There really is a difference between a III Wood and your Driver! Think about your ‘5 Set-Ups’ … Posture, Grip, Stance, Ball Location & Alignment. This simplicity will cover the bases if you simply use your check list and Pre Shot Routine (PSR)! You shall be able and need to ‘Set Up For Success’! To tackle this subject, all you really have to do is read your ‘555 Driver Protocols’ and compare them with your ‘Long-Shafted Full Swing Protocols’ … meaning ‘Off The Deck and not Teed Up’.
A Dr. Fischer bone of contention is the statement you hear all too often … “You Do Not Hit Down On The Ball”! Think about your ‘Not Teed Up Long-Shafted Full Swing Protocols’. You sure as heck do not swing ‘Up Hill’ at this ‘Little White Ball’. Are you nuts?
At the ‘Top Of Your Back & Up Swing’ (TOB), your Clubhead is UP! I know that sounds foolish, but the answer will not! If you are up at TOB, you must reflexively get ‘Back Down’ to the ‘Ball Location’ which is hopefully properly placed in the Front Swing. Right?
To get the BIC (Bottom Inside Cheek or Ballistic Point Of The Ball) of the ball on the ‘Sweet Spot Of The Clubface, you MUST ‘Feel As Though You Are Actually Pinching The Ball Off The Grass’. The sole of the clubhead must ‘Pinch The Grass’ so that the ‘Leading Edge’ is just below ‘The South Pole’. Contact and efficient ‘Compression Is King’!
The central Differences between III Wood and Driver are 1) Posture is relatively the same as it is the same engine, 2) Grip is relatively the same, 3) Stance may be or tends to be slightly wider for the driver, 4) Ball Location for the III Wood is about where you place your long irons. The Driver Ball is ‘Teed Up’ and, depending on the height, needs to be quite forward to accomplish an ’Ascending Strike’ and 5) Alignment for the III Wood is a bit personal. I like my III Wood Set-Up to be a little ‘OPEN’ so as to invite my ‘Hips’ to clear and deliver efficiently. (see ‘The Swapping Pockets Drill’) I like to feel as though I am a ‘Little Pushy’ in this swing … Good Extension. My Ball Flight tells me how that decision is working. My Driver Alignment tends to be a little ‘CLOSED’ to invite an ‘Inside Out Draw Path’.
A final and substantial ‘Difference’ is that we often try to ‘Kill The Driver’ while we are tolerant of feeling more smoothness and swing with our III Wood. Body Tension in a golf swing is sourced in the Brace Hand Working or Thumb & Index Pincher Fingers. Swing Soft Hands! They will naturally increase the squeeze through the ‘Impact & Separation Zone’ as is required to do the work!
