Fix Your Driver Swing With These 5 Simple Drills

How do you make the game more fun whilst also shooting lower scores? You hit the driver better, longer and straighter

Fix your driver swing with these 5 simple drills is todays video and I share some of my favourite, and proven, drills to get you back on track and hitting the driver better than ever.

So, does your driver swing need work, try these simple drills

#drivertips #driverswing #simpledrills

00:00 Intro
01:00 The Hover
03:08 Mo Norman Drill
06:06 Daylight for Distance
09:31 Strike Drill
12:41 Attack Angle Drill

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✏️Feel free to comment in the box below about this video or any other video you would like Chris to do.

🏌🏻‍♂️Golf lessons available with Chris at HIT Golf Academy, Forest of Arden, contact Chris for further information.

[johnmona]

These driver practice tips are really appreciated. I and my two best friends are all 62 years old, driver videos like this help us to not lose to much distance. Keep up the good work.

[SmileyMaileMei]

My drive has improved immediately! Hovering my club was exactly what I needed. Thank you for this video!!

[Eqnotalent]

BEST driver video on YT hands down. covered all the important part of hitting a driver, simple and easy to understand.

[bmc]

Love these videos, I’ve watched others but Chris’ style of teaching/speaking about golf is just so much easier to understand.

[BakersfieldIT]

Thank you for the tips! Hovering the ball prior to my swing has helped quite a bit. Crazy how a small adjustment like this can change your entire driving game!

[kennethduffield]

Great tips Chris, I found i was getting lost with my driver and was starting to slice, hopefully I can get it back with your tips, I get back to you and keep you updated. Thanks

[TeddyCavachon]

Something I realized rebuilding my swing fifteen years ago using Hogan’s Five Lessons (and 20 years of using a swing like Nicklaus) was that he always established his grip with club in the air not resting on the ground. There are two very good reasons to do this: Bio-mechanics and Balance.

Bio-Mechanics: 1) Stand vertically and hold the club vertical with lead hand on grip and elbow down and bent 90° and pressed against front of rib cage. 2) Bend right arm the same way against ribs and put right hand on the grip. 3) Let weight of the club head pull the arms down straight, attempting to pull you towards the ball off balance.

Done in that sequence you will observe your two forearms counter-rotate against each other as both hands pronate (rotate palm down) and and extend (bow). That’s the genius of the Vardon grip that locks the two hands together, if forces that counter-torquing of the arms creating a very firm arm triangle without any contraction of muscles, just their stretching via the counter-rotation. It also positions the ulna and radius bones in the forearms mid-range in their range of motion which makes the bending of the trail arm in the take-away and trail arm in the finish occur predictably and the ideal part of the swing. It’s how Hogan achieved his tucked in trail arm position and was able to maintain it during his backswing. Done correctly you will observe the brachioradius muscle on the top of the forearm that runs over the top of elbow bulge as the hands are pressed slightly down towards the ground.

Hogan described and illustrated this as feeling like wringing a towel with forearm counter-rotation. It does amazing things to your swing by taking all the slack out of the arms and restricting wrist movement to those ideal suited for a golf swing. I didn’t understand why the Vardon grip works until I gripped in the air with bent elbows pointing down and got that rotational torque when straightening the arms. Martin Hall calls this technique EDPU - Elbows down, Palms up (how he starts before putting club in left hand to start the process).

Balance: At the point we are still standing upright with arms hanging straight down and club shaft forward at downward angle \ but hovering off the ground. The cantilevered leverage of arm + shaft will be pulling us on our toes. To find ideal balance for the body mass + arm mass + club head mass unit we’ve just created with the Hogan ‘iron triangle’ counter-rotational grip we: 1) Bend forward AT THE HIP JOINT which will cause the arm+club cantilever to find a point of balance under the connection / pivot point at the shoulders, then 2) sit down and back until the weight come off the toes and is felt on the heels.

Hogan described and illustrated this as being like sitting down backwards on an invisible stool but bending at the hips / not bending bowed at waist ( is the critical first step for balancing the body mass + arms + club over the feet. But at this point what is keeping the golfer from falling over backwards is that cantilever leverage of the arm+club unit. At STATIC address the weight needs to be biased toward the heels because the swing force in the downswing will try to pull the arms and body mass toward the toes and ball. The longer shafted clubs, especially Driver, generate the most unbalancing force as they whip around the hands.

ACTION -REACTION: If the physics of the swing are analyzed it will be seen that it is actually the slowing down of the hips and hands as the hips feel as if they are locking 45° open that causes the club head to whip past the hands so fast (via forearm rotation pronation/supination, plus changes in extension-flexion and radial-ulnar deviation in wrists and hands) the shaft bows forward ( and will snap the head off a club shaft if the back foot stays stuck on the ground. It is the timing of the lifting of the back foot which controls how much the swing force is allowed to speed past the hands and store the force into the bent shaft!

