5 Tried & True Driver Tips to Improve Your Game

Key Takeaways

Alex Johnson

Reveiw By: Mark Wood

Key takeaways

Setup for success. If you have found yourself in a rut with your driver, remember you are never as far off as you think. 98% of the time, the place to start is to review your setup and ensure you aren’t self-sabotaging your shot from the get-go. (Tough love = you probably are).
Always let it rip. Swinging under control isn’t a bad tip, but too often I see people trying to “swing easy” and end up with an incomplete move. So let it rip, and as long as you don’t fall over in the process, you will be okay!
Pay attention to your mindset. When you step onto the tee, you are always being influenced by what happened on the last green, from the bunker, or on your past tee shot. Practice mindfulness to center yourself singularly on each tee shot, and it will improve your ability to execute well in the moment.

Table of Contents

Always Pick a Shot
Check Your Setup
Pick a Good Target
Let It Rip!
Find Personalized Swing Advice

Key takeaways

Setup for success. If you have found yourself in a rut with your driver, remember you are never as far off as you think. 98% of the time, the place to start is to review your setup and ensure you aren’t self-sabotaging your shot from the get-go. (Tough love = you probably are).
Always let it rip. Swinging under control isn’t a bad tip, but too often I see people trying to “swing easy” and end up with an incomplete move. So let it rip, and as long as you don’t fall over in the process, you will be okay!
Pay attention to your mindset. When you step onto the tee, you are always being influenced by what happened on the last green, from the bunker, or on your past tee shot. Practice mindfulness to center yourself singularly on each tee shot, and it will improve your ability to execute well in the moment.

All golfers have a vice, and oftentimes that is a moving target! It’s just part of the game. Being a great driver of the golf ball is a massive advantage, but when you struggle off of the tee, strokes can add up quickly. Three-putting is painful, but hitting it OB is the ultimate penalty. They don’t call it the walk of shame for nothing.

In this article, we are going to talk through five driver tips to improving your driving that we believe are both tried and true AND take into consideration all aspects of performance (swing, body, & mind). Hopefully, this provides a few good nuggets that you can pull from next time you are at the course, and this whets your appetite to download our app for more in-depth and personalized content at your fingertips!

Driver Tip #1: Always Pick a Shot

It sounds pretty obvious, but you’d be surprised how many golfers stand over a tee shot and don’t have a specific shot picked out. Heck, I’m guilty of this all the time. For some of us, this strategy can provide some freedom to not overthink it, or to “just play what you’ve got,” but the reality is that it is impossible to perform consistently well if you don’t give yourself specific instructions for each tee shot.

If you want to consistently drive the ball well, you have to consistently give your body clear marching orders. Start by practicing this way on the range. Don’t just step in and “see what you’ve got” for the day. Pull out your driver, pick a fade or a draw, and then hit five shots with clear instructions for one or the other. Once you’ve hit those five, if you picked fade but four out of five ended up as a draw, consider hitting a draw for the day, adjust your alignment on each hole to accommodate that, and tell yourself “draw” before each tee shot.

This might seem like a small modification, but it is the small things that compound to help you perform at your best.

Driver Tip #2: Check Your Setup

Once you’ve picked a shot, it’s important to ensure your setup is doing what you think it is. The truth is that your eyes play tricks on you all the time, and constantly checking your alignment and using tools to re-calibrate your eyes is critical for consistency in all shotmaking, and driving is no different.

When you are hitting the five shots mentioned above, grab your alignment sticks and build your setup before you hit the first one. One stick parallel to your feet (target line) and one perpendicular to your feet (ball position). Bonus points if you have a buddy triple check it for you.

Remember, not everyone sets up to the ball the same way, and that is okay. Our bodies are all a little bit different and we have to play with what we’ve got. However, since I have forced you to pick a shot, that gives guidance on how to evaluate your setup based on what is usually needed to execute that shot shape.

Feet line (target). The line down your feet should always be “parallel left” to your target. This means that if you put a stick parallel to your foot line, but in front of the golf ball, that stick will point to where you want the ball to take off (start line).

Ball position line. The perpendicular line is generally intended to point to the inside of your front foot (left foot for a right-handed golfer). You may move that around a little depending on the height of the shot you are planning, but this is a solid starting place.

Do this EVERY time you step on the range, whether you are just there to practice or if you are warming up for a round — pick your shot and double-check your setup. If you did nothing else after reading this article, I’m confident you’d see some gains.

