Why do so many golfers who have trouble hitting their driver seem to immediately blame themselves and their swing? The Number 1 question about hitting a club poorly are mostly referencing the driver. The majority of comments or questions are like, "I can't hit my driver, what's wrong with my swing?" Or, "What am I missing in my swing that I can't hit my driver?" All these have one basic theme. The problem is the player. Let me throw out, for discussion, another possibility that is likely the real problem. It's your driver - Not YOU!
Since the early 90s, drivers for the past 15 years have increased in standard length by as much as 2 inches longer. This is the first part of the equation for driver difficulties. While the driver gets longer, you may have noticed that most of us are not growing taller and stronger to be able to swing these longer behemoths. The sales pitch from the manufacturers is, "Longer clubs hit the ball longer." That is centrifugal force, swinging a rock on the end of a string, the longer the string gets the faster the rock goes. The rock is the club head, the shaft and your left arm, the string. So the longer the shaft the longer the string is and thus, the club head goes faster and more club head speed equates to more distance. Sounds great and works perfectly if you can do a few things.
One is that you have to be able to swing that longer club faster. Two is that you have to hit it as solidly. Three is you have to hit it as straight. If you can't do all three of these you will not hit your longer driver longer. That is a scientific fact! And, guess what? That longer driver makes doing those 3 priorities much more difficult, if not impossible, for most golfers. They lack the strength to swing it fast enough, and with control, to hit it solid, which are the two biggest criteria for hitting it longer and straighter.
Let's now look at a few other variables of longer drivers that add to the problem of hitting it longer and straighter.
SHAFT FLEX: This is the term that relates to the stiffness of the shaft and is described by letters for both steel and graphite shafts. X is for extra stiff. S is for stiff. R for regular and L is for ladies flex. Senior flex is designated by A since S is already used for stiff. The big problem with flex, especially with graphite shafts, is that many times the letter on the shaft is not really the flex of the shaft. And, my experience over the years of dealing with flex issues, especially in driver,s has been for the most part the shaft is weaker or softer than the letter or label on the shaft states. Many marked X or S are much weaker. When checked out for flex or frequency, many are actually regular or senior stiffness. I have asked club reps and even company execs why so many shaft flexes in the finished, shipped and sold drivers are wrong. I can't seem to get a direct answer. So, in speaking with club fitters and builders, the only conclusion seems there could be a lack of quality control in the manufacturing process in checking the flex/frequency of the shafts, especially graphite shafts. This is public enemy number 1 in why clubs, especially drivers, don't perform well. Hitting it both left and right and tops and chops with what feels like good swings is a good indicator the letter on your shaft is not the flex it says it is suppose to be.
LIE ANGLE: That is the angle of the shaft to the ground of the driver when it is soled flat on the ground. When the standard length of drivers was 43 inches the standard lie was around 53 degrees. Today, for most drivers, the standard length is 45 inches and many are now made 46 inches and the lie angles of between 61 to 63 degrees. Basic club building standards say that for every half inch added to a club's length, the shaft lie angle should be set 1 degree flatter. According to this fitting standard these 45 inch drivers should have a lie angle of 50 or 49 degrees, not the 61 or 63 degrees they are presently built with. That's basically almost 3 times the amount — in the wrong direction.
What this means for the majority of you who are less than well over 6 feet, is that when you address the ball with your driver in your normal setup, the head of the driver will be soled (touching the ground) on the heel below the end of the shaft. That means the toe of the club will be high up in the air as well as the center of the club bottom which is suppose to be flat on the ground. The key here is that a toed up club, no matter which one, is effectively and will be at impact, closed and aiming left. You will hit pulls and hooks until you make compensations trying to correct for the lefts. Then you likely will hit it to the right as well as tops and chops and everything in between.
FACE ANGLE: That is the angle of the face as it is held at address. Most clubs, woods and drivers are, or should be, made square. That is, at address, with a good grip, they should be aimed perpendicular (90 degrees) to the aiming line. Today most drivers and fairway woods are made closed or shut from 1 to as much as 5 or 6 degrees. That is, the face from the toe to the heel is angled inward toward the heel. Thus the face, in a good setup, is not perpendicular to the aiming line but rather aimed left. Guess where the ball will go when you make a good swing. Hint. It won't be straight.
I have asked reps and company executives why the lie angles of drivers and woods are made more upright and/or with closed or shut faces. I keep getting the same answer, "To help slicers hit it straight." That sounds great, but it has some major flaws. For one, players who can hit it straight or even hit a draw, don't need that help and will hit serious pulls and hooks because they cannot take the design and physics out of the club. Another issue is that when golfers who slice and work on their swing, like many of you who are trying to learn the PPGS, as you get better and should be hitting good drives you can't because your driver and/or other clubs don't fit you. These built in "anti-slice aids" are now causing bad shots when you make good swings. You finally learn and make good swings and your driver and clubs are stabbing you in the back. The more of these three variables that are off in your driver and or other clubs, the wider range of bad shots you will hit.
These issues of shaft flex, lie angle and face angle are all singularly or collectively, as a whole, the major factors that can contribute and cause mediocre to poor to awful shots, even with good swings. The key is that if your driver has any of these afflictions, it does not matter how good you swing, and in fact a real good swing will likely hit bad shots because the driver or club is NOT FIT for you. Clubs are tools. The better the tool in fitting you for your setup and swing, the better it performs. It is that simple.
I hope this sheds some light on the issues that can affect your hitting your driver and, for that matter, any club in your set. If you have a problem hitting your driver or any club, especially hitting bad shots with what feels like a good swing, get it checked. You need to know if it is your swing or your club. Go see your club pro or your local club fitter and have them check the shaft flex to see if it matches what the label says. Have them also check that the lie angle is correct and the face angle is not hooked. In fact have them give you a fitting to find out exactly what your club specs should be.
I have one big wish for golfers in regards to club manufacturers building their clubs that will make golf instruction for the teacher teaching and the student learning much easier and productive. How about just building clubs, especially drivers, with the correct specs of length, lie and face angle and, especially, shaft flex. Give us what we believe we bought and is on the box and shaft band. And, especially, build them correctly when we CUSTOM ORDER them. That way, when we golfers make "GOOD SWINGS" we will hit "GOOD SHOTS." What A CONCEPT!
The Surge!