The Dreaded Sky Ball Drive

Question
Eddie,
What are the typical causes of a sky-ball drive -- hitting the driver really high and NOT far at all?  I'm normally a pretty decent driver of the ball, but in the last 3 weeks, I've developed an occasional (2x per round) drive that pops up really high in the air and only 50-60% of normal distance.  Sometimes it hooks and goes left, but usually it just goes straight ahead.  (It has never gone to the right on me.)  Is my right hand getting too far underneath the handle?  Or is my weight staying too much on my back foot?  Am I coming down too steeply on the ball at impact?  I can't seem to figure it out.

Answer
Hi Bruce:

You are correct to some degree on all your answers.  Simply put Bruce, your clubhead is underneathe the ball at impact, which skys it.  Usually, it is because your path into the ball is too steep.  A downward blow with a driver at a ball that is teed up high results in the topline of the clubhead meeting the bottom of the ball on the way down, thus putting an enormous amount of back spin on the ball which pops it up.  There is no forward movement of the ball, only backspin.  The other way the clubhead gets under the ball at impact is if the golfer hangs back on the back foot and throws the clubhead under/at the ball in an attempt to strike it.  Same result, different way to get there.  Too much weight on the front foot at address could help steepen the swingpath into the ball as well.  So, enough of that.  How do you fix it?  Simple, your swing MUST round out a little more on the return swing to the ball.  Best visual I can give you is to make some practice baseball swings like a ball was on a batting tee waist high.  In order to hit the ball solid off the tee, the club (bat) MUST be moving level to the ball at impact.  If the bat is moving downward at the ball, if the top of the bat strikes the bottom of the ball, it will sky up in the air.  Sound familiar?  If your golf swing rounds out a little more coming into the ball, you will hit it much more solid.  Picture the clubhead moving LEVEL to the ball 6 inches before impact and 6 inches past impact.  If you can produce that motion Bruce, it would be impossible to pop one up ever again.  

Eddie Kilthau
PGA Member