So often I have golfers come to me saying….

"I can hit my irons well but I greatly lack consistency with my driver. Can you give me some advice on what I need to do to hit my driver like my irons?"

If you resonate with that question then you'll want to read this entire article now. Because in it I'm going to give you some simple tips to improve your driving off the tee. And the first thing we're going to look at is your equipment. More specifically I want you to look at the shaft in your golf driver.

You see, the shaft of any club is the most important aspect of the club that will affect performance. And if you have a shaft in your golf driver that is not suited to you then you'll struggle to hit that club consistently well.

So when a golfer comes to me complaining about great inconsistency with their driver over their irons I routinely ask this question…

"Does your driver have a different shaft than your irons?"

And normally I get an answer back like this…

"Yes, but my irons have steel shafts in them and my golf driver has a graphite shaft in it. Although they are all regular shafts."

Now what most golfers don't understand is that because a shaft has regular on it does NOT mean it is the same flex as another brand of shaft that has regular on it. There are no standards as far as golf flex is concerned. So don't ever assume that having the same shaft flex from two different companies means you essentially have the same shaft.

So my first advice to people that can hit their irons well but not their driver is to get the exact same shaft as is in their irons put in their driver. And 9 times out of 10 just doing this solves there driving problem.

Now in case that doesn't solve your golf driver problem here are three more tips to help you to hit the ball better and further off the tee.

1. Before you take some full swings with a driver you should always warm up by doing some stretches. The golf swing is incredibly hard on the body and you'll only do yourself damage by trying to swing a driver hard without warming up your muscles first.

2. If you tend to fight a slice with a driver you should tee the ball higher as this helps to promote a draw. Conversely if your problem shot with a driver is a hook you should tee the ball lower.

3. When you're teeing up to hit a golf driver you need to take into account the shape of shot you've been hitting with the driver and then tee the ball up on the best side of the tee to allow for that shape.

For example, if you've been fading your driver (and other shots) and you're faced with a long par 4 that doglegs to the left then you're going to be in trouble if you leave your ball on the left of the fairway. So to give yourself the best chance of success you should tee the ball up on the side you most want to avoid. And in this case you don't want to go left as you'll be forced to hit a draw for your second shot and that's not a shot you're hitting well.

So with this in mind in this example you should tee the ball up on the left-hand side of the tee box so you're aiming away from the left-hand side, and you should aim down the middle of the fairway. That way if you hit the ball straight you'll be in the middle of the fairway. If you hit a fade you'll be in the right hand side of the fairway and if you hit a little slice you'll be in the right rough still with a good shot to the green.

You see, you've got to be smart when you're teeing up your ball. And here's a general rule to remember to help you do this…always tee up your ball as the same side as the trouble and aim away from it.

If you're struggling to hit your golf driver well I'm sure if you put these tips into action you'll hit your driver longer and straighter.