Any golfers in here- need help on driver swing

Toaster-Tony

Active member
Last year I ended the season with about a 5 handicap and want to lower it by a couple strokes this year. My biggest problem was consistency off the tee. I can hit 3w and 3i fine from the tee but my driver gives me some problems. I avg. high 200's for yardage but lack consistency in accuracy. I've been working on my front foot pick up but I want to know if anyone sees anything in my swing. +k for serious responses.

 
id lessen the front foot pick up. kinda hard to tell from that video though pretty choppy. If you can consistently hit your three wood, just use it and keep the driver in the bag

 
First thing i would do is make sure your right foot doesn't leave the ground. I would also try adding some more wrist hinge at the top to try to get the shaft parallel to the ground. To be more consistent, have less side to side movement, so there is less swaying. Post a video of your swing down the line if you have the chance, I could look at your swing plane.
 
Agree with you 100% on the front foot pickup, but it's a tendency with almost every club I hit. I barely touched the driver for most of last season, it's just frustrated having a club that you can't hit, if you know what I mean.
 
I plan on getting out tomorrow, I'll take a vid from behind then. And thanks for the advice, I'll work on the sway next time I'm at the range.
 
Most of your sway will go away if you get rid of the reverse pivot with the right foot. I would just work on that and see if the sway fixes on its own.
 
i'd definitely listen to these guys who are talking about your front foot and your sway, especially that reverse pivot (one of the most common swing errors), but i'd like to bring up something else that a lot of people overlook.

i know its just one video and may not be an exact representation of your swing all the time, but i want you to work on your shoulder turn. i like your tempo, its nice and smooth as a golf swing should be. but when you get to the top, its almost as if you cut your shoulder turn short. i'm not saying a shorter backswing is bad, i have about a 3/4 swing myself. there should be a bit of a pause in between transitioning from the backswing to your first move towards the ball. this pause more or less sets up your downswing, giving your wrists time to fully cock (the amount of wrist-hinge also depends on how full your shoulder turn is) and your hands to drop down in the slot. this proper wrist-hinge in turn allows your hands to be ahead of the club at impact, a textbook impact position in any era of golf, providing proper ball flight and letting the shaft and clubhead to be used as they were designed. if there's one thing every pro has regardless of swing plane and tempo, its a smooth transition.

but thats just my two cents. good to see some golfers here on NS, such classy gents we are
 
Lots of lower body movement.. As stated above. Also maybe consider gettin a stiffer shaft in that bad boy.. Looks like your swing is real fast and your are swinging a wet pool noodle
 
Haha gotta agree with you on the fact that we're classy but good eye, man. I played a few rounds with a pro at another course and he brought up the same thing that I'm cutting my swing short. I've never really known how to fix it, however. Whenever I tried to let my backswing take its full course, I always seemed to be changing my tempo resulting in either a pull or a push. Is it one of those things that will just come with practice or are there any tips that I can use?
 
Haha thanks for the reply, but I threw in a 85 gram extra stiff shaft last season. It might just be the video but it does appear to be flexing quite a bit. I know it was a problem before I was fitted for the new shaft. But I'll be sure to work on that front leg movement.

Also, is lower body movement necessarily a bad thing if shoulders upper body stays still? I know in the "olden days" that it was almost encouraged to bring your knee in.
 
Haha thanks for the reply, but I threw in a 85 gram extra stiff shaft last season. It might just be the video but it does appear to be flexing quite a bit. I know it was a problem before I was fitted for the new shaft. But I'll be sure to work on that front leg movement.

Also, is lower body movement necessarily a bad thing if shoulders upper body stays still? I know in the "olden days" that it was almost encouraged to bring your knee in.
 
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i played v golf this year just to fuck around and i would just turn your

grip over on the club just a tad to compensate for your lower body movement and

flatten your swing out when your hitting your driver that helped me alot this

year and now im getting out around 250 keeping it straight good luck

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few more suggestions, dont lock out your left leg, keep your knees a little more bent. Also work on keeping your head as motionless as possible which will help consistency. use your hips for power, not your knees.
 
I had to watch it couple times but you're right. I've never really noticed it before but, yeah, my usual miss is the "Mickelson Block Shot" where he missed 4-10 fairways to the left. Good eye.
 
I had the same problem a couple of years ago. What I did was pretty much as simple fix. What I did was angle my left foot out a little bit more and the same for the right foot. It helped me get more swing speed, accuracy, length.

Good luck
 
Don't worry about being critical, it's kinda the point of the thread. Any advice is appreciated, I think I'll try to knock out that front foot lift first then start dissecting my tempo. Thanks for the tips. 10/10
 
I've tried that in the past and it helped a lot. Its something that has gotten away through time, though. Thanks for the tip!
 
