Down-the-line
Hitting down with the driver.
The driver is hitting down on the ball. Film down-the-line with the club in the frame. This is a driver on a tee, not a mid-iron.
Down-the-line · Club in frame · Address, Impact, Follow-Through
What's going on.
The club is still descending when it meets a teed driver. Down-the-line the blow looks like a mid-iron. High spin, a balloon, or a pop-up off the crown. Carry dies. The same descending blow that helps a mid-iron costs the driver.
What's already OK.
A committed full driver is already a swing. The club just arrived descending, as if it were a mid-iron.
The one thing.
Sweep the ball off the tee. Leave the tee in the ground.
The drill.
Leave the tee
A driver, ball on a tee. Camera down-the-line, club in the frame. Full swing. This is not a mid-iron.
10 rehearsals, then 10 balls.
Launch the ball off a ramp. The tee stays. The club does not chop the ground.
Film again.
5 full drivers, down-the-line, club in the frame. Share the best. The next look is only this idea.
Down-the-line at Impact the driver is sweeping, not chopping. Address still has the ball teed. Follow-through is up through the ball, not into the dirt.
- Watch TrackMan (Martin Chuck) 0:04–1:30
- Watch Titleist TPI (Dave Phillips) 2:02–4:00
- Watch Athletic Motion Golf 0:21–1:15
- Leave-the-tee: 10 rehearsals, then 10 balls
- Film 5 down-the-line drivers with the club visible and share the best
Watch these clips.
Official YouTube. Start times are the bit that teaches this idea, not the whole channel.
He names the common driver miss: hitting down too much. Watch that descending blow. Skip the shot-by-shot numbers.
The ball is on a tee. Hitting down goes under it. Watch the driver going low to high. The earlier iron talk is the no-shaft-lean card.
They name the difference: downward with irons, upward with the driver. Watch that. The later handle-depth talk is a second idea.