Every golfer wants to bomb their driver, often swinging out of their shoes to try and reach the holy grail: 300 yards.
But just because you crush the golf ball doesn’t mean it’s always a good thing. In fact, many amateurs find themselves searching up and down the tree-line for their ball because they have no control off the tee.
That’s where PGA Tour player Cameron Young comes in, with the former Rookie of the Year sharing four types of tee shots that can lead to better drives (and more fairways hit).
Cameron Young shows 4 different types of driver shots
During a recent range session with the Rainmakers Golf Club crew at Panther National, Young reminds amateurs that the tee shot is the only golf shot that allows you to control different variables.
“Off the tee you have control of tee height and you’re always on a flat lie,” the pro golfer says. “So a lot of [success with the driver] just comes down to setup.”
While that’s good to know, it’s even more important to understand how to vary your setup when trying to execute different types of driver shots — which Young goes on to explain.
Cameron Young’s stock driver shot
Young first explains how he likes to setup his most-used type of drive: His stock driver shot.
“The height is going to come from ball position, which is going to impact the [shot] shape a little bit,” Young explains. “So on a stock drive, I like the ball position to be just a little inside [my lead foot].”
Next, Young describes his approach to hitting this shot.
“For me, staying on top of it is really good for me through the bag, so I get in trouble when I fall back too much and try to launch it too high,” he adds. “I try to get really square in my feet, hips, forearms, and shoulders.”
How to hit a fade with driver
While most amateur golfers just want to make solid contact with the driver, for the elevated players who can control ball-flight thanks to superior ball-striking ability, Young gives a lesson on how to hit a fade off the tee.
The two primary adjustments he makes are lowering the tee height and updating his ball position.
“I tee it down just a little bit and open up my feet, and then I move the ball position back a little bit,” he explains. “I think it kind of guarantees that the clubface is going to be open [at impact to help produce a fade].
By incorporating each of those elements and focusing on his angle of attack, Young’s able to keep the flight lower and fade the ball from left-to-right.
Young’s fairway finder (which uses a broken tee!)
If you’re a golfer simply looking for more accuracy over distance with the driver, a fairway finder is always a good tool to have in your arsenal. Of course, it’s hard to master if you don’t have the right fundamentals and setup.
On days when there’s lots of headwind (like at the Open Championship), or when there’s more fairway to work with to generate roll-out, Young says he might use this type of tee shot.
To my surprise, he actually uses a broken tee to hit this shot.
“The ball is almost on the ground, and it’s a shot I discovered when going to play the [Open Championship] a couple of years ago,” Young tells me.
While it has more of a natural draw to it — which Young admits helps when dealing with left-to-right winds — he says the key is to ensure contact near the bottom of the driver’s clubface.
“I want to hit it on the bottom of the face so that it spins just a little bit more, doesn’t carry as far, and launches low,” he says.
After demonstrating his fairway finder, Young compares the feeling from this shot to one from hitting an iron shot.
“Yeah, this kind of feels like I’m hitting a 7-iron.”
How to bomb driver
While it’s not recommended for the most average type of golfer (which includes myself), Cameron Young does walk through how he approaches bombing his driver.
Unsurprisingly, Young makes key adjustments while setting up first before giving it a little more effort in his swing.
“I move the ball just a little farther up in my stance, which actually helps me with some side tilt when I’m trying to bomb it,” he explains. “There’s definitely a lot of legs involved in it, too, so if you want to hit it farther, take a little deeper of a squat.”
After securing his setup, Young focuses on his angle of attack relative to the ball position.
“I just try to create more of an upward attack angle — and then I swing a little bit harder,” he quips.
For golfers who assume this is the type of driver shot pros like Young use most frequently, he surprised me by saying it’s actually the opposite.
“I don’t use it very often, because I’ve come to realize that the lower-flighted one [allows me to] hit more fairways, which is more valuable,” he tells me. “I do use it a couple times each round — like if there’s a bunker at 305 yards and I need to carry it.”
So if you’re looking to maximize your driver by using a variety of shot types and ball-flights, start applying some of Cameron Young’s tips to your upcoming range sessions — and see which ones work best for you to get the ball in play more frequently.
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