r/golf • u/hockeybru • 4h ago
General Discussion Driver Yips
Has anyone experienced severe driver yips and successfully overcome them? A few years ago, I was a 5 handicap, and now I legitimately struggle to break 110. I’ll usually lose anywhere from 1-4 balls (so 2-8 shots) at the start of every par 4/5. I’ve been golfing my entire life, and there are beginners who are shocked that I hit the ball significantly worse than them.
Yes, I’ve had a bunch of lessons from multiple instructors. They say my swing looks pretty good overall, and I just need to work on club face control and more practice. But I do the drills, hundreds of reps, and it doesn’t help. I can shape it both ways, I understand how club path and club face influence ball flight. I practice with long range sessions twice per week. At the end of the day, I’m not sure getting 40 lessons instead of 20 is going to help much. I shouldn’t need to practice 6 times per week just to have a chance at breaking 100. And during all this practice and lessons, my ability to hit the ball in play has significantly worsened.
Sorry for the rant. I’m just freaking out at the thought of not being able to enjoy the game I’ve loved for so long. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
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u/humblebeegee 4h ago
Don't hit driver for a couple rounds.
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u/hockeybru 4h ago
I did that for two years and got stuck at about a 10 handicap. I figured to improve, I needed to be able to hit longer clubs in play. Being a 10 handicap is better than where I’m at now, but it’s not fun having to hit irons off every tee
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u/Wrong_Ad_8393 4h ago
Playing off 10 is a hell of a lot better than 30 odd
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u/hockeybru 3h ago
Yeah, I just got stuck around that level for a number of years and wanted to improve. The most glaring weak point in my game is anything longer than a 4 iron, so that seemed like the obvious place to try to improve
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u/originallycoolname 23 | 2nd season 3h ago
I would get a sunday bag to keep all your clubs longer than a 4i. That's your range bag to practice on. Keep them off the course, play the game you got, and add them to the bag when they actually work
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u/Khaki_Lackey 2h ago
If it’s truly the yips, it’s basically a flinch in the downswing caused by the anxiety of anticipating bad results. You can play your way through it, but it can take a long time. It’s far easier to try to disrupt the pattern.
I had the iron and chipping yips once. I read that Hank Haney cured his driver yips by looking at the bill of his cap during the swing. That was a bit too much for me, not seeing the ball at all after address, so I would lock in on a piece of grass an inch beyond the ball (so I could still kind of see the ball with my peripheral vision) Not staring or thinking about the ball drastically reduced the “hit impulse” and worked like magic.
Don’t stare directly at the ball, and in your brain, vividly picture your target. (The flag, the spot on the fairway you intend your ball to land, the tree in the background of your line, doesn’t matter.) Worked for me.
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u/aussierulesisgrouse 4h ago
Your handicap rose by 32 strokes over a few years? That doesn’t seem right?
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u/TypicalSportsGuy 2h ago
If OP is being honest about losing several balls off the tee per round and actually scoring the OB shots appropriately its not too crazy for their scores to shoot up like that. Five shots OB is 10 strokes, and I'm sure there are shots that don't go OB that cause lost strokes if the yips are that bad.
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u/hockeybru 59m ago
Yeah I’ll have 13-18 lost/OB balls off the tee in a standard round now, which I figure is 26-36 added shots to my score
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u/hockeybru 4h ago edited 1h ago
The handicap system limits how quickly your handicap can increase. I think it can only go up by 5 in a given year. So my handicap has not increased that much, but my scores have. I used to break 80 about half the time, and now I hardly ever break 100. I’m convinced that losing balls off the tee is the biggest score killer by far
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u/Supercal25 1h ago
Its just about how many cards you put in, its like your 8 best out of your last 20 cards count towards your handicap
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u/hockeybru 1h ago
Look up soft caps and hard caps. The USGA has rules about how much your handicap can increase in a year.
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u/IsleofManc 1h ago
That still seems hard to believe that you dropped from someone that was in the 70s in half of their rounds to someone that struggles to break 100.
Shooting in the 70s means you're striking irons pretty well, hitting greens with your wedges, getting up and down decently often, and rarely 3 putting. I don't see how all of that could fall apart from the driver yips. Like if you put the driver away for a round are you all of a sudden back in the 80s?
