My handicap is my driver...

[tailStrike]

I had today off so that I could go to an early morning job interview and decided to squeeze a full round in after lunch so that I would have a good idea of what I need to work on before I start my lessons this week. The course I played is a 9 hole course. When played as 18, the stats are 5,322 yards, par 70, slope 110, rated 68.5. On the first tee box, I duck hooked the driver as usual, so I decided to leave the ungrateful, expensive beast in the bag the rest of the round and played my 4-iron off the tee. After penalizing myself on the first hole for the 2 tee shots and the fact that the ball I ended up playing wasn't mine (honest mistake - range nearby), I finished that par 4 with an 8.

Next hole was par 3. Water down left side, 153 yards to the pin. Hit a nice, solid, easy shot with the 8 iron and left it within 10 feet. 2-putted for par. The rest of the day turned into a bogey round with the occasional three-put or goof trying to get up and down. I finished with a 96. If it wasn't for the first hole and a goof on the 18th from the sand (bladed the immortal hell out of my lob wedge), I could have been in the 80s.

I'm pretty stoked. I was going to set my goal for the high 80s this summer, but I'm going to shoot for low 80s to high 70s. Hopefully I can get my driver figured out in the next few weeks. I don't know if I need a stiffer shaft or what, but attempting the same swing with my driver as with my 4-irons, produces a horrid duck hook for me. The only good shots I get out of the club are when I swing unnaturally slow and I end up getting the same distance out of my 4-iron, so right now it's staying in the bag.

 

[Eracer]

I had the exact same problem with my driver. I'm not saying I know how to fix yours, but when I upgraded my driver shaft, my snap hooks simply vanished.

If you swing 95-100mph, then you should consider buying the Grafalloy Comp NT in S-flex.

The Golfworks is blowing these out at $49.99 (MSRP $89.99 - they've been discontinued) and they are a superb shaft choice at this price.

GRAFALLOY COMP NT 65/85 GRAPHITE WOOD SHAFTS

A somewhat softer, but still excellent shaft that I've used without snap hooking is the BB Solutions 130. Superb shaft. A bit softer feeling than the Comp NT.

 

[tailStrike]

I had the exact same problem with my driver. I'm not saying I know how to fix yours, but when I upgraded my driver shaft, my snap hooks simply vanished.

If you swing 95-100mph, then you should consider buying the Grafalloy Comp NT in S-flex.

The Golfworks is blowing these out at $49.99 (MSRP $89.99 - they've been discontinued) and they are a superb shaft choice at this price.

GRAFALLOY COMP NT 65/85 GRAPHITE WOOD SHAFTS

A somewhat softer, but still excellent shaft that I've used without snap hooking is the BB Solutions 130. Superb shaft. A bit softer feeling than the Comp NT.

Hmmm...I have no clue what my swing speed is. If I knew that would solve it, I'd pick it up right away. My shaft is the stock R flex shaft on the Cleveland Hibore (standard, not XL). Guy at Dick's recommended it to me over the S as I was making better contact with it at the time, but I feel like my speed may be a little quicker now. I was swinging pretty easy as I hadn't swung a club in a while and whiffed the first one . The info on the shaft says it's a 3.7 flex, low kick point.

 

[Eracer]

Hmmm...I have no clue what my swing speed is. If I knew that would solve it, I'd pick it up right away. My shaft is the stock R flex shaft on the Cleveland Hibore (standard, not XL). Guy at Dick's recommended it to me over the S as I was making better contact with it at the time, but I feel like my speed may be a little quicker now. I was swinging pretty easy as I hadn't swung a club in a while and whiffed the first one . The info on the shaft says it's a 3.7 flex, low kick point.

Gotta get those numbers. Go back to Dicks and get on their launch monitor. Find out what your swingspeed is. There are other factors involved in choosing the correct shaft, such as how you load/unload, the timing of your release, and others. Things that a good clubfitter can help you identify (maybe Dicks has one, maybe they don't.) Buying heads and shafts is a total crapshoot without data and expert help. I know, I've been there and done that. I posted a link to that shaft because it was a revelation to me. But that was totally by luck. It might not be right for you at all.

