Golf Tips – Tips to Improve Your Drive
Posted by iGolftip in Best Golf Tips Articles, tags: ImproveBen Hogan said the most important club was the driver. If you get the ball in the fairway, you’ve set yourself up for a good score on the hole. This has to do with strategy as often as it does swing skill.
Realize that your drive need not always be hit with your driver. You should, in general, tee off with the shortest club that will set up the hole for you. Here are a few examples.
Example: par 5, straightaway, no tricks, and you don’t have the length to reach it in two. Play a 3-wood, a hybrid club, and pitch on. Missing the fairway with a driver puts reaching the green in three shots at risk.
Example: short par 4. A driver will leave a pitch of 60-80 yards, not the easiest shot. This is a hole where you can set yourself up to hit your best club into the green. Let’s say you’re money with an 8-iron. Subtract your 8-iron distance from the hole’s yardage and tee off with the club that gives you the distance left over.
Example: long par 4. Before you think driver, is there enough room in the fairway? Even if you get the ball in the fairway, could you reliably hit the green with your second shot? If the answer to either of these questions is no, consider playing this hole as a short par 5 and hit an iron off the tee. I prefer getting bogeys on these holes, to a string of 6s and an occasional par.
Getting the idea? I see so many recreational golfers pull out their driver reflexively, when it is clearly not the appropriate club. Think about it before you bang away.
If you are going to use your driver, plan to put a smooth swing on it and nothing else. There’s no reason to hit a driver any harder than you hit your 7-iron. The designers built distance into the club.
I know the ball goes a long way when you hit it with a driver, but the distance is not unlimited. You normally hit a drive only so far, so accept that fact and take the distance you normally get.
The opening drive on the first tee is a special case. There’s a simple way to make this jittery shot easier. Tee off with a fairway wood. Even though you’ve warmed up, the first shot of the day induces mental tension. Don’t put pressure on yourself to hit a perfect shot right away.
Finally, if there is a technical problem that just prevents you from hitting a straight shot, get a lesson or a series of lessons and get it fixed. You spend too much of your precious time playing golf to not play it as well as you can.
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