How to Hit a Driver: Tee Height, Setup, and the Upward Strike

To hit a driver well, tee the ball so roughly half of it sits above the clubface, position it off your lead heel, tilt your spine away from the target at address, and swing on a shallow path that catches the ball on the way up rather than the way down. Miss any one of those pieces and the driver — the hardest club in the bag to hit consistently — turns into the club that wrecks your scorecard before you even reach the green.

The driver is unique because it’s the only club you hit off a tee with a swing designed to strike the ball on the upswing. That single difference from every iron in your bag is where most bad drives start.

Set your tee height first

Tee height is the most overlooked fix in the entire driver swing, and it’s the easiest to get right.

1. Sole the driver on the ground behind the ball.
2. Push the tee in until roughly half the ball sits above the top edge of the clubface.
3. Check from behind — the equator of the ball should line up close to the crown of the driver.

Tee it too low and you’re forced to hit down on the ball, which kills distance and spin. Tee it too high and you risk hitting under it entirely, producing a weak, ballooning pop-up. Half-the-ball-above-the-face is the standard used by most modern driver-fitting guides, and it works for the vast majority of swing speeds.

Get your ball position and stance right

Ball position for a driver is different from every other club in the bag, because the goal is an ascending strike, not a descending one.

• Ball position: Off the inside of your lead heel — for a right-handed golfer, that’s roughly under your left armpit.
• Stance width: Slightly wider than shoulder width for stability during a full turn.
• Weight: 55-60% on your back foot at address, not centered.

This forward ball position is what allows the clubhead to bottom out before the ball and start moving upward again by the time it arrives — the mechanical definition of hitting “up” on a driver.

Build the correct spine tilt

Address the driver with your lead shoulder noticeably higher than your trail shoulder. This spine tilt away from the target does two things: it pre-sets the upward angle of attack, and it keeps your head slightly behind the ball at impact, which is where power and consistency both live.

A simple check: at address, your trail hand should sit lower on the grip than your lead hand by a visible margin, and you should feel like your chest is angled slightly toward the sky, not level with the ground the way it would be for an iron.

If your grip fundamentals feel shaky before you even get to stance work, back up and dial in how to grip a golf club — a neutral, light grip makes everything downstream easier to repeat.

Swing the driver — the sweep, not the strike

Once setup is solid, the swing itself follows the same core mechanics as how to swing a golf club, with one adjustment: the driver rewards a wider, shallower arc.

1. Takeaway: Move the clubhead low and slow for the first 12-18 inches, letting your shoulders start the turn rather than your hands.
2. Backswing: Turn fully against a stable lower body. Let your lead arm stay reasonably straight without forcing it.
3. Transition: Start the downswing with a slight shift of pressure toward your lead foot before your arms and club start moving — this sequencing shallows the club and protects the ascending angle you built at address.
4. Impact: Keep your head and spine angle behind the ball. The clubhead should be moving level-to-slightly-upward as it meets the ball, not diving down into it.
5. Follow-through: Let your body fully rotate to face the target, with your weight finishing on your lead foot.

The overall feeling should be a sweep off the tee, similar to brushing grass with a fairway wood, rather than the ball-then-turf strike you’d use with an iron.

Common driver mistakes and how to fix them

Slicing the driver. The clubface is open relative to your swing path at impact. Recheck your grip first — a weak lead-hand position leaves the face open through the hitting zone. Then work on swinging more from the inside instead of across the ball. Our guide to the over the top golf swing breaks down the exact path fault that causes most slices, and if straightening out your tee shots is the goal, follow the step-by-step in how to hit a driver straight.

Topping or thinning the ball. Your body is standing up out of its spine tilt before impact, or the ball is positioned too far back in your stance. Keep your chest tilted down toward the ball a beat longer through impact, and double-check ball position off your lead heel.

Popping the ball straight up. Almost always a tee-height problem — the ball is teed too high relative to the face, so you’re catching the top of the clubface (or missing entirely) instead of the center.

Losing distance with a “safe” swing. A tense, guided swing is slower than a free, committed one. If distance is the real goal, work through the full playbook in how to hit a driver farther and pair solid mechanics with the speed-training in how to increase golf swing speed — grip pressure and a full turn matter more than muscling the ball.

A simple practice plan

Work on the driver in this order, spending real range time on each stage before moving to the next:

1. Tee-height reps (10 balls): Set the tee, check the half-ball rule, and hit soft, controlled swings focused only on solid contact.
2. Alignment-stick drill (10 balls): Lay a stick on the ground along your target line and one just outside the ball to feel an inside swing path — this is the single best anti-slice drill for a driver.
3. Full-speed swings (10-15 balls): Once contact is consistent, let the swing go at 80-90% effort rather than steering it. Speed and center-face contact usually improve together.
4. On-course transfer: Before your next round, hit five drivers on the range using your full pre-shot routine — tee height, ball position, spine tilt — so the checklist becomes automatic under real conditions.

Repeat this sequence weekly and track where mishits happen. A pattern of slices points back to path and face; a pattern of pop-ups or topped shots points back to setup. Knowing which one you’re fighting is most of the fix.

For where a well-struck driver should land relative to other golfers your age, see our breakdown of average driving distance by age.