One thing all golfers want is longer tee shots. So I’ve put together these 5 tips to help you add length to your drive.
1. Take a wider stance. This will give you extra stability so you don’t lose balance on a more powerful stroke. Just a few inches wider stance can also encourage a better weight transfer. I would also encourage your weight to be 60/40 in favor of your off-target side (left side for right handers).
2. Keep it sweet. Unless you are striking the ball from the sweet spot, you won’t get the distance even if your club head speed is high. A “perfect” contact from a driver will result in a smash factor of 1.5. Smash factor = ball speed / club head speed. So a ball struck perfectly at 100 mph with a decent driver will leave the clubface at 150 mph. Anything less than a perfect strike and the ball speed will suffer. So unless you are striking the ball spot on consistently, don’t try to swing faster. Instead, focus on contact.
3. Take it back slow – This is a tip that is used by many top pros. The one I remember saying it was Jack Nicklaus. It’s tempting to speed the backswing up when you are after more distance. But by making the effort to keep it smooth and steady you are more likely to keep a good tempo.
4. Anchor your left heel. A feeling I like to have when hitting a driver is to feel like my left heel is the pivot point for my hips to turn around. This helps to keep my weight behind the ball and encourage a late release. Try it out and see if you like it.
5. Check your equipment. This is often the first place golfers look when things aren’t working out just right, but I shall mention it anyway. Make sure you have the correct flex shaft, loft, length, swing weight, lie, grip and a driver head that makes you feel confident.
Good luck, and remember to keep it in the short stuff!
Photo Credit: Photo by chispita_666 at Flickr Creative Commons.