I’m trying to get my hands more forward with the driver. When I move them forward to the inside of my lead thigh in the set up it opens the club face a lot. I’ve also tried moving them forward in a different way which massively delofts the club, and looks very strange. Hitting a lot of pushes, push slices, and very low shots.
Don’t seem to be having this problem with my irons. I’ve only been doing this new swing for about 2 months and the irons and hybrids are coming along great. I’m even hitting my 3 wood much better. Struggling with the driver though.
Thanks for the info. Will check ball position and add weight distribution. I also think I may not be sliding forward enough before my hips rotate. Will work on these and see how it goes.
@Allen S - With the driver ball position being more forward - i.e.: even with the inside of your lead heel - there should barely be any delofting with your hands being even with the inside of the lead thigh. Check that first.
If you look at other driver-related posts here in the Forum you'll notice that your issue is a common one. I encourage you to have a look at some of them because you may find some helpful information in there. Also, perhaps tomorrow's release of the new Driver episode may trigger something.
Driver optimization tends to lag the performance of the shorter clubs. Oftentimes when golfers are hitting everything well except for the longer clubs it can be attributed to one of the following:
1) They don't start with - or maintain - enough weight on the front side. In general with the longer clubs we should add a little more front weight load at address - more like 60/40 instead of the 55/45 prescribed for the other clubs. This forward weight should gradually increase to the top of the backswing (70/30) and build further on the downswing - approximately 80/20 halfway down, 90/10 impact, and 95/5 finish.
2) Their hips are not continuing their lateral slide through impact. This is common with the longer clubs as the wider stance means that the hips have a greater distance to travel. If the hips stop moving laterally towards the target on the downswing then their rotation takes over, changing the low point and rerouting the club. This can produce a variety of undesirable results including fat and thin contact, topped shots and popups, straight pulls, and “banana” slices. Here is a drill for this.
3) They are not allowing the length of the club to dictate the backswing path and are getting too steep as a result. The shaft length of the longer clubs encourages more of an around the body backswing as established by the shaft plane at address. It may "feel" flat as you take it back along the shaft plane for the first few feet, but as long as you maintain the "weight forward, shoulder down, and hands in" components while allowing the club to work around you, it should put you in the proper position at the top so you can attack the ball from the inside.
This is a common issue that I am regularly asked to fix, so if yours doesn't relate to any of the above causes - or if it does and you are experiencing difficulty resolving it - we can always arrange for an online lesson or a V1 swing video analysis to pinpoint the culprit and offer an appropriate solution.