10 Tips To Actually Hit Your Driver In Play | How To Break 80 In 2022

Congrats, you got much better at golf in 2021! But now it’s time to take your game one step further this offseason. That’s right, we’re talking about targeting that magical number most golfers set their sights on: a score in the 70s. Here, in our eight-step guide to breaking 80, we’ll speak to experts, pros and more to create the perfect plan for you to take your game to the next level.

When I was playing golf most often and most seriously, I quickly realized that keeping the ball in play off the tee is essential to competitive golf. The only problem is that I was never particularly good at it. But that was before I’d tapped into the network of brilliant minds that exists at golf dot com. And while I don’t spend a ton of time writing instruction articles, I definitely do read them — and I’ve picked up some nuggets in the process. Here are 10 tips on straighter drives I’ve compiled from that research.

1. Curve it less!

For at least seven or eight of these tips I’ll expect you to start with a groan or some variation of “Yeah, no s—!” But hopefully we can move past that together and glean a little insight. This comes from a study conducted by golf data guru Mark Broadie, who was curious whether it’s more effective to dial in a big-swinging ball or have it start straight and stay straight. The straight-ball hitters won out convincingly. Here’s Broadie:

“To see the connection between curve and accuracy, I computed the correlation of these values across players. Guess what? The correlation was negative 40 percent, which in plain English means that players who curve their drives less tend to hit more fairways! (For the stat geeks out there, the negative correlation result holds up even after controlling for drive distance.) For example, the big curvers, Andrew Putnam, Phil Mickelson and J.B. Holmes, hit eight percent fewer fairways than the field.

“The least-curve group of Armour, Furyk and Reavie hit 13 percent more fairways than the field, a significant statistical difference between the two groups.”

You can read the rest of Broadie’s piece here.

2. Own your ball flight.

Hopefully this doesn’t sound like I’m already contradicting myself. But just because you’d like to hit the ball dead-straight, per Tip No. 1, doesn’t mean that’s the reality available to you at the moment.

“Most players have a dominant shot shape (draw/fade) and should use that through the round,” says GOLF Top 100 Teacher Joe Plecker.

“You have to go with your stock shot,” adds Top 100 Brian Manzella. Doing so will help you commit to the shot and allow you to pick a proper aiming point.

Drivers

Driving

3. Hit driver.