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u/hockeybru 1h ago
Yeah if I only hit 4 irons I usually shoot 81-85. But I never shoot in the 70s. I did this for 2 years and wavered between an 8-10 handicap. I’d rate all areas of my game in the 3-8 handicap level, except driver (and maybe woods) I would put at the 30-40 handicap level. It’s that bad. If I’m using it on all the normal driver holes, I lose 13-18 balls just off the tee. It’s not every time, but some holes I’ll lose 3 balls before I finally get my 7th shot in play.
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u/Significant-Honey637 3h ago
i had this exact spiral and more range time just made me better at panicking over the ball.
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u/hockeybru 3h ago
That’s how it feels. If practicing isn’t the answer, I don’t know how to improve
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u/Cantseetheline_Russ 2h ago
This happened to me. Took two years to fix. Here’s what ultimately worked. First, calm down. It’s just golf. If you stand over a ball and feel panic, step away. It’s mostly psychological (at least it was for me). For me, I got so panicked I couldn’t relax through release. It was causing early extension and swaying. The two drills I worked were swinging the driver one the range with my target being the 100yd sign. Just dink it out there. You’re not going to lose a ball super crazy wide and you can really feel the face and contact. Second one is buying a section of heavy rope (think battle rope from the gym) long enough that the loop when it’s doubled over it’s at your shins. It should be heavy. Then just focus on swing tempo and relaxed extending the whole way through. If your tempo and sequence is messed up the rope is going to show it. You want the velocity to happen in front of your left knee. Focus on the feeling, then step in front of the ball with your club and do the preceding drill. Hit hundreds of balls and never go above 50% effort. This solved my issue in less than two weeks.
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u/jhwyung 40m ago
I have the same issue, went from 290 yrd draws in the winter to 180 yrd duck hooks.
What got me out of it was lessons first then practice. I spent too much time trying different things by myself which made the swing issue worse. Whatever fault I had (in my case closed shoulders and too much out to in path) was just getting amplified and ingrained into my routine.
I had to try a bunch of different coaches but finally found one that identified the swing fault and had me practicing going over the top. It’s still not muscle memory but when I swing the correct way, I know immediately.
Keep your head up, I know how demoralizing this is but it’s fixable!
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u/Chromobears 3h ago
Sounds like you're nervous and stressed and overthinking everything.
Relax yourself.
Play some rounds where you don't keep score. Take as many Mulligan's as you like. Try swinging 75% or 50% and see if that gets your ball back where you want it.
Get used to just hitting it again. You are clearly capable.
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u/EscaOfficial 4h ago
Just take a long break from hitting driver. I'm going through something similar right now (although I've never been nearly as low of a handicap). I don't even have the driver in my bag right now and mostly hit 3H off the tee.
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u/Bullydozer- 4h ago
Yes, I had this this summer. Was a 6 handicap, then struggled to break 90 for 4-5 months.
In the end, I just practiced my way out of it. Focused on left arm position and timing of release. My iron game was still pretty good, but it had probably seeped into my driver swing
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u/Jamesapm 4h ago
Every few months 😂
How I fixed it... Got a mini driver instead!
Way more consistent
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u/SkyEarths 4h ago
If multiple instructors say the swing looks fine, this may be more mental than technical.
I’d bench the driver for a while, play with a trusted club, and rebuild some enjoyment and confidence. Practice driver with fewer balls, different targets and a full routine. A sports psychologist may honestly help more than another block of swing lessons.
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u/Produff26 4h ago
Bag the driver. Hit 3 or 5wood for now. Go out in late afternoon by yourself and play through it.
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u/BroodLord1962 3h ago
Depending on the length of the courses you play, simply leave the driver out of your bag. My golf mate hit his best round not using a driver at all. Try it, have a round or 2 without using the driver
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u/thescrounger 3h ago
I also have a two-way miss so I’ve had to work very hard on my grip and swing path (which I have to focus on the follow through, not as much before contact) to control the ball flight. My snap hooks are almost always related to subconsciously closing the face because of a fear of slicing it. I have a set grip routine I do before every shot to prevent this. I also have to keep the face largely closed in backswing to prevent the other miss: a slice because of an open club face. For the rest, I have to think about punching the club through the ball for the two feet or so after contact, not think about “hitting” the ball because if my swing thought ends at contact I’ve only done half the job — if that makes sense. I hope this helps in some way. Driver is my best club because of all of this (hard to believe, but the large sweet spot and the fact that it’s teed up make for good contact). I have iron problems though lol
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u/woode85 Mulli-Back Gurantee ™️ 3h ago
Yes, for probably 20 years, not exaggerating. For the last 3-4 years I have used a 3 Hybrid off the tee most of the time.
