Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game improvement column that will help you play smarter and better golf.
Victor Hovland is ranked sixth on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gaines: Off-the-Tee, so it’s safe to say he’s quite comfortable using the driver.
Most amateurs on the other hand? Well, many struggle with grips, setup, alignment, and even swing ideas, making it hard to access hard drives constantly. When we feel the same He should Be better can throw away an entire round, causing frustration and anxiety out of golf.
As GOLF’s July cover star, Hovland recently caught up with our very own Dylan Dethier to talk through a variety of golf topics—one of which is advice that will help amateurs get better shots with their drivers.
In today’s Play Smart lesson, Hovland gives his tips to the average person when using the driver. By following some of his tips, you can finally Stop chopping and start seeing longer, straighter drives.
Low closing rate
The key to hitting driver bombs is the speed of the club head and the presence of the club front square at impact. When this doesn’t happen, a batter’s toe or heel strike can occur—leading to either a disastrous hook or an unsightly chip.
For Hovland, he has the ability to keep a square face all the way through impact.
At the top of his swing, Hovland says his left wrist will be a little flexed, the club face points in the air, and his arms aren’t very deep.
“My club face doesn’t open until it closes very quickly; it stays square throughout the golf swing,” he says. “I kind of have arms in the back.”
By understanding his swing tendencies, Hovland is able to assess how to play his shot correctly, saying he often finds himself either shooting left or right – but still sees the result he wants.
“On some holes, I knew I was going to aim it towards the left trees, because if I just hit my normal putt, it would be in the fairway,” he says. “I think playing this way makes it a little easier for you.”
Limit lateral movement
Another factor that makes Hovland so good with a driver is his ability to restrict his lateral movement.
“I don’t have a lot of lateral movement,” he says. “A lot of great players have lateral movement — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing — but, well, a lot, and if you don’t get the tilt right, you’re going to hit the ball.”
Hovland mentions that great golfers like Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus have a lateral motion, but then he explains how he sees great results without incorporating such a swinging motion.
“If you watch my left arm and my left shoulder, it will go up. This is how you take the club out of the ground and hit the ball.”
When asked about an alternate move he uses, Hovland said he pivots on his back foot and leans in a bit more.
“I keep moving forward, but I can’t go very far because my arms; like I said, I don’t have much depth,” he recalls. “So I rotate more around my right foot, which is still okay because I get a lot of sideways bending.
“You see my left shoulder kind of going up in the air, and that’s kind of the way I make it work.”
Create a game plan
For many hobbyists, negative swaying thoughts can make everything go sideways. Even if they do everything right physically, the result is bad from overthinking (which can cause additional stress in the club).
This is where Hovland says having a plan is important, and understanding what you want to focus on as you swing.
“I want to kind of stay in the back a little bit, still bring my body forward, but kind of focus a little bit on the right foot and put my left shoulder up in the air. So that’s all I kind of think about right now.”
And when the mechanical part of his swing goes well, he can confidently use his driver with great results.
“When I’m playing my best golf, I feel like I have a wall down the left side of the fairway, and I can just try to hit the wall; it always comes from it.”
How to reduce driver chopping
Finally, Hovland says it’s possible for amateur golfers to avoid cutting the tee, but they need to accept the fact that they don’t have the athletic abilities of professional golfers.
“If you sit at a desk all day and try to ‘hit the bombs,’ most guys come over the top,” he says. “If you’re struggling with a slide, a good feeling for most people is actually going forward into the tub so they can let some sides go down there.”
So if you’re slicing the ball off the tee with your driver, Hovland says, be sure to get some extra side bend in contact with the ball.
“They exaggerate that pelvic motion, kind of pulling away from the body. You’re now round, but if you don’t have any curved sides there, your path will go straight to the left.”
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