What Causes Low Drives in Golf?

Nothing feels quite like catching a drive dead center and watching it soar high and far down the fairway. On the flip side, few things are as frustrating as flushing a drive that never gets more than 10 feet off the ground, skimming the turf like a flat rock on water. This article will break down the most common causes of these low, worm-burner drives and give you practical, easy-to-understand solutions to get your tee shots launching properly.

The Launch Code: Mastering Your Setup and Ball Position

More often than not, a low drive is a problem that begins before you even start your swing. Your setup with a driver is fundamentally different from any other club in your bag because your goal is unique: to hit the ball on the upswing. Hitting down on the ball, like you do with an iron, will squeeze the loft off the driver and send the ball coming out low. Let's fix your launchpad.

Problem #1: Ball Position is Too Far Back

This is probably the most frequent setup error I see in golfers who struggle with low drives. They set up to their driver with the ball in the middle of their stance, just like they would for an 8-iron. When the ball is in the middle, the low point of your swing arc will be right at the ball or even slightly after it. With a driver, this forces a downward or level strike, which is the exact opposite of what we want. A downward hit robs the club of its designed loft.

The Fix:

• Take your normal stance width for a driver, which should be about shoulder-width or slightly wider for stability.
• Place your feet together, with the golf ball directly in the middle.
• Take your normal step back with your right foot (for right-handed players).
• Take a smaller step forward with your left foot.

This simple process should place the ball perfectly, just inside the heel of your lead foot. From this position, your club will naturally reach the bottom of its arc just behind the ball, allowing you to catch it on the upswing as the clubhead rises. This is the single biggest key to using the loft on your driver effectively.

Problem #2: Not Enough Spine Tilt

To promote an upward strike, your body needs to be positioned correctly behind the golf ball. Many golfers set up with their shoulders level to the ground or even with their lead shoulder lower than their trail shoulder. This encourages the upper body to lead the downswing, promoting a steep, "chopping" motion that delivers a ton of shaft lean and de-lofts the clubface at impact.

The Fix:

Once you have your correct ball position, simply allow your spine to tilt away from the target. Think of it this way: your right shoulder should feel noticeably lower than your left shoulder (for a righty). A great feel for this is to set up normally and then try to place your right hand on your right kneecap without bending your knees any further. That natural body tilt you create is the perfect launch position. It gets your head and sternum behind the ball, making it much easier to hit up on it without having to think about it.

Honing Your Angle of Attack

Even with a perfect setup, your swing dynamics can still produce a low drive. Your "angle of attack" is a measure of whether the clubhead is traveling up, down, or level at the moment of impact. For maximum launch and low spin with a driver, you want a positive angle of attack - meaning the club is moving upward when it strikes the ball. A steep, downward swing is a launch killer.

Problem: A Steep, Downward Swing ("Coming Over the Top")

A steep downswing happens when your first move from the top of the backswing is with your hands and shoulders, throwing the club "over the top" of the correct swing plane. This sends the club on an outside-to-in path that chops down on the ball. Not only does this produce low shots, but it's also a primary cause of the dreaded slice. Golfers often make this move when they're trying to generate power by using only their arms instead of their body.

The Fix: The "Headcover Drill"

This is a classic drill for a reason - it gives you immediate, undeniable feedback. Here's a simple way to practice this on the range:

1. Take your driver's headcover (or an empty range bucket) and place it on the ground about 12-18 inches in front of your teed-up ball, directly on your target line.
2. Take some practice swings and then hit some balls.
3. If your swing is too steep and coming over the top, you will hit the headcover after you've hit the ball. You simply can't help it from a steep angle.
4. The goal is to miss the headcover entirely. To do this, your club must be approaching the ball from more inside your body and traveling upward through impact. This drill conditions you to create that sweeping, ascending blow that produces high-launching drives. You're physically forced to shallow out your swing.

