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Something that I see often in golfers who struggle with their driver, is a very level set-up. That’s not something that is going to promote long and straight drives, but a simple tweak can solve it.

Quite often, if people have never held a driver before, they stand very level and their shoulders have no tilt in them. There’s a good chance those shoulders will be very open, too. Neither of those things are what we want.

Remember, if you slice the ball then chances are you’re probably getting over the top, steep and hitting the ball from the outside. Again, none of these things are going to help you hit good drives.

The good news is, a small change in your set-up can help to mitigate this problem.

The shoulder set-up tweak

A really easy way to make sure you’re giving yourself a good chance to hit better drives is to get your lead shoulder higher than your trailing shoulder.

If you do tilt your shoulders so that your right shoulder is lower than your left, then you’re going to close them in the process, and that’s going to help you to hit less of a slice.

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It will also help increase your angle of attack, so you can hit the ball higher and straighter.

If you take your driver shaft and place it across your shoulders, the shaft should be pointing towards the sky.

Perfect your driver set-up

As you look down on your set-up position over the ball, the driver should be pretty neutral to where you’re standing.

Alistair Kyle set up driver
If your driver set-up looks like the right hand side picture, your hands are too far forward.

However, it can be hard to see where that is. A good way to check is if you take the end of the grip flatter to the ground, it should just be inside of your left thigh.

A common fault I see is players having the shaft too far forward, which you can see in the image on the right.

Alistair Kyle is the senior PGA Professional at Turnberry and a member of the bunkered Performance Panel. You can find out more about his coaching HERE.


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Lewis Fraser As bunkered’s Performance Editor, Lewis oversees the content that’s designed to make you a better player. From the latest gear to tuition, nutrition, strategy and more, he’s the man. A graduate of the University of Stirling, Lewis joined bunkered in 2021. Formerly a caddie at Castle Stuart Golf Links, he is a member of Bathgate Golf Club where he plays off four.

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