Know what Total Driving is?
Not many golfers do. And those that do don’t usually think about it much. But viewed correctly, Total Driving is a valuable concept—one that can really help boost your competitiveness.
Total Driving describes how long and accurate a player is off the tee. Used by the PGA, it’s computed by totaling a player’s rank in driving distance and driving accuracy. Right now, Lucas Glover and Shawn Stefani rank first in Total Driving on the Tour. Henrik Stenson is third.
Weekend golfers can’t compute their Total Driving rank. But they can use the concept to their benefit. After all, good drives mean easier approach shots and easier approach shots mean more birdies and pars. Making more birdies and pars lowers your scores and cut strokes from your golf handicap. And who wouldn’t want that?
Helps Players Of All Levels
For pros on the Tour, a high Total Driving rank doesn’t cement a win. But it does contribute to it significantly. Pros like Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson often hit their drives straight and long. When they don’t find the fairway with their drives, they have the skills to get out of trouble quickly.
For weekend players, Total Driving highlights two points about driving that they need to keep firmly in mind. To score well, you first need to drive the ball in the fairway. Then you need to maximize your distance. Both can help you cut strokes from your scores.
Below are five short golf tips to help increase your Total Driving capabilities:
• Posture is Key
The first fundamental in golf is to have perfect posture. It’s a fundamental we can’t stress enough either in golf lessons or group golf instruction sessions.
The key with posture is to bend from the hips—not from the waist. You know you have good posture when the angle between your chest and club is 90 degrees and your belt and the butt end of the club line up.
• Think Placement
Placement is the key to finding the fairway more. For weekend golfers, it’s a critical. Most of us don’t have the short game skills of a Mickelson or a Woods, so we can’t rely on these skills to bail us out when we hit an errant drive. Also, keep natural shot shapes in mind. If you have one, learn to play that.
• Control your clubface
Good ball striking is all about finding a good impact position. This means the back of your glove hand has to mirror your clubface position at impact. If the back of your glove hand is square, you’re shot will be straight.
• Control trajectory and spin
Optimizing ballflight is paramount to Total Driving. Controlling trajectory and spin affects your distance and accuracy. Hit it just a little bit too high and the wind can get you. Hit it too low or with too much spin and you’ll lose distance.
One way to control trajectory and spin is to know where on the clubface to hit the ball. If you have a large 460 cc clubface, you’ll need to hit the ball high on the clubface. That’s usually the sweet spot on these clubheads.
• Swing on a consistent plane
Two keys to hitting it long are (1) make solid contact and (2) increased clubhead speed. Swinging the club on a consistent plane will help you achieve solid contact. Winding and unwinding of your body in proper sequence will help you maximize power. To generate an extra 10 yards, make an aggressive move into and through the ball.
Total Driving is a concept to remember when it comes to driving the ball. Keep it in mind when on the course. And use the 5 golf tips discussed above to help you hit bombs in the fairway.
Hitting bombs will boost your confidence and increase you chances of breaking 80 and chopping strokes off your golf handicap.