The cause and effect of this stopping of hands and swinging of club is felt, seen and understood intuitively in partial swing shots where both feet are kept flat on the ground. Keeping the feet flat is what bio-mechanically limits the hip rotation in the backswing and downswing to 45° closed and 45° open, respectively. Foot flare angle affects the degree of rotation so consistency of foot placement is important. Hogan squared back foot to load his back leg with torque and flared his front foot 22° (half of 45°) to control the timing of when his hips felt ‘stuck’ at 45° open. It should be noted that what need to trigger the hip rotation in the downswing bio-mechanically is some lateral swaying of the left hip back to toward the target to shift body mass to the front foot.

With Driver it is critical to allow the club head enough time to swing around the hand during which the face swings closed. This is accomplished by the timing of lifting the back heel off the ground then turning the foot onto the toe. The more the lifting of the back foot is delayed the the more the hips and hands will slow (if linked together with the grip sequence described above). It is one of the most counter-intuitive aspects of swing physics: the hands slowing down is what triggers the acceleration of the club around them.

Hogan also controlled the timing of when the club whipped around his hands with his stance angle; open for short shafted clubs, closed for longer, parallel for mid-iron in combination with always positioning the ball in the same place relative to front heel. Modern teaching says keep stance constant and move ball position. Both are solutions to the problem of longer shafted clubs needing more time during the downswing to swing around the hands.

If you try Hogan’s method of closing stance to target line with Driver you will find that bio-mechanically it causes the hips to lock at 45° open sooner (further back from ball) that when parallel or opened. Watch videos of Hogan’s swing for blur of the club shaft and note where his hands are relative to back hip when swinging different clubs. The stance controls when in the swing the club head will start to swing around the hands; sooner with longer clubs, later with shorter. Necessary in Hogan’s swing because he always put ball in the same place relative to front heel.

In modern swing orthodox the ball moves relative to front foot to achieve the same result. Which is better? The one which can be executed more consistently. I find hit Driver more consistently with the Hogan closed stance, ball slightly behind front heel method because the closed stance exaggerates the feeling of “hitting the wall” with my lead hip when the hip reach 45° open. That feeling of ‘hitting the wall’ is the trigger for the timing of lifting the back foot, which is what allows the hips to resume turning and hands to catch up with the club head.

On a cause and effect level the ability to coordinate those two actions of: 1) first slowing hips and hands to trigger the acceleration and then; 2) releasing the back heel to allow hips and hand to catch up is what separates those with consistent and powerful swings. Those who can do as part of their innate athletic intuition will wind up on the pro tour, those who can’t are well served by understanding the bio-mechanics and physics underlying the technique.

[mcaequity]

Tip #2 really helped. I never thought about starting with the driver back a foot for a drill. Helped me improve my timing and swing path alot. Thanks

[ManuelGarciaLaRosa]

Thank you, Chris. Very simple but powerful explanation

[tfok]

Chris, thanks so much on the great 5 tips…. Very detailed and clear instructions. 🙏 😊

[bentontaylor]

Mate the 2nd tip what a simple ripper.
Changed everything in an instant 🎉🎉🎉
On the take away club moving inwards instead of outwards for me changed everything. Loving these milestones.
Thanks Bud. Interesting how even regular coaching this simple thing isn’t picked up. Changed everything .
Ripper ❤

[ernestocampellone]

Fantastic! I can't wait to try them weekend!

[waynelloyd]

Great simple drills that are easy to put into practice, thanks Chris (from New Zealand).

[CursorNZ]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was struggling to identify where I was going wrong with consistently slicing and your tips managed to resolve this. Really appreciate your vids!

[gregmcintosh]

Simple and straightforward tips that everyone can work on so well done Chris.

[johnlabeta]

Great tips thanks plan on using those to work on my driver which is a club that I am totally inconsistent with on a daily basis. Getting in the fairway and giving myself a chance for a better score is key.

[MichaelJones-ffgb]

Thank you. Your video was key to helping correct my natural ability to slice when driving. Happy to report that I now launch consistent bombers!

[johnpepper]

I'm over 75 and just starting to learn the game of golf. I have been watching your videos for 3 or 4 years. I also have gravitated to stack and tilt along the way What you and another seem to use or demonstrate seems very similar to the stack system. Am I wrong to think that way. Looks like great driver tips. Thank you Chris, keep up the great tips. I have been having trouble with consistently getting my iron shots pure. I have been working hard on slowing down my swing, and practicing slower.

[joetroupe]

Great driver tips, Chris. Thanx 4 Sharing.

[busaisithole]

This is a great video. I struggle with the driver but with your tips I think I will improve significantly.