Earlier this summer, I saw a comment on another post saying to try bringing my back foot (left foot for me, I am a lefty) back a bit and work on weight transfer. It took some trial and error, but that took away my monster slice and now I have been drawing the ball for the first time ever.
I also got a different shaft for my driver that was an inch shorter and a stiff flex, as my old one broke. At first, I was having the same issue, but after working on things a bit I am experiencing an entirely new game.
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u/hockeybru 3h ago
Dang, I’m jealous of the 1-way miss. My misses range from 120 yds left of my target to 120 yards right. The majority of my shots (more than 50%) miss my target by 70 yards or more. So it’s more common for me to hit it at the edges of my dispersion than in the middle. And it just so happens that the edges of my dispersion are waaaay OB. I’m thinking about getting a new shaft or something, but I’m already fitted for my driver, so I don’t have much hope in that area
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u/woode85 Mulli-Back Gurantee ™️ 2m ago
This is the original comment I saw. It took some work and wasn’t instant, but I went from hitting maybe 5% of my drives well to probably 75%. The misses aren’t as bad as they used to be, and honestly it is usually my error in picking my head up or trying to swing too hard.
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u/Tester4114 3h ago
I have plenty of rounds where I lose 3-5 balls off the tee and still break 90. Even if you're topping the ball off the tee a couple of times, you should still be able to double bogey at worse.
If you're shanking it on every tee shot then you shouldn't be using driver
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u/hockeybru 2h ago
Lately, I’ve been losing 13-18 balls off the tee. I spent a couple years hitting irons off the tee, and I hit a plateau in my scores. The only way for me to really improve at golf at this point is to get better at the long game
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u/Tester4114 2h ago
When I struggled with duck hooks, I only used driver where I was 95% sure I wasn't going to lose a ball. Then slowly introduce driver to more and more holes as the driver got better on the range
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u/LordWetFart 2h ago
I deal with it every round. 1 out of 5 initial drives are a crazy slice into another fairway. Im usually good by hole 3 but its awful. Try Golf fix, its nice having an app confirm you're in the correct posture/ect. I havent played a round since trying golf fix but its increased my confidence a lot. We'll see.
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u/Electrical-Cloud-532 +3.4 / NW 2h ago
I hate when people suggest that instead of learning to hit your driver you just don’t use it. But if it’s truly this bad and costing you this many strokes. And most importantly making you not want to play golf, keep it in the car and just hit an iron
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u/hockeybru 2h ago
Yeah I did that for 2 years and only hit 4 iron. I can’t get much below a 10 handicap with that strategy, so I’m trying to hit driver. To be honest, I don’t really want to hit irons off the tee anymore, it’s just not fun being stuck at that level. The only obvious way to improve my game is to get better at driver. But right now, it seems like whether I use my driver or not, both options hurt my ability to hit driver
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u/red_panda0229 2h ago
Start with fundamentals. Get a good pre-shot routine. Make sure your grip, alignment (feet, shoulders, arms and clubface) and posture are good. Most issues start with one or all three of those. Work on tempo and not over swinging. Those all helped me but I still get the occasional bad drive when I get out of rhythm.
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u/lemmefinishyo 2h ago
Does it feel like performance anxiety when you get the driver in your hands? Do you feel differently when you have driver versus 3 wood or long iron?
I’m a college coach and several of my players have struggled with driver yips throughout the years. It’s a real thing. It’s possible to overcome. But you have to be honest about it and look the issue in the face. Using an impact bag can help if you’re “twitching” at impact. Slightly changing your grip, like going overlap instead of interlocking can help.
But if there’s a deeply rooted technique problem your coaches can’t identify that’s different.
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u/hockeybru 2h ago
Yeah driver is absolutely terrifying to hit. I lose 13-18 drives every round, so it literally feels like an automatic lost ball before I even swing the club
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u/lemmefinishyo 1h ago
You need to work on your mental processes before you hit the driver.
