You're Correct!

How many times have you put your driver on the ground behind the ball and hit something on the way back, like a stone or an old tee? It may have diverted your attention from the shot in hand and actually caused you to hope you strike the ball well rather than stop, refocus and take the swing again.

All players have experienced this but stopping during the swing takes a lot of self control and awareness, so hitting something on your takeaway can lead to off centre hits.

Many players, especially on the pro tours, hover their drivers and they do so for many different reasons:

• Hovering the driver can stop the player hitting something and losing concentration on the back swing
• Some players hover the driver to release tension in the grip
• Some players hover the driver to encourage a wider swing arc
• Some golfers hover the driver to help reduce the back spin on the ball

The drive is an extremely important aspect of the hole and hovering the driver at set up can help you relax the grip pressure and prevent the club being pushed into the ground, therefore maintaining a good takeaway position which is a vital part of every golfers swing.
Hovering the club can help provide the swing with a wide arc as the left arm is already straight and just by rotating the shoulders and keeping the arm straight can help keep the club well away from you, eventually leading to increased power.

Once a wide arc has been produced, the players vertical angle of attack could be reduced if it was previously very steep which would therefore create less back spin and more distance with a penetrating trajectory.

Players who hover the driver, do so in order to reduce the spin rate at impact and create a more penetrating ball flight. Players that do this are generally low handicapped and accomplished players looking to work the balls trajectory.

Hitting a draw or a fade does not work in conjunction with the club hovering next to the ball at impact, the balls shape is due to the players swing path and face angle relationship at impact.

When a player hovers the driver, they do so in order to create solid ball striking and a low penetrative ball flight. This set up will rarely cause a skyed shot unless the tee is too high and the angle of attack is too steep.