St Andrews Links Blog

Tips for better driving

Driving has always been an important part of golf, so spending time to focus on this area of your game is highly advisable!

Get the correct fit, or be ready to adapt

Make sure the driver you are using is suited to your game! We still see many people using equipment which they might have inherited or bought without trying. One of the greatest developments in driver technology over the last few years has been the ability to change the loft and face angle of your diver.

Most modern drivers have an element of adjustability with them, make sure you have your driver optimised to help you. At our Golf Academy, our Customisation Department can help both with a fitting, or a session on how to optimise your current driver.

Practice 

With the introduction of TrackMan Range at the Golf Academy, you can now practice your driving like never before. With distances, curvature and ball speed technology, you can really get your technique dialled in. One key piece of information you need to understand is how far you can actually carry the ball through the air.

A good example might be that you are playing your local course and would like to cut the corner off a ‘dog leg’ hole to leave a shorter shot to the green. If you need a shot that flies 240 yards through the air, but the TrackMan data tells you that you can only carry the ball 225 yards, you might want to reassess your strategy.

Technique

For driving we must present a few key ingredients to hitting this club well:

• Build a very stable base by creating a wide stance.
• Ball position must be forward in the set up to encourage an upward attack angle.
• Don’t swing too fast and lose your tempo. The driver has been designed to send the ball a long way. Relax and concentrate on good rhythm and a centred contact.

Select a target

Known as the ‘widest fairway in golf’, there should be no excuses for missing the 1st/18th fairway on the Old Course. However, sometimes when we have a wide target such as this, we can lose focus and actually miss it. Therefore, my advice when you have a wide fairway, is to be very specific. On this drive in particular, even though the fairway is 129 yards wide, my focus was on the balcony of the Royal & Ancient Clubhouse. This helped me focus my attention on hitting a good drive to leave me the best possible angle to the flag.

Hopefully these tips translate to you finding fairways and shooting lower scores!

Words by Blair Cross, Academy Instructor