How to stop skying your driver

They key thing to know about skying a driver, or hitting it high on the club-face, is that it means that your angle of attack is too steep and you are hitting down on the golf ball.

The solution is simply to work on your angle of attack into the ball and focusing on a sweeping action to hit up on the golf ball. Dan Whittaker is an elite golf swing and performance coach based at High Legh. For more information, visit his website or click here for more advice. How to stop skying your driver. Use the following process to make sure you are teeing the ball up correctly hole after hole —. When you get back home, use the 'winning' tee as a guide to mark up a bunch of other tees in your bag with a line at the appropriate tee height.

By having tees with a line drawn on them, you will never have to guess how far to push the tee into the ground — just push down until the line matches up with the top of the turf, and you will be all set. This is a simple but effective way to add consistency to your tee height before every swing of the driver. Tightening Up Your Backswing. The great thing about working on tightening up your backswing is that this improvement won't just help you stop skying the driver — it will help your game across the board.

A long backswing is the cause of many problems on the golf course, so finding a way to shorten your overall motion should lead to great results. However, this isn't going to be as easy as just working on your tee height. In order to shorten your backswing and improve your swing as a whole, you are going to need to put in some serious practice time on the range. Specifically, the reason that it can be so difficult to adjust the length of your swing is that your timing will be affected.

Even if you don't realize it currently, the timing of your swing is something that you have gotten used to over the years. Your body naturally responds to different movements within your golf swing to deliver the club to the ball at precisely the right moment.

Even if you aren't a great golfer, you still have plenty of timing mechanisms already built into your swing. As you adjust the length of your backswing, those timing mechanisms are going to be affected.

One of the best ways to shorten your backswing effectively is to control the position of your right knee. During the backswing, the right knee is responsible for maintaining a solid position and keeping your lower body in place. Unfortunately, many amateur golfers allow the right knee to get out of control during the backswing — which frequently leads to a long backswing and poor contact. If you are fighting a long swing, and you are skying your driver as a result, it is a good idea to focus some practice time on how your right knee is working in the swing.

Some golf teachers will instruct students to keep their right knee perfectly in place throughout the backswing, but that is a little extreme for most players. Unless you possess tremendous flexibility, you probably won't be able to hold your knee exactly in place — and that is okay.

Instead, you want to focus on limiting the amount that your right knee moves back, while making sure it doesn't move to the right at all. It is okay to have your leg straighten up slightly as you turn, but it is not okay to have that knee sliding away from the target. When your knee moves to the right, that motion can lead your whole body to sway off balance, and a long list of problems can result.

Watch your right knee carefully to make sure that any movement during the backswing is simply a straightening up of the leg, and not a lateral slide to the right. A good way to work on this leg movement is to ask a friend to help you while at the driving range.

Stand up in your golf posture as if you were going to hit a shot — but don't have a club in your hand. Instead, give your club to the friend who is going to help you. Once you have taken your stance, ask your friend to hold the grip end of the club against the outside of your right knee.

They don't need to push it against your knee, but there should be enough pressure so that you can feel the presence of the club. Next, make a pretend golf swing without a club while your friend holds the club against the outside of your right knee.

With a physical reminder that you shouldn't be sliding away from the target, you will be more likely to turn in place without any lateral motion. In fact, if you do try to move to the right, your friend should be able to tell you of the mistake as they will feel the pressure against the club as they hold it in place.

Make a few practice 'swings' without a club using this drill, and then return to hitting shots as normal. When you go back to hitting balls, remember the feelings that you had during this drill and your right knee should remain in check. Think of your right knee in the backswing as starting a chain reaction. When you control the position of your right knee, you will be limiting the amount of shoulder turn you can make away from the ball.

When you limit your shoulder turn, your arms can't swing as far, and the backswing will come up shorter as a whole. Although the position of your right knee might seem like a small detail, it can make a big difference to the length of your swing — and in turn, it can help you stop skying the driver.

Using Your Lower Body Correctly. The last issue on the list that is known to cause pop up drives is a lack of lower body motion in the downswing. This is another common amateur mistake, so you are certainly not alone if your lower body isn't quite doing the job as you move through the ball. It can take a lot of practice to learn how to use the lower body properly, but those who do will be rewarded with powerful ball striking all over the course.

That prevents your body from moving ahead of the ball before impact, which causes the driver to come into impact too steeply. Remember: Sweep, not steep, with your driver to avoid pop-ups. Teeing the ball too high or too low can also cause driver pop-ups. With a cc driver, you want to tee the ball so that at least half the golf ball is above the crown of your driver when the club is soled next to the teed ball.

Some golfers prefer the entire ball above the crown, but if you're already skying the ball start at just half the ball above the crown. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.

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