Instruction
Why you can’t hit your driver as straight as your irons
Most golfers struggle to hit their driver as well as they hit their irons, which makes scoring very difficult — especially on courses with tight fairways. In this article, I will help golfers understand why many of them are struggling with their driver and what they can do about it.
As an example I’ll use Kevin, who recently came to me for a lesson. Like most golfers, he is much better with his irons than he is with his driver. He’s a good player (about a 12 handicap) with a ton of swing speed (about 110 mph with his driver) that would help him… if he could keep his driver in play off the tee.
Let’s examine his iron and driver swings on Trackman.
Kevin’s Iron Swing
Kevin’s Driver Swing
As we compare the two swings you will note several things of interest.
- His angle of attack (AoA) with his 6 iron is -2.7 degrees, but gets much steeper (-7 degrees) with his driver.
- His swing direction (-1.4 degrees) and club path (-0.7 degrees) with his 6 iron is very manageable, but with the driver it becomes almost unplayable. He has a swing direction of -12.6 degrees and a club path of -7.8 degrees.
- The face-to-path ratio with his irons is 4.2, but 7.8 with his driver.
- With a 6 iron, his spin rate is above average for his swing speed at roughly 8,000 rpm. With his driver, however, his spin rate is completely unmanageable. It’s more than 4,500 rpm. For his swing speed, optimal spin rates range from 1,700-3,500 rpm, depending on AoA and ball flight preference.
- Kevin has a tendency to “stand the shaft up” through impact with both clubs, raising his vertical swing plane.
- The carry distances between his 6 iron (162.7 yards) and his driver (211.8 yards) are only separated by 49.1 yards, yet his driver swing speed is 14.6 mph faster. At his speed, he should be able to carry his driver around 276 yards.
It’s not hard to see that the driver swing I picked was one of his “bad” swings, which I wanted to show to illustrate how things can change the instant a golfer picks up their driver. Why? It’s because the longer swing of the driver usually exacerbates most swing flaws. So let’s go back and examine in more detail why this happens with Kevin.
Why his AoA with the driver gets steeper
- As the club gets longer, the path tends to become more exaggerated from out to in for golfers who come over the top.
- When golfers come over the top, which is displayed on Trackman with negative club path and swing direction numbers, they also tend to swing more down. That makes their AoA more down, or more negative.
- As the AoA becomes more down or negative with the driver, the efficiency of impact decreases in the way of a lower smash factor, an overly high spin loft and increased ball spin.
Why the path gets worse with the driver
- As the swing gets longer, swing flaws have more “time” to get worse.
- Kevin’s faulty pivot is causing his poor transition from the top, and as the club gets longer it allows him to move deeper into the backswing and turn his body more, which amplifies his flaws.
- When swing speed picks up, path issues will also become more of a problem.
- Anytime golfers “throw” from the top, added speed will cause them to spin harder and it will shift the path farther left, or more negative than with an iron.
Why the ball curves more with the driver
- The face-to-path ratio is not much different between Kevin’s 6 iron and his driver. Kevin’s driver shot curved offline much more, however. This is because as spin loft decreases, the amount of curve administered to the ball becomes much more exaggerated.
- All things being equal, the less loft you have the more the ball will tend to curve.
- Drivers have lower spin lofts than irons. They create more ball speed and usually possess the lowest lofts in the bag, thus they tend to move more offline than irons.
Why the driver spin rate is “off the charts”
- Anytime there is a severely downward AoA and a big face-to-path relationship (and a ton of club head speed), golfers have a propensity to spin the ball too much.
- The face to path relationship on this left-to-right shot with the driver is extreme at 7.8, and whenever the face is well right of the path you will also tend to add more loft. The added loft will spin the ball more than normal.
- Low smash factors show off-center hits, and we know that vertical gear effect (hitting the ball low on the face) can also spin it more.
Why Kevin “stands the shaft up” through impact
- Over-the-top players also tend to raise the handle up through impact with their driver, holding the club face open. This can also cause golfers to hit the ball off the toe, invoking horizontal gear effect with the driver that helps limit a slice.
- Irons can be “driven into the ground” with a steeper AoA and still be mostly playable… but not with the driver.
- A steeper AoA shifts the path farther rightward, or positive, than it would be normally and helps to accelerate the closing rate of the club face reducing the face-to-path relationship.
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Instruction
Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?
Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!
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Instruction
The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic
My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.
