Squaring the club face with the Driver

[mahbo]

Hi Guys

Can i please ask, why is it so much harder to sqaure the club face of the driver over an iron? It just seems to take so much more effort. I assume it has somethign to do with the its extra size and surface resistance?

Does anyone have any tips on how to square up the driver, as I find it really hard? Is this the same as asking tips on how to release better with a driver?

thanks
Mahbo

[GregJWillis]

Re: Squaring the club face with the Driver

I am not sure it is "physically" harder...requiring more strength, needing to be in better shape, etc.

I think you are experiencing more difficulty seeing the results of a straighter shot because of the fact that the driver is your longest club, both in shaft length and in the distance the ball will travel.

With the distance being longer, you will just naturally see errors magnified. A 285 yd drive and only a 2 degree miss to the left will be 10 yards off-line. If you were aiming at the center of the fairway, you are pretty close to the rough. This is just 2 degrees off. This same miss with a wedge shot of 100 yards is only 3.5 yards...how mad are you if you have a 10 foot putt? Pretty happy I bet. But you are grumbling to your self with your ball in the rough that you need to fix your driver swing when you did exactly the same thing.

So, getting the length / angles issue understood is part 1. Just know the longer you hit it, the more you will see errors magnified and accept it.

The longer shaft issue is that you are naturally going to want to swing harder at the ball...the driver is meant for distance and being hit at 110% getting that rush of all out power! This action of over-exertion is going to be what you are feeling as "harder to square the face" because you are now into a greater risk of error, the club lags more the harder you swing and you feel more pressures on your hands so you have to fight harder to hold the same angles into impact. That 2 degree miss left, is now 4 degrees, and you are OB 20 yards off-line and really scratching your head re-teeing your 3rd shot.
SOLUTION: Don't hit your driver at 100%. Play at 80% leaving something in your tank and change your mindset on the tee...that you are able to gain satisfaction from consistency rather then brutality. Start by just comparing what an 80% shot vs. 100% really is in distance. I bet you are only looking at 20 yards. It's very difficult to explain, but easy to feel when you are swinging inside the 80% range, because you have this "wow, that felt nice" feeling...like you didn't really try to square the face, that the club somehow knew what it was doing and all you did was help get it started. Try it on the range and experiment...observe the results of 10 shots at the errors for 80% vs. 100%. Write them down on your notepad (yes, get a notepad) and you will be able to know 2 things: 1) how hard you are able to swing and 2) your known error rate.

[kbp]

Re: Squaring the club face with the Driver

You should also take note that even pros like Tiger and Phil, who have a grooved swing and are trying not to manipulate the club face, still miss a lot of fairways and hit extremely wayward tee shots, at times.

It ain't easy.

[mahbo]

Re: Squaring the club face with the Driver

wow, thanks alot guys. it's quite an interesting "re-frame" on what I am on about.

In summary, what you guys are pretty much saying, is to work on having the correct swing mechanics and by completing my follow through to finish, will in many ways produce straighter shots, than by worrying and trying to manipulate the club face.

It's a weird one. It's like when you do a practice swing with say your driver, and you can actually feel that in the practice swing, you held off a little on the release or you could feel you club face being open at impact, my mind instinctively tells me, something is not right with my release, maybe I am not rolling my wrists over.....so I try and ingrain th feelign of "rolling my wrist"....but what you guys are saying, is if you get stick with the thought of "rolling your wrists", then you lose your natural swing tempo and execution.

Ok, let me ask you guys this if I may? If you are saying the pros, don't think about manipulation of club face, are you saying, when they deliberately try and draw the ball. versus a fad, they don't try think about closin gthe club face a little more aggressively through impact to create that draw spin?

[mahbo]

Re: Squaring the club face with the Driver

Ok Guys, I get what you are saying. Getting the swing right, and having it in the right position is MORE important than manipulation! I agree.

Please see below picture. I think this is more my issue. This is the position between post impact and completing your swing. You know how they draw that swing plane line, and 'ideally' the club is parallel to the original swing plane. Well for me, in most cases , my club at this position is much too vertical in relation to the original swing plane.


