Ball Striking: The Driver

1. Ball Striking: The Driver Cuz’ We Want to Hit it Far (and hopefully straight too)!

2. Fundamentals of Driving the Golf Ball 1. The first thing that needs to be stated when talking about driving the golf ball is that you have to be accurate! No matter how far you hit it, golf course designers are intentionally making courses that penalize people for missing fairways. 2. There will be two things that we focus on: • Direction • Distance

3. Driving the Ball: Direction There are a few things to keep in mind when trying to keep the direction of your golf ball in check… • Spin • When thinking about spin, try to imagine what happens with a ping pong ball. There are 4 types of spin: • Backspin • Topspin/Neutral spin • Sidespin (left) • Sidespin (right)

4. Driving the Ball: Direction Backspin: • When studying backspin with the driver, it is important to note that this can mostly be controlled by technology (type of driver and most importantly the shaft in your driver). Most tour pros like their backspin to be above 1700 rpm and no more than 2300 rpm. Here’s why...When you are playing into a stiff wind, the more backspin that your ball has will negatively impact your distance. Have you ever seen a ball get grabbed by the wind and float upwards? This is because of backspin. Therefore, the less backspin you have, the better that the ball “flights” through the wind. • However, backspin isn’t all too bad in some conditions… Imagine that you have really low back spin, say around 1800 rpm. Well, this might be great for playing into the wind and keeping the ball low however, one thing you need to understand is that when there is less backspin there is a tendency to have more sidespin. Therefore, if you have a low backspin, you could potentially be setting yourself up to have more sidespin so that draw you were usually hitting at 2300 rpm could become a hard hook at 1800 rpm (we will get to sidespin soon).

5. Driving the Ball: Direction Topspin/ Neutral spin: • Now, when talking about these two you have to first realize that it is impossible to put topspin or even no spin on a ball. Since we play with clubs that have loft, there will always be some backspin. Usually, when coaches tell you to try to hit up on your driver so that it feels like it has no spin or if you hit a flyer and it goes way further than normal because of less backspin, those shots may have less than normal backspin, but they do not have topspin or no spin.

6. Driving the Ball: Direction Sidespin: • The ultimate killer of accuracy! I’m sure you all have had your share of hooks, slices, draw, fades, and even straight shots, but sidespin is one of the most commonly misunderstood things about golf. • To understand how sidespin affects your accuracy, you first have to realize that sidespin is not always bad. A lot of time we have natural swings that encourage some kind of shape to the ball (sidespin). Therefore, you have to first decided what kind of spin you want to play the majority of the time and try to keep it from getting out of control. • The next thing to think about is how sidespin is actually caused. We know that backspin is the result of a combination of using lofted clubs and attacking downward with the clubhead (unless you hit the ball on the upswing which really is only applicable with a driver), but sidespin is caused by two factors: clubface angle and swing path. • Swing Path: Did you know that your swing path only contributes for 20% of where the ball actually ends up??? Not only is swing path less important than clubface angle, but it is much easier to control than clubface angle. If your swing path is inside to outside then you will usually be setup to have draw spin. If you swing path is outside to inside then you will usually be setup to have cut spin.

7. Driving the Ball: Direction • Clubface Angle: In contrast to swing path, clubface angle attributes to 80% of where the ball actually ends up. Not only does this make it more important than swing path, but it is, unfortunately, much more difficult to control than swing path. However, you need to know that a closed clubface will encourage hook spin and an open face will encourage cut spin. Sidespin (right): • This is the type of spin that many tour pros are trying to play consistently. The reason for this is that cutspin is usually leads to more accurate shots than hookspin. Here’s why… • When you hit a ball with cut spin two things happen to the ball. The first is that the ball with cutspin actually has more backspin as well. If a ball has more backspin then it is less likely to have an overabundance of sidespin. • The second thing that happens to a ball with cutspin is that it tends to go higher (again, because of backspin). • Therefore, when a ball has more backspin (so less sidespin) and goes higher you can expect it to generally do two things: Not curve so much off to the side of the target and when the ball lands it will not have as much rollout (a ball w/ backspin will not roll forward as much and similarly a higher trajectory will make the impact with the ground more of a direct blow so there won’t be as much roll out).

8. Driving the Ball: Direction Sidespin (left): • This is the type of spin that guys like to play for two reasons: it goes further than cut spin and it helps you keep the ball on a lower trajectory. However, some will try to limit left spin because it can be much harder to control and gives the ball the chance to hop and roll through intended target areas. Here’s why... • A ball with left sidespin usually has lower backspin so when it hits the ground, it has more forward roll. • A ball with left sidespin, since it has less backspin, also usually has a lower trajectory. Therefore, when it hits the ground, the group has less of a direct impact, allowing for more rollout. • Similarly, a ball with left sidesin, since it has lower backspin, is in danger of having more sidespin. Therefore, it is easier for a draw to become a hook.

9. Driving the Ball: Direction So what does this mean? Do I only need to try and hit the ball straight? I’m so confused… • Understand, like with almost everything else in golf, you need to understand how the game works. Knowing the downsides of all of the spins on the golf ball will allow you to make better decisions on when to try eliminate certain types of spin (lots of wind, play less cut spin and more draw spin; tight winding course with lots of trouble on the sides of fairways that are pretty hard and fast, play a higher trajectory ball with cut spin so that there is less roll out). • With all of this being said though, you need to always first determine what you want to do naturally. If you naturally hit a hook then work on managing the hook and playing to it’s strengths while trying to eliminate it’s weaknesses and vice versa with a cut. • Now that we understand spin affecting direction, there are some things that you can do to try and become a more accurate driver of the golf ball.

