Instruction – Curing the Slice and Hitting Bombs

Can’t believe another year has already passed! it’s simply amazing how time flies! If you’re looking to hit straighter and longer drives in 2022, My goal will be to help you achieve that. Over the next several months, we’re going to work on hitting more fairways and increasing your knowledge and skills to help you shoot your lowest scores ever! Cheers to more fairways and longer drives in 2022!

Do you ever wonder if you are teeing the driver up at the proper height? Here are some things to think about when teeing up your driver. The standard driver tee height is having the equator of the golf ball in line with the crown of the driver head as shown in the thumbs up picture above. When the ball is teed up at this height with the driver it promotes a more solid shot with the ball hitting in the sweet spot more often.

If your ball is teed up too low as shown in the first picture you will see misses where the ball strikes lower on the clubface, a more downward angle of attack and more thin shots.

If your ball is teed up too high you will see misses that are skyed more often. Here are some examples of when you would use the various tee heights: tee the ball lower if the wind is in your face, since this will promote a lower ball flight. Tee the ball high if you have a tail wind, this will promote a higher ball flight and help the ball ride the wind, giving you more distance. 

If you find yourself slicing your driver, check your grip. The more your lead hand sets up underneath the grip the more slice you promote. If you look at the picture above, you will notice you don’t see my knuckles on my lead hand at setup in the thumbs down picture (this promotes more fade/slice). To help get rid of the slice, turn your lead hand away from your target, so when you look down you will see several knuckles.

Once you have the correct tee height and grip, it’s time to check setup. When you hit a driver, it is important to have an upward angle of attack. This will promote less spin and more distance. To help promote an upward angle of attack tilt your trail shoulder away from your target and towards the ground at setup. The more level your shoulders are to the ground at setup the more down your angle of attack will be and more over the top you will swing on your downswing, so it is very important to make sure your shoulders are always tilted away from your target as shown in the picture above.

When you tilt your shoulders away from your target at setup, it is important to make sure they are still parallel to your target and not perpendicular to your target as shown in the picture below. If your shoulders are perpendicular to your target, rather than parallel to your target it will promote a more downward angle of attack and more over the top swing path on your downswing.

There it is! A few January tips to help get your tee shots on track for the first part of the new year. Let’s all play better in 2022!

Kirsten Pike is the lead Teaching Professional at Las Colinas Country Club. To improve your scores follow her on Instagram at kirstenpike_golfinstruction and visit kpikegolf.wixsite.com