Would you guys agree, if you can get to this position, where your club is parallel to the original swing plane line, and also noting that when you see pictures of these guys swing at this positon, their right forearm has well and truly corssed over their left . If you can get to this position, wouldn't this naturally take care of my problem of not squaring the club face and seeing my natural ball flight of push slices?

thoughts?

[rogue]

Re: Squaring the club face with the Driver

the guys are right - however i would like to add. Perhaps you have a rotor cuff flexibility issue in your left shoulder that is not allowing you to release the club effectively. You could work on the flexibility issue or just play with a more closed face (stronger grip perhaps) as it would limit the need for manipulation. Lots of good players have done this and played with stronger face positions.

[keiko]

Re: Squaring the club face with the Driver

There are many ways to hit fades and draws, slices and hooks and etc.
For example: one can hold off the release and hit a block/fade or one can close one's stance and hit more inside to out and get a draw, etc.
The one thing you need to do is this:
Take the tension out of your arms and hands. This one thing will allow your club to release via relaxed hands and arms.
On the range, take your driver or any club and begin taking practice swings with your hands and arms loose like noodles, no tension whatsoever. You will be amazed at the power at pretended impact. Now take a ball and just take same swings with half swings at first. then work up to full swings all with same loose as a goose hands and arms. When you can do that, begin your backswing by turning your chest, same thing.

Ok Guys, I get what you are saying. Getting the swing right, and having it in the right position is MORE important than manipulation! I agree.

Please see below picture. I think this is more my issue. This is the position between post impact and completing your swing. You know how they draw that swing plane line, and 'ideally' the club is parallel to the original swing plane. Well for me, in most cases , my club at this position is much too vertical in relation to the original swing plane.


Would you guys agree, if you can get to this position, where your club is parallel to the original swing plane line, and also noting that when you see pictures of these guys swing at this positon, their right forearm has well and truly corssed over their left . If you can get to this position, wouldn't this naturally take care of my problem of not squaring the club face and seeing my natural ball flight of push slices?

thoughts?

[bill reed]

Re: Squaring the club face with the Driver

hi
i think another problem when we pull the driver out the bag is we instantly think, "Distance" that puts us in the frame of mind were going to hit the ball, trying to hit longer often has us swinging faster and we lose control and lose tempo. the result is the ball heading to the rough. if you think of the driver as the club to put you 200/250 yards down the middle then you start to think swing rather than hit and you have better results. if i really try i can hit about 270 yards but i cant put the ball on the fairway every time. if i think placing it 250 yards down the fairway then 9 times out of 10 i can.
i do think when we pick the driver out the bag a lot of it in the mind and if you think control rather than distance no mater if you draw or fade you do get better results. i have done this with my playing patners where we play a hole for 50 pence each shot, you have to be on the fairway and the second shot has to be on the green. its only a 350 yard hole and i often drive with my 1 iron and the other three with there 3 wood but they swing rather than hit. as soon as the driver comes out there swing changes to try and power the club through the ball.
try going to the range and hitting say 10 balls normaly with the driver and then try and play with ten balls but swing just that bit slower and try and swing the club through the ball.
you well see the difrence right away.
Cheers
Bill

[BrianW]

Re: Squaring the club face with the Driver

"HORSES FOR COURSES"

I hope you all understand this limeyism . In other words it's what ever suits the individual.

If you are a golfer that can rely on a body controlled release then good for you. Many golfers (Including me) cannot do this, I need to ensure my wrists release the clubface through impact. I need to feel my left wrist turning over so that through the impact zone I have an image of my left palm holding up a wine glass.

We are not all made the same and our physical and neurological instincts differ. If you are having problems with the way your body should drive the clubface then maybe you should take a different view and look into something like the '3 Skills' method where focus is on the way the clubface impacts the ball and details of body manipulation is ignored.

Here is a link to some videos that promote this hammer and nail theory. Take a look at them, they may give you a different way of considering the golf swing.

http://www.ehow.com/video_2357741_co...olf-swing.html

[rogue]

Re: Squaring the club face with the Driver

"HORSES FOR COURSES"

I hope you all understand this limeyism . In other words it's what ever suits the individual.

