Driving tips 19 Oct 2026 10 min read

Justin Rose Driver Drill: Check Your Aim, Then Shallow

If your driver misses both left and right, check where you are aiming before changing the downswing. A swing that looks over the top can be a compensation for a setup that keeps pointing away from the intended target.

That was a useful starting point for Piers Ward when he worked with Austin. Austin already had a good-looking swing, but he could not confidently predict which side his driver would miss. Piers first checked the alignment, then used a Justin Rose-inspired arm-drop rehearsal to help Austin change his delivery.

The rehearsal is only part of the practice. You also need a way to verify your aim, transfer the feel into shots and recognise when contact is changing the ball flight.

Check your driver alignment before changing the swing

Begin with a clear target and a ground reference you can check. Austin was aiming well to the right of his intended target. Piers saw a golfer trying to manage a left miss while finding ways to get the ball back towards the target from that setup.

For Austin, pulling across the original aim or changing the face could sometimes produce a playable shot. The uncertainty came from relying on that compensation. This is a pattern worth checking, rather than a diagnosis you can make from a rightward stance alone.

Check the target, the body line and the camera line separately. Piers compared footage filmed towards the target with footage filmed along Austin’s actual aim. The backswing looked much better from the latter view. A shot could travel reasonably along Austin’s body aim and still finish right of the target he actually wanted to hit.

On the range, put an alignment reference on the ground, step behind the ball and confirm where it points. A reference for your body line should run parallel to the intended ball-to-target line. Then set up and notice how that position looks from beside the ball.

Square alignment may feel far left if you have become comfortable aiming right. Step back and check the reference again instead of trusting that unfamiliar feeling immediately. A spare club can provide a ground reference; if you prefer practice equipment, browse our Training Aid products.

Our guide to the blockers behind an over-the-top swing also explains why setup and clubface checks can matter before adding another path drill.

Keep the delivery as your priority

Alignment was the first intervention, but Piers did not treat one improved shot as the whole answer. Austin still needed help with the way the club approached the ball.

There was also a useful false start. After hearing that the club was inside on the takeaway, Austin tried to keep it farther outside his hands. For his current swing, that made the delivery harder to manage. He had changed one part of a movement that was already compensating for another.

Piers chose to work with Austin’s familiar backswing and improve the delivery first. That does not make an inside takeaway a goal for everyone. It gives this practice one clear priority, so you can judge whether the intended change actually happens.

If you use swing feedback, choose a relevant checkpoint rather than chasing every colour or number. The app’s shallow, steep and on-plane feedback in this lesson describes the selected movement checkpoints. A reassuring movement label still leaves you with the separate jobs of checking the strike and the shot.

Rehearse the Justin Rose arm drop

This Justin Rose-inspired rehearsal gives you a feel for lowering the arms before the torso turns through. Start without a ball:

1. Make your normal backswing and pause at the top.
2. Let your arms lower before turning your torso through.
3. Keep the sensation of your back facing the target for a little longer while the arms come down.
4. Continue through to the finish, then repeat with a flowing practice swing.

Think arms down, then turn through. The first rehearsals can feel exaggerated because Austin’s upper body was getting involved too early. Keeping your back towards the target is a temporary rehearsal feel, not an instruction to freeze your chest throughout the shot. The complete swing still has to flow through.

Film the rehearsal from the same checked down-the-line camera position, or use relevant delivery feedback. Look for a less-steep delivery while still completing the turn through. A camera-plane comparison does not measure your impact club path. If you cannot tell whether the movement has changed, keep the rehearsal slow and get feedback before adding a ball.

Piers also describes another option: changing the backswing loop before shallowing on the way down. They settle on the first option, keeping Austin’s normal backswing and working on the transition. You do not need to practise two competing changes at once.

Austin also had an old hold-off rehearsal intended to keep the face pointing towards the target. Piers wanted him to leave that thought behind while learning the new delivery. A feel can have helped an earlier problem and still be a poor match for the change you are making now.

Take the rehearsal into gentle driver shots

A convincing practice swing is a starting point. The next test is whether you can make the movement when there is a ball to hit.

