Whenever I hear golfers talking about hitting the ball farther, I hear about things like buying the latest driver, using the hottest new shaft, creating as much lag as possible on the downswing, keeping a flat wrist at impact, etc. The list goes on and on. While these things may possibly help you, simply put, hitting the ball far comes down to three things:
1) Sweet Spot Contact
In theory, five yards is lost for every quarter of an inch that you miss the sweet spot on your driver. That means if you miss the sweet spot by as little as an inch, you could lose 20 yards on your drive. All of a sudden you'd be hitting 2 clubs more for your next shot in to the green. It's harder to shoot lower scores that way!
One of the best ways I have ever encountered to improve your ball-striking is to keep your head as still as your flexibility allows during the swing (it's ok to move it some). What this effectively does is it will keep the vertebrae where your shoulder, neck, and spine intersect roughly in the same point in space during the swing. This vertebrae is a key measurement to the ball and moving it around too much makes it more difficult to get consistently good ball strikes. Both PGA Tour Hall of Famer, Johnny Miller, and Guinness World Record Holding Long Driver, Mike Austin, talk about this.
But regardless of whether a relatively still head is a part of the type of swing method you use, make sure you are consistently hitting the center of the club face. It makes a big difference.
2) Custom Fit Equipment
One time I was trying out a few new drivers on the range and out on the course. There were two in particular that looked very similar and were hard to tell apart visually, however, they differed in length, loft, weight, and flex. I hit them both the same accuracy-wise, but I literally hit one 50 yards farther than the other. Consequently, on the same holes, I would have to hit a 9-iron in to the green having used one driver, and a 5 or 6-iron in to the green with the other driver. You can imagine that it is a heck of a lot easier to shoot lower scores with the 9-iron.
To maximize your distance, it is very important to get a driver that is custom fit to your particular swing. While you can get "fitted" through a variety of manufacturers, at your golf course, or at a local golf store, I highly recommend using someone that is PCS-certified (Professional Clubmakers Society). You can be sure that anyone that has this certification has a very thorough background on being able to fit golfers of different sizes with different swings in to a driver that will help them get the absolute most out of their distance potential.
3) Swing Speed Training
Once you are using a swing method that gets you hitting the sweet spot consistently on your custom fit clubs, the next major thing you can do to hit the ball farther is to increase your swing speed.
For every 1 mph you can increase your swing speed, you will carry the ball 2.5 yards farther. When you consider that every day golfers swing 70-95 mph, Tour pros swing 105-130 mph, and the professional long distance drivers swing 135 mph to upwards of 150 mph, it's easy to see why people hit the ball different distances.
Unfortunately for many golfers of all levels they don't realize, don't believe, don't know how, etc that they can do increase their speed. However, the good news is that given the right guidance and training, it's actually quite easy to learn to swing faster. This is especially true if you are not already doing anything for your speed.
Increase your usable swing speed and you will hit longer drives.
Jaacob Bowden is one of the world's foremost experts on increasing golf swing speed. His Swing Man Golf web site was built around both the knowledge he used to increase his own swing speed by 26 mph in 37 days while training for the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championships, and also what he has learned about golf that took him from average length hitting 14-handicapper to Professional Golfer and Long Drive Champion. Swing Man Golf subscribers regularly gain 30-65 yards of distance when signing up on Swing Man Golf.
To learn more information about what Jaacob can do for you and your game, visit Swing Man Golf.
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