Improve Consistency by Keeping Your Club Low with This Drill

This drill trains one of the most important pieces of a consistent driver swing: keeping the clubhead at a steady height relative to the ground through impact. When that “flat spot” is too short, the club either rises too quickly through the ball or approaches from too high and never levels out properly. Both patterns make center-face contact difficult. By learning to brush three tees in a row, you give yourself a simple visual for a longer, more stable strike zone—one that improves contact, launch, and overall reliability with the driver.

How the Drill Works

The idea is straightforward. You place three tees in a line: one where the ball sits, one about six inches behind it, and one about six inches in front. Then you make swings where the clubhead brushes the tops of all three tees. If you can do that, the club is staying low to the ground for longer instead of bouncing sharply up or down through impact.

That matters because good drivers of the ball usually create speed with their body pivot and sequencing, not with an early throw of the arms and hands. When your body leads well, the club can shallow and travel through impact on a more level path relative to the ground. Then the arms extend more out toward the target instead of immediately lifting upward. That is what helps create a longer flat spot.

Players who struggle with the driver often do the opposite:

• The club gets too high too early coming into the ball.
• Or it gets low briefly, then jumps upward too fast through impact.
• The release breaks down with a flip or chicken wing.
• The upper body lunges, spins open, or loses tilt, which changes the bottom of the arc.

The three-tee drill helps clean up both sides of that problem. It teaches you to deliver the club more consistently into the ball and keep it traveling level for longer after impact.

Why this helps driver contact

With the driver, you want the strike to be stable and predictable. If the clubhead rises too abruptly, you often catch the ball low on the face, producing a thin-feeling strike with weak launch. A longer flat spot makes it easier to find higher-face contact, which is generally more desirable with the driver.

Just as important, this drill encourages better sequencing. You cannot brush all three tees consistently if the club is being thrown around by your hands. You need the motion to be organized: body first, club shallowing, then extension through the strike.

Step-by-Step

1. Set up three tees in a straight line. Put one tee where the ball would normally sit. Place a second tee about six inches behind it and a third tee about six inches in front. Keep them aligned with your target line.

2. Match the tee heights. The front and back tees should be roughly the same height as the middle tee. You want a clear visual for the clubhead brushing the same level through the strike area.

3. Address the middle tee. Set up as if you are going to hit the middle tee or a ball sitting on it. Because the back tee can interfere with a normal takeaway, it is usually easier to hover the club slightly rather than sole it on the ground.

4. Start with a small swing. Make a controlled 9-to-3 motion—waist high to waist high. Your only goal at first is to brush the tops of all three tees without worrying about power.

5. Keep the clubhead at one general height. Feel as if the club stays low to the ground from around your trail foot through your lead foot. You are trying to create a longer, flatter strike zone rather than a steep dip and rise.

6. Use your body to move the club through. Let your pivot carry the club through the impact area. Avoid the urge to throw the clubhead with your hands. The more your body organizes the motion, the easier it is to clip all three tees.

7. Notice the direction of arm extension. Through impact, feel the arms extending more out toward the target rather than immediately lifting upward. That is a major key to keeping the club low for longer.

8. Repeat until the contact pattern becomes reliable. If you can consistently brush all three tees with a small swing, gradually lengthen the motion while keeping the same clubhead behavior through the strike area.

9. Increase the challenge. Once six inches feels manageable, move the front and back tees slightly farther apart. That forces you to maintain the flat spot for a longer distance.

10. Then blend it into normal driver swings. After you can clip the tees cleanly, hit shots while keeping the same feel. The goal is not to manipulate the club low artificially, but to create the motion that naturally produces it.

What You Should Feel

The best version of this drill does not feel handsy. It feels organized. The clubhead seems to travel through the hitting area on a more level track, and your body motion supports that instead of disrupting it.

Key sensations

• The club brushes the ground level for longer. It should not feel like it slams down and immediately shoots upward.
• Your chest keeps moving. The pivot carries the club through instead of stalling and forcing the hands to rescue the strike.
• Your arms extend out, not up. Through impact, feel width moving down the target line before the club exits upward.
• Your upper body stays back enough. With the driver, some axis tilt helps the club approach and move through the ball correctly. If your upper body lunges forward, the clubhead behavior changes dramatically.
• The strike feels centered and solid. When the club stays low for longer, contact tends to feel less glancing and more compressed.

Checkpoints to monitor

As you practice, watch for these simple checkpoints:

• Can you clip the back tee, middle tee, and front tee in one motion?
• Does the club appear to stay near the same height from just before impact to just after it?
• Are you maintaining your posture and tilt, or are you lunging toward the target?
• Does the follow-through look like the club extends down the line briefly before rising?

If the drill is working, you will usually see a more stable launch and better face contact. With the driver especially, that often means fewer low-face strikes and less of that thin, weak bullet flight.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Trying to force the club low with your hands. The club staying low is usually the result of better sequencing, not a conscious hand manipulation.
• Making the swing too big too soon. Start with short motions. If you jump to full speed immediately, you will often lose the pattern.
• Flipping through impact. An early release may brush one tee, but it usually makes it hard to keep the club level across all three.
• Chicken-winging the lead arm. When the lead arm folds and disconnects too early, the clubhead rises too fast after impact.
• Lunging with the upper body. If your chest drives forward toward the target, the club tends to get too steep or too high coming in.
• Spinning open without shallowing the arms. Excessive upper-body rotation without the proper arm delivery often pulls the club away from the ground too early.
• Setting the tees too far apart at first. Six inches in front and behind is enough to start. Build skill before increasing the spacing.
• Obsessing over hitting shots right away. This is primarily a movement drill. Learn the motion first, then transfer it to the ball.

How This Fits Your Swing

This drill is not just about brushing tees. It is a way to train a better impact pattern with the driver. The clubhead’s relationship to the ground through impact tells you a lot about how your swing is functioning.

If the club is only low for an instant, your strike window is tiny. Timing has to be perfect, and that is why the driver can feel inconsistent from one swing to the next. By creating a longer flat spot, you make the strike more forgiving and repeatable.

In the bigger picture, this drill ties directly into three important pieces of a sound driver swing:

1. Better sequencing

When your body leads and your arms respond in the proper order, the club can shallow and travel through impact correctly. The three-tee drill gives you immediate feedback on whether your sequence is helping or hurting that delivery.

2. Better release structure

A good release with the driver does not mean throwing the clubhead past your hands as early as possible. It means allowing speed to build while the arms and club extend properly through the strike. If your release is too flippy or collapses into a chicken wing, the club will not stay low long enough.

3. Better contact location

Driver performance depends heavily on where you strike the face. A clubhead that rises too quickly often leads to low-face contact. A more stable, level strike zone improves your chances of contacting the ball higher on the face, which usually produces stronger launch and better distance.

Ultimately, the goal is not to make the club drag along the ground. The goal is to create a swing where the clubhead height stays consistent through the hitting area. That consistency is what allows you to deliver the driver with more control, more solid contact, and less dependence on perfect timing.

If you use this drill correctly, you will begin to see that the best driver swings are not just fast—they are organized. The club approaches the ball from a better position, stays level through impact longer, and exits without a sudden breakdown. That is the kind of motion that holds up under pressure and leads to more dependable driving.