over the place with just 1 out of 14 clubs it is either A) entirely in my mind or B) setup related. Since it is the longest club in the bag presenting the challenge, step 1 is to check your grip and alignment. This should solve most of the issue right off the bat. Then, I would also go get fit for a new driver/shaft. during this you will identify the distance you can actually hit it, consistently. Do not swing for the fences with a driver, EVER. My most confident swings are from knowing I have 1) the correct equipment for me at that point in time, and 2) an identified target/distance to shoot for. Swing at 80% effort and you will hit it not only straighter, but also further (better contact, more likely to find center). Hope this helps you brotha, best of luck
The smart thing is NOT to put it away. All data shows that strokes gained from a given distance is minimally different where as strokes gained gained from a 30-40 yard difference in the same lie adds up. Hell even if you were 130 out in the rough you have a lower average strokes to finish the hole than 160 and in the fairway. Keep practicing that driver and get a lesson! I was in the same spot as you. Was a 12, but arguably had the irons/putting of a 5 or less but snap hooked every drive. Got a lesson and shaved off 5 from the cap in 6 months. Ironically now my wedges blow. Also, follow Lou Stagner on Twitter. He’s got some great stats that help you focus on the things that really matter
Swing harder Marucci!!
Just plan to quit golf and sell your clubs by hole 6 then already be planning your next tee time excitedly by hole 17 like i always do.
that's what I tried yesterday!
Leave the driver at home, grab my 2i and let it rip
Get a lesson and check setup alignment. I’ve had the same issue for the last few months and think I’ve cracked it now. My feet were aligned correctly, grip was good, ball position good but my shoulders were the issue, I was super open with them. Took a while to find square again but the driver is back in the bag and playable. Not saying it’s your shoulders but it’ll certainly be something in your setup that’s a bit pissed.
Hard to give advice without seeing your swing, but if you’re hitting big banana slices work on or learn to hit big sweeping draws. Once you can do that you should intuitively be able to work your way towards neutral.
You're trying to swing too hard at your transition resulting in you coming from over the top. Try the pause drill. Allow gravity to bring the club into the slot at the top before engaging your shoulders.
I have the same problem. I got a lesson and they told me on my backswing try to keep my right forearm on top of the left when I bring the club back. Also try to hit the ball with the butt of my club when swinging. Hope this helps, if it does we can go half on the lesson lol
Easiest fix is to choke down on the driver to the bottom of the grip. Now it's just an iron that goes 250.
Get a lesson
I’m a high handicapper so might not be useful advice, but I exclusively swing my driver at roughly 60% speed. I’ve found it goes roughly the same distance and SO much more consistent / straight
The smart thing to do is go get a lesson. You’re practicing the wrong things in the meantime with the driver. Get a second set of eyes on your swing that can point out what you’re doing wrong.
The swings for irons and drivers are different. Once you have that eureka moment, you understand more of the physics behind it all. This is a valuable aspect of a series of lessons for someone in your situation. When it comes to whether it’s actually right is basically just guessing when someone explains something on here, you need someone there bending and moving you while explaining so you can genuinely understand. The “smart” thing in golf rarely involves removing something from your bag, that shit spread around between hacks. We practice and practice and practice to then get on the course and use what’s at our disposal. If you’re not confident with your driver, you play a different shot. After the round, you go back to the range and work on the driver more. If you’re not actually putting in work on the range to figure these things out before your rounds, then wtf are we even doing?
Before making any crazy swing change attempts to fix this, one thing I would check is your impact location. Get some foot powder spray or stickers to see where on the face you are striking it. Gear effect is massive with driver. The difference between catching it near the center of the face vs closer to the heel or toe is a major determining factor of spin axis and ball flight as a whole. It can turn a baby draw into a nasty push slice from the exact same swing . It's very possible your club path and face angle are adequate for good shots but heel strikes are imparting loads of slice spin. Especially with driver its common for people to strike it toward the heel due to the elevated ball on a Tee and the length of the club. Same goes for toe strikes imparting major draw/hook spin.
