How To Stop Hitting Pop-Ups With Your Driver
NO MORE POP-UPS!
Popping-up your tee shots can be very frustrating and perplexing. You’re standing on the tee of a Par 5, ready to hit your longest drive of the day. You rear back and unleash the fury onto the ball. You anticipate watching your ball soar down the middle of the fairway only to see head straight up towards the clouds. The ball then lands only 80 yards from the tee. Frustrating, right? Was the ball teed up too high? Did you swing up on the ball too much? Ball placed too far forward in your stance? Most likely, none of those caused that pop-up.
When you pop-up your driver, you’re getting too much underneath the ball, but it’s caused by coming down too steeply into the ball. Simply, your swing was more of a “V-shape” rather than a “U-shape”. To hit the driver properly, it’s imperative to come into the ball much more shallow than you would with your irons.
Potential causes of the pop-up:
- Standing too close to the ball
- Ball too far back in your stance
- Picking the club up too abruptly on your backswing – not turning your shoulders enough
- Coming out of your posture
- Swinging too hard
- Hands getting too far away from your body on the downswing (outside-to-in downswing)
Pop-up cures:
- At address, make sure the end of the grip is pointing to your belt buckle, AND is about 5 inches away from it
- Ball position should be about one inch off your left heel with your driver
- Start your backswing turning your shoulders level, not picking up the club with your hands
- Maintain your knee flex to remain in your posture
- Try to have a smooth transition into your downswing resisting the urge to hit it too hard
- Keep your hands closer to your body on your downswing
These are not all the causes and cures for pop-ups, but they are some of the most common.
A different way to think of a pop-up is thinking about skipping rocks off water. When you skip a rock, your right arm will drop low and you will release the rock low so it skips along the surface of the water. Popping-up a tee shot would be the same as taking that rock and just throwing it straight down into the water. It was too steep. Skipping a rock requires a shallow angle to the water when the rock is released.
Drill
Here’s a simple drill to shallow out your downswing when hitting your driver:
- Tee up your ball and take your normal stance
- Take your normal backswing
- On your downswing, swing the club one foot over the ball – don’t hit the ball!
- Continue swinging about one foot above the ball for a few swings
- Finally, go ahead and hit a few
This drill will shallow/round-out your shoulders making it much more difficult to hit pop-ups. It’s actually a great drill to hit your driver better even if you’re not popping it up.
Good luck and thanks for reading!
About
KYLE VOSKA, PGA PROFESSIONAL
I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and graduated from St. Michael’s, St. Xavier, and Miami University. After graduating from Miami with a Finance degree, I moved to Florida to pursue my professional golf dreams. After a few successful years and a couple of difficult years, I stopped playing full-time. After a year of caddying on the LPGA Tour for Young Jo, Kim Williams, and Angela Stanford, I moved back home to Cincinnati. Currently, I live near Sharonville with my lovely wife, Lindsay, our kids, Maclin and Ellie, and our dog, Nora.
Teaching golf for over a year in Florida and having taken and watched many lessons from PGA Certified Master Teaching Professional Carl Rabito, becoming a golf instructor was something I really wanted to do. Fortunately, I was able to find a home at Sharon Woods Golf Course in Cincinnati, my old home from the 90′s, to further this new career path. As I enter my 6th season as a golf professional, I’m excited how my role is taking shape. I assist in managing and supervising a staff of nearly 40 while teaching golf lessons to over a 100 students. Hopefully, someday I’ll have the opportunity to mentor some future golf professionals like myself.
Email: kvoska@hotmail.com
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
- PGA Member – June, 2009
- 2008 PGA National Assistants Champion
- 43 Professional Tournament Victories
- 2010 Southern Ohio PGA Section Player-of-the-Year
- 2010 Southern Ohio PGA Southwest Chapter Player-of-the-Year
- 2009 Cincinnati Chapter Match Play Champion
- 2009 Southern Ohio PGA Assistant’s Champion
- 2001 and 2010 Southern Ohio PGA Open Champion
- 2000 PGA Buick Open Contestant
- 1998 Miami Athlete-of-the-Year
- 2-Time NCAA Division I All-American
- Mid-American Conference Sportsman and Player-of-the Year (1998)
- 2-Time Cincinnati Met Amateur Champion (1997, 1998)
- Cincinnati Met Amateur Medalist and Runner-Up (1996)
- NCAA low scoring average on Par 3′s (2.91) in 1998
- Low competitive round – 62 (3 times): Four Bridges CC (’01), Oasis CC (’09), and Juniper Hills GC (’02)
- Low non-competitive round – 61: Browns Run CC – White tees
- Won a 54-hole Developmental Players Tour event by 9 shots shooting 19 under par with no bogies (64,64,69)
- 4 career Holes-in-One and 3 career double eagles
MY PGA MENTORS:
Tom Bach – Head Professional at Sharon Woods Golf Course
George Long – Kenwood CC PGA Professional/Head Pro at The Mill Course (17 Years)
Carl Rabito – PGA Certified Master Teaching Professional (Top 100 Instructor)
Mike Bender – 2009 PGA National Teacher-of-the-Year (Top 100)
Craig Shankland – 2001 PGA National Teacher-of-the-Year (Top 100)
Jim Suttie, Ph.D - 2000 PGA National Teacher-of-the-Year (Top 100)
Bill Madonna – Bill Madonna Golf Academy (Top 100)
Andrew Park – The David Leadbetter Golf Academy
Chris Toulson – Jim McLean Golf School at Doral
As you can see, I’ve been very fortunate to have learned from some of the best PGA Professionals in the country. I feel privileged to pass on the wealth of knowledge I’ve gained from spending time with these great gentlemen.