As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.
The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.
Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:
Mis-aligned hands
By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.
The position of the grip in the upper/left hand
I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.
To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.
Too much lower (right) hand on the club
It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.
Gripping too tightly
Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.
So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.
More from the Wedge Guy
- The Wedge Guy: Golf mastery begins with your wedge game
- The Wedge Guy: Why golf is 20 times harder than brain surgery
- The Wedge Guy: Musings on the golf ball rollback
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Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?
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Paul
Jun 17, 2015 at 10:45 am
Hi Tom
Very informative and interesting article, I have the same problem a slight revurs pivot and come over the top.
Do you have any tips, or video links to cure these faults?
Many Thanks
Paul
Tom Stickney
Jun 16, 2015 at 7:07 pm
The cure is for him to fix his pivot.
Stretch
Jun 16, 2015 at 1:04 pm
For those who want to see the cure study the phrase;
“Kevin’s faulty pivot is causing his poor transition from the top, and as the club gets longer it allows him to move deeper into the backswing and turn his body more, which amplifies his flaws.
Cure the faulty pivot
Tom Stickney
Jun 16, 2015 at 10:40 am
The article was to show the reasons WHY people can’t hit their driver. Not how I fixed Kevin. Sorry for the confusion.
mbc
Jun 16, 2015 at 11:08 am
Thanks, Tom, for all of the information, definitely helpful for why this happens. Do you have plans on a follow up article on how to fix the problem?
adam
Jun 16, 2015 at 7:17 am
Shot my first 100 in a few years. Driver went away after 9 because it was awful. Cut down to 44″ which gives me a bit more control but I kept trying to muscle the driver. Next 18 at a tougher course, shot a 76 with no driver, only a 3 wood. So instead of taking unplayables/OB’s, 3 wood off the tee, best and safest move you can play. Learn to hit it off the tee if your driver is like mine – unreliable.
dapadre
Jun 16, 2015 at 6:31 am
As always great info Tom! Now the million dollar question: How did you or how are you working on fixing this?
Greeting from sunny Holland/The Netherlands
Birdman
Jun 15, 2015 at 11:39 pm
I’ve always felt that the club was too long and guess I hadn’t choked up enough. Maybe Tom is writing that conclusion we all want. Or you have to pay to find out.
Birdeez
Jun 15, 2015 at 10:25 pm
Wish those clicking shank would voice their opinions so we could read their stupidity. Great articles guaranteed to have some jerkoff choosing shank
RI_Redneck
Jun 15, 2015 at 10:03 pm
Perhaps this is why I was taught to use one swing fro everything and just vary the ball position. It’s almost like this guy loses his mind when he gets his driver in his hands.
Amazing!!
BT
Slimeone
Jun 15, 2015 at 10:01 pm
Tiger for the pictorial! Harsh – but valid!
Jim
Jun 15, 2015 at 8:57 pm
What adjustments will correct the problem?
other paul
Jun 15, 2015 at 7:30 pm
An interesting article with no conclusion. The conclusion being how Kevin got better.
MB
Jun 15, 2015 at 6:03 pm
Bingo,
This is my problem whats the fix?
Charles
Jun 17, 2015 at 12:45 pm
Lessons!! Go find a PGA pro and take lessons, then practice as prescribed. There is no shortcut for a sound golf swing.
Greg V
Jun 15, 2015 at 4:36 pm
So, the $1 million question: is Kevin capable of fixing his swing? Or should Kevin play a more lofted, and shorter length club (fairway wood?) off the tee?
Jon
Jun 15, 2015 at 4:29 pm
This explains a lot of my problems. I always wondered why at 5’8″ my irons had to be adjusted to 2* upright and why I hit my hybrids and fairway woods more off the toe. The driver has been in the closet for nearly 2 years because I could hit my 4 iron farther so why waste the space in the bag. The only time the driver comes in handy for me is for punching shots under trees.
Andy
Jun 16, 2015 at 10:30 pm
Hmmm… at 5’8″, I think you would want a flatter lie , not upright
Jon
Jun 17, 2015 at 9:59 am
Andy, I had always thought the same thing, but the lie board says differently.
Christopher
Jun 17, 2015 at 12:11 pm
It depends on how Andy’s hands are at impact, some people go higher, some lower and how long his arms are. Lie boards are useful, but if you get fit for your fault and get it taught out of it by a professional, you’ll need your clubs adjusting again!