I'm a Better Driver Than a Tour Pro?!?

What if I told you, I can make the game of golf much much easier? But you have to do one thing pretty well….

You guessed it. You need to start hitting bombs.

I wrote about this a month ago and I recently put my money where my mouth is. I had the single best day off the tee and let me tell you, it made the game a whole lot easier (I had just 17 yards to the pin on hole 13) and enjoyable.

Here was my usage off the tee that day as tracked by my Arccos:

A few quick caveats:

1. That is Total Driving Distance - meaning, the ball hit the ground and ran.

2. There were a few holes with a downhill slope (#12 and #13) but still had several others that were flat (#2 and #6)

Still, my average driving distance on the day was 308 yards. That would put me ranked 27th on the PGA tour. 🤯 (Thank you Stack for the Speed Training)

Sounds like I broke Par that day huh? Far from it. Lol. It put my wedge game to the test and I walked away with a C+.

You can see that while I performed mostly in line for shots under 100 yards, I struggled from 100-125 yards. I brought this info to my last swing lesson and worked with my coach to develop a system that would work for me.

My New System

We discussed and worked on having a prescribed follow through height versus a back swing height (which is what I was doing…inconsistently). From there, we found 3 different distances for my 3 different wedges, giving me 9 different options when needed.

Admittedly, this is one of the hardest parts of the game for me to practice because I don’t have a great place to do this and my wedges are 10+ years old.

To make matters worse, I hit off of a mat in my garage simulator, so the ball jumps off the turf more than it does out on the course. Despite all that hoopla, it is ALWAYS better to be closer to the green than it is to be further away. Your average proximity to the hole gets better, which in turn increases your make rate when putting or reduces your chances of three putting.

Clean Grooves

A topic I didn’t expect to spend 5 minutes discussing was the cleanliness of the grooves on my club face. Sure, I’ve always heard people talk about the concept and I’ve seen the Pros spend a few seconds cleaning their grooves but I assumed that since I’m not trying to spin any shots back, I didn’t need to worry about it. Wrong.

While it does help with spinning shots back, it primarily helps with having a consistent and reliable ball flight. So those 9 different distances I spoke about, may not even happen if I don’t have clean grooves. My coach suggested this one, but just make sure to wipe off the water since that reduces spin.

Take Aways:

1. Do Speed Training in order to hit the ball as far as possible off the tee as long as it’s playable.

2. Develop a feel or system to hit at least three different distances with your wedges

3. Get some up-to-date wedges (I have some Vokeys coming very soon!)

4. Keep your grooves clean

Which takeaway hits home most to you?

We’re halfway through the golf season and coming up on the last major of the season. I don’t suggest any major swing changes yet but you should definitely start working on your off season plan.