10. Driving the Ball: Direction Tips: • When sticking the tee into the ground. • Always, try to use the same height (unless you have to try and hit a higher/lower shot than normal). Teeing the ball at the same height consistently will allow you to become more comfortable with making solid contact in the center of the face. Since hitting the ball on the center of the face is crucial in controlling direction, this cannot be overstated. • Be deliberate about which side of the tee box you tee the ball up on (right, left, or middle). This affects how you see the angle of the shot so your body will compensate. Ex: Say you have a hole where you need to hit a left to right cut. Pros, when faced with this, will usually tee up the ball on the right side of the tee box because it encourages an outside to inside swing path. Since your hands will try to correct the club face angle to mirror or offset the swing path so that you hit the ball to your target, you will probably have a better chance of hitting a cut. The opposite is true as well. • If you struggle with accuracy tee the ball lower. The lower you tee the ball the more you will strike down on it. Striking down on the driver is better for accuracy, most of the time, because it is more similar to an iron swing so you are more comfortable. Also, if there is more backspin on a ball then it has a better chance of having less sidespin. Even though you have more backspin though, since you tee it up lower it will naturally have a lower trajectory so the ball will have less time in the air to go to bad places.

11. Driving the Ball: Direction Tips: 2. Pre-Shot Routine • This cannot be overstated either. Guys on tour are like clockwork when it comes down to their pre shot routine. The pre-shot routine does a lot of things for a golfer, but most of all, it allows you to get into a rhythm so that you are comfortable hitting the shot; don’t underestimate the importance of being mentally comfortable with hitting a shot. • A good shot routine allows guys to properly visualize what they want to do. If they can see it then they can believe that they can do it. • A good shot routine utilizes practice swings that set the player up to achieve what they visualize. Don’t just swing the club for the heck of it. Try to have a practice swing that either perfectly mimics what you want to do for the real thing or gives you a great feel for how you want to hit the shot. • A good pre-shot routine allows you to digest all of the information that you need to know for your shot. Is there a strong wind? Is the tee box sloped? Is there a lot of moisture on the tee box? Are the tee markers lining you up in a direction that you don’t want to go? The pre-shot routine is when you decide what shot you need to play based on these factors.

12. Driving the Ball: Direction Tips: 3. I could go on, but I don’t want to confuse you. We will cover many other things in practice. If you want more information about the really detailed stuff then you can ask me directly or you can do your own research on youtube. 4. Now we are going to focus on...

13. Driving the Ball: Distance There are many factors that influence how far you hit the ball, but I am only going to cover the major ones… • Technology • Club Head • Shaft • Ball • Swing • Speed • Teeing the ball • Angle of attack • Face Angle and Swing Path

14. Driving the Ball: Distance Technology: • Club Head- Within the last 10 years the technology of club heads has progressed dramatically. Club companies’ ability to use new, dynamic materials and shift weight around the club head has led to many people seeing huge gains in distance. • Shaft- This is arguably the most important factor in gaining more distance (accuracy too). If you have not been custom fitted for a driver shaft then you definitely need to. Having the correct shaft can do all sorts of good thing, but mainly the right shaft will eliminate inconsistencies in delivering the club head to the ball and it will also give you the ability to control the trajectory and spin of the ball. • Ball- Did you know that compression is one of the most important factors in distance? Did you know that if your swing speed with a driver is not consistently more than 108 mph that using a pro v1x is almost pointless? The ball industry has blown up over the last 10 years thus giving the consumers (us) all sorts of golf balls to choose from. Choosing the right ball is important to maximizing distance (you need to consider how it will affect spin as well).

15. Driving the Ball: Distance Swing • Speed- Hopefully, this is a no brainer. With more speed comes more distance, however you need to know that most pros only swing on average at 80% of their potential because they want to consistently hit the center of the club face and they want to control where the ball goes! • Teeing the ball- If you want more distance you need to tee the ball higher. Not only does teeing the ball higher allow you to hit it higher it allows you to hit it higher with less backspin. This leads into talking about… • Angle of Attack- If you tee the ball higher you need to be trying to hit up on the ball vs down on the ball. Hitting up on the ball allows you to minimize the backspin which causes the ball to have less friction into the wind. Less friction into the wind means more distance. Similarly, hitting up on the ball raises your trajectory so that you can hit the ball similar to a 45 degree angle which many argue is the optimum trajectory height for maximum distance. • Face Angle and Swing Path- We already covered how these things affect direction because of sidespin so we don’t have to go to much in-depth with this. Mostly, yo u need to know that draw spin (inside out path with slightly closed face angle) will get you more distance than cut spin (outside in path with slightly open face angle).

16. Driving the Ball: Summary So what does all this mean??? • Mostly, and we will work on this in detail in practice so that you figure out what works best for you individually, I am wanting all of you to understand the finer points of the game so that you can know how to maximize your personal strengths while minimizing your personal weaknesses. It’s not always about just swinging harder to working on your alignment. There are a ton of factors to consider when trying to work towards being a great driver of the golf ball. Like I’ve mentioned, this presentation could have been many more slides longer, but I wanted to mainly address some of the principles that are important that you have not have encountered or thought of before.