For years I could not hit a straight drive to save my life. Certainly I could hit monster drives, but instead of keeping track of fairways hit I kept track of counties hit. Like all golfers I wanted to add the extra distance that my #3 wood did not provide plus I wanted the same level of accuracy as my #3 wood. The solution to my problem came through practice. For five days straight I went to the range with only my driver and hit 80 balls per session, resting and analyzing between each shot (hitting balls one right after another without a 30 second or longer rest period in between is exercise, not practice). I tried this stance and that swing, this grip and that ball position, etc. and finally by the third day began to groove a stance, set-up, ball position, and swing that seemed to work over and over. By the fifth day I could go through 80 balls and hit 75 of them perfectly.

What is interesting is that to this day I only need to spend two or three days at the range in the spring and I will maintain my driver swing all summer long. Anyway, here are a few things that may help:

1. Go to the range five days in a row.
2. Only take your driver.
3. Never hit more than 80 balls per day and rest/analyze between each shot. Hitting more balls than this is counter-productive as you will become tired, sloppy, and discouraged.
4. Try different things: grip, stance, etc. until something starts to click. This is the reason you want to rest and analyze each shot.
5. Try to hit the ball as hard as you can and fully release your right wrist through impact (imagine that you are hitting the ball as hard as possible with a ping- pong paddle). When taking a practice swing you want to hear a whooshing sound through the impact zone.
6. Never play a round of golf without warming up with your driver at the range. I always split a bucket of balls with my playing partners before teeing off.
7. The swing with a driver is much flatter than with any of the other golf clubs. You might try imagining throwing a side-arm pitch or skipping a rock on a pond. It is always far better to go flatter with the swing plane than upright.
8. Last but not least, try to keep your right elbow as close as possible to your belt as it rotates around your waist throughout the entire backswing and during the downswing through impact. If you notice, this requires you to tilt to the right a bit which adds power and helps to flatten out your swing plane.

The driver itself is a very important part of the equation. Do not believe all of the marketing hype that is promulgated in magazine and television advertising, and certainly do not make your purchase decision based upon your favorite player's endorsement (he is being paid handsomely to play a particular driver). Professional golfers make 90% of their income from lucrative endorsement deals (believe me that they would play croquet mallets if the price was right).

The typical driver on the market today is 46" in length, has a loft angle of 8º to 10.5º, and has a lie angle of 56º to 59º. However, the vast majority of golfers will hit the ball farther and with a much higher degree of accuracy using a driver that is shorter than standard, has a higher loft angle, and has an upright clubhead lie angle.

This was the criteria I used in the design of our 1 Iron Titanium Driver: club length is 42" to 44" (based upon the W-T-F measurement of the golfer), loft angle is 12º, and clubhead lie angle is 60º. This is by far the easiest to hit driver that I have ever played. Much longer off the tee and a lot more fairways hit.