In case you haven’t already read Golf Driving Tips For The Average Golfer you may want to check it out. It talks about the importance of tempo when practicing and also when swinging a driver.
There are of course many other golf swing tips on how to hit a driver. This article will provide some unique insight into today’s drivers and how to get the most out of yours.
You need to make sure your driver fits your swing and that you are getting optimum results. This can only be done by using a launch monitor. There are basically three factors that determine how far a golf ball will travel; the launch angle, spin rate and swing speed. These factors are all inter-related and the science is definitely beyond the scope of this article.
As a general rule though the faster your swing speed the lower the optimum launch angle and spin rate. However, it can be safely stated that the average golfer with a swing speed between 80 and 90 mph imparts way too much spin and does not have enough launch angle. The flight of the ball may seem ok but in reality the ball is actually ballooning in the air (how hard do you find it to hit into the wind) and landing very softly with little roll.
A little more about launch angle. You may have heard that you should hit your driver on the upswing and not with a downward blow as is best for irons. This is known as the angle of attack (AoA) and an AoA of 0 to 2 degrees is ideal for the driver. The AoA plus the loft of your driver should be equal to your optimum launch angle.
For the average golfer mentioned above the optimum launch angle is between 14 and 17 degrees. Are you doing the math? Assuming a 2 degree AoA the average golfer should be using a 12 to 15 degree driver! Now I have read that the lofts on off the rack drivers are actually 1 or 2 degrees more than what the clubs say but I don’t know if that is true. Doesn’t this make sense though? How many people do you know that actually hit their 3 wood further than their driver?
As far as spin rate is concerned there are a few things that can affect it. Not hitting the ball with at least a level AoA is a big one. Make sure you are teeing the ball near the front of your stance and try to keep your head behind the ball through impact to help with this.
This next point may surprise many of you. The sweet spot in today’s drivers is a little above the equator. This is essentially where the club has the most spring but did you know that most pros intentionally make contact even higher-up on the clubface than the equator? There are some technical reasons relating to club design and center of gravity but the main reason is it reduces the spin on the ball. The best way for you to experiment with this is to use impact tape. Remember less spin will produce more roll so don’t focus just on your carry distance but on total distance. The last factor that can influence spin rate is ball selection so try using “low-spin” balls.
This article may have been a little too technical for some but hopefully it has provided some clarity on today’s driver technology and what you can do to learn how to hit a driver as far as possible.