Golf Practice Drills: know your driver

One of the most important tips to improving your driving is to understand exactly what your driver can do. PGA professional Simon Garner teaches us about the club.

Ed Greenland's picture
Mon, 5 Aug 2013
Golf Practice Drills: know your driver

The know your driver drill is our second driving article in the Driving Practice Drills series.

Drivers can come in all different shapes, lofts, and weights, so before you start to try and improve your driving you need to know exactly what it does for you.

PGA coach Simon Garner explains how important it is to understand what your driver's potential is and whether you've got the right one for you.

In the top photograph, you can see four positions a golfer doesn't want to connect with the ball: the top of the club, the bottom of the club, the toe, and the heel.

Some drivers these days may hit the ball straight if you connect with it off the heel or toe but inevitably it won't go as far, so to find out what you're doing with the sellotape drill.

Equally if you hit it off the bottom of the clubface it may have a good ball flight but not hitting it off the centre of the club will also mean less distance on the shot.

Simon suggests that you learn how to hear for a poor strike. When you're at the range work out what a poor connection sounds like and maybe get a friend for a second opinion.

You also need to know, for instance, if you're hitting down on the ball and therefore need a more lofted clubface or hitting up one the ball which would require a less lofted clubface.

So either adapt your game, such as hitting up on the ball, or find a driver that suits your swing if you don't want to change it drastically. 

Check out where Simon coaches at the Palmerston Golf Academy at Brocket Hall.

Or look at our Driving Practice Drills index or Golf Practice Drills index for more help.