A layer jump control apparatus and method is provided to control an optical drive during a layer jump operation. According to the magnitude variations of a focus error signal during a predetermined period, the invention estimates the position and relative velocity of a pickup head and a disk so as to dynamically modify the magnitude of a braking force, causing the optical pickup head to make a stable jump on the target layer, then brake and finally reactivate a closed-loop focus control process without going into an out of lock state.