Golf Driving Tips

Marc: Welcome back to Golf is Hard TV, The Golf Show for the Rest of Us in home of the Nike Str8-Fit gigantic head cover. Dave: DIMO. Marc: DIMO. Dave: You know what DIMO stands for? Marc: DIMO doesn't. Dave: I know what it stands for, you know why? Marc: Why? Dave: I've read the club on the last episode, Dynamic Moment of Inertia, so they picked a couple of letters from it -- Marc: -- moment of inertia is a show that we are going to do, and we are going to make fun of it, because it's one of those terms that you probably, as a real golfer you should know what it means, but it's just -- it feels like one of those things like, they are going to sell me something with more MOI and I am going to pay more. Dave: I want more MOI where I am find the club -- Marc: Thats right. Now, let's talk driver, I got this bad boy, I have been hitting it for a couple of days. By the way, it's a Week of Golf for me. I played two days in a row. I get tee time for tomorrow, I got one for Thursday, playing with the buddy on Friday, Saturday is tee, ready to go, and then after that my wife is going to make me stay home for while. Dave: You'll be golfed out, you will be ready. Marc: I'll be golfed out. Let's talk driver. Let me just practice this by saying, I was playing with also a Nike driver, had a little bit shorter shaft, I was crushing it in fairway like crazy. I won this, I had a fairway out, I hit a couple. Dave: Few hit a couple today. Marc: Made a couple today, but this is a longer shaft, that I know that it has something to do with things, but I want to be able to hit the driver well. I know everybody does, I know the average golfer – you spend a bunch of money or you winner gets driver like this. Dave: Would you win that again? Marc: Root golf baby. My buddy is a root golf, check it out, keep a tricks, track your scores on it, it's awesome. But I want to hit this thing, really far, because it's big, it's huge. So Shawn, tell me what I am doing wrong, help me Dave. Dave: The driver is the lightest club in the bag, did you know that? Marc: I didn’t actually know. I know my heavy putters, but I didn’t know that this is actually the lightest. Dave: The traditional putter is the heaviest putter in the bag. The heavy putter is by far the heaviest putter in the bag. The midway is even in between, but anyway this is the lightest club in the bag folks. However, it's the one we swing the most violently. We grip it as tightly as we can, we get up there -- Marc: Because you want to kill it. Dave: We want to kill it. We run a range here, quite a few people, and I would guess that if we stayed here for a couple of hours and watch people come and go, you could see about half, pull the driver off first club, just get up -- yeah warm up and loosen up in some ways and all that stuff and we are going to some practicing techniques putt so the driver -- Marc: Well let's go down the show that we did, I guess what I can do is I get in my setup, maybe take a couple of swings and talk to me about what I am doing wrong. Dave: How do you know are you doing something wrong? Marc: Ain't going in the fairway. Dave: That's the attitude in golf. People hit a shot, we played with that women today, she is pretty golfer, what I do wrong. I don't know. It didn't go in a hole, you did a lot of right, golf is a game of failure, basically. What are people have a maybe, 40 foot putter or 30, whatever the putter is, you miss the putt, what would you say? Marc: Good, nice try. Dave: Nice try. Exactly. Nice try means negative connotation to it. Marc: I want to hit more fairways. Dave: How about great putt. Marc: I want to hit more fairways. That's to me -- is that right or I am wrong there? Dave: No you are right, you do want to hit more fairways. Marc: Because I score better when I hit fairway. You know it's an obvious statement. Dave: There are whole bunch of statistics out there that PGA Tour players and the LPGA as far as fairway is hit, it's a very important start, because you got to get in a short grass specially if you are playing like US Open golf course or whatever Marc: I am of course like attach to normal public course should we be hitting 50% or -- Dave: You are going to hit half of the fairways, that's pretty good. Marc: Okay, good, so 50% is maybe the target that you actually shoot at. Dave: I think the leaders out there that play for living might be 60%, 70%, 80% in that range. No one hits to the 100% at a time, and I consider myself, if I am on the rough if I call it fairway; they are doing out there. So If I can -- Marc: I am talking the sure stuff. Dave: If I can find and play -- Marc: Well that's a fairway, alright. Dave: Okay Folks, so we are going to talk about ball position with the driver and why it's way out front on the right on the front foot, because the ball is off the ground. So in the normal shot we are hitting it on the down slope, because it divot as we know comes out in front of the ball. With the driver, you can actually -- the ball is off the ground, so you