If you are a golfer that can rely on a body controlled release then good for you. Many golfers (Including me) cannot do this, I need to ensure my wrists release the clubface through impact. I need to feel my left wrist turning over so that through the impact zone I have an image of my left palm holding up a wine glass.

We are not all made the same and our physical and neurological instincts differ. If you are having problems with the way your body should drive the clubface then maybe you should take a different view and look into something like the '3 Skills' method where focus is on the way the clubface impacts the ball and details of body manipulation is ignored.

Here is a link to some videos that promote this hammer and nail theory. Take a look at them, they may give you a different way of considering the golf swing.

http://www.ehow.com/video_2357741_con...olf-swing.html

Love the hammer stuff. Guy is a bit of a douche. but he hits the nail on the head (pun intended)

[mahbo]

Re: Squaring the club face with the Driver

"HORSES FOR COURSES"

I hope you all understand this limeyism . In other words it's what ever suits the individual.

If you are a golfer that can rely on a body controlled release then good for you. Many golfers (Including me) cannot do this, I need to ensure my wrists release the clubface through impact. I need to feel my left wrist turning over so that through the impact zone I have an image of my left palm holding up a wine glass.

We are not all made the same and our physical and neurological instincts differ. If you are having problems with the way your body should drive the clubface then maybe you should take a different view and look into something like the '3 Skills' method where focus is on the way the clubface impacts the ball and details of body manipulation is ignored.

Here is a link to some videos that promote this hammer and nail theory. Take a look at them, they may give you a different way of considering the golf swing.

http://www.ehow.com/video_2357741_con...olf-swing.html

Brian, thanks alot for this! wow, that is such a paradigm shift! I was reading earlier there are like three or four different types of releases. One of them was the slap release! Now I get what they were talking about. However this is scary stuff hey? As in with the hammer swing grip, the left hand doesn't roll. so as you say, we all have different swings that we need to work at what works for us.

One thing I have learnt in this awesome forum, is to be open to anything with golf. For example I would watch what a the text book would say, and think I MUST follow that technique, but really there are so many schools of thought.

thanks guys!

[a1golfer]

Re: Squaring the club face with the Driver

I would say to hold the driver with a light grip and feel the club head through the hole swing. Just like a hammer let the head do the work. No tension what so ever in your hands and body, RELAX.

Effortless power, not powerless effort.

Good luck

Phiip

[KrudlerAce]

Tempo

Great advice guys.

I like Greg's advice about controlling the speed of the golf swing with the driver. As he said it is a natural tendency for most golfers to want to hit the golf ball harder with the driver. I believe if the golfer can just swing with a more controlled golf swing then the club head should naturally be easier to square up at impact.

It's hard to do when you're faced with a long par four or five but a necessary one if you want to consistently hit the ball straighter off the tee.

[keiko]

Re: Tempo

Straight becomes longer because it is straight. On average, driver shots that go right lose 20-30 yards on average plus offer much more challenge to get to the green from the woods or hazards.
Don't know why some continue to swing harder than they should when they know their chances of getting one to boom straight is such a low percentage.
What do they say about folks who continue to do something they know from experience results in a bad outcome yet they keep doing it.
Something about the definition of insanity.

Great advice guys.

I like Greg's advice about controlling the speed of the golf swing with the driver. As he said it is a natural tendency for most golfers to want to hit the golf ball harder with the driver. I believe if the golfer can just swing with a more controlled golf swing then the club head should naturally be easier to square up at impact.

It's hard to do when you're faced with a long par four or five but a necessary one if you want to consistently hit the ball straighter off the tee.

[keiko]

Re: Squaring the club face with the Driver

I don't appreciate posters who use this site to hawk their latest rip off product. Frankly, I think our sport has way too many predators trying to take advantage of newbies.

Hi Folks,

Here is great tutorial on The Physics And Design of a Golf Club.

Once I fully understood there are 3 levers in the golf swing, I added an amazing 30 yards off the tee with my driver...Read More