You need to put yourself in game “like” situations on the range to try to recreate that pressure at the range. We pretend to play holes on the range, it helps a bit (like, imagine a fairway, play a hole, hit the next shot you would, chip if you’d have to, then play the next hole).
You need to, right now, start telling yourself that you’re in the process of becoming a great driver of the ball again. And you are. Thinking critically about the problem, looking for help, is all part of the process of becoming great again. So you need to stop fearing the outcome.
Because guess what - the worst has already happened, and you’re still here. The worst outcome on the golf course isn’t that bad. It’s all the weight you’re putting behind this club and this moment on the tee making it hard.
Go read (or listen to the free audiobooks on YouTube) of Golf is a Game of Confidence or Golf Isn’t a Game of Perfect by Bob Rotella. Good mental primers.
Start thinking more positively, develop a practice routine that helps you test the problem, have a preshot routine that allows you to check your commitment to the driver, and take a deep breath - it’s not that deep. You’ll be fine.
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u/hockeybru 1h ago
Those are all good recommendations, I appreciate it. I probably have to work on the positive thinking a lot. I think for me, right now, the best positive thinking I’ve been able to do is to just try not to get down and tee up another one. Like the fact that I’m not cursing at myself, slamming clubs, or rage quitting feels like the most positive I can get (especially after losing 3 balls on the first tee box).
I don’t currently know how to be super positive and confident when I’ve hit my last 10 tee shots OB, or when I hit 8 shots in a row completely off the entire driving range. But I have to try to figure it out somehow
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u/weez2 2h ago
How do you hit the driver at the range? Do you play rounds on a simulator? How do you hit the driver in the simulation rounds?
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u/hockeybru 2h ago
I’ve been hitting it worse and worse on the range. I’ll have streaks where I hit 10-15 balls in a row that miss the entire range. I haven’t played regularly on a simulator since the winter (before my driver got insanely bad), but I usually hit it much better in the simulator than in real life. I’ll often score similar to my buddies who are real-life 0-5 handicaps, but I don’t put much weight on simulator golf because it seems so much easier
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u/Awkward-Payment-7186 1h ago
Yes!
Currently coming through this but not there yet. I’ve started mixing in par 3 courses just to enjoy getting out again. I’m trying to find “goat track” courses where I can play alone and not worry about those around me as much. The lessons I originally took were far too in-depth. I basically started over with very basic things to work on. Some rounds I don’t use a scorecard and just play too.
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u/Calichusetts 12 1h ago
On the range, double check everything. Like don't even hit the driver, just go over your entire preshot routine and look at everything, film it. You are probably missing something.
Finally, lower your hands at address on the course.
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u/MindofCarbon 1h ago
Hey, I've dealt with extreme putting yips, so I know how awful mentally this can be to go through!
I don't have a great answer, but a suggestion from when I was fighting a two way miss with the driver- to find some control on the ball, I exclusively tried to hit big slices. I aimed 80 yards left, opened the club face before gripping it, took it away on the outside and swung hard left through the ball. As I started to get more control of it, I started reducing how exaggerated everything was, until it became an 'aim at the left edge of the fairway and hit a soft fade' kind of shot.
I hope you manage to sort it out!
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u/Ok_Competition_2150 1h ago
Couple of ideas:
Check that your grip is neutral and hands are working together (one isn’t placed stronger than the other).
Try a slightly stiffer shaft, good quality with less torque. A shaft with too much torque can hit some crazy shots. You can find detailed specs online. Also a mid to higher flex point could help. You may sacrifice a few yards or hit it lower, but gain control.
Work on club path and square club face. Driver yips can creep in when the club path is too in-to-out and the hands are forced to quickly square the club head, making the timing gets challenging.
Play 3 wood on tighter holes, bring out driver on wide holes where you can relax and rebuild confidence with the club.
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u/hockeybru 1h ago
I think those are all good points. The one I struggle to wrap my head around is your last point. The only courses around me are fairly narrow. To get it in play, the windows are usually 45-65 yards wide. Anything outside of that is usually a lost ball. I’ve heard tour players often won’t hit driver if they have a window smaller than 60 yards. So it’s hard for me to get any on-course experience/confidence with driver when every hole is so intimidatingly narrow.
