Learn the Proper Golf Driver Swing
Choose the Best Golf Driver for Your Game and How to Hit a Golf Driver with the Proper Golf Driver Swing
Without doubt, the most difficult swing in golf is the golf driver swing. It is also one of the most discussed subjects in golf as so many golfers struggle with their golf driver swing. Golf club manufacturers know this as well and so spend millions on developing new drivers and trying to sell you their latest expensive drivers.
When you visit a golf driving range you will also see that the majority of golfers are practicing more with their driver than any other club in their bag. Actually, this is not the best golf practice method while on the driving range but I will get into that subject in another article on proper golf practice techniques.
In reality, the golf driver swing is no different in principle than the swing you use for your fairway woods, hybrids, or irons. What makes the golf driver swing harder is the fact that the driver is the longest club in golf. It is a simple matter of physics; the longer the club, the harder it is to make solid and square contact with the ball.
Choose the Best Golf Driver for Your Game
If you want to be a good driver of the ball you must first choose the best golf driver for your game. You have to forget all the hype from the big name brand driver marketing agents. What you really need is a driver that you feel comfortable with and that works for you. One of the main requirements is that you buy a driver with the correct shaft length for your height and arm length, as well as the correct shaft flex for your swing speed.
It is probably a good idea to get custom fitted for your clubs as there are so many variables that you have to take into account when choosing the perfect driver. Unless you understand launch angle, Moment of Inertia (MOI), Coefficient of Restitution (COR), and other variables like the different head sizes, weights, and materials used for the heads, then custom fitting might be a good idea.
Alternatively, you can find out which are the top 5 rated drivers as used by actual golfers with similar swing speeds and handicaps as you. Rankmark.com does just that; they get hundreds of golfers of differing experience levels to try out dozens of drivers and then gather all the results to create a top 5 list.
For example, the 2011 Driver Golf Club Test Results show that for high handicap golfers with slow swing speeds, the top 5 drivers are as follows:
- Callaway Razr Hawk
- PING G15 / Callaway Diablo Octane / Nicklaus ML4
- Cleveland Launcher XL270
- Boccieri Heavy Driver / PING K15 / TaylorMade Burner Superfast
- Bobby Jones Workshop Superlite / Nike SQ Machspeed
How to Hit a Golf Driver
I have said that the golf driver swing is difficult because of the length of the club but there is another problem. As we stand there on the tee with a big driver in our hands we get a feeling of power, almost like sitting at the traffic lights in a big V8 muscle car from the 70’s. We believe we can smash the ball down the fairway with all our might using brute strength. We are trying just too hard and we swing too hard; as an alternative, just swing easy and think about hitting the ball 200 – 250 yards and positioning the ball in the fairway.
You will be surprised at how effective this strategy for the golf driver swing can be. Golf is also a mental game, so when you tell yourself that you are going to hit your drive a shorter distance and concentrate on accuracy and control, you will actually achieve that result. After you can constantly make perfect impact and position your drives on the fairway then you can begin to work on increasing your distance – which comes from a faster swing speed and not more brute force.
The most important thing to remember, when standing on the tee and setting up for the proper golf driver swing, is control and accuracy is preferable over wayward distance. In other words, it is better to keep your ball in play on the fairway than hit a 300 yard drive deep in the woods. Yes, distance is important as well; it will set you up for an easier approach shot to the green and give you a chance of making birdie or, at worst, par.
Learn the Proper Golf Driver Swing Summary
So, practice your golf driver swing to get the ball as far down the fairway as possible – use good course management to position your ball in the middle, to the left, or to the right of the fairway by considering the angle into the green and any green-side bunkers that need to be avoided.
Hopefully you enjoyed this article on the golf driver swing – in another article, I will discuss some Golf Driving Tips for specific instruction on how to hit a golf driver successfully.
Hit Your Driver More Consistently
About Mick Euan Tait
Mick has played golf for almost 40 years and has written golf tips articles for the last 5 years. He became a very proficient golfer after switching to the Purepoint Golf swing system – either the Simple Golf Swing System by David Nevogt or the Full Golf Swing by Bobby Eldridge are both easy to learn, consistent, and repeatable golf swings .
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