For me, it is course dependent. I can hit the middle of the fairway on a forgiving course with a 100% swing, but I also tighten up and don’t swing as freely when the course is tighter, or appears tighter if I’m unfamiliar with the layout. Most of the fences I see are lateral OB, so I try not to swing for the fences 
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Believe me; I know the feeling. My home course is more forgiving off the tee than most, and there are holes where I feel like I can literally hit it wherever I want, and those are usually my best drives.
But there’s a stretch where it tightens up, and you’ll be shocked to know I don’t drive it as well on those holes because now my mind is worrying a little more.
I would say 5+ years ago, I had that feeling on every hole, no matter how forgiving it was. As I’ve become a better, more confident driver of the ball, the fear is slowly peeling away. Holes look wider than they used to. I know I’ll never step up to the tee without any fear all the time, but I think it’s reasonable to get to a point where I’m not trying to hold anything back most of the time because I know if I try to make those “safe swings,” they are likely going to be the worst outcomes.
Easier said than done!
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Same thought, whether on a tee box or a short putt. Trust your swing/stroke, and let the results be what they are.
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And maybe it’s just mental for me… moving to positive aoa was my first step in gaining distance and “swinging free”…
A ball teed up high and forward in my stance is like a fastball down the middle… I just want to swing at it.
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I agree with this as well. I’ve got the tee much higher and pretty much as far up in my stance as it can go these days!
This very phenomenon reminds me of a quote my buddy told me he heard an old golf pro (like '40s? era) say: he tried to envision on every tee shot, particularly the narrow ones, that he was hitting the ball into the ocean. Helped free him up. I think a lot of his hit our best drives on wide open holes because we’re not tight.
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A former pro told me his college coach always said to him, “If you’re gonna hit it out of bounds, hit it REALLY far out of bounds”
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Not sure that is a good image for me, as I have some serious PTSD from hitting A LOT of balls REALLY FAR out of bounds in my younger days!!
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My home course is narrow and woodsy. We have OB on 9 holes that I can think of and water on 2. The first hole sucks you in because it looks wide (the rough does really narrow in though) and it’s driveable for a big hitter ~ 300 yds. After that it’s mostly pretty narrow. This is my 3rd year here and I finally just stopped trying to steer it around and it really helped…sadly my iron game was just awful and that pretty much negated all the nice drives lol. Honestly though the course got in my head. I was steering so far away from OB at times that I was going worse places. It was horrible when I teed it up on #14 as there is OB the whole way left and right…and #15 was the same…you can’t aim away from trouble when it’s on both sides! This year I just said screw it and swung away. Hopefully next year I can find some form with the irons and keep the driver going.
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Good one @CoryO. Thanks for sharing that article. All this time I’ve been thinking I need to slow down as I tend to revert to an OUT-IN path when my swing goes to crap. Probably what that means is I need to swing faster and not harder. Gonna get some big drive sessions in this winter!
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Problem is I can’t even hit the middle of the face on a 10-foot putt lol
So I took full rips for the round this afternoon and was mostly successful. More good drives than bad, maybe 10 or so yards longer than I would typically average. Two drives went off the planet, but way out into lateral hazards, so I could still recover after the drop.
I agree with that! It’s shockingly hard to hit the center of the putter! I suppose with Tiger’s rule us mortals would never be able to graduate past putt-putt!
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That’s what I’m working on most! When I get it right, and consistent, I’ll work on doing it faster! AOA is my #1 problem. When it’s working, I like the results!
I have hit some incredible drives teeing it up and further forward but my misses come off the top edge going high and nowhere. It is not worth the risk and better to tee it lower to avoid skied shots
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I disagree… if I find something that will work better, I’ll figure out how to make it work consistently… I’ve completely revamped my chipping because I think the sieckmann method will be a better long term investment for me.
I think figuring out how to reach peak efficiency with your driver swing is worth the investment. 10 extra yards a hole has to add up to some amount of strokes gained.
I think my skied shots came because somehow I was moving forward and getting my head over the ball. But also sometimes I hit the ground and still sky it from a lower tee height. Still lower is safer.
Can’t go wrong with the Sieckmann method.
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Love it!!
Whenever I ‘back off’ is when I spray it; I think I hit it straighter when I get after it. Hit it hard, find it and hit it again!
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