Driver Tip #3: Pick a Good Target

Let’s take it onto the course for tip number three. After all, being a Ranger Rick is fun, but shooting lower scores is always better! So, my next foundational tip to becoming a better driver of the ball is to pick a good target, but what does that mean?

A good target usually takes into consideration a few key things:

What side of the hole is more forgiving off of the tee?
What is your most common miss for the shot that you’ve chosen?
Where is the pin location?

Twenty years ago in Tiger’s prime, it wasn’t uncommon to hear golf commentators like our own David Feherty saying that Tiger missed it on the “correct” side of the fairway. What this means is that Tiger took into consideration the three things above to give himself the best chance to hit a good approach shot by not making a bigger mistake off of the tee.

So, to get some immediate traction on improving your total driving, consider this:

Pick a target that brings the least amount of trouble into play — Pro-tip: this could mean using something less than a driver. Playing “smart” can still be playing for birdies. Don’t underestimate the momentum and confidence that comes from executing consecutive “smart” or “safe” shots and what that can lead to.

Pay attention to your miss — If you are hitting a fade, but more often than not it is staying straight, pick a target that plans for that and leaves you margin for a straight ball not to kill you.

Plan ahead and know your angles — If the pin is back right, consider aiming more left off of the tee. It might even make sense to aim in the left rough (assuming there isn’t major trouble there) and to allow your fade to come into the left side of the fairway. Angles matter and avoiding the big numbers is key.

The Game Begins Here.

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Table of Contents

Always Pick a Shot
Check Your Setup
Pick a Good Target
Let It Rip!
Find Personalized Swing Advice

Driver Tip #4: Let It Rip!

Now for some highly technical swing advice for refresher tip number four. While it might sound a little light-hearted, this tip is for real. LET IT RIP! If you’ve done the first three things on the list, you should feel the freedom to do this.

Now, “let it rip” doesn’t mean that you swing so hard that you fall, but what it does mean is that you fully commit to the shot and rip it to the best of your abilities. A fully finished swing is key to consistently driving the ball in position to score. When you start steering it and guiding it, you are in trouble.

Golf can be counter-intuitive, and driving it consistently well is no different. The more you try to hit it straight, the less likely you are to do so. So I like to tell my friends and students to swing like a kid. Kids don’t hold back and that freedom of motion helps their natural swings do their thing. So next time you are on the course, do the hard work in advance of the shot and then let it rip once you step into the shot.

Part of driving the ball consistently is being able to keep yourself in a consistent frame of mind so that “let it rip” looks and feels the same throughout the round, regardless of what else has happened that day. This isn’t a bonus tip to overthink — just one to remind you to stay in tune with your body and your mind — and do your best to keep them working together (Yes, way easier said than done).

Driver Tip #5: Find Personalized Swing Advice

You may have noticed that I didn’t provide any technical swing tips in this article. Yes, that was intentional. As part of the Golf Mind & Body team and movement, we are focused on driving awareness of how critical context is to a golfer’s performance.

To give great swing advice, an instructor has to have some data points. How tall are you, how flexible are you, what is your natural swing path, and so much more. So my last tip to help you improve your driver consistency is to find someone who can help you better understand your swing, and who can tailor some swing tips to help you get the most out of your unique motion.

Now that you know the basics of how to improve your driving skills, it’s time to practice. Download our app to access a personalized workout regimen that’s based on your unique assessment results, skills, goals, and equipment access. Plus, build your own tour team, leverage our expansive catalog of videos and articles, and watch as your workouts shift over time to test your new strengths.

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Alex Johnson

Alex Johnson is a former collegiate and mini-tour professional golfer. He played 4-years of D1 golf at the University of the Pacific, won two times in college, and was the low finishing American in the 2011 British Am (making the round of 16). Most recently studied under Greg Labelle from the Butch Harmon School of Golf.

Author

Mark Wood

administrator

Mark is a founder of Golf Mind & Body and one of the country’s most accomplished golf instructors. He has been recognized by Golf Digest and Golf Magazine as a Top 100 & Top 50 instructor. Mark is also the Director of Instruction at Carmel Country Club in Charlotte, NC.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Where should my ball position be when hitting a driver?

A: As I’ve been saying, there is no one-size-fits-all, but as a general rule of thumb, the inside of your front foot or the inside of your front shoulder is a good starting point.

Q: What degree driver should I play for max consistency?

A: This depends entirely on your swing and body. If you want to better understand this, find a fitting center and get on a launch monitor!

Q: What is more consistent, a draw or a fade?

A: Again, it depends. Many tour players today are hitting a fade because they believe they have more control over their misses, but if you naturally draw the ball, I don’t recommend fighting your swing.