Hitting the driver straight can feel impossible some days. Even though the big stick is the most forgiving club in the bag, it can still give golfers fits.
This past winter, I found myself in a bit of a funk with the driver. While I was gaining speed (and distance), my accuracy suffered. Missing the fairways with a little added distance isn’t the worst thing in the world, but when you start introducing the big miss, things can get ugly in a hurry.
The miss I dreaded the most was the high, spinny right ball. It’s one that comes off the face weak and floats in the air forever, leaving me miles from the green.
If you’re someone who struggles with the right miss with your driver, worry not. The fix is simpler than you may think.
Fix your right miss
After I missed a few drives off to the right during my “Driving Accuracy Bootcamp” with GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jason Baile, he explained to me a simple feel that he teaches his pupils to help them straighten it out.
First, he teed up a second ball about a club-length behind my ball and a bit inside of my target line. Then, he told me that when I swung, I needed to feel like I was getting the clubface square to that ball as soon as possible.
“I call it ‘Turn 4 at Talladega,’” Jason said. “If the face is open to Turn 4, you’re going to have to twist the steering wheel quite a bit. If I can get the hood ornament of the car — which is the sweet spot — square to the arc early, then I don’t have to twist the shaft at the bottom.”
When your clubface is open to the arc once you pass P6 in the downswing (club shaft parallel to the ground), one of two things happens. Either you leave the face open and hit the ball off to the right or you twist the face closed coming into impact, resulting in a nasty hook.
Once you start to visualize the secondary ball on that swing arc, try to feel that you are squaring the clubface to it as soon as possible. If you can do that, you won’t have to make any compensations through the impact zone. You will simply have to turn your body and the clubface will be square to your target.
“Any ball that starts too far right, square it early,” Jason said.
Remember that key and you’ll stop losing the ball off to the right — and start hitting more fairways.