 

[tailStrike]

Yeah, I think you're less likely to find a quality club fitter in an outfit like Dick's that is probably paying the staff minimum wage. This guy was too lazy to even turn on the launch monitor and complained about how lowsy it was and hard to configure. Overall he was a real ass and I'm not sure why I even bought a club from there looking back on it. I'll try another Dick's store that's closeby - I like the staff better there.

 

[tailStrike]

I went back to Dick's today. My swing speed with the driver is in the 89-92 MPH range. I'm trying to find a chart with recommendations for cleveland shaft flex based on swing speed.

 

[tailStrike]

Didn't find that, but according to this, I'm sort of in-between:
TheWorldofGolf.com's Club Fitting page

 

[West Coast Duffer]

If that shaft is anything like their gold shaft than I would defiantely say its the shaft. that regular gold shaft gave me some major hooks.

 

[Kona]

lessons

i had the same problem with my driver.

i went to my swing pro for a lesson: 1 hour.

there after: dropped 15~20 strokes off my game! I kid you not.

...and my driver's been playable...so much more fun then swinging my 4 wood off the tee.

got another lesson scheduled this Sat.

 

[Eracer]

i had the same problem with my driver.

i went to my swing pro for a lesson: 1 hour.

there after: dropped 15~20 strokes off my game! I kid you not.

...and my driver's been playable...so much more fun then swinging my 4 wood off the tee.

got another lesson scheduled this Sat.

People can say all they want about the driver being an over-rated club, that most amateurs shouldn't carry one, blah, blah - heck, I've said it myself many times. But having a driver that you can confidently swing, knowing you'll hit the fairway most of the time, is a great weapon to have in the bag.

 

[twogreen]

Until recently, the driver has always been the most reliable club in my bag. A few weeks ago I re-read Ben Hogan's Five Fundamentals and decided to try changing my grip from interlocking to overlapping. There was an immediate improvement in my iron striking...improved distance and accuracy. Strangely, my driver play went to hell at the same time. Now, I will often get snap hooks accompanied by a major loss of elevation on ball flight. It is not uncommon for the ball to never get more than 8-10 feet above the ground. Occasionally, I will get a pure hit and get the old good feeling; but, sadly, the next tee box will remind me that I still have a problem.

I have tried going back to the interlocking grip with the driver and it cures the problem. I suppose I could play interlocking with the driver and overlapping with the irons; but I would prefer to find another solution. It just doesn't make sense to me that the new grip would have improved my iron play so much and degraded my driver stroke at the same time.

Well, that's my rant for the day.

 

[tailStrike]

twogreen, I just had my first lesson on Thursday and we worked on my driver and fairway woods (I really, really wasn't getting these out of the bag...snuck my driver out every now and then). I was also suffering from snap hooks and he had me pretty well straightened out by the end of the 1/2 hour lesson. It didn't work out for me on the course today, because I hadn't had a chance to practice what I had learned on the range, but I hit some balls after playing and got the driver under control again and was hitting my 3 and 5 just beautifully from the ground.

Anywho, for what it's worth, a large part of my problem was the grip. He had me roll my right hand even further over the shaft. I have tried this myself at the range, but never moved it over as far as he suggested. With my right hand in that position, it sort of forces my right index finger out to form the "trigger finger" I hear some pros talk about and also I notice some added tension/resistence in my right arm and wrist during the back swing from this (and it also feels like my back swing is a little shorter). The other thing was my shoulders were offline - I was aimed way left. Also, I had the ball too forward in my stance.

Anyways, just wanted to pass that along in case it works for you since you did mention that you changed your grip. To get my fairway woods in the air really took no effort after the things I learned with the driver. I just had to move the ball back in my stance to near center, swing easy, and keep my head down. Lack of confidence with those clubs causes me to jump up to soon.