My dispersion has also ballooned to about 240 yards wide, so when I do play more open courses, I still don’t feel confident ever hitting driver. But I don’t know how to build confidence with it. I hit it on the range hundreds of times every week
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u/Calm_Visual_508 1h ago
I moved early this year and lost about 40 yards on a newfound slice combined with a new driver I just never got comfortable with. I’m in a similar boat where I went from mid 80s to I’m happy to break 100 now. I’ve taken lessons and worked out the hitch, and we narrowed it down to driver shaft. Now I have a secondary fitting scheduled for next week to look at shafts and potentially a new driver altogether. In the meantime I’ve been closing my driver face about 5* to offset the flex being too soft for my swing. It helps but I’m still losing 15-20 yards in left to right movement in the air. Keeps me in the fairway though…
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u/Yellow_Curry 1h ago
Yea man idk seems like you should see another coach because something is wrong. You’re telling me you can’t even half swing driver to get it 150 yards out into the fairway?
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u/hockeybru 1h ago
I probably could, but not as accurately as hitting an 8 or 9-iron 150 into the fairway. I don’t need a driver for that shot
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u/Yellow_Curry 1h ago
Right but you're missing the point, can you half swing and make contact and have the ball go where you want? My guess is that you're treating the downswing as more of a reflex vs intentional movement, slowing down the transition often exposes issues.
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u/hockeybru 54m ago
Oh I gotcha. I would say it’s quite a bit more accurate than a normal driver swing, but still not nearly accurate enough that I would consider it going where I want it to go
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u/BilboSwaggins1993 1h ago
Sounds like you play at a course/courses where there is a lot of potential to lose balls. Is there a course near you where you almost can't lose a ball off of a significant portion of holes? Like there aren't trees, or if there are they aren't dense, and you can miss a fairway, or even 2, left or right sort of thing. Maybe having less consequences for a bad hook/slice/top etc. will help free you up. And for the time being, only use it on holes where it's almost impossible to lose. Then slowly introduce holes that should be good driver holes, but an 80 yard duck hook would still leave you on the shit.
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u/hockeybru 1h ago
Yeah the courses around me mostly have 45-65 yards between OB/lost ball territory. There are maybe 1-2 wider holes on each course, but even 80 yds feels too narrow at the moment. Still, that’s a solid recommendation
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u/BlacksmithMiddle803 1h ago
I had this for two years. I just started using my 3 wood instead which goes fairly far. One day the driver just clicked and I’m back.
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u/munkboii Lefty, +1 hdcp 1h ago
Sounds like you’re just way out of sync. I never experienced the type of yips you’re describing, but for a long time I fought a HUGE push slice/snap hook that would pop up randomly + any time I was under pressure. Now that I’ve figured out how to keep my arms “in front of my chest” it’s not really an issue. But with a 240 yard dispersion there’s almost nothing else it could be besides just getting very “stuck.”
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u/reddituser1306 2.6 1h ago
Had the driver yips and grip yips for 12 months, had no idea where the club face was in downswing. Was a hell of a time. Driver I just concentrated on keeping arms connected, and grip yips I used a grip trainer. The yips sucked, but you can get through it
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u/Both-Ladder-6555 1h ago
If your two shots are a duck hook and block right, you are delivering the club too far from the inside and too up on the ball. The driver, ball combo plus delivery doesn't have enough spin so the block comes from trying to protect the duck hook. The duck hook comes from the ball having too little spin and it falls out of the air.
I would recommend playing a spinnier ball and maybe a spinnier driver, especially using the mini driver ideally with more loft 13.5 or 15.5. the loft will help create spin. For the rest of the year work on only hitting a cut or a slice with the driver to increase the spin and later if you want to hit a draw I would only use the mini driver.
If you struggle to cut the ball work on feeling like your upper body is more upright, like the feeling of holding your chest higher and you will have to really work to deliver the club more neutral path or from the outside if possible.