actually want to hit it on the up swing and ball position pretty much takes care of that. The ball is way out by the left foot or the front foot and we are hitting, we actually want to feel like we are hitting up into the ball, and actually when we hit up into the ball, it was lower. When you swing and we'll hit the shot or if we hit down it on the tee shot, and the ball is usually pop it straight out of there, or you see a mark on the top on the club face. But that doesn't happen when you are sweeping it and hitting up into the ball, and a lot of times we would see the tee doesn't move, usually it will. And the reason I ask you to kind of informed everyone that the driver is the lightest club in the bag, simply it means you got to keep the grip pressed down on in one, you got to scale it one to ten, it's got to be one to two, light grip pressure, ball up in the stance. Marc: Exactly. Dave: When even to actually even about 60% back on the right side, that helps ensure hitting it on the up swing and the hand, this is another shot where we don't need to think about pressing the hands in front of the ball, we just want to let him hang, nice and relaxed behind the ball, good head position up and behind it, right there. Now everything here, the setup is really promoting swinging up and through the shot. Marc: Is that part why you lean back? Dave: Yeah, I mean you want to think about your head staying in this general area through the shot, just take it back to the top, back in the putt an inch or two. You really have to get hold too upright, keep it low more. Yeah, right there. Alright, just take it to the top, and cast it let it rip. Good, try it again. Marc: It's the 100 yard plastic thing, it made a cool sound. Dave: Yeah, hit. It was a bullet though. March: It was a bullet. Dave: How does this setup feel compare to where you have been? Marc: Dave, I am further back but it doesn't feel weird. Dave: But the hand stay behind the ball, good. Marc: I just feel more lean over. Dave: Put the chin up a little, just take it back and smoke. Yeah, okay I thing you are turned over folk. Marc: I crushed. Dave: You couldn't see that but trust me ball drill a little bit. He didn't draw one today on the course. Marc: Not a single one, one more. Dave: Seriously. Marc: Not a single one, yeah, absolutely. Dave: By the way when you are in the range , you come to the range, and half of your balls all beat up and old like this, you hit these with the wedges because it doesn't matter. You save the good ones for the driver. That's the free tip from the Golf is Hard TV. Marc: More free goodness. Alright, I feel -- Dave: Not back on the heels too much, keep it right in the ball to the feet. Marc: Ball is on the feet, but I feel like I am further away than I was all day. Dave: That's good. You were too close. Marc: Getting too close. Dave: Little lesson in Flex, little more bend from the hips, get the chin up a little. Marc: That's sliced a little bit like a oh yeah! Dave: That's a little bit more fade, not to make it to complicated, but take a couple of practice, rotate the hips. Marc: Rotate the hips, that's what you told me today, I wasn't rotating my hips, right? Dave: Keep the hands down, bend more from the hips, get the hands right down in front of you, next, square up the shoulders, here we go, let that be under. You have your shoulders going left, and your arms are going to left. Marc: A lot to think about. Dave: It's all setup though, that's a good thing. Marc: It's a lot to think about. Dave: You remember seeing like Ernie Els the way he sets up, he is kind of doing this. He is thinking about squaring up his shoulders and I am going to show you a little trick. Marc: I am going to try some -- but I can’t -- ans I need you to stand there and doing around. Dave: Just think about this. Marc: Because it really makes bring your elbow down. Dave: You want to have it and the worse case is when your arms are parallel but even you can’t even let him like that, but the shoulders, kind of, take care of that. You just feel like you are getting your arm -- you are getting down inside the shot, watch this, you are getting under it, you are getting under here through the shot versus over, like this. Marc: Getting over causes that slice, right? But partially you can. Dave: You can. Marc: You can, alright here we go. Alright, I am going to do a little bit of this. Dave: Yeah. Marc: Is that right. Dave: Point your shoulder a little more to the right, there you go. Marc: Now you are saying me try and rotate my hips a little more. Dave: get arm under. There you go. Point that elbow to your right hip, good shape, you got to maintain like it very much, it's good. That thing take off. Marc: I hit that one. A lot to think about but the main thing in terms of this episode right is, continuing on the ball position upfront. Dave: Upfront, swing up and through the ball. Marc: Up and through the ball, so that I am actually coming and hitting the ball up. As oppose to or the wedge coming kind of downward.