RSS FeedEver since Tiger Woods burst onto the scene golfers (both professionals and amateurs) have turned to physical fitness to increase distance off the tee. This has sparked many new products and teachers telling you how important it is to work out so you can hit the ball and extra 20 yards! I am here to tell you that if you don`t want to workout then you shall not fear because I have a few ways to hit the ball a little further without having to spend tons of time at the gym. The rest of this post will list some areas you can focus on to increase distance.
Contact
Even with the massive driver heads the majority of golfers still tend to miss the sweet spot. Although these shots still end up in alright shape, they lose distance because so much emphasis has been put into making the club more forgiving on miss hits ensuring the ball stays in play rather then in the bushes. These massive sweet spots cause golfers to over swing because they feel they can do no wrong with these drivers. This is a poor way of thinking simply due to the fact the over swing causes more miss hits shots because our body and arms are out of sync. I will touch base on swing speed next but back to contact.
If you hit 10 drives all perfectly under the same conditions your distance will not vary much, say 5-10 with a long of 250 yards and a short of 240. Without going into great details we`ll say the average of those 10 drives is 244 yards.
Lets say now that you hit 5 good drives out of 10. The difference between the good and bad shots will end up being more like 15-25 yards. This drops your driving average big time. So we have a long of 250 yards and a short of 225. We`ll say the average is 235.
As you can see if you don’t strike the ball off the sweet spot you will lose distance so work on better ball striking with the driver.
Some players think that if you swing as hard as you can the ball will go further. As mentioned before swinging fast actually causes more miss hits because your swing is out of sync. The key to distance is tempo. Be sure to take the club away slow on your back swing and then acelerate on your downswing. I like to see all my students implement a slight pause at the top (to load things up so to speak) before they rip through the ball on the downswing and into impact. Fred Couples does this better then anyone so I suggest taking a look at his swing by going to youtube and typing in his name. You will see how good he is at loading things up at the top of his swing thanks to a slight pause.
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Get custom fit
If you have a golf store or club near you that offers driver fittings, do yourself a favor and make an appointment. They will be able to maximize your distance by fitting the right shaft, loft, driver head and ball to your golf swing so that you can get the most of your game. PGA Tour players have the luxury of getting custom fit for drivers anytime they want and you can too with advancements in golf retail operations.
Hit a draw
Growing up as a junior I was always one of the longer hitters thanks to being able to hit consistent draws. A draw is a shot flight that goes from right to left for a right handed player and left to right for a left handed player. This ball flight causes shots to get more roll once it his the fairway thanks to the spin that has been placed on the ball.
Tee the ball higher
Since a driver has very little loft, it’s important to use as much of the loft as you can. Be sure to tee the ball up as high as you can and work on hitting the ball on a upwards motion at the bottom of your swing. This will launch the ball much higher so if can fly farther.
If you try any of the things I have suggested I have no doubts that you will be able to gain more distance off the tee. Just make sure to focus on the keeping the ball in play at the same time. A 300 yard drive in the woods is no better then a 225 yard drive in the fairway!
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