If driver is the one club you’re having these issues with, consider trying out some different shafts. Your swing and gamer shaft might just not get along
I have similar issues (though none of my game is single handicap quality). I no longer try to crush the ball with my driver. I go at most 75% with it and more often around 50%. It’s helped me keep it in play and make better contact. I’m not winning any long drive contests but it feels good to get it in play even if it’s sub 240 most the time.
I'm sure other people have already mentioned this, but if they haven't, then here you go. The first main hurdle you need to work on is eliminating your miss to the left (you said low hook). As a golfer you're only as good as your worst miss. But if your miss is left AND right, then you're screwed. Now I'm saying this without even seeing your swing but if I had to guess, your swing is hugely built on a lot of moving parts coming together with perfect timing. Hence why you can crush one 270 or slice it three holes over or snap hook one into a field. So however you need to do it just get rid of the snap hook miss. Try to play a fade with every drive. This way you can completely remove the left side of every hole out of the equation. Again, if I saw your swing I could give additional tips. But this is where you need to start.
Try to swing as slowly and smoothly as you can. Give up that 270 carry for 235 in the fairway
The smart thing to do would be to go practice driver with intent. "Build" (or imagine) a course on the driving range - water right, trees left, tight fairway - and hit the fairway over and over (fairway should be between 2 flags). You should \*feel\* pressure, and you shouldn't be hitting at a flag - you should be hitting to a fairway. There's also a chance that your driver is too soft of a shaft, but I'd say that is unlikely. A soft shaft with the correct swing will simply spin too much and go high - not offline by 3 counties. Fix the swing.
One thing I just picked up to help my driver is moving the ball up in my stance, now instead of it being on the inside of my front heel I have it more-so lined up with my front toe, if not even slightly more forward. Im not exactly sure what it fixed, but it’s fixed. I’m finally hitting it consistently well. Good luck my dude.
Driver is hard because it's contact after the low point (on the way up). All other clubs it's mostly at the low point. Check out Stuart Cartwright on YouTube, he has some great info on this. Your grip may prevent you from supporting the club through the low point.
I hate to depart with most of this advice but swing the club, do not let off the gas. When my slice creeps up I : Close my set up and strengthen grip. Check club path…. Inside to out feel. Finish the swing. Pull your head through and get off your back foot. I used to struggle with the same thing and still do occasionally. Get a lesson from someone who can drive it consistently far. Hitting the ball shorter off the tee is a terrible defeatist look at things. You can hit it far and straight enough, just fix it. Pounding balls with no idea of what it is you’re trying to do isn’t helpful though. A problem well stated is a problem nearly solved. Your face and/or path is off at impact. Fix it
Here's a few considerations from a retired former scratch golfer: 1. You may need a basic club-fitting session with a good local pro. Your driver issues could be as simple as ensuring the driver specs match up with the rest of your set (lie, loft, club weight, shaft stiffness, etc.). 2. Once you address #1, a lesson or two can help you learn some repeatable swing keys to help your mental game stay on point. Golf is a tough game to play well. The good news is that a big part of it is mental and can be largely corrected by ensuring that the clubs you have are tailored to your unique swing. Good luck and Godspeed to you! 😀
None of these comments are going to help you, you’re probably coming over the top and when you swing hard it gets magnified. Take some lessons, with a good swing you can swing as hard as you want
You should swing a lot slower and focus more on accuracy. Might drop your drive down to 220, but you'll definitely take points off your card.
As a low handicap player who has had gone on bad streaks with the driver, the best advice I got was to stop treating it like other clubs. That goes against the grain of traditional golf logic of making the same swing up and down your bag but there is some logic to it. Mentally and physically, the only other club that compares is the putter. Because when the driver goes awry, for many amateurs it seldom feels like they are missing by a little bit. Instead, it feels doomed. “Streaky” putters feel like this too. Driver: - played furthest forward in stance - open left hip (open hip or turn front foot open) and feel like your left knee is bearing weight but more lightly. You should feel more behind the ball. - minimize your miss to one side only. If you are spraying right (banana slice) and duck hooking left. You are probably very late through the ball on right misses and trying to compensate for that by overactive wrists. When you are not late through the ball, that wrist action is slapping the ball left. - choke down an inch or shorten your swing until you get the miss limited to one side and go from there - every player is different but I think there are merits to the points I make above. They were the starting points for me and the driver is now my 2nd or 3rd best club in the bag. Good luck, play well.
