Distance from the ball can mean many things when it comes to golf. For instance, After I hit my driver…I am still standing too close to the ball. (wink,wink). Chi Chi Rodriguez used to joke that in order to hit your driver farther…..you must hit your ball and then turn and run backwards, haha. All kidding aside, there are a few things that I have been thinking about lately when it comes to driver setup that I want to share with you all. Feel free to jump in at any time and call me crazy but I tend to learn things from observing, testing, tweeking and then bouncing ideas off of people that are smarter than me…..you guys! Are you struggling with your driver. Maybe you are not getting the ball flight that you want although you feel you are creating the pattern that your coach is prescribing. You have the perfect driver for your swing. You have all the components in your swing that you are looking for. So what is missing? Have you checked your contact point on the clubface and most importantly have you checked your DISTANCE FROM THE BALL- I know that sounds basic but hear me out.
I attended a trackman seminar a couple of years ago and they were talking about gear effect. For those of you who don’t understand gear effect here is an excerpt from about.com that explains it nicely: “Gear effect” is the term used to describe the action of the clubhead, during impact with the ball, that causes a shot hit off the toe to curve in a draw or hooking motion, and a shot hit off the heel to curve in a fade or slicing motion.
These actions of sidespin and shot curvature happen because the clubhead rotates around its vertical center-of-gravity axis whenever the ball is hit off the toe or heel.

When the head rotates in response to a toe-hit, the ball slides, then rolls, sideways across the face from the toe toward the center of the face. This causes the ball to leave the face with a hooking or draw sidespin. Conversely, when the head rotates the other direction in response a shot hit off the heel, the ball slides, then rolls, sideways across the face from the heel toward the center of the face, which causes the ball to leave the face with a slicing or fade sidespin.

The reason all woodheads are designed with a horizontal curvature across the face (called “bulge”) is because of the gear effect. If shots hit off the toe generate a hook or draw curvature, the face needs to be radiused (curved) horizontally so the toe shot will leave the face angled to the fade side of the target. Thus the bulge radius causes the ball to start off more to the right (for a right-handed golfer; or to the left one a toe shot by a left-handed golfer), after which the hook spin generated by the gear effect takes over to bring the shot back toward the center of the fairway.

For shots off the heel, the bulge radius across the face of the wood causes the ball to take off to the left (for a right-handed golfer; or to the right from a heel shot for a left-hander), after which the fade spin generated by the gear effect takes over to bring the shot back toward the center of the fairway.
The presenter was telling a story about a player who was swinging 4 degrees from the outside with a 6 degree shut club face and was hitting a PULL FADE! Doesnt make sense, right. Until you check the contact point. The player was hitting the ball extremely on the heel of the driver which made the ball curve to the right. (Gear Effect). I don’t give a driver lesson now without a piece of face tape so I can see where the ball is contacting the face. After studying some of the best drivers of the golf ball, I have noticed a couple of observations.

1. Many PGA Tour pros address their driver closer to the TOE of the club. A few notables include: Zach Johnson, Dustin Johnson, Kenny Perry, Trevor Immelman, Jason Sutton (hacking teaching pro, sorry) and many others. Now I know there are many that don’t but bear with me.

2. Set-up distance from the ball (hands to body distance) is larger. The hands tend to hang out from the body and under the eye-line. Where iron set-ups, the hands tend to hang below the shoulder sockets. Here is my theory on this……..

Guru’s Theory (inconclusive): since the physics of the driver swing is flatter by nature, the arms will tend to swing out and away from the body as they get back out in front of the body which throws the club a little farther away from the player than it started. I know in most golf swings, the hands rise up through impact as well. This leads us back to our distance from the ball.

The Punch Line: If the golfer is standing too close to the ball and assuming that they are swinging on a shallow plane/path (in to out)……They will hit the ball in the heel. Even if you are swinging out to the right, the ball will still fade which drives alot of golfers crazy. This is why it is important to check your contact point as well as your swing mechanics and adjust your distance from the ball accordingly. I gave a lesson to a guy the other day that had a very nice pattern, could hit his irons with a beautiful draw but struggled with his driver. I merely moved him 2 inches farther away from the ball and his fade turned into a draw……coincidence ( I don’t know). Just some food for thoughtbut these are the things that keep me up at night. I am just looking for the truth and I appreciate you for reading.

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