[cypressperch]

your ball flight up with the driver. Tee the ball fairly high. In fact you might want to exaggerate how high you tee the ball. Keep the clubhead low going back and this will help flatten out the bottom of your swing. Remember that you want to sweep the driver rather than hitting down on it as with the irons. You want to play the ball somewhat foward in your stance, and it is fine if you actually catch the ball somewhat on the up-swing.

With these things in place, there is a really great way to control how high your ball flight will be. As you address the ball and then look down the target line, look at a point as high as you want the ball to fly. Look at this high point by tilting your shoulders and then hold that position as you make your swing. Loosen up on your grip and make a smooth swing allowing the clubhead to pass right through the ball rather than striking at the ball. In other words keep it all moving smoothly to a full finish. The ball WILL fly high. Visualize the high shot, pick that high point, make the smooth swing.

Whether a ball hooks or slices (draws or fades) is determined by the path the clubhead is on and by the position of the club face at impact. If we wanted a straight shot right down the middle, we would want the clubhead path to be on the target line at impact with the club face square to the target at impact. If the toe of the club beats the heel of the club to the ball, the club face is closed and counter-clockwise spin (hook spin) will be put on the ball. If the club head path is the same as the target line, the ball will initially go on the target line. Eventually the spin will get the ball to move to the left. Should the heel of the club beat the toe to the ball at impact, the club face is open. The ball will initially go down the target line (Again, IF the clubhead path is on the target line.) until the clock-wise spin gets the ball to move right.

If you want to play a fade, you make your target line to the left of center. Line up on a intermediate target a few feet ahead of your ball on this to-the-left line. Address the ball. Now open up the club face a little and REGRIP the club. Make your swing the same as you would normally and with the club being regripped with the club face open, the heel will automatically beat the toe to the ball at impact. If you really swing the clubhead on this to-the-left target line, you will have a fade. If no fade happens, you might firm up your wrists a bit to slow down the releasing of the swing a bit. Just visualize the shot you want and do not allow the toe of the club to catch up with the heel. For a draw or hook, you would do the opposite. If you do not get the draw, loosen up your wrists and grip to promote the release of the clubhead.

One last finer point. As you address the ball, imagine the target line splitting the ball in half, and then a line perpendicular to the target line cutting the ball into quadrants. Contrary to what many believe, for a ball to draw or hook, club face contact will have to occur in the top-back quadrant and this happens automatically with a closed club face becauses the toe leads the heel. We get into the notion that we would make contact at the lower-back quadrant because we have been taught that you hook the ball with an inside-to-outside club head path. The path part is trui, but we have the point of contact wrong. When you get a straight push, your contact was square to the clubhead path line. If you got a pushed slice, contact with the ball was at the lower-back quadrant meaning the club face was open relative to that clubhead path.

If you want a fade, contact must be at the lower back quadrant. If you want a draw, contact must be at the top-back quadrant. Straight shots occur when contact is directly on the line separating the two quadrants.

Hopefully, knowing what must happen at impact to create a shot shape will increase our chances of producing that shot. With practice, you will almost "feel" whatever shot shape you want into existence. That is always easier when we remove tension from our muscles and swing with confidence that comes from knowing what we are doing.

The best of luck to you with your swing. Sincerely, Cypressperch