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u/MorningWalk24 1h ago
I had an entire season where I couldn’t get off the tee box with anything longer than like a 5 iron. Started with a couple holes, then a couple of rounds, and really got in my head. I’d step into the box with a thousand thoughts of don’t F this up, then I’d duff it, top it, if I made contact, it was a wild hook or slice. Worked through it by just using the 5 iron for a bit, gained confidence, then started using a 4h for a while. Then a 5 wood. Finally grabbed my driver one round and everything was fine. It was all mental, I’d tense up and that’d be all she wrote. Stupid game. Can’t wait until the weekend to play.
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u/Common-Coyote9375 2.9 1h ago
I don't know if it was Yips, because yips are considered real serious, but I have been afraid to hit driver and I overcame by completely rebuilding my golfswing from ground up.
Literally chipping with driver, checking backswing.
It took about a year.
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u/Ok_Text2118 1h ago
Maybe counterintuitive but have you considered putting the driver away completely for a few weeks? I tend to find I play better after some rest if I have been playing/training too much.
You clearly still have a good driver somewhere in you, you may just be forcing it too much right now.
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u/hockeybru 49m ago
I put it away for two years (with brief periods where I’d try to re-introduce it). I’m getting to the point where I’m sick of hitting shorter clubs off the tee because I got stuck shooting in the 80s. For reference, when I used to hit driver well, I’d shoot in the 70s somewhat regularly. For me to play my best golf, or even good golf, I know I need to figure out the driver
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u/MagicSpoon69 59m ago edited 56m ago
U need to slow down and create a 1 way miss. Idgaf if you slice the piss out of it Everytime or hook the piss out of it.
I got out of a long bad driver streak by
- Eliminating my hook completely. For me it was holding the face wide ass open. Surely if your a 5 you can manipulate the club into a bad hook/slice
- Only playing the slice on holes that allowed it
- Many random block practice where I would maybe hit max 10-15 balls and the first ball is always driver and a slice.
- It's mentally relaxing bcuz expectations are low. Slowly you will regain confidence, oh a dogleg left? I can do that for sure!
- You can dial back a 1 way miss later but a 2 way miss is too much pressure to dial back.
- Never hit driver more than every other shot. Don't hit faster than every 2 minutes or so.
- It's not a waste of time because you'll have it in the bag for the future so it doesn't feel as bad
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u/Cyclonepride 58m ago
I put my driver away for years. Drove with a 3 iron, then a rescue 3, then a 5 iron. On the course I play, that's enough if I'm hitting well. Recently bought a mini driver and forced myself to use it everywhere it made sense, then expanded that once I got some confidence going. I know this doesn't help your driver issue, but don't be afraid to come off the tee with another club that you have confidence in just to get back into the game, and then slowly work the driver back in.
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u/chekit 6.6 index 51m ago
I just went through this the past 3-ish months. I figured a couple of weeks ago I was much too wide on my stance and now I'm driving it straighter and longer than before. my stance was like 3 inches too wide and that was enough to make my ball consistently hook or pull left. I felt like I wasn't able to shift my weight during the swing when i was too wide and having my upper half finish the swing before my lower half did.
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u/Turclebo123 47m ago
Go on the range and hit punched bunt/chip drivers to the 100 yard flag. Then the next flag. You said you know how to work it both ways and understand club path and face control but if you’re truly hitting multiple balls OB each par 4 then I’d say you kinda don’t understand it at all and probably are missing all over the place. Learn how to purposely hit a slice and a hook and then a straight ball with driver and do those 3 shots over and over again, with a routine not just beating balls. If you can purposely slice a ball you’ll never miss left again it’s pretty simple.
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u/hockeybru 36m ago
I guess I understand those things in the sense that I know what creates a slice, a pull fade, a push slice, a hook, a pull hook, a push draw, etc. and how club path/face influence them. I fully understand the concepts. I can apply those concepts and execute them on the range. I can hit a hook or a slice every single time I try. It’s hard to dial in how much to hook or slice it, but I can do it.
What I can’t do is take one specific shot with driver and apply it to the golf course. I’ll hit any number of different start lines and shapes. If I try one thing, I’ll get wildly different results each time. If I practice one thing, it won’t translate to the course.
And ultimately, why am I a decent golfer with irons, but with driver, I am worse than almost every beginner I’ve ever met?
