Driver Pop Ups

[milner_7]

Latley I have had a bad case of popping the ball way up with my driver. My tee is set so the ball is half way up the face of the club. Any idea what I can do to get out of this funk??

Thanks. Any suggestions are great!!

milner

[GolfOttawa]

Milner 7

What is your ball position? Are you playing it off your front foot?

[larry]

On the Glof Channel the other night, one of the instructors suggested that when you address the ball, hoover your clubhead behind the ball rather than alowing it to sit on the ground.

[buckylasek]

Larry, i think that is more a question of preference, some people won't take advantage of doing that, personnaly i don't as i like to have loose arms at Backswing, and some people will tend to put more pressure on their grip by doing that, and to answer :

Maybe half the way is too high for your swing, personally, i put the center of the ball 3-5 mm under the top of the clubhead, and i align the clubhead at the toe? of the face, maybe you are closing the face, or you have a very steep swing.

[ProGolfHelp]

It's crutial that the ball be played off the left heel (or even toe for advanced). If the ball is in the middle or just past.. the arc is descending or leveling out. This can cause your pop up problem espically if your elbows are not towards each other or are apart. You want to hit the ball when the club has started to ascend. This hits up on the ball and launches it. You also get much more roll once the ball lands. A good way to practice this is to...setup with both feet together, arms extended (elbows close), then take only one step with your right foot to the right. Now hit the shot. This will also teach you how to turn into the ball with your body. You should be facing the target in balance when finished. I am a PGA Teaching Professional...if you want more help you can email me. http://rossduplessisgolf.com

[Chieflongtee]

Latley I have had a bad case of popping the ball way up with my driver. My tee is set so the ball is half way up the face of the club. Any idea what I can do to get out of this funk??

Thanks. Any suggestions are great!!

milner

Just curious. What kind of driver i.e head size.Shaft flex also if possible.

[milner_7]

Just curious. What kind of driver i.e head size.Shaft flex also if possible.

I am hitting a Big Bertha Titanium 2004 with a stock firm flex shaft. It has a 350cc head.

[milner_7]

Hey guys/gals thanks for the advice. I will try using it and see what happens. Progolfhelp thanks for the offer. I will take that offer. Its funny how we get into these funks at times. At the beginning of the season I was hitting my driver like a champ then I took a couple of months off due to work travel and lost my swing. Its been a struggle ever since. Keep the suggestions coming please, I'm sure there are more members like me having a struggle.

[milner_7]

Milner 7

What is your ball position? Are you playing it off your front foot?

Just a little towards the centre but close to my front foot. This could be part of the reason? Hmmmm....

[buckylasek]

To keep your swing, maybe some weighted training aids could help, i have momentus, and it's really good to make you keep your swing when you can't play. It also builds muscle memory, and muscles ;p

[milner_7]

Yeah I was thinking about getting a Momentus. So it works? I am seriously looking at buying one of those.

[Powerdraw]

curious to hear from your experience with progolfhelp's advice, if you take it and if you see him....just wondering...i'm surprised that he can already offer drills without asking questions at all. sounds a little cookie-cutter. but i wont stir the pot on christmas!!! lol!

[dbleber]

I think his comments and advice where just general in nature and by no means was he giving specific swing changing advice. By taking his comments someone who doesn't understand how the driver is supposed to contact the ball can look at this very simplistic idea and see where they can go from there. I don't know him personally but having talked to a few PGA teachers I would be very surprised that any of them would offer any swing mechanics changes without further information, hence his offer of contacting him. I personally like it when someone with real teaching creditials adds their two cents. Better then some of the advice you hear at the driving range by the local golf know it all!

[Powerdraw]

agreed...very cool. i do as well appreciate pros input...i know no one will be completely in agreement about hitting up or down or level with driver, its just the body thing and elbow thing, sounds like it could cause more harm than good to some, i just like warning labels on back of the bottles so i take only the pill not the whole thing...lol!

[buckylasek]

Momentus can't be bad for your swing. Medicus is great also.

[BC MIST]

agreed...very cool. i do as well appreciate pros input...i know no one will be completely in agreement about hitting up or down or level with driver, its just the body thing and elbow thing, sounds like it could cause more harm than good to some, i just like warning labels on back of the bottles so i take only the pill not the whole thing...lol!

If a golfer is an “PROFESSIONAL” instructor, is it assumed that he/she has been trained in communicating the “how to,” but most importantly, he also has some scientific or more technical knowledge of the “why,” so that he does not waste the student’s time, progress and money, by having him work on bogus advice. There are name professionals who do much to impede progress, and driving range pros who are brilliant teachers. While we all have an insatiable thirst for anything that will make us better players, too frequently we accept what we are told because it came from a PRO, and do so without question. I say question everything. Ask “Why?”

For example, it is commonly believed that one should hit UP on the ball with a driver. If this advice is given because the golfer hits DOWN on the ball too sharply, and the advice to hit up “averages out” the bottom of the arc of the club head, then the idea will work. But, if the suggestion is that the club head is to REALLY come up on the ball, it should be questioned. **Bob Bush, who with a team of other engineers created, designed, built and did extensive testing of and on the original IRON BYRON machine for True Temper, was asked:
(1) “Are EFFECIENT swings impacting the ball on the up swing with the driver?” ANSWER: NO!!! Because the center of gravity of the driver is located back behind the face and also behind the axis of the shaft…."
(2) Where is the bottom of the driver swing?” ANSWER: "It is certainly slightly ahead of a vertical line up from the ball." What he means is that the club head with the driver is still DESCENDING when it makes contact with the ball(not hitting up on it) and that the lower and rearward CG of our large driver heads significantly increases the launch angle, which is the desired result.

Another characteristic of a good swing is that the hands be ahead of the ball, or at worst in line with the ball, at separation, AND, that the club shaft be ON PLANE. The club head would then still then be accelerating at impact. But, by hitting UP on the ball, the hands would have to be slightly behind the ball so the club head is decelerating, and the club shaft would be OFF PLANE to the right. Because of this, both the distance and direction of the ball are negatively affected.

Do not apologize for questioning free advice regardless of the source. Except for mine, of course.

** From: 'GOLF SWING SECRETS...AND LIES. SIX TIMELESS LESSONS' Michael Hebron

[GolfOttawa]

BC Mist
Good Point, If no one questioned an instructor it would be impossible to learn or progress in this sport as Feel is not real.

When you hit a driver off the deck you sure are not hitting it on the upswing, and this could be why few can hit the driver off the deck i mean if they are trying to hit it on the upswing they most likely will top it or hit the ground.

Everything is open to interprutation or we would be one sorry race.

[sandbagger72]

i tend to say to each his own. i have a consistent drive but i have also been playing for since i was 11 that was 10yrs ago. i learned that the best instructor is youreself. it's ok to take pointers here and there but you have to just go to the range and work some stuff out. but just a pointer try steppingforward a little parralel to the ball.

[Powerdraw]

Do not apologize for questioning free advice regardless of the source. Except for mine, of course.

BC, thanks, i just did not want to startle the natives!!! lol
i'm a newby around here, but i get sick to my stomach when i see this 'HI, I'M A PGA PRO, HERES MY E-MAIL, I CAN HELP YOU' after a couple of simple lines that have kept joe Duff at the range or coming back time after time. He might be right, but i'd like to hear the non-cookie-cutter version, a send me your swing version, a describe more whats going on anything type of info,

just my 0.02$ at 15,5% tax

[golfCOACH]

BC Mist should be charging you guys for some of this stuff..... And he quotes the best instructor in Canada.. the 'Shed !!