You're Correct!

There is nothing less inviting than seeing the horrible marks on the top of your driver, or hitting that shot which shoots straight up into the air and finishes on the front edge of the fairway much to the support of your friends!

This shot is caused by the top edge of the driver hitting down and catching the bottom edge of the golf ball, it creates a severe amount of spin throwing the ball high into the air and sacrificing all hope of distance.

There are certain aspects of your set up to look for when this occurs on a regular basis.

1. Your tee height
The height of your tee seems like a really obvious one but with a good set up and golf swing it can be the only common denominator to make the top edge of the golf club hit the bottom of the golf ball. The height of the tee with a driver should allow the ball to sit with approximately half of the ball over the top of the driver at set up. This will encourage you to hit the ball on the up.

2. Width of stance
When setting up to a driver, the width of stance is vital for the weight transference during the swing. If the stance is too wide then weight can get stuck on the right side causing poor strikes into the ball. However, if the player then starts to reverse pivot, the angle of attack suddenly gets too steep causing the club to hit down too much on to the ball resulting in the sky shot. The sky shot can also be caused from the stance being too narrow and the players weight getting across to the left side too early, causing a steep angle of approach into the ball.

3. Ball position
Ball position is a key fundamental with every single club in a golf bag as it has an impact on a players strike. If the golf ball is too far back in the stance at set up then it causes the club to approach the ball too steeply. Alternatively, if the ball is positioned too far forward in the stance and the tee is high, the club will slide straight under the ball causing the sky shot.

Check all set up fundamentals for every club as well as the driver so the ball ballooning issues can be avoided for optimum ball striking.

Most golfers will see the ball go high up into the air and attribute it to the fact that they are not striking down on the golf ball enough. They will think that their club is coming up too much on the ball causing its high trajectory and short distance.
Be warned, hitting down on the ball will only compound ball ballooning issues.

Seeing the ball go extremely high can be attributed to the velocity of the swing creating too much back spin, however, a shot that is ballooning up into the air can be the result of a poor angle of approach. Whether you are skying the driver or hitting mid irons too high, the angle of approach into the ball will be too steep causing much more back spin than what is desired by the golfing gods. Shortening the swing will certainly produce less spin and height but also cause a loss in distance.

Golfers can only see what the ball is telling them, and if the ball tells them its going too high then all golfers will try to do whatever it takes to help it go lower. A player putting their hands forward at address can encourage an even steeper angle of approach into the ball causing it to go the same height or sometimes even higher.