rsvman I think your first tip in your earlier message is also very interesting and is an exercise that will amaze most people. I first heard of it when listening to some of Paul Wilson's stuff. In fact, all of this relax and swing smooth and use the body is up Paul's line.
Paul suggests in one of his videos on YouTube that you take your 150 yard club and try hitting the ball 50 yards with a fluid, full swing (he may have said 100 yards; I can't remember). That is, don't decelerate at the ball, just take a "normal" full swing, but see if you can slow it down enough that you are only hitting the ball 50 yards. The lesson: you can't.
It is truly amazing once you start doing this drill how little of your effort goes into hitting the ball almost your full distance. I would say it's that 20-80 rule (i.e., 20% of your effort drives 80% of your results, but I found it to be more like 10-90). You will find that you can slow your swing WAY down and still be hitting you 150 club about 135-140 yards. By the end of my practice session using this method, I was literally (or is it figuratively -- I was actually trying to do this, so I think it is literally -- anywhoo) seeing if I could take my hands to the top of the swing and just let my hands drop with gravity. I was still hitting it 130 (that's the way Bobby Jones said he swung his clubs). I couldn't believe it -- there was almost no effort to the swing but I was still hitting the ball almost my full distance.
Sorry if this is a thread-jack, but it's about trying to solve your driver woes, so I think it is on topic.