Ok I'm not the best golfer, but here is one thing I noticed. I think you should do a tad bigger back swing before hitting the ball. Also try not to rush when doing the back swing, only when you're coming down to hit the ball should you swing with speed
 
Yeah, this seems to go along with what klazo said. I just counted the frames and the tempo seems alright but I'm shy of the ideal 30 frame swing. Thanks for the advice, if I lengthen the backswing a little more that should give me an "ideal" swing, given there is no such thing as a perfect swing.
 
yea dont pick your front foot up as much on the back swing, try to swing a little slower and your dropping your left shoulder too much which causes you too push the ball
 
i usually don't get all that technical, but in this case you're right. if OP would simply take a small pause at the top, his tempo would be spot-on.

as for tips on how to work on pausing at the top, you can just force yourself to pause while swinging on the range. make it dramatic at first, just to let your body learn what the pause should feel like; then just get comfortable working that slight pause into your normal swing with your driver.

i like what one of the guys said above, hit a few balls with your feet together. preferably with a shorter iron, as it is a little easier to balance..

i'm about to post videos of my own haha
 
watch your tempo. i bet you've heard that a million times. lol i have. heres what itll do for you:give you more time to get behind the ball and get a full turn back.

from there, you can then really use that momentum to really snap into the ball

itll let you make sure your set and ready to swing the club down on the prope r plane

from there, working the ball left and right is all about release point and angle of attack.

ive got a 4 handicap right now, where do you play?
 
I live in Minnesota and have been playing a small course near my house for years. I've been looking to get out and play some more difficult courses and I'm thinking about moving to Nebraska this summer to take a job opportunity down there at a country club. But as of right now I've been bouncing from one course to another. And as always thanks for the advice.
 
Yeah I didnt read everybody elses comments but heres what I see.1. Lessen right foot pickup. I know you already know this, but that is pretty big.

2. Less lateral movement. You dont have a huge lateral movement forwards, but there is a little bit which adds inconsistencies to the swing. It was one of the things I worked at with my coach last year.

3. Try and get the swing a bit more around to get it parallel. IF you can get to parallel without creating other bad habits, your angles at the beginning of your downswing will be much more sound.

4. This isnt something Id necessarily say needs fixed, just something that helped me. When I slowed my tempo I started finding many more fairways, yours is pretty quick paced. Again plenty of people have a quick, harsh transition, i just found that I worked much better with a smooth transition, and maintaing the wrist angle as long as possible to build power, rather than just focusing on swinging fast.

All I really notice right now with looking through the videos a bit. Best of luck with your season man, hit it pure!
 
Also, quiet the lower body. Way too much movement. Best peace of advice my instructor gave me was to keep my left leg(right handed golfer) like the trunk of a tree in my backswing. Now it does twist a little bit in order to get full rotation, but your lower body has a lot more movement than needed. Try and minimize it. Effective golf swings are efficient golf swings.
 
I've hit 300+ yard happy gilmour swings. I can drive 200+ fairly accurate with a reg swing but the happy gilmour is something I've got on lock. about a quarter of the shots I shank horribly or miss, but the ones I connect with fucking fly.

/cool story hansel.
 
Didn't read the rest of the comments, but here is my 2 cents. I think you are pulling up a little much with your left foot. Every thing else looks great though, good connection as well. I don't use my driver at all. I hate it. I just tee off with my three wood.
 
I'm not great at gold or anything, but i worked at a driving range for 3 years and all i'd do is golf all day cause there was nothing else to do at work.

A lot of guys would come out and give me lots of tips.

it's hard to tell (too bad the vid isn't in slowmo), but it looks like your swing and your body aren't in sync, i bet if you fixed that you might power through the ball a bit better giving you some solid distance.

 
1. Keep your front foot on the ground. 2. Your swing is to fast. You have to make your swing much slower. The ball will still go far. Just bring your hands back slowly, and then just drop your hands down at the ball kind of. Most importantly keep your head down and make sure your grip isnt to tight either. If you are a lefty golfer your right arm should be straight when you come all the way back.
 
1. keep your front foot on the ground2. Your backswing is wayyyyyyy to fast. The back swing is meant to set up your fore swing with momentum. Just slow down your back swing and when you reach the top of your swing, then speed it up but not to fast so that its not out of control.

3. This may not work but it did for me. Try not to bring your club that far back. That sometimes makes you lose control of your swing

Good Luck!
 
You're popping your right knee, which can work for some people, but it doesn't look like your bringing your upper body through the swing as much as your lower body, so try to push your shoulders through the ball more.
 
i used to slice all the time, if u get closer to the ball is could help your straightens and distance.
 
I am no pro. But one thing I always hear is slow down. Take the club back slower have a little more control and swing on through.

Probably already said though.
 
If you really have a 5 handi cap you should get a real coach, advice from ns wont help. I have a personal coach and my golf has improved so much. Im captain of my high schools team this year so this summer is going to only consist of work and golf. My only goal this season is to stay consistent though, trying to play even mostly
 
(Other account got banned) But I usually play rounds with the pro at my course every few days but I am changing courses this year and looking for a new coach. I was just looking at getting some outside help. I'm really happy with my short game and distance off the tee. Just need to work on my consistency.
 
Excellent swing man. The only thing I saw is you kinda come back on your heals when you start you follow through but other than that it looks textbook. Keep up the good work.
 
The sound bars are actually speed control. But I'm quite happy with my distance as of right now. I average in the 280's and usually have a few drives over 300 per round.. it's just that whole accuracy thing that gives me problems. But I'm sure if I sync. my swing it'll help with accuracy as well. Thanks for the advice.
 
yeh try keeping your front foot on the ground and put more weight in your swing you will gain alot more velocity and less slice or hook
 
only video i have. i'll go out and get some driver straight-on and down-the-line videos here soon. its fun to analyze swings, and watching your swing over and over helps you really see what you're doing wrong

 
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