Phil Mickelson hitting down with a driver

[BadAssDrummer001]

Im not arguing that it is. Im more in the school of Bubba Watson. I just play the game and leave the science to the guys who get paid to do that. Served me well thus far.

[BadAssDrummer001]

he still flies his driver over 295 in the air, and made 61.5 million last year for doing it. So whatever you want to call what you just saw it doesnt really matter

[hitdown]

@BadAssDrummer001 Of course it matters! You made the point... the man hits down with his driver and flies it over 295 in the air and made over 60 million. Hitting down is the way to do that.

[dschultz6072]

A balance between spin and launch angle at their particular clubhead speed is what the players look for. Bubba Watson hits up on the ball a crapload though, well over 1 or 2 degrees. If you've got 115+ clubhead speed you're going to fly it 275 no matter what.

[LivingTrancefully]

The stat that puts this all to rest is that the average angle of attack for a driver on the pga tour is -1.3. That means descending. Most hit it descending or 0.5-1* on the upswing.

[brown547]

Any geometrically sound golf swing must go out, down, which is a good three dimensional swing. The reason why there's so much confusion about hitting down, or up with the driver is that the impact point and the low point slightly overlap each other which can be clearly seen in the video if know and understand the geometry of the swing.

[plumdog69]

:) :) he thinks hes hitting up

[nessund0rma]

even if you do hit down, you are putting a huge amount of spin on the ball causing it to lose distance

[hitdown]

No, you will only get a huge amount of spin if you have a huge amount of loft on your driver. This is why drivers have less loft. The club is moving its fastest on the way down. Hitting up, when the clubhead is slowing down, will cost you distance. As you know, Phil is no slouch in the distance department!

[nessund0rma]

I don't care if you have 1 degree of loft, you are still going to create some spin. Phsysics proves this. Also, explain to me why all of the top 5 pro is driving distance on the PGA Tour all hit on the upswing? Sure Phil is pretty long, but if he started hitting up on the ball, he'd be even longer.

[hitdown]

Without spin the ball would not get in the air. All airborne shots have backspin. Watson Holmes Johnson Wetterich &Garrigus hit down w/drivers. There's a BIG difference between catching the ball on the upswing & hitting up. The former is force applied on the downswing & contact made as the head passes the bottom of the arc (rare these days). Hitting up is when one (high handicapper) waits til the bottom to apply force upwards, resulting in distance loss & shots that tend to go right. Thanks.

[plumdog69]

ding!ding!ding! if was one of my students he would be be severely chastised for that! of course the talking heads are oblivious to this sequence