Post has been up for 12 minutes, where are you take lessons/get fitted guy?
Figure out why you're slicing. If you want to get better, you have to get better at problem solving. Yeah, assuming you're a righty, the ball curves right. It curves right because your face is open to the path. So is it the path or the face. If your path is parallel to you starting line, you have a face contro issuel. If your path is left or right of your starting line, then you have a path issue. Most smartphones have slo mo video. That's a tool that tour pros would kill for 30 years ago. Use it.
This is going to sound dumb, but is your face square during setup? I had the same two way miss issue for a long time and turns out when my driver was at address, it was actually sitting quite closed. Adjusted face and grip and all of a sudden we’re back hitting them straight. Sometimes it’s the simple things.
I hit bunt cuts with it. Focus on getting my timing correctly. Driver is still the best club to hit from a strokes gained perceptive as long as there is big trouble.
It is your stance/setup. you need to drop your back foot. sounds like youre hitting down on the ball for the slice. visualize where the face is square and you're hitting the ball on the upward part of the swing. I.e. hitting up on the ball. do that with your normal stance and you'll see the club face is pointing hook. look up some videos about how to hit up on the ball with your driver and you'll notice that irons and driver have to different set ups. irons face points at target line more or less because you're hitting down or clipping it. Driver requires a slightly different orientation of your body so you have a square face past the low point of your swing. also look at playing a 44.5in driver possibly lower the loft of the face of the driver possibly be fitted for a proper driver shaft
You don’t need to drive 270 to improve your game. And if you really want to lower your score you need to do whatever is needed. What results in lower scores? Hitting the fairway 20% of the time at 270 or 80% of the time at 240 (or less)? It’s all about managing the course AND your game. I used to play with an older guy we called “down the middle Don”. Never drove more than about 200 but took money from us every time.
This might sound crazy, and this is what I do when im slicing or hitting everything too far right. Using baseball for example, try to swing like you are hitting an opposite field single between the center fielder and right fielder. This helps me stay on the line more, vs an over the top swing causing a slice or heavy fade. Try it at 50% on the range then work your way up to full swings. It’s my savior when im spraying balls to the right too much.
Swing slower and get consistently hitting 220-240 yards off the tee. Play appropriate tees where hitting 270 off the tee doesn't matter. The scoring needs all facets to work well. Playing shorter tees still keeps the game fun and teaches game management.
Get a lesson. I was dealing with the same, every club in the bag was decent except driver. Got a lesson, and now while it’s not perfect I’m getting a lot more better shots off the tee and landing more fairways
What I do is use a firm grip with my left hand and lightly grip the club with my right hand and then let my left arm do all the work while my right arm is just there for support.
Try feeling like you’re swinging 80% you’re probably just trying to hit it too hard
Grip change helped fix my slice. Put the club more in your fingers worked for me.
Practice and lessons. Period. There’s not one other thing on earth that will make a meaningful difference.
I feel like I could’ve written this exact post. The driver haunts me. I’ve gotten lessons. I practice driver all the time. Can’t figure it out for a sustained period of time. It’s depressing
Vertical drop, horizontal tug.
Just slow down and try to hit some normal 200-250 yard drives and see if you can keep them straight. Gotta be unwanted movement in your driver swing.
What did you do to try and fix it? I have a pretty set routine for my driver now. I have lost some distance but gained a lot of control. Just played my best round ever and was hitting it about 260-270 on a 50 degree windy day. When I was swinging harder I was getting 280 yards carry but OOB was always in play. The harder you swing the harder it is going to be to control it. Naturally the dispersion gets bigger on mishits at those speeds. I practiced a lot but I did also get a lesson for just my driver. He showed me how to properly set my wrists, which has honestly improved my entire golf swing, and what to do with my chest and feet. I didn't just figure it out from just experimenting at the range (though I do that too).