Use a comfortable full backswing with very gentle effort for the first shots. Piers scales Austin’s effort with short-distance intentions, then gradually asks for more. Those are coaching intentions, not verified carry distances, swing-speed measurements or numbers you have to reproduce.

Keep the early task clear: make the intended delivery and observe the shot. If the movement disappears, step away and rehearse it again. As it becomes easier to repeat, add effort in stages while continuing to check your setup.

For Austin, Piers also experiments with a lower tee when the gentle shots launch very high. Treat that as a separate adjustment to test against your contact and flight. There is no fixed tee height prescribed by this lesson.

The feel may become less dramatic as you add effort. You are looking for a useful change that survives the shot, rather than making the most exaggerated rehearsal possible every time.

If you want feedback while working on your own practice swings and shots, explore Swing Coach. Keep the feedback focused on the movement you are trying to change, then check what the ball and strike tell you as well.

Check the strike before blaming the swing plane

A fade or hook can tempt you to change the whole movement again. Check the contact first.

During Austin’s practice, Piers discusses a fading shot that may have come from the heel. He also says the face is difficult to see clearly. Later, a hook raises the question of a closed face, a toe strike, or a combination. The ball’s curve by itself does not settle the diagnosis.

With a driver, heel contact can add a fading influence and toe contact can add a drawing influence. The face and delivery still matter. That is why a shot with satisfactory movement feedback can curve differently from the previous one.

Piers suggests impact spray or face tape to make contact easier to check. Look at where the ball met the face, then consider that alongside the movement feedback and flight.

If you are exploring launch-monitor equipment, you can also find out more about Full Swing.

Recheck your aim when the old move returns

One of the most useful moments comes after Austin has begun making the new movement successfully. A fuller shot becomes steep again, and it is easy to suspect that the extra effort caused it.

Piers checks something else: Austin’s feet and shoulders have started drifting right. After they square the setup again, a fuller shot produces the shallower delivery they were working towards.

When an old move returns, recheck your setup before adding a new swing thought. In this case, the alignment had changed. The result did not establish that more effort was the problem.

Use the ground reference to check both feet and shoulders. Austin could improve the feet line while still leaving the shoulders biased to the right. A comfortable stance can gradually return to a familiar old aim unless you give yourself a way to verify it.

Build your setup around an intermediate target

The practical answer is to rehearse how you aim, as well as how you swing. A nearby reference is easier to use from address than guessing at the distant target.

Piers works through this routine with Austin:

1. Stand behind the ball and identify the line towards your intended target.
2. Pick a small spot on that line just in front of the ball. Use a mark you can actually recognise; there is no prescribed distance.
3. Walk in and aim the clubface at the nearby spot before completing your stance.
4. Build your stance around that face position. Check that the feet and shoulders have not drifted into your old alignment.
5. Step back to confirm the reference when you are practising and the new setup feels wrong.
6. Once the setup is confirmed, look towards the target and picture the shot. Settle into the swing without shuffling back into the old aim.

On the range, use the alignment stick to check your work. Practise setting up to a chosen spot and then verify it, rather than placing the stick once and assuming your aim will stay correct for the rest of the session.

Austin needed a different-looking shoulder position because his habit was to aim right. Your correction should come from checking your own setup. The useful routine is the same: face first, build the stance, verify, then commit to the shot.

Judge progress without demanding a perfect shot

Austin produced a more understandable pattern during the practice, but the final live shot still faded a little right in the wind. The useful change was having a clearer way to recognise and work on the problem.

For your next practice, begin by verifying your aim. Rehearse the arms-down feel if an early upper-body turn is part of your pattern, then take it into gentle shots. Add effort while checking the setup, the delivery and the strike. When a shot changes, use that information to decide what needs attention instead of automatically rebuilding the swing.

For a structured programme covering setup and the downswing, explore our Complete Driving coaching plan.

If you would prefer individual help with your alignment and swing, find out more about Me and My Golf golf schools.

For course information, visit The Grand Golf Club.