How to Address the Ball with a Driver? Simple Tips and Tricks!

Want some tips on how to address the ball with a driver? This article tells you everything you need to consider to improve your shots.
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Phillip Ortiz
Phillip Ortiz
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Phillip is a professional golf player who knows exactly what features to look for if you need perfect gear. Apart from golf, Phillip is fond of fishing and hunting.
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Last updated: August 17, 2023
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If you’re interested in learning more about the strategy and mechanics of addressing the ball with a driver in golf, you’ve come to the right place. You don’t need to go reading long and detailed studies about it ( though they do exist! Trusted Source Improving performance in golf: current research and implications from a
clinical perspective
Golf, a global sport enjoyed by people of all ages and abilities, involves relatively long periods of low intensity exercise interspersed with short bursts of high intensity activity. To meet the physical demands of full swing shots and the mental and physical demands of putting and walking the course, it is frequently recommended that golfers undertake golf-specific exercise programs. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
). We’re here to break it all down for you so you can start improving your play in no time. If you’re a beginner, here’s a guide to the best driver for beginners.

If you’ve ever watched a professional golfer, you’ll have seen that they spend a lot of time preparing for their shot. Setting up and making sure everything is right is crucial for a good outcome. It’s all too easy just to stand and have a quick swing at the ball. But, hitting a driver right can be a challenge, and there’s no quick fix. There are several important considerations when setting up your shot. Let’s take a look.

How to address a golf ball?

It could be argued that it doesn’t matter how you address the golf ball as long as you get a good shot. But the truth is, if you want to start improving your shots, you’ve got to home in on everything that is going to help you get to your goal. This includes your posture, alignment, tee height, distance from the ball, body and feet positioning, and more. Let’s now look at the factor you can work on to learn how to address the ball with a driver more successfully.

Relax your body

A lot about playing golf is individual and personal, but there’s also a lot of pressure when it comes to playing with others. It’s not necessarily the pressure of having a great score so much, but there’s always the pressure of being watched by your playing partners, which for some people, makes them go tense.

The best way to improve how you address the ball with a driver is to get rid of that tension in your body. Your body should be completely relaxed. You need to practice thinking positive thoughts and stop worrying about what anyone else might think.

Mind the ball position

Once you’re more relaxed, things will feel easier. To keep everything relaxed, you also need to be mindful of where the ball is positioned. If you’re right-handed, the ball should be positioned inside the left heel. Generally, if you have a longer club, you’ll need to place your ball further forward.

You also need to consider the shaft position. The shaft should be in a neutral and upright position in relation to your ball. Too far back and the loft will increase, too far forward, and the loft will be lowered.

A good way of practicing and getting things right is to address your ball normally with the driver and let the club go. On release, you should feel the club make contact with your inner left thigh (if you’re right-handed). This is actually a great tip for all of your clubs, not just your driver.

Distance from the ball

Your swing will be affected by your standing position in terms of distance from the ball. This distance depends on the club you’re using since all clubs have a different length.

All golf clubs are made with lie angles. Place your club on the floor, making sure that the bottom of it lies evenly and doesn’t tilt backward or forwards. This will show you how far away from the ball you should stand.

When we talk about distance, we shouldn’t confuse your distance from the ball with the distance of the shot. For the latter, a rangefinder is a great tool. Unfortunately, there’s no such technology for your standing position distance!

Don’t change the loft

Every driver has a loft, and these vary between nine and twelve degrees. If you place your driver on the ground, you’ll be able to see your driver’s loft. Swiveling the driver in your hand will change its loft easily. It’s important not to change this. Simply use the club’s loft for the best results.

Even if your driver comes with the ability to adjust the loft and sometimes this is great for helping your game. However, it’s usually best to use the club’s current loft. Also, you mustn’t adjust it when you’re playing around.

Tee height

Generally speaking, people usually position the tee so that half the ball is above the top of the driver. If you tee the ball high like this, it will help the ball sweep away on your upswing. You should tee the ball so that your driver’s crown is level with the ball’s center. If you position the tee too low, you’ll miss this sweet spot. Choosing the best balls for your ability is also important.