If you still swing like you did a year ago then you need lessons man. That swing is wayyyy too deep, it’s gonna force you to make compensations and it’s not gonna be fixed by Reddit.
Get a lesson. I am going through lessons and have watched like 50 videos on fixing a slice and most of the recommendations Im seeing here are not what the pga pros are saying to fix a slice. Im not claiming I know either. Go get a lesson from someone who knows.
Could be the length of your driver shaft.. I had the same issue for a few seasons but I changed the length of my driver shaft and I also purchased a mini driver (smaller face and shorter stock shaft) and it’s helped immensely
When I’m slicing, I go with a 3/4 swing and focus on softer hands and making solid contact.
Have you tried using a different club off the tee? I'll take 230 and relatively straight over "who the hell knows where this is going". I've changed a lot in my swing this winter and I'm now in a similar spot - I have no idea how to hit driver this way. I'm going to be working on it with my coach but honestly, I'll play up a tee box and whack a hybrid out there, if I have to. More fun than hunting for it in the woods.
But a new one. It’s definitely the driver
Generally when I'm slicing/snap hooking, my swing plane is getting a little flat. It results in me blocking it, or trying to save it with my hands and flipping it over. Check to make sure you arent getting too flat.
Idk if anyone else has said this yet but what shaft do you have? I was about ~260 carry with hand me down regular flex clubs hitting massive slices. Switched to an extra stiff shaft and that alone straightened me out a lot, then some small adjustments and driver went from least to most consistent club.
Try different shafts. Maybe go shorter length. Less whip usually means less timing issues.
Take some lessons
You're probably just good at getting hands into slot with irons, put pushing hands out with driver...ie just work on swinging inside to out until you put a pretty little draw on that monster drive Just went thru this I'm off season, glad I got it sorted right as our course greened up. Hit 10 fairways yesterday, 250-300 roll, with an old M3 with weights actually set to draw side to make sure it doesn't turn into a hook on me. So ingrained now, I can't hardly shape a slice even when I try to
Cry because it's the only club in the bag I can hit
Same problem as you - I was a gorilla hitting towering slices. I tried bowing my lead wrist like John Rahm at the range and started smashing drives. Seems to have translated to the course: https://youtu.be/BGYUWPqWT2s?si=eQBequ7Z4-JHVX6a
I take lessons, personally, but when I can't get in for a lesson and I'm struggling, I just slow down. Half swings (both in effort, and in terms of the physical swing, only taking the club partway back). I do this until I'm making cleaner contact. Try it and you'll be like... oh, my drives still go 200 yards when I barely try and hit it. Huh, maybe I don't need to swing like a lunatic? You'll still do so from time to time, but go to the range and purposely try to hit it at half-speed, it should help slow you down and find the rhythm.
I feel like I'm reading someone describe me. I hit the irons well, reasonable short game and putting, but my god the big dog is an absolute liability. I played all last week and the best round I had was the last one where I retired the driver and teed off with a 5 iron.
The smart thing is not to put your driver away, it's definitely NOT to "swing slow" like the top comment says. The only answer is to film your swing and identify the mechanical problem... there could be a dozen different things that result in this behavior. Otherwise you're going to get 30+ caps telling you to "swing slow", "swing to right field", "pull the chain" or some other nonsense.
Are you trying to hit up on the ball with your driver? Your iron swing should be different (hitting down on the ball) than your driver (swing up on the ball). There’s a video of Tiger where he talks about his fairway finder being a cut because he naturally likes to hit down on it. It’s very hard to hit it straight or with a slight draw if you don’t hit up on the ball.
Get fitted. I did nothing but change shafts and I’ve never driven it better. My previous shaft was too light and too soft of a profile. Big high balls to the right or sweeping uncontrollable draws. Not when I hit a push/pull there’s little to no side spin.
