Striking the ball with the driver

[acarty]

OK so I'm reading some other threads about ball flight etc, and I'm quite happy with my irons. However, my driver seems to cause me issues...

I have noticed recently that I'm snapping every tee, since I play with wooden tees for better feedback. Every single time it's snapped. So, being the semi-intelligent chap I am, I figure I'm striking down on the ball.

Will moving the ball forward in my stance simply fix this, or is it going to lower my flight? Am I going to hit a different shape?

What do you guys think...?

 

[WMitch6]

OK so I'm reading some other threads about ball flight etc, and I'm quite happy with my irons. However, my driver seems to cause me issues...

I have noticed recently that I'm snapping every tee, since I play with wooden tees for better feedback. Every single time it's snapped. So, being the semi-intelligent chap I am, I figure I'm striking down on the ball.

Will moving the ball forward in my stance simply fix this, or is it going to lower my flight? Am I going to hit a different shape?

What do you guys think...?

Why do you care what happens to the tee? It's what happens to the ball that counts.

 

[sssmokin]

You should have a higher ball flight.............might have to go to the range to see if you will have to aim more left or right, or whether it fades or draws more. Depends on your swing.........but it should be a higher ball flight.

 

[nututhugame]

If indeed you are striking down on the ball I would think that moving it forward would give you a higher ball flight cause you'll now be coming up into the ball. If all things were equal except ball position the shape would change because now you'd be releasing a hair too early and various other little factors.

 

[Augster]

I don't even understand this post.....

The ball is stationary on the tee. The clubface is much bigger than the ball. Closer to two balls vertically I would say.

By this logic, in order to hit the sweet spot, the bottom of the club has to hit somewhere on the tee stem. Just to hit the middle of the club.

To hit the ball "correctly" with a driver, i.e. ABOVE the sweet spot (up to 3/4" above), the bottom of the club will contact the stem of the tee even lower.

If the bottom of the club were "brushing" the top of the tee, so as not to break it, the ball will strike the clubface well below the center of the driver which is a terrible spot to hit the ball.

I don't think you can discern angle of attack by whether your tee breaks or not.

As said before, worry about ball-flight. Also worry about face contact. Get something on the face to measure where you are hitting it. Middle or higher is best.

Use a brush tee and forget about this erroneous "feedback".

 

[rolltherock]

OK so I'm reading some other threads about ball flight etc, and I'm quite happy with my irons. However, my driver seems to cause me issues...

I have noticed recently that I'm snapping every tee, since I play with wooden tees for better feedback. Every single time it's snapped. So, being the semi-intelligent chap I am, I figure I'm striking down on the ball.

Will moving the ball forward in my stance simply fix this, or is it going to lower my flight? Am I going to hit a different shape?

What do you guys think...?

If I may offer one tiny bit of advice.....don't worry about your tees. If your ball is in the fairway at a decent distance you can live with.....MOVE ON. The game isn't won with tee balls. I really hate to see new players become totally engulfed with the tee shot and completely forget about scoring. I don't care if your ball flight is 5 feet off the deck.....if you put it in 7 iron distance all day that's good enough to play very, very competitive golf.

If your tee shots are playable please don't start messing with your setup just so you don't break a tee.....please. Proper setup is the single biggest determinant in consistent ball striking and if yours is good keep it going! If you ever go to a tour event go to the practice range and look at what the pros and coaches are working on...SETUP!

 

[acarty]

Rock, believe me when I say I'm not a beginner. Also, believe me when I say my tee ball is hardly ever in a playable spot.

I play a links course near Royal Lytham, so you can imagine the rough right now. I am trying to figure out why my driving is so inconsistent. I can pipe my irons all day long, and my wedges, just not the big dog.

I play in a lot of scratch tournaments, and I need to become more consistent with the driver. When I hit a bad shot, I snap the tee. It's as simple as that. I'll get a video posted soon and see what anyone can see from that!

 

[rolltherock]

Rock, believe me when I say I'm not a beginner. Also, believe me when I say my tee ball is hardly ever in a playable spot.

I play a links course near Royal Lytham, so you can imagine the rough right now. I am trying to figure out why my driving is so inconsistent. I can pipe my irons all day long, and my wedges, just not the big dog.

I play in a lot of scratch tournaments, and I need to become more consistent with the driver. When I hit a bad shot, I snap the tee. It's as simple as that. I'll get a video posted soon and see what anyone can see from that!

Oh okay, well, try a 3 wood. I use a Sonartec 15* bent down to ~11* and a 42" shaft......fairways all day long. I do it b/c I can't find the short grass enough to play as well as I want with a driver. Let me put it to you this way: my handicap would be 4-5 shots higher playing a driver b/c I would hit 50% of the fairways.

In my opinion the fascination with hitting the long ball is a major reason people don't realize their true potential. They spend too much time on a shot that doesn't score and it takes away from time working on clubs that do score. From a one dimensional aspect, a solid short game player will whip a long ball hitter every single time.

 

[acarty]

Been there, done that lol. The only problem I have with my 3 wood is that on links courses like I play, into a wind, there's way too much spin. But in normal weather, it's perfect.

I think some range time is needed with the big dog. I just need it straight, so when I do actually hit it, it might go somewhere near the fairway! That's all I need!

 

[rolltherock]

Been there, done that lol. The only problem I have with my 3 wood is that on links courses like I play, into a wind, there's way too much spin. But in normal weather, it's perfect.

I think some range time is needed with the big dog. I just need it straight, so when I do actually hit it, it might go somewhere near the fairway! That's all I need!

If you have not tried Sonartec, which is very difficult to do these days, I would highly recommend. Talk about an answer to your problem.....same reason I always had with 3 woods, balloon ball. The CG is extremely high and it rolls forever, plus it's one of the few clubs that is truly a square face angle. TM TP and Titleist purport square face angles on their clubs, but if you get them checked you will be shocked b/c they are usually nowhere near square, actually quite closed.

So, I just turned my 3-wood into a poor mans driver that doesn't go higher than 40 feet in the air, but runs all day! Had it bent to a bit more than 11*....11.3* if memory serves is what it came out to, and 1* open.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Buy a better tee if you don't want to break them, I could suggest the Zero Friction which are pretty much indestructible. Not that I would say that simply because they do not break, I hit any better shot as a result. :laugh:

 

[warbirdlover]

I snap every wooden tee I use with the driver and the ball flight is perfect. It's due to the incredible swing speed I generate... I just switched to zero friction tees which normally won't break.

 

[TheTrueReview]

You may be keeping your weight on your front foot on the backswing which will give you a steep angle on the forward swing. If so, concentrate on weight transference from the front to back foot on the back swing and then vice versa as you hit through the line on the forward swing.

 

[acarty]

Thanks True.... might try that!

 

[Bama Duffer]

I snap every wooden tee I use with the driver and the ball flight is perfect. It's due to the incredible swing speed I generate... I just switched to zero friction tees which normally won't break.

I'm surprised you don't leave scorch marks on the wooden tees with that swing speed, WBL.

Personally, I like the zero friction tees, or even plastic tees, but the course I play on is often so hard-baked that I even break these.

Guess my swing speed is higher than yours, WBL.