The 10 Best Golf Driver Drills for Straighter, More Consistent Drives
Getting your drive in the fairway is the first step toward making a par. Once you can get the ball in the fairway, you’ll want to work on extra distance.
If more distance and more fairways sound like something that could help your game, here are the best golf drills for drivers.
Incorporate these drills into your practice routine to take your tee shot to the next level.
Contents
1. What do you want to improve in your full swing?
10 Effective Driver Drills to Hit Straighter, Longer Drives
Split-Handed Driver Drill
It’s no secret that Rory McIlroy is one of the best golf drivers of the ball. Anytime he offers advice on how he has gotten to this point in his career – we listen!
The split-handed driver drill helps you feel the position of the trailing arm on the backswing and then again on the downswing. This positioning of the right arm makes it easier to approach the ball with a square clubface and hit straighter drives.
Rory uses this drill a few times and then hits one to try and replicate the feeling. It’s a good routine for any player trying to improve driving accuracy and consistency.
Body and Arm Connection Drill
When the body and arms work together, the chance of hitting a long and straight drive is greatly increased.
The arm and body connection improves timing and tempo and increases your ability to strike the golf ball with a square face.
You may have seen this drill done with a towel under one arm, but Rob Cheney does it with the towel sitting under both arms. Try this one if you want simple warmup options.
Twist From the Top Drill
This drill is a great choice for golfers who slice the ball. If you struggle with a slice with your driver, it could be because the golf clubface is too open at impact.
This drill has you take the club to the top and then feel like you add flexion to your lead wrist as you start the downswing.
The process needs to be exaggerated in the drill so that when you attempt to translate this to your actual shot, it becomes possible.
Twisting from the top can help you finally feel what it’s like to hit a straight drive.
Skipping a Stone Drill
We like this drill a lot for golfers who struggle to make the necessary adjustments to their swing when switching from irons to drivers.
For this one, you’ll just need your driver. Setup as if you were going to hit, but instead, put your lead hand on top of the butt end of the grip of your driver. Now pretend your right hand is the club. Swing the right arm (right-handed player) under the left arm feel as though you are skipping a stone.
This motion will improve wrist action but also make it easier to feel the weight transfer to the lead side.
The 3 Fives Drill
Clay Ballard with Top Speed Golf has a great drill that helps you get yourself set up in the right place to hit powerful drives.
Once you are set up and in this position, it’s then possible to attack the ball with full speed and the correct plane.
Clay Ballard with Top Speed Golf has a great drill that helps you get yourself set up in the right place to hit powerful drives. Once you are set up and in this position, it’s then possible to attack the ball with full speed and the correct plane.
The 3 Fives Drill lets you:
- Get behind the golf ball,
- Shallow the swing,
- Keep the right forearm under the left forearm.
You won’t feel satisfied with your changes to your driving until you get both distance and accuracy. This drill will get it done.
Maintain the Spine Angle
If you struggle with inconsistency in your drives, it could have a lot to do with incorrect spine angle through impact.
Great players keep their head behind the ball and stay very centered through impact. There is no sliding, and the spine angle does not increase through impact.
Luckily, this is something you can practice quite easily from home. You won’t have to take more than a half swing, and you can hit these shots into a net.
Palm to the Ground Drill
What your swing looks like and what it feels like are often two very different things. This drill from Danny Maude has you focus on the position of the trail hand and ensuring that you get your driver started on the proper path.
Once it’s started on this path, your ability to make solid contact with the ball (and gain extra distance) is greatly improved.
Pull The Shoulder Blade Back
It’s always interesting to see how different golf professionals approach the same topic. Mark Crossfield has noticed that one of the major issues golfers have is their ability to turn their shoulders properly on the backswing.
As players swing they tend to forget to open the shoulder blades in the back and allow for the extra rotation.
What happens?
You get stuck, can’t generate enough speed, and often make compensations that leave the club wide open to the target. This can all be fixed by changing your mindset and working on this effective drill.
Alignment Stick Drag
Feel like you aren’t maximizing power on your drives?
This is a great drill from JChown Golf that will help you feel the resistance you need to maximize power.
It’s a rather simple drill and works well when practicing on the mats. You use the ground to feel a little pull in the alignment stick and then the proper acceleration through impact. The drill can be done 5-10 times, and then you can switch back to your regular driver shot.
However, the concept of this drill and how it impacts your golf game will make a big difference in the results and overall consistency you get in your golf drives.
Path to Face Drill
There is a relationship between the face of the club and the path that the club is on. This relationship will have a major impact on where your golf shot ends up. This drill from Athletic Motion Golf requires an alignment stick (and a pool noodle if you have one).
With this drill you’ll be able to narrow down if the path or the face is your issue with your drive.
Once you have that information in place you can work the drill accordingly to make real changes in the way you approach the golf ball. Having an alignment stick and a pool noodle around for driver drills will help you accomplish a lot.
Final Thoughts
With these drills in mind, it’s time to head out to the driving range and start working on your driver. If you can get off the tee correctly, it will build your confidence from tee to green.
Take this one drill at a time because you may have unique issues in your game and only benefit from certain golf drills. No drill is a one size fits all situation, but using drills to improve your driving is an effective way to lower your scores.
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