The Engine Room: Perfecting Your Weight Shift

Power and launch in the golf swing are created from the ground up. An incorrect weight shift poisons the entire sequence, disrupting your path, angle of attack, and balance. For drivers, a poor weight shift is a direct route to low, weak tee shots.

Problem: The "Reverse Pivot" or "Hanging Back"

A reverse pivot is when a golfer's weight moves onto their front foot during the backswing and then back to their trail foot on the downswing. It’s the opposite of what should happen. Just as common is "hanging back," where the player loads their weight onto the back foot correctly but then fails to transfer it through to the front foot during the downswing. Both flaws cause the upper body to lean back and swing upwards excessively, but as the club's an upward trajectory gets steep enough, usually players either hit the top of the bal lor sky it up really high.

Both of these errors lead to inconsistency, and often topping the ball, which sends it rolling along the gorund.

The Fix #1: The Feel of a Proper Load

On your backswing, don't think about swaying - think about turning. Feel like you are loading your weight and pressure into the inside of your trail foot heel, and feel your trail hip pocket (right hip pocket for a righty) turn behind you. Your body should feel like a coiled spring. At the top of your swing, about 60% of your weight should be on your trail side.

The Fix #2: The Step-Through Drill

This drill ingrains the feeling of moving your momentum through the ball and towards the target.

1. Set up to a ball as you normally would.
2. As you begin your downswing, consciously shift your weight to your lead foot.
3. After you make contact with the ball, allow your back foot to release naturally from the ground and take a step forward, towards the target, finishing like a baseball pitcher.
   1. Flip your driver upside down so you’re holding it by the shaft near the clubhead.
   2. Take your normal setup and make full-speed practice swings.
   3. Your goal is to make the loudest "whoosh" sound you can. But here's the key: you want that sound to happen at and just past where the ball would be, not back by your trail foot.

You cannot perform this drill correctly if you hang back on your trail foot. It forces you to commit to a full weight transfer through impact, leading to a much more powerful and stable finish. You’ll feel your body rotating completely and finishing with your belt buckle pointing at the target, which is a hallmark of a great swing.

Are Your Hands De-Lofting the Club?

Finally, how your hands and wrists operate can add or, more importantly, subtract loft at impact. A common mistake is an overly-active hand action that tries to "guide" the club to the ball, which almost always results in de-lofting the driver face.

Problem: Excessive "Shaft Lean" at Impact

With an iron, having your hands slightly ahead of the clubhead at impact (creating shaft lean) is great for compressing the ball. With a driver, it's a launch-killer. When your hands get too far ahead of the ball at impact, the shaft leans forward dramatically. This action effectively turns your 10.5-degree driver into an 8-degree or 7-degree driver, producing a low launch angle no matter how well you do everything else.

This usually happens when players try to "hit" the ball with their hands instead of letting the club release by rotating their body.

The Fix: Feel the "Whoosh"

Here’s a great drill to get the feeling of a proper release, which syncs your arms and body and lets the clubhead build speed naturally.

If you're swinging "handsy" and casting the club from the top, you'll hear the whoosh happen early in your downswing. To make the whoosh happen at the bottom of the arc, you have to keep your wrists passive for longer and let the speed build as a result of your body unwinding. This encourages a natural release of the clubhead, preventing that excessive shaft lean and letting the club's loft do its job beautifully.

Final Thoughts

Hitting a low drive can be boiled down to a few core issues, starting with a setup that doesn't promote an upward strike and often made worse by a steep swing path or faulty weight shift. By checking your ball position, spine tilt, angle of attack, and weight transfer, you can diagnose your issue and start building a high-launching tee shot.

Identifying which exact fault is costing you strokes can be tough on your own. Seeing your swing and getting simple, diagnostic feedback is one of the best ways we designed Caddie AI to help. Instead of guessing, you can ask for pointed advice on your swing, or get on-the-spot guidance when you're facing a tricky shot. If you're standing on a tee box wondering if driver is even the right play, you can get a simple strategy right in your pocket. The goal for us is to remove the guesswork, giving you clarity and confidence over every shot.