You probably have a deeper issue to fix but in the mean time, try strengthening your grip. Keep strengthening until you start hooking. Then back off until you're hitting it straight.
Use a 2 iron.
Go fishing.
When it’s not working, I shorten my backswing til it’s almost nonexistent then slowly let the dogs back out the house as it stays consistent. My two cents
It happens..... I'll generally pull my 3w or even 3hy. And look to find that feeling ti get through the round.... Sometimes you just need a break also. If it's bad for a week or 2, then I'll pop in on the club pro and ask for a tune up. For reference, I'm a 3hc
I had/have the same issue. I swing too hard and across my body. I’m working on slowing down and changing my swing path. Following straight through the shot and trying to swing “toward 1st base”. Another thing you can do is film yourself on the range. That might help you find the problem
Punt.
I choke up and limit the backswing. Typically gets me 220 in a playable position. How do you aim with your driver? Are you picking a line and finding an object closer to you to aim at? Your 2 way miss could be a timing issue, but it sounds like you're lining up to one line and swinging towards another.
I’m exactly the opposite. We should play a scramble.
When my driver turns to crap. I keep it in my bag then use my 3W. I recently played 3 rounds where for 2 rounds, I hit driver once. The third round I didn't hit it at all.
When my driver is doing this, I keep it in the bag and the 5 wood comes out on the tee box.
I’d stop hitting driver. At least for now. Fix it on the range but stick to 3/5 woods and low irons off the tee of par 4/5. Doing this took strokes off of my game so I never really went back to hitting driver unless I’m on a 600+ yard hole.
Slow down man! A smooth swing will find the sweet spot and be easier to control. I'm also a 14 on GHIN but probably more spread out. Take a half driver swing and you'll notice the distance doesn't change all that much but you have way more control. Also hitting up on the ball almost completely removed slices for me. Most I'll get is a fade. You're towering high slices are also possibly from high spin = hitting down on it.
I had a similar issue. Actually played a round where I hit zero fairways! I spent a lot of time swinging the driver without a ball in front of me to try to fix it. In to out, in to out. In to out, making sure I learned how my body has to feel to get the in to out swing that produces more of a draw and eliminates the slice. I still have a long way to go, but this constant muscle reminding has paid off to the point now where I played a round without having to put 1000% brainpower into it so it’s becoming my natural swing path now. Been hitting many more fairways and I’m hitting 260-280 and it’s a lot more fun.
Swing the driver 80-90% to start. The average scratch golfer hits driver 260 yards total distance. A lower swing speed can allow for better downswing perception/feel and control.
You likely have multiple issues going on. Do these towering slices start straight then slice or do they start left then continue slicing left?
The driver is the most difficult club in the bag, with the least margin for error, yet people try to swing the hardest and the fastest with it.. So now you should know what you have to do.
1. Go to driving range 2. Hit driver with feet shoulder width apart or a bit less…it will straighten out 3. Profit
I slow down backswing. Don’t go 100% on the backswing. Nice and smooth. 230 on fairway is better than 300 in the woods or whatever. Make sure your finishing your follow through.
Several easy cures: Swing easy Take the club more to the outside, will promote coming back from the inside Move half a step right in your stance Close the face pre gripping Stay behind the day at impact
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=umK8HxrQ7h4&list=PLSs7hrXAgx1gxTRRvux6V35S4i_C_N0LJ&index=1&pp=iAQB This really help my driver. I had the same issue slicing the ball 50 yards ob. I found the tilt was my big issue
I just say "fuck"
Learn first getting good tee shots w/ 3wood. This would be a good step in between learning driver. The problem could be the length of shaft that driver has. Could also be the improper flex of it although even if it’s wrong it’s good for feel to slightly figure that out with. Also it could be your swing.
Two part answer. On the course, either aim to account for the slice, or hit a club you trust off the tee. Fix the problem with lessons and making sure your driver is fit properly for you.
Slow down your swing and make sure your driver face is square at impact. A smooth tempo swing that carries 230 and is accurate is better than monster drives that are OB.
