Driving Tips for a Beginner !

Someday

Guys/Ladies

Took up Golf a few months back and Love it !

I think I went down the right road with lessons, correct clubs (Second hand), Wet gear, gloves, shoes etc ! Making good progress.

Now, moved away from my 3 wood for driving, i can hit 180-200 with this to a driver my BIL gave me. Yonex and really suits me, out last night and getting there but looking for some good videos you have seen on YouTube or good tips to practice on the range.

I have hit some 200 but really around 150-170, I want to get to 220+ !

Currently working on
60% weight on right side
Tilt spine to the right when driving
Ball align to Inside left foot
Head down
Eye on the back of the ball.
Tee the ball up with a tee that shows you the correct height
Grip, right hand driving the club

Any other advice or direction would be great

Thanks
O

nbar12

just keep your eye on the ball and swing easy

Dtoffee

Someday wrote: »

Guys/Ladies
Currently working on
60% weight on right side
Tilt spine to the right when driving
Ball align to Inside left foot
Head down
Eye on the back of the ball.
Tee the ball up with a tee that shows you the correct height
Grip, right hand driving the club

Any other advice or direction would be great

Thanks
O

You are reading far too much into it, I'm surprised you even hit the ball with all that going on in your head before you even swing the club :eek:

My simple advice is to relax, take three practice swings in immediate succession to get a feel of your full swing tempo and then move into position and repeat the tempo feeling you got from your practice swing. Nice and steady back and sweep the ball away (tee the ball to hit it on the upsweep). You dont needs to always take 3 swings especially as your gain confidence, but its a great way to get the right feeling in your swing for a driver.

I'm sure everyone has different ways but whatever way you go, you will need to ingrain your swing tempo and relax all the tension you are creating by trying to get everything in order.

DubDetailer

rotate back rotate through

Keeping head down is not the best advice ever, in fact its some of the worst as you head needs to come up to allow you to continue to drive through the ball as you rotate

cadobady

best advice i can give is to get a lesson and buy a bob rotella book

the lesson will help you concentrate on whats important and the bob book will help you clear your head of all those thoughts. agree with dtoffee above

and finally - watch out for bad advice - both on the course and on forums. i try blot it out as much as possible - even though i know it is all well intended.

irish bloke

cadobady wrote: »

best advice i can give is to get a lesson and buy a bob rotella book

the lesson will help you concentrate on whats important and the bob book will help you clear your head of all those thoughts. agree with dtoffee above

and finally - watch out for bad advice - both on the course and on forums. i try blot it out as much as possible - even though i know it is all well intended.

He already got lessons (first post).

Mark Crossfield YouTube, and Ben hogan 5 lessons book is all you really need outside what you have already done.

slave1

Keep your grip loose

elberry

Someday wrote: »

Guys/Ladies

Took up Golf a few months back and Love it !

I think I went down the right road with lessons, correct clubs (Second hand), Wet gear, gloves, shoes etc ! Making good progress.

Now, moved away from my 3 wood for driving, i can hit 180-200 with this to a driver my BIL gave me. Yonex and really suits me, out last night and getting there but looking for some good videos you have seen on YouTube or good tips to practice on the range.

I have hit some 200 but really around 150-170, I want to get to 220+ !

Currently working on
60% weight on right side
Tilt spine to the right when driving
Ball align to Inside left foot
Head down
Eye on the back of the ball.
Tee the ball up with a tee that shows you the correct height
Grip, right hand driving the club

Any other advice or direction would be great

Thanks
O

All this list of stuff and not a single point on the mechanics of the swing, no swingthoughts. While this stuff might be correct, some of it anyway, its not what you should be focused on at all at your stage of play, you should be really only concentrating on training your muscles to learn and memorise a good golf swing. You are thinking of the wrong stuff altogether, and without knowing your physical details you should be setting your sights alot higher than hitting it 220, even old men with good swings hit it 250.

Pay less attention to that checklist you got because its mostly just clutter and get really stuck in to the nuts and bolts of a good golf swing, really hitting the ball well. A great place for you to start is learn Ben Hogans principles of the golf swing, and work hard at it, and pay far less attention to where the ball goes at this stage, you can fine tune all of that later to improve accuracy but first make it your mission to learn to hit the ball a good distance consistently, a good 250 yards off the tee. When you are doing that, then you can go back to your checklist when fine-tuning everything.

And on one point you raised, the Head Down advice is really BS from someone who doesn't understand the golf swing, very few people actually lift their head during the swing, their torso or shoulders lift due to poor technique and obviously the head goes up with them, and some wise bystander will then say "Look, you lifted your head again, keep you head down". And oft-mentioned phrase in golf that has no meaning in the long game, its relevant in the short-game alright but thats a different matter. Study Ben Hogans swing principles, he was the master and his advice is just as relevant today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL_6M_xZvq0

spacecoyote

Fasten your seatbelt
Check your mirrors
Signal before entering traffic
etc...