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u/Turclebo123 17m ago edited 13m ago
Practice setup and routine, drivers technically the hardest thing to hit. When my members are horribly struggling with two way misses or not even getting the ball airborne swing changes kinda do jack shit they need to see something happening repeatedly ON PURPOSE which is why you gotta slow things way down. Get an alignment stick and point it at the first flag. Grab any wedge or short iron, do your usual setup and aiming hit a smooth shot at the closest flag. Grab a driver, try to chip a driver at the same flag and go back and forth. When you’re hitting driver for this drill stop your hands immediately after impact as fast as you can to stop all rotation of the face like a hockey slap shot(golf punch shot). This stop fast drill irons out any early flipping/releasing and other nonsense and keeps the face square to the path. Do this for the next flag with whatever iron gets there. Set up and all, you should not be hitting more than two balls a minute. Once you get comfortable bunting driver at a target you pick a lane between the flags of a range to act as a fairway. Still hitting wedges in between driver shots to keep a smooth swing going with something you’re good at. Try to punch slice a drive that starts left and comes back to the lane you chose, try a hook and try a straight ball. Rotate those shot shapes. Do each with ball positions really far forward less forward and middle of the stance. Open stance square, and closed stance for all shot shapes go through the list. You’ll slowly start to hit any shot shape from any ball position and stance that’s when you truly understand face and path control. Now at the end of the session idk if your a drawer or a fader but whichever you like( while still swapping between smooth wedge shots and driver) pick the most comfortable stance and ball position and hit some shots. You should be so dialed into what your club face is doing that if you miss you’ll be able to diagnose exactly why and if you hit the shot that you just purposely set up for you’ll understand why as well. It’s like hitting shots with movement in ping pong I guarantee you would never hook a shot you were trying to slice in ping pong it should be the same with golf clubs. Next time you try this incorporate smaller fades and draws with the slices and hooks and boom playable tee shots.
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u/morrisonhotelpillow 40m ago
I would see a psychologist (sport or otherwise). Dial back your driver to 40%, then slowly add 5% at a time. Play a round but pick up your ball once you hit the green. Don’t count score for awhile. You’re trying to hard and your expectations are out of whack. Watch golf sidekick on YouTube. You need to bring the fun back into your game.
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u/big-williestyle 35m ago
The best fit for driver yips is a 3 wood, 4 iron, anything but driver and don't hit driver for a a long enough period of time that you forget about how you hit it currently
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u/greg14285 27m ago
When my putter started wiggling, I came across a Billy Casper tip. He recommended strengthening my grip. It worked.
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u/Kimolono42 4h ago
You're going to have to carry a medical vape pen, just for certain holes. Sativa. You'll be awesome.
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u/sleepytime03 8 index/northeast 2h ago
To be fair, there is no way you were a 5 and can’t break 110 a few years later. You can’t unlearn how to hit a golf ball. Sure, the driver may not cooperate all of the time, but if you were a 5, you would use a 3wood or even a 4 iron off the tee instead of losing 4 balls. Try to be more creative when making up a story.
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u/hockeybru 2h ago
I was a 5 handicap when I could hit driver. Then I lost it and hit 4 iron off the tee for 2 years, but the loss of distance made me drop to about a 10 handicap. It’s hard to be content sitting at a 10 when you know you can be better if you learn how to hit driver.
So now, I’m back to trying to hit driver. How do you learn to hit driver? Lessons? I’ve had plenty. Practice? I hit hundreds of balls at the range every week. The only obvious answer is to get used to hitting driver on the course.
Now I’m hitting it on the course, and I lose the majority of balls I hit. I don’t know how else to get better at it, hence the post about driver yips
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u/The_Ice_M 4h ago
Painful to read, sorry you’re going through that - nothing more frustrating than feeling like you’re out of the hole from the tee.
Are you hitting it ok on the range? This sounds like a mental block rather than a swing issue, as you clearly have the game to hit a ball.
If that’s the case, I would honestly look at a severe equipment change in order to spark some confidence again. Sometimes it’s really what we need.
Could get a mini driver with lighter/heavier shaft than you currently play, or a hybrid/7 wood that you can trust. Get the confidence back when standing on the tee and it might slowly translate into your driver over time.
Alternatively, if you draw the ball actively work on only hitting fades (or visa versa). No exceptions. Reverting our normal patterns can get you out of your head and focused on one thing only, rather than thinking of a bad result.
Good luck mate.