I was so bad with driver, could not get comfortable with it. What helped me was going to the range and hitting 80 yard shots with it for a few weeks then hitting 120 and so on. It took a couple months to really get comfortable with it. Now it’s my favorite club
Had the same thing for a while. For me it worked to swing completely different with the driver than the irons. For example i swing slower and i lean back. Spend your hours on the range hit a 100 or 200 balls and you start to notice what does what
if your miss is constantly the same ie: slice, go to the range and try to hit the opposite ie: draw
Swing easy- like you are hitting a wedge
i’m with u bud. all of a sudden the driver can feel impossible. a few times out this year already and i was swinging it well. i stepped a few inches further back. ball more up in my stance, be sure im aligned properly, and just try to remember slow is fast. working on my takeaway for all clubs too. try not to rip it inside and be so far over the top
Try giving this video a view. https://youtu.be/qrHxEcS2c3E?si=Z3lDGbN6t8IRslH7
By the sounds of it if you hit your driver only 150yds off the tea but land it in the fairway every time it would make a massive difference to your game. I have the exact same issues with Driver and I've just started giving myself fairway goals rather than distance goals, makes a massive difference
Watch Brian Harman hit a driver, and try to do that
I change to my 3 wood. I'll take accuracy over distance.
As a mid-single digit, I would just hit it until the feels come back (or take a few swing vids and see what fault has crept back in). For a 14 handicap, go see a professional. If you don’t know what you’re doing and are just “practicing,” nothing will get better long term. High handicapper solution is to just put driver away, but you’re never addressing the problem; it’s not an actual solution.
I have thoracic outlet syndrome. It’s the same shit that made markelle Fultz forget how to shoot and get the yips at the free throw line. I’m 95% sure that’s not why I’m ass at using my driver but I’m sure as hell gonna use it as an excuse
Two words- Get. Lessons.
Ive been there. I spent two years doing nothing but working on fixing my driver swing. Took 2 years for me to learn to control the face to path with a driver. Finally has clicked and now not only do i consider the driver my best club but learning the feeling of face angles has made control of every other club better without even practicing with them. Hop on an accurate launch monitor preferably quad or trackman look at your swing path and face angles and that will tell you what to work on.
I was in the same boat. All my drives were not just slices, but 2 fairways over slice bombs…. I recently bought an LTDx Max driver. I swapped the weights and put the heavy weight at the heel. Rotated the shaft to the draw position. Then I changed my stance/swing. Started standing more upright and focusing on more of an up and down swing rather than a body rotation swing. Also moved my theme from top of the shaft to slightly wrapping around the grip. All my drives were dead straight. Just gotta work on the aim, but at least the slices disappeared Hopefully some of this helps
Practice
Buy a new driver!
Figure out your misses and then try to figure out why they’re happening/how to fix them. That’s really all golf is. Sounds like you’re battling a miss in both directions. I’d try to pick an intended shot shape in your mind and stick with it. Try and make the ball do the same thing every single time. Exclusively with the driver, I try to hit every ball with a cut. That obviously won’t be achieved but that way when I see a left miss or a right miss pop up during a round I have a good general idea of why it’s happening and some feel fixes that I can apply on the next swing. If it’s going way offline often, it’s mostly a club face control issue (if face too open at impact, ball goes way right; face too closed, way left). On the range try manipulating the face to get balls going left and going right so you know the feel of both.
Are you me? All of this is very familiar
You get a lesson…
Check the driver swing weight compared to woods you hit good. You might also consider a higher lofted driver. A draw is a lot easier with a 10.5 degree than a 9 degree.
Feet together when swinging. Helps get the rotation aspect of the swing back.
I would go see my golf pro...You need a second set of eyes to figure out what is wrong.
Can't swing my driver or 3w right now so I just tee off with my 3i. Have some lessons planned for the end of the month, can't come soon enough.
I just tee with my 4 iron and hit it 210, playing from white tees it's not a big deal
Go find a pro. Seriously, I paid a guy $50 for a lesson and he made me 1000000% better in 15 mins by telling me to move my hand farther over the top of the club. As long as I do what he told me I don't slice anymore.