Body position

How to Address the Ball with a Driver? Simple Tips and Tricks!
We’ve already mentioned how important it is to relax when taking a shot but another thing that is really important is your body position.

When you address the ball, everything should be in parallel. That is to say, your body, hips, knees, feet, and shoulders should be parallel to your target line. You should aim for your body weight to be over the balls of the feet and not over your toes or on your heels. When using a driver, you’ll typically have 60% of your weight on your back foot and 40% on your front foot.

You should be bending slightly at hip level (rather than waist), and your knees should have a slight flex. Remember, keep everything relaxed. Finally, your spine’s position is an important part, too, as this is the swing’s axis of rotation. Your spine should be straight, so you need to stick your backside outwards (a bit like you might if you were attempting to do squats.

Feet position

How to Address the Ball with a Driver? Simple Tips and Tricks!
Don’t aim to have completely parallel feet – this is unnatural and can feel uncomfortable if it’s forced.

When you’re using a driver, you need extra balance and stability, especially for a full swing when the point of impact and clubhead are the furthest from the body. This is achieved with a wide stance. To get this wide stance, position your feet so that the inside edge of each foot aligns with the outside edge of each shoulder.

Your feet will flare out naturally a small amount. This is a good thing for balance but also for the forward foot position as it will create more space for your follow-through. With a flared foot, you can have an excellent impact. Also, flaring your backfoot will mean your hips will rotate properly on your backswing.

Arms position

How to Address the Ball with a Driver? Simple Tips and Tricks!
Arms are everything in golf! There have even been important clinical trials on golf swings!

They need to hang downwards rather than being in a straight line with your club shaft. Keep them free of tension and relaxed. Remember, your grip is important too!

Keep your head still

The average human Trusted Source Mass of a Human Head - The Physics Factbook The typical mass of a human head is about 5 kilograms, significantly larger than what the movie “Jerry Maguire” suggests, a mere 3600 grams. This result probably puts most heads at roughly seven percent of the person’s body mass. While the movie was incorrect on the average head, this by no means excludes one from having a head of that size. hypertextbook.com head weighs in at around eight pounds, so you’ve got something really heavy resting on your neck! This means you have to try much harder to keep it still. Stillness, however, is important when it comes to addressing a ball with a driver. Your head should be turned away slightly or tilted from your target in order for improved spine rotation for the backswing. You should also take care to position the ball in front of your head.

Stance

All of these things combined mean that your stance will be much better. You need to be relaxed with your weight gently balanced to have a stable platform from which to strike the ball. Your stance, as mentioned, is wider than shoulder-width, but you should also make sure you widen your stance if your club is longer too.

Final thoughts

When it comes to choosing drivers, the Cobra Golf 2020 Speedzone Extreme Driver gets some excellent reviews, while the Callaway Big Bertha B21 also receives a lot of positive attention. To sum up, make sure you’re relaxed, that the ball is positioned in line with your front heel, that you are the appropriate distance away from the ball, that you don’t change the club’s loft, that your tee height is correct, your body position is correct and that your head is still. Once you know how to address the ball with a driver and your practice, all of these things will begin to happen naturally. It might seem a lot to consider at first, but you’ll soon become much better at knowing what works!

References

1.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Golf, a global sport enjoyed by people of all ages and abilities, involves relatively long periods of low intensity exercise interspersed with short bursts of high intensity activity. To meet the physical demands of full swing shots and the mental and physical demands of putting and walking the course, it is frequently recommended that golfers undertake golf-specific exercise programs.
2.
Mass of a Human Head - The Physics Factbook
The typical mass of a human head is about 5 kilograms, significantly larger than what the movie “Jerry Maguire" suggests, a mere 3600 grams. This result probably puts most heads at roughly seven percent of the person’s body mass. While the movie was incorrect on the average head, this by no means excludes one from having a head of that size.
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