In this vintage clip of Tiger Woods, the 15-time major champ explains the mistake he sees amateurs often make when hitting their driver.
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One of my favorite things about the Internet is that it never forgets. Now, in some cases, that can be a bad thing — because nobody wants to relive that foggy memory of themselves from college — but when it comes to timeless golf tips, it can be a beautiful thing.
So while mindlessly scrolling through Instagram the other day, I came across a vintage driver tip from Tiger Woods that I needed to share. Because who doesn’t want to get some advice from the GOAT, right?
In the video below, which is over 20 years old from GolfPass, Woods talks about some of the ways he maximizes his driver, while also sharing a common mistake he sees amateurs make (hint: it has to do with your hand positioning in the backswing).
Even two decades later, the tip holds up — so take a look for yourself and see how it can help you stripe it with the big dog off the tee.
Tiger Woods says this is the mistake most amateurs make with their driver
The video begins with Woods revealing a little bit about his own game at that time, talking about how he was working on getting more accuracy with his driver. Woods then describes the feeling he needs in order to produce the drive he wants — as well as what goes wrong when he doesn’t get his expected result.
“In order for me to swing the driver well, I’ve always played my best when I feel my hands are as far away from my head as possible. This creates a lot of room and a lot of width on the way down [towards impact],” Woods said. “I start going bad when I get narrow with my hands by my head, which means I have to throw out [the driver’s head], which makes me lose a lot of power and lose a lot of balls out to the right. When I stay wide, I can stay behind it and hit a draw, and the ball goes a little farther.”
The same mistake that Woods talked about is something he says many amateurs do as well — getting too narrow at the top of their backswing.
“I see a lot of amateurs where they get in here [at the top of the backswing] and they can kiss their hands,” Woods quips. “That’s not the position you need to be in. Instead, you need to [extend your arms] out here a little further away from your head, and I guarantee you’ll hit the ball a little bit farther.”
After hitting a drive, Woods then leans into some unsolicited advice and describes what he does when he’s looking for a little bit more distance with the driver.
“If I want to hit one a little farther, I try to get my head behind the ball,” he says.
But instead of just leaning back with some side tilt toward the trail side, Woods describes how he uses his feet to ensure his head position is in the right spot.
“I do this by simply dropping my back foot down the target line by a couple of inches,” Woods adds. “This allows my head to be more behind the ball. So I can stay behind it a little bit longer and then release my hands.”
Of course, Woods then proceeds to smoke a drive well over 300 yards, which gets the attention of the spectators.
Sure, none of us will ever be able to crush it like Woods off the tee. But thanks to this old-school tip, we can at least learn a few things that may help us avoid ugly slices and lead to more length and accuracy with the driver.
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