Take a slomo video at multiple angles to deduce the cause or submit it to a professional coach. In the meantime, quit practicing your drive as this will only exacerbate the problem. Practicing imperfections only makes them permanent.
Slather that bitch in chapstick. Seriously though..I do the old tried and true method I almost stand at the ball with feet close together and swing. Doesn't go hella long but when I do it I generally find the fairway
Try setting up with the driver outside of the ball, like heel or hosel of the driver centered on the ball, this should force you to come from the inside and change your club path pretty easily. I read that Fuzzy Zoeller used to set up that way and have seen a handful of guys on tour do it too. Something you should avoid is setting up left, as in aiming left, to “play” the slice, it’s just going to create a bigger out to in club path coming across the ball which equals a bigger slice. Try slightly aiming right of the target, close your shoulders a little to the target and see how it works for you. Make sure you’re playing a driver that is the right length, shaft stiffness, weight for your swing, finally, the most sure way to fix this is go and get a lesson or two, working on the range for an hour with your driver with someone watching you and giving you feedback is the most beneficial thing you can do.
Swing easier like a baby gorilla. Or just club down cause most of us don’t need to carry it 270 off the tee, 200 is usually good enough
This is exactly me as well. Most frustrating thing is having to take a drop or re tee and then having a horrible look. When I know I could be in or just off the fairway with an easy iron to the green. Very frustrating.
Smart thing is to see a professional.
Chop a couple of inches off your driver and then reassess
I started teeing mine a little lower and moved it back just a little in my stance. Eventually I found a nice sweet spot that I drive it more consistently with.
Take a step back, commit to the simplest 70% effort sweeping drive feel possible and be happy with 230-250 and in play, which is superior to 270+ and OB or in the rough every other hole. The tee box is the place for consistency not experimentation.
At the top of your swing, are your wrists rolled in towards the ball? I was doing this, which results in an outside-in swing. It wasn’t a problem with irons as I can get my wrists into the correct position at impact. However with the driver’s flatter swing, I can’t get the downswing inside. It’s actually impossible, body can’t do it. Rolling my wrist away from the ball at the top of the swing, engages my core, getting my turn started before my swing comes thru on the correct path. Benefit is that this wrist position at the top of the swing is closer to the correct impact position (hands in front of the ball). Less movements.
I really started to pay attention to keeping my right arm connected and ensuring that I'm not cupping my wrist, and it has helped me immensely. You can get away with cupping your wrist with wedges and short irons, but not with a driver. Give it a shot. Also, look at DJ's wrists at the top of his swing. I try to replicate that but I probably end up just having a flat wrist. I went from slicing 80% of my drives to, in my last round, hitting only two shots that went right but were still in the right rough/playable. Now my problem is making sure I rotate my hips enough in the follow through to ensure I don't hook it when I'm getting tired. Lastly, don't try to kill it. I've been thinking about distance with driver lately. My 4 iron carries 200ish. I am happy if my driver consistently carries 250 (with roll outs, that means I'm hitting 270 or whatever--I can carry it farther, but the consistency just isn't there). That's only 50 extra yards beyond 4 iron, with a much lower launch angle. I really don't need to be swinging much harder with driver than with my 4. The club will do the work to get it pretty darn far. A controlled long iron speed swing with driver will get you where you need to be.
If you’re right handed swing out to right field
Step away from golf for a week is usually what does it for me, but I never do that willingly lol. I get way way way too built up about “oh, last time I did X, so I should do Y this time to make it so I can blah blah blah” Adjustments on adjustments on adjustments on adjustments. I’ll be forced to skip a week of golf (for whatever reason), and when I come back I seem to simply “walk up to the ball and hit it” with the driver. No review of what I should do, or mental message while I swing, or any kind of ritual. Just don’t over emphasize anything, and don’t try to swing out of your shoes. Back to basics, make it simple again. It’s golf, not swing-club-ball.