Using the Driver

Just hoping somebody out there can give me some advice on using my driver. I've only recently started playing and am reasonably consistent with my irons - I use the same swing on all my iron shots and seem to be OK.

With the driver however things go badly wrong - I cannot hit it consistently, I can't seem to control the swing (for some reason the body wants to swing really hard at the ball). Also I don't ever feel that comfortable in my set-up - how far away from the ball should I be standing ?

Any advice (however basic) and drills would be greatly appreciated.

I'm no instructor but have stumbled onto a little routine that helps me stand the right distance from the ball. For my height and with the clubs I use the distance from the ball equals one club length. To measure this, when I set up, I lay the club head on the ground behind the ball and then bend at the waist until the handle is on or near the ground. I then set the backs of my heels to end of the shaft and voila that's how far away I stand.

I found this first after hitting a couple of good drives at the range & then discovered it held true throughout the whole range of clubs. The shorter the club, the closer I am to the ball. It's been a big help for me to get the "feel" of my setup and to generate more confidence going into my swing. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the tip. Will give it a try.

I do seem to have solved the problem over recent visits to the range. As mentioned, I was hitting my irons consistently but had trouble with the driver (and other woods). My problem, I think, was treating the driver differently from the irons and changing my swing when I was trying to use it. I realised that I needed to use the same swing with the driver as I did with the irons. What I did to solve the problem when using the driver was to imagine that I was using an iron - this helped me get over the the 'mental' problem of having the driver in my hand. This has produced excellent results.

I used this technique for my fairway woods until I got more comforatable with them. I would actually say out loud "You are just an oversized iron" then make my shot.

here are some tips.inside of feet at shoulder width.
stand tall with a slight knee bend keep them springy
ball off inside of left heel
keep head up not on chest
tee ball up so half off ball is above the top driver
left arm and club shaft should be seen to form a straight line
your arms should hang with upper arms resting lightly on chest
focus on keeping your right leg planted on your backswing
at the top of backswing start your lower body moving forward first witch will cause your arms to drop then power threw the ball from this point to a complete finnish.
dont quit on the shot