When you look at a golf driver, it looks as though the face of the club is huge.
Although this may be the case, you should not assume that you can hit the ball anywhere on the clubface and experience a great shot.
There are lots of areas of the club face that are going to cause the ball to go left or right, or too high or low.
The main idea is to be able to hit the driver in the center of the clubface.
To do this, you will need to be playing with the proper driver, and you will have to apply the proper golf swing as well.
If you notice that you are hitting the ball high on the driver’s face, there could be a few reasons behind that.
Let’s take a quick look at what could cause you to hit the ball high on your driver’s face and what you can do about it.
Hitting Ball High On Driver Face (7 Causes, Fixes)
Here are the top seven reasons you could be hitting the ball too high on the face of your driver.
1. Tee Height
One of the most common reasons for hitting the ball too high on the driver’s face is that your tee height is not correct.
The new 460-cc drivers on the market require you to tee the ball up a little higher than the older drivers did, but you can end up teeing it too high.
When you look at the face of your driver, it should be well marked as to where the center sweet spot is.
Once you find this location, you will want to ensure that you line your tee up so that the ball can strike directly in the center of this driver’s face.
For most drivers, you will see about half of the ball over the top of the driver.
This spot will ensure that the club is properly lined up and that you are going to be able to make contact with the center of the driver’s face.
If you struggle to find the proper tee height, it could be a good idea to look for a tee that has some sort of marking showing you where the proper tee height will end up.
These tees typically don’t cost more than a traditional golf tee, but they could solve this problem for you entirely.
2. Keep Left Heel Down
When you are playing golf, one parameter you need to watch out for is the top of your backswing.
At the top of the backswing, you are going to want to be in the parallel position.
If you have reached the top of the swing and you are in the parallel position, you will have a much easier time making solid contact with the ball.
However, when you get past this parallel point, you may have a hard time getting the club to square up with the ball.
This is a common mistake because golfers think they will get more power if they take a bigger swing.
Although this could technically work for some players, most of the time, the coordination involved in this is going to be a bit difficult for the average golfer.
To avoid taking the club past the parallel position at the top of the backswing, you should consider keeping your left heel down throughout your swing.
If you keep the left heel down, there is only so much rotation that you can get.
Although this may change for golfers who have back injuries or golfers who are senior players and have limited mobility, for the most part, keeping the left foot down is a smart idea.
You will see some golfers get their left foot all the way up on their toe when they swing.
This causes too many parts of the swing to move around with each shot.
If you have this kind of movement, your tempo and your mechanics will have to be perfect in order to get the proper contact and consistency.
All you need to do is keep the left heel down, and you should be able to get the ball closer to the center of the clubface on your next drive.
3. Head Centered
Have you ever wondered what your head should do when you swing?
The answer is that it should not move around much at all.
Keeping your head centered throughout your swing is going to help you ensure that the levels and planes in your swing stay the same throughout.
When your head moves around, you will have a hard time returning the center of the driver club head to the center of the golf ball.
When the head moves up and down, especially you will see the erratic golf shots start to develop.
One of the best ways to know if your head is moving around while you are playing is to use a video camera or phone to examine and evaluate the golf swing.
Make a small dot on the top of your head so that you can see how much it moves around as you swing.
If you notice that the head dips up and down throughout your swing, chances are it is impacted where you strike the golf ball.
For golfers who have a real problem with this, it is going to take a bit of time on the range to be able to fix the issue.
One of our favorite drills is to simply start to take some swings while trying to keep your eyes over the golf ball the entire time.
4. Angle Of Attack
The angle of attack is the angle at which the golf club approaches the golf ball.
If the golf club comes into the ball at too steep of an angle, you are going to have a hard time keeping control of the ball flight.
The steep angle of attack typically causes a pop-up type drive.
Instead of hitting the ball high on the face of the driver, you may even hit the top of the driver completely.
Overall, the angle of attack is going to be something that you can work on as you work on your swing plane.
The shallower you can get your swing plane, the better the angle of attack is going to be for the driver.
This can be difficult to do, and you will have to spend some time working on your takeaway.
Typically, golfers who take the club up a little too steeply are going to get a poor angle of attack on their drives.
This bad angle will end up popping the driver straight up and essentially costing you a stroke.