To be honest I think you're in the wrong forum......;)

death1234567

Grip it and rip it!

nbar12

"Currently working on
60% weight on right side
Tilt spine to the right when driving
Ball align to Inside left foot
Head down
Eye on the back of the ball.
Tee the ball up with a tee that shows you the correct height
Grip, right hand driving the club"

I agree you're looking into this too much! You're getting far too technical here! All it takes is time and patience and a lot of practice. Develop a swing you're comfortable with and work with it. Every golfer has their own unique swing that they learn to develop over time. A small bit of advice that helped me when I started playing and I still stick to it every now and again, if you keep scuffing the ball etc, next time you hit a shot, keep your head down, dont lift it up even when you've hit the ball, let your playing partner follow the ball for you. One last thing, swing easy! Don't try and murder the ball, the club will do the work for you!

Static M.e.

@Someday

Also a beginner and have a similar list to yours, although I don't have that 60% on right foot idea. I think all beginners have lists to work off. Its not that I think about them every swing but I try to make sure I have Grip and posture when things go bad.

I hit about the same as you so the only advice I can give you is to grip the club lighter. Thats pretty much what I'm working on at the moment. That and trying to sweep the ball when driving rather than hit it -- if that makes sense.

Best of luck!

Static M.e.

Actually another little tip I just started to use..

At the range they have black lines drawn along the diameter of the ball so I use these lines to line it the Flag when I'm placing the ball. That way once I stand up I can see quickly if I'm lined up correctly.. It seems to work.

BillyBoy

I don't know why people make it so difficult on themselves, this picture is all you need to remember

Someday

Thanks for the replies, Ben hogan - I like his advice and thanks for posting.

I also bought his book online.

He doesn't have the clubs we have today with forgiveness etc, the idea with the hips instead of the arms is a good tip to work on.

I don't get hung up on the list, I stand up and hit but have all those in place or try to

ManwitaPlan

Started myself recently..the way I go about it is each time I go to the range I focus on one thing...then forget it on the course.

So for instance I might go the range and the focus might be making solid contact...Ill do a simple drill for that (e.g. masking tape in front of ball and try to hit tape) with a variety of clubs...pretty much thinking about nothing else.

My aim is to focus on one thing and make it habit so I can forget it and not think about it. Next time at the range I might focus on releasing the club head...thats the only thing I will focus on.

Seems like a slow way to progress but I feel for me it works.

I think Ben Hogans book is incredible and it seems to be the best way to implement his teachings is to take it lesson by lesson, focus on one thing, make it habit then forget it.

When I am out on the course, with friends, on a nice sunny day I think about absolutely nothing....swing thoughts are for the range imo.

Im far from a role model atm but I think I'll get there......sure according to Hogan it should only take 6 months to break 80

BillyBoy

ManwitaPlan wrote: »

I think Ben Hogans book is incredible and it seems to be the best way to implement his teachings is to take it lesson by lesson, focus on one thing, make it habit then forget it.

Its been a while since I read it but I think that is exactly what Hogan says in the book. They are not instant fixes, there rarely are in golf, but practice them till they are second nature and you will get better.

Tones69

Thats the thing with golf like most sports, to get good you have to drill something so much that it becomes second nature. Worknig on technique on course and thinkin too much will lead to chaos

Someday

On the course a lot with the driver and going well. Hitting about 130-180 though and straight ! Does the distance come with time or any tips/drills I should work on to get to 250 ?

danthefan

I drive the ball far better when my body/muscles are relaxed I find. If I get stiff (no jokes please!) then I'm almost guaranteed to start driving badly.

Another issue I had (identified by a pro during a lesson) was that my upper body was sort of rising with my head obviously following, so keeping my eye on the ball during my backswing anyway helps that.

Another thing I find absolutely vital to my driving is my follow through. No follow through/poor follow through = a bad drive for me.



For the above post, for me distance comes with width in my swing, i.e. full wide backswing. Swinging harder at the ball does nothing really except costs control, which is obviously not a good thing.

Boskowski

elberry wrote: »

...you should be setting your sights alot higher than hitting it 220, even old men with good swings hit it 250.

...make it your mission to learn to hit the ball a good distance consistently, a good 250 yards off the tee. When you are doing that, then you can go back to your checklist when fine-tuning everything.

Are you sure about that?

Now I'm not what I would call a good golfer myself (bogey golfer) but I play with a lot of good golfers and to be honest only single figures seem to hit it this far and at that not even all of them. To be hitting it (consistently!) 250 yards you would want a swing speed not far away from 100mph while actually putting a good controlled swing at it. Looking at the Irish weather and the non-existent roll these days it may actually have to be more than 100mph since we're practically talking 'carry' these days.

I'm not sure thats good advice for a beginner to be aiming at that. He'll end up feeling inadequate flaking the thing left, right and mostly not center when really he should be looking to gain confidence in meeting the ball nicely and trying to put the same balanced swing at the ball all the time.

The most exaggerated golf thing on the internet is what distance people are getting out of their clubs. Especially driver. Fact.