How to hit your driver long and straight

Many golfers think that increasing your club head speed will increase the distance you can hit the golf ball.  In fact your club head speed will be whatever you are able to produce.  The real trick to a good, long straight shot lies in your ability to cover the elements of the golf swing in an efficient manner.

So how do you achieve this? Let’s start with how to create power.  Power comes from having a good set up, wide take away good shoulder turn, a late release and good extension through the ball with clubhead, good rotation through the ball with your body, high launch and low ball spin.

Now let’s look at control or consistency.  This requires good posture throughout the swing, club travelling on the target line through impact with the blade square, making solid contact and maintaining good balance throughout swing.

If we can put these two elements together in an efficient motion you will achieve a “pure” shot hitting the ball consistently out of the sweet spot and with good distance.

I recently put this to the test on Trackman.

As you can see in the photo (bottom right) the blue line represents clubhead path. The red line is blade square and on the top right image the blue line represents attack angle and the red line represents dynamic loft (of golf ball).   Now let’s crunch the numbers.  The figures to the right-hand side of the image show a good consistent swing.  The figures on the left hand side of the screen show good solid contact (smash factor) equals balls speed and distance carried.   Low ball spin (spin rate) equals total distance.  In other words having an efficient swing will result in the maximum amount from your golf shot with good control.

Drill

A good drill to achieve and maintain your golf swing is to get an old 7-iron, weight it up with some lead tape equivalent of about three $1 coins and practice the above.  Start off by swinging this weighted club in slow motion to warm up.  Gradually increasing the speed and then eventually start hitting balls with the club.  This exercise will strengthen your golf muscles, create flexibility and improve your tempo, over weeks and even months of practice. Don’t do this too often to start with; build up to it gradually to avoid injury.

For more information on Trackman and how to play better golf contact your local PGA member or contact me at Lee and Peter Harrington’s, The Golf School, Palm Meadows Driving Range on the Gold Coast.

David is an Australian PGA Tour Player and Teaching Professional.  Contact David on 0412 44 2205. www.thegolfschool.com.au