Fore King Golf

How To Hit A Driver For Beginners

Steve

If you are a beginner golfer, then you might have noticed that the driver is the hardest club to hit.

It has the longest shaft and it’s got the biggest head of all the clubs in your bag.

But if you practice enough, your skills will get better and hitting a driver won’t be such a challenge!

Being able to hit the Driver, the longest and most difficult golf club in the bag, requires a quality swing action. This is a combination of a Good Grip, Posture, Stance, Alignment, Speed of swing and good timing. It requires practice and a hint of patience is required as well.

In this article we’ll discuss tips for driving, how to stand and swing the club correctly and how to avoid some of the common mistakes Amateurs make when hitting driver.

When you hit Driver does this sound like your routine:

  1. Pull Driver From Your Bag
  2. Line up the shot with your club face square to the ball and set your feet so that you’re balanced over them 
  3. Take a deep breath, then exhale as you swing back and through on an inside-out path for maximum power 
  4. Keep your head down during the swing, but keep watching the ball until it’s gone from sight 
  5. Shout Fore and hope it doesn’t hit anyone

The Driver can be hard to hit and when you are going through a bad patch it’s all too easy to remember the bad shots you have hit with it rather than focusing on the good shots you know you can do.

We will also look at some of the key things you can do to give yourself the best chance of being able to better hit driver as a beginner golfer.

These include

  • The Grip 
  • Posture And Stance 
  • Weight Distribution
  • The Follow Through

Most of the things we can do to give us a better chance of hitting good drives happen before we even hit the ball. So let’s get to it

The Golf Grip

The Grip is the most important part of the golf swing because it is the connection between you and your club.

The grip can be a tricky thing to get right as it needs both hands working together in order for them not only feel comfortable but also allow us enough control of our swing so that we are able with confidence to hit shots off all parts of an 18-hole golf course, from long par fours down tight fairways on short holes where accuracy over distance will win games more often than power alone ever could!

The two most common grips used by beginners when hitting driver (and indeed many other clubs) would either have one hand overlapping or interlocking fingers around their opposite handed counterpart’s thumb – this type being known commonly called ‘Vardon’ after its inventor Harry Vardon.

It’s important to take some time and get a good grip that is suited to you and that you can repeat each time you pull a club.

For a full in depth look read the article A Simple Guide To A Perfect Golf Grip

Posture and Stance In The Golf Swing 

Having the correct stance and posture is also vital to making a solid and repeatable golf swing.

The correct stance is one where the ball of your left foot should be in line with the ball and both feet and toes pointing slightly outwards.

The hips are then rotated so that they face more towards target, while at address you will have a slight bend on knees (not too much) but not locked out either – this helps keep weight distributed evenly

This position also allows for maximum power transfer from our lower body through into upper torso during swing phase by having most muscles engaged correctly throughout the swing

Golf Ball Alignment When Hitting Driver

Golf ball position concerning your stance plays a vital role in the overall performance of your shot.

With every golfer having a slightly different stance, there’s no magic rule to a perfect ball position.

Take a look at our article about Mastering Golf Ball Placement in Stance For Each Club

It’s important to have the ball positioned in the correct place when hitting driver, this is because it will help you to avoid slicing the ball.

The correct position for a driver is when it’s positioned in between your left heel and right toe, this means that if we are facing straight at our target then there should be an equal distance from both of these points on either side

It also helps with accuracy because having one foot behind another allows us more stability than just standing flat-footed or leaning over too much which can make shots go off line due not being able use all their power effectively enough without losing balance.

It may take some practice but once mastered hitting drivers becomes easier as well!

Weight Distribution In The Golf Swing

During the golf swing your weight will move during the swing.

The weight transfers backwards on the backswing and forwards on the downswing and follow through.

The timing of this weight transfer is important to get the most out of the power you generate, because when you get it wrong you’ll find yourself hitting shots from unbalanced position which results in for hitting shots from off-centre positions

Tee Height When Hitting Driver

Having the correct tee height when hitting driver is important because it will allow for the ball to be hit with a higher trajectory.

It’s also important because it can help you avoid hitting your driver off-centre, which is something that happens when we don’t have enough height on our tee and this results in shots being struck from an unbalanced position

The Follow Through In The Golf Swing

The follow through is the final part of your golf swing.

It’s important to keep a good balance in this position so you can maintain control and power.

It also helps with accuracy because it allows for greater stability at impact, which means that if we are aiming correctly then our shots will go where we have intended.

The Best Driver For A Beginner Golfer

When starting out it is important to concentrate on hitting it as straight down the middle as possible to avoid frustration.

This means maybe sacrificing a bit of distance for accuracy, but in the long run, it’ll be worth it.

Below are a few top tips on what to look for when trying to find the top drivers for beginners.

Go for a large club head: 

it may seem obvious, but an oversized clubhead means a larger hitting area and a larger sweet spot, thus decreasing the chances of a nasty shank. 460 cubic centimeters (460cc) is the biggest size allowed by the R&A and the USGA, so go for that to increase the chances of a clean strike.

You probably won’t have to make this choice as most clubs are manufactured to this spec.

Start with at least 10.5 degrees of loft: ever wondered why you hit the ball a lot straighter and consistently with a 7 or 8 iron than with a 3 or 4?

Well, that is because an increase in loft increases the flight of the ball, which minimises the likelihood of a bad slice or hook.

Most professionals use drivers with 9 degrees loft or less which means a lower trajectory and less backspin.

The tradeoff though is much less forgiveness, which is why for a high handicapper, more loft will mean a lot less lost balls.

Look for at least 10.5 degrees of loft when browsing golf drivers for beginners.

A flexible shaft is better: when first starting out and trying to perfect that swing, a soft flexible shaft will help immensely.

Most drivers will come with several shaft options ranging from light flex all the way to extra stiff.

It is recommended that nothing stiffer than a regular flex should be selected when deciding on the most effective driver for the beginner golfer.

Many drivers even offer a senior flex for older golfers whose swing speed is a little lower than it used to be.

Check out our article about choosing the right shaft for you

There are several abbreviations and words that are thrown around. And to a golfer just starting out and looking to buy a driver this can be overwhelming.

Here’s a couple of things you may come across:

MOI stands for Moment Of Inertia

This is a physics term that basically means the resistance of an object to twisting at the moment of impact. 

This is important for a driver as the higher the MOI the more resistance to twisting.

Less twisting means the more likely the club head will stay straight through the ball, even when it is not hit right in the sweet spot.

As a beginner, you are much more likely to miss that sweet spot every now and then and hit the toe or heel.

An off-centre shot would cause a low MOI club to twist and who knows where that ball would end up?! So a high MOI club means a more forgiving driver for the amateur golfer.

CG – Centre Of Gravity

This stands for centre of gravity ans simply put, it is the point in the clubhead that the weight is acting through.

A CG further back in the club creates more spin and therefore less distance.

Whereas a CG lower and further forward creates lower spin and more distance.

Equally, moving it to the left or right creates draw or fade to correct any issues you may have with that.

Many of today’s clubs have adjustable functionality where you can move the CG in the driver’s head which adjusts the ball striking accordingly.

When starting out this ability to tweak the CG can make choosing the top golf driver for starting out much easier as you don’t have to buy a new club every time you get frustrated or make improvements to your game.

If you’re considering buying a driver as a new golfer or a high handicapper, then before you part with your hard earned money, read our article about the Best Driver For High Handicappers which could save you in time, money and frustration