Shallower golf shots go a bit lower and can even have a bit of a draw to them.
If you have seen golf swing plane sticks or shaft sticks, they can be really helpful in finding the perfect plane for your swing.
You can pick these up for a low price and keep them in your bag for your practice sessions.
When you put the shaft plane stick in the ground, it will give you a general guide as to where to swing the club.
5. Watch Ball Through Impact
Are you one of those players who gets anxious to see where the golf ball goes?
Of course, you are supposed to make an impact with the ball first and then see where it went, but some players struggle with this concept.
If you are one of those players, consider watching the ball through impact.
This is a very easy concept to focus on.
Simply think about watching the ball as you swing the club through it.
Forget about looking up to the target or watching the results, but rather, look at the golf ball for as long as you possibly can.
What this does is keep your golf club’s head grounded.
As you look up to see where your shot went, your spin angle will change, and it can cause you to lift the driver up a bit and hit the top part of the club head.
However, by simply working on remaining focused on the ball all the way through impact, you would not run into this issue.
Golf drivers have some room for error.
As scary as all these rules, angles, and techniques seem, it is not that hard to stay in line if you have excellent fundamentals and your setup is good to begin with.
The idea of watching the ball through impact is a smart thing to do regardless of the club that you have in your hand.
Whether you are hitting with your driver or with your seven iron, keeping yourself centered and with the ball as you move through impact is very important.
6. Keep Weight Moving Forwards
When you finish hitting your driver, you should consider where your weight is at the end of your swing.
Is all of your weight on your back foot, or has it transferred to your front foot?
If the weight is still resting on the back foot, you are likely not correctly transferring your weight from the back to the front of your swing.
You will want to ensure that your weight is transferring to the left side as you make your way through impact.
If your weight gets stuck back on your right foot (for the right-handed player), then you could end up hitting the golf ball further up on the driver’s face than you would like.
Essentially, as your weight hangs back, you will find that your body angles will change, and you will end up hitting the ball on different areas of the club face.
If you keep your weight transferring through the golf ball, the ability to contact the center of the clubface is much greater.
This takes a bit of work, and we recommend a few different ways to get better at this concept.
One way is to practice using a weighted golf club to ensure you are turning through the ball the proper way and with the right speed.
7. Ensure Your Driver Shaft/Equipment Is Right For You
Hitting a golf ball on the center of the clubface is going to require you to play with a club that is built for your swing.
If the shaft is too stiff or the clubhead is not set with the right loft or lie, you could end up hitting the ball too high on the driver club face.
This takes a bit of time to figure out unless you go for a club fitting.
A golf club fitting will give you a better idea as to whether you are playing with a club that is going to work for your golf swing.
Most of the time, if a golf driver is not a good fit for your game, you will put good swings on it and still feel as though you struggle.
If you are playing really well and hitting your iron shots close and your fairway woods long, it really wouldn’t make much sense for you to be hitting the golf ball poorly with your driver.
This is usually one of the first indications that you have an issue with the club in your hand and not with your golf swing.
Another great way to fix this problem is to purchase an adjustable driver to begin with.
Sometimes the adjustability will be all you need to get the ball to hit in the center of the face again.
Adjustable drivers can save you quite a bit of money over the long term.
You won’t have to run out and buy a new driver every time you feel as though your game is changing a bit or needs an adjustment.
Simply use the wrench to set the club a little different, and you will be set.
Should I Switch To A Three Wood?
If you are hitting the ball too high on the head of the driver, you may be wondering whether or not it makes sense to switch to a three wood off the tee.
Although a three wood can be a solution for the driver issues that you may be experiencing, it is not always the best choice.
Of course, a three wood is a much easier golf club to control, but it is also not going to fly as far.
It’s important to be able to control your golf shots, but you don’t want to lose a ton of distance either.
Keeping the three wood in the bag for those days when you really can’t get the control that you need with the driver is smart.
However, ultimately accepting the fact that you are going to give up on the driver is really not the best idea for the long term.
Conclusion
Hopefully, these concepts have helped you narrow down why you are struggling with some of these issues in your swing.
Luckily, hitting the ball high on the driver’s face is not a reason to get worried or upset.
These fixes should not be significant swing problems that will take you months to work out.
Instead, you can make a few new mental adjustments and be set to play.
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