Ground Ball Drives

[sandmac]

OK. I posted recently my drives have been getting worse. Now it is basically completely gone. I've been playing for about 2-3 months. Recently bought my 1st set of clubs. I've never had a lesson.

When I started playing, I could usually crush a drive, but of course had no short game. Now I've learned to "hit down" on the ball and so my short game has improved. (Love that PWedge).

The problem is my tee shots are now terrible. They literally are just rolling off the tee 30 yards or so. Ughhh. I'm guessing this must have to do with the fact that I have made is such a priority to build my swing by hitting down and squaring at contact. I think there might be a conflict in my muscle memory. Does this make sense? Is this common? Is the drive swing that different?

One note,...I put some face tape on my driver, and ironically I am connecting on the sweet spot more than ever...!

Help!

[Ian Hancock]

Re: Ground Ball Drives

Sandmac,

There may be many things that can cause this heavy shot as you have limited experiance, however I would look at ball position first.

From you thread quite correctly you have been working on hitting down on the ball with your irons, this will give you a solid contact and some consistancy.

Now the driver swing is slightly different in ball position, because the club is longer the swing is natually flater "around your body more" also it takes time to get back to the ball so don't rush from the top, position the ball just inside your left heel (right hander) so that it feels very far forward in your stance.

Swing your driver with the swing thought that you are going to hit the ball on the upswing, just after the bottom of you swing arch, tee the ball up a little higher to help.

Good luck hope this helps


Ian.