The first step to having success on any given hole is finding the fairway with your drive. Sure, it\u2019s possible to make birdie from the rough, but when you\u2019re in the short stuff, it becomes a whole heck of a lot easier.<\/p>\n
When I was younger, finding fairways felt easy. I was confident standing on the tee box and unsheathing driver. No matter how narrow the fairway \u2014 or how much trouble popped up \u2014 I knew I could hit the ball right at my target.<\/p>\n
As I\u2019ve gotten older (and longer off the tee<\/a>), that confidence has waned. Whether it\u2019s the result of more clubhead speed or lapses in my technique, the result is all the same: I\u2019m playing more and more from off the fairway.<\/p>\n So, at last winter\u2019s GOLF Top 100 Teacher<\/a> Summit, I sought out the help of the 2025 PGA of America Teacher and Coach of the Year, Jason Baile. Jason is the director of instruction at Jupiter Hills Club and coaches Tour pros such as Lucas Glover<\/a> and Ryan Gerard, each of whom rank inside the top 25 on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy. Under his guidance, I knew I\u2019d learn a thing or two about how to hit more fairways.<\/p>\n Check out the video below from our driving accuracy bootcamp to learn more on how to hit your driver straight.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n “><\/p>\n How to hit your driver straight<\/p>\n When I arrived for my lesson with Jason, he started by asking a simple question: What\u2019s my \u201cproblem\u201d miss? At the time, that was a high, spinny ball that ballooned off to the right. It\u2019s not a shot that would get away from me, but when it came out, it sapped a ton of distance and left me miles from the hole.<\/p>\n After watching me for a few shots, Jason concluded that a lot of my issues were a result of a poor setup.<\/p>\n \u201cI see a hodgepodge of mismatch stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cPart of your setup looks like you\u2019re gonna fade it. Part of your backswing looks like you\u2019re gonna draw it. And then another part looks like you\u2019re gonna fade it.\u201d<\/p>\n As with many issues recreational golfers face, a lot of fixes can come from simple setup adjustments.<\/p>\n Fixing my setup<\/p>\n One thing I\u2019ve always struggled with when hitting driver is having an attack angle that is too far down. With a negative attack angle, you will put more spin on the ball, which can be great for control, but it also means you\u2019ll have much less power.<\/p>\n Thanks to Jason, I came to find out that one of the biggest reasons for my negative attack angle is a poor setup. Everything was too \u201clevel,\u201d and it forced me to make compensations later in the swing to make up for it.<\/p>\n The first thing he asked me to do was slightly \u201cbump\u201d my lead hip toward the target at address. This movement slightly raised my lead hip and lowered my trail hip.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d rather see you get the proper tilts at address with your lower body than your upper body,\u201d Jason said. <\/p>\n The next thing he fixed was the orientation on my arms at address. Before, I had a tendency to get my trail arm too high, which covered up my lead arm when looking at my swing from down the line. To fix it, he had me think about pointing my trail elbow more at my trail hip when I gripped the club.<\/p>\n \u201cNow our arms have some tilt,\u201d Jason said. <\/p>\n By tweaking these two simple setup mistakes, I instantly increased my angle of attack and got into a better position to make swings that didn\u2019t have so many compensations built in.<\/p>\n Fixing a right miss<\/p>\n After getting used to my new setup, Jason taught me an easy way to fix a right miss. First, he teed up a second ball about a club-length behind my ball and a bit inside of my target line. Then, he told me that when I swung, I needed to feel like I was getting the clubface square to that ball as soon as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cI call it \u2018Turn 4 at Talladega,’\u201d Jason said. \u201cIf the face is open to Turn 4, you\u2019re going to have to twist the steering wheel quite a bit. If I can get the hood ornament of the car \u2014 which is the sweet spot \u2014 square to the arc early, then I don\u2019t have to twist the shaft at the bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n Once you start to visualize the secondary ball on that swing arc, try to feel that you are squaring the clubface to it as soon as possible. If you can do that, you won\u2019t have to make any compensations through the impact zone. You will simply have to turn your body and the clubface will be square to your target.<\/p>\n \u201cAny ball that starts too far right, square it early,\u201d Jason said. <\/p>\n Fixing the left miss<\/p>\n After drilling the feel of squaring the clubface early to guard against the right miss, I started to overdo things a bit and began losing the ball left. Luckily, Jason had another easy feel to fix those misses, too.<\/p>\n As the clubhead swings through the impact area, it\u2019s important to feel like the sweet spot is facing up and to the left of your target. By doing that, you will ensure that you are not manipulating the clubface and closing it down, which results in a hook.<\/p>\n \u201cAny time that it goes into the ball and twists, the sweet spot is pointing down and left,\u201d Jason said. \u201cAs it comes through, the sweet spot should face up and left because it didn\u2019t have any twist to it.\u201d<\/p>\n If you ever start to feel yourself losing the ball to the left, keep this feel in mind. When you can point the clubface up and to the left, you\u2019ll never lose the ball left and hit those nasty snap hooks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first step to having success on any given hole is finding the fairway with your drive. 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