Welcome Back!

I usually post one blog per week, but I decided to get an early start on this one because I find the lesson posts to be very fun, and I feel that you as the reader can get more from this blog through the lessons!  I will cover a lot of material in this lesson, so be sure you give yourself enough time to sit down and thoroughly read through this lesson.  In this weeks lesson, I hope to answer the question that I get the most as a golf instructor......are you ready...

"How do I hit the golf ball further?!"

It seems as though so many amateur golfers struggle to find the answers to this question, and unfortunately, there is no simple way to answer it!  I always wish as a golf instructor that I could just wave some imaginary wand and POOF! - you're able to hit the ball 350 yards like the pros do!  This, unfortunately, is not the case as we know!  I can only guide you in the right direction, and provide you with the information that will help you become a better golfer.  But, it is up to you to take what you have learned, practice hard, be patient, and put the necessary time in to this demanding, yet beautiful game!  

Before I begin my lesson which will help you to hit the golf ball further, I feel that I should mention a few things first.  First of all, you cannot and will not achieve the maximum distance out of your golf shot unless you are impacting the ball properly.  If you aren't striking the ball in the center of the club face, and you aren't impacting the ball properly, you simply will not consistently get the distance that you have the potential to get.  A great tool that you can use to determine whether or not you are hitting the center of the face is impact tape.  Impact tape allows you to see exactly where your club face strikes the ball, and you can purchase it at most golf stores.  Secondly, if you do not have the proper swing plane and you are not hitting the ball straight because of this, you are losing distance.  I would recommend that you read my past lesson posts that will guide you in the right direction to hit purely impacted shots with a proper swing plane! 

Now that you understand how important proper impact and proper swing plane are to hitting the golf ball further, let's move on to the lesson!  There are a few factors that will help you to hit longer shots that I'd like to focus on in this lesson: Proper swing speed, and power storage/transfer.

Swing speed

Yes, it is true - the faster you swing the club and more club speed that you generate, the better chance you have of hitting the golf ball further.  But, many amateur golfers hear this and think they need to swing "harder" or "more aggressively" at the ball.  This is incorrect, and will likely cause even more problems to your golf game.  If I were a baseball hitting coach, I would say "Yes, swing so hard that you come out of your shoes!!"  But, the baseball swing and the golf swing are completely different because you aren't necessarily looking for accuracy in a baseball swing like you are a golf swing.  The golf swing needs to be fluid and in control, and you must gradually increase the speed of your club throughout the swing in order for it to be effective.  I have created a diagram that you can see below that will help you to visualize and understand this concept.

First of all, when deciding how fast to swing on your back swing, I always tell my students just to swing at a "comfortable" or "smooth" speed.  The whole idea is to keep total control of your club, and allow yourself to get all the way to the top of the swing before making your downswing.  This may require you to speed up or slow down your back swing - just find a comfortable speed.  

Now, as you can see from the picture, the golfer is gradually increasing the speed of his club which is represented by percentages.  These percentages can vary depending on every swing, but the diagram will give you a real good visual of the proper way to generate speed.  Many amateur golfers want to swing as hard as they can right from the top of the swing, but doing so will likely cause you to lose balance, lose control of the club, and believe it or not, can often result in the swing speed to decelerate rather than accelerate.

Unfortunately, there aren't many actual drills that you can do to help you achieve this proper swing acceleration, but one of the things that I found to be most helpful is to close your eyes and rely more on the feel of the swing.  Don't think mechanics here; just trust the feeling.  Once you have a good feel for the gradual acceleration, open your eyes, and try and imitate the same feeling when you hit the ball!  This gradual acceleration is the same feeling you want to have with every club in your bag - even your putter!

Power Storage/Power Transfer

I could go on and on about storing the power in your swing and transferring that power throughout the swing, but I want to keep this concept very simple, although you shouldn't overlook its importance.  In order to achieve maximum distance and maximum power in your swing, you must use your entire body, not just your arms and upper body.  Your lower body is so important in creating power and distance, so I want you to focus this primarily to the lower body.  Very simply put, we must load up our power/energy on our back swing, and transfer that power through the swing.

Many amateur golfers do not get a proper turn and do not store this power. Many amateurs tend to sway back and forth in their swing and think they are transferring power.  This is incorrect!  I have always compared the power storage and power transfer in a golf swing to a baseball pitchers motion.  Take a look at the picture below of a professional baseball pitchers throwing sequence.

You can see that the pitcher loads up all of the power in the first photo, then gradually transfers that loaded power through the whole pitch.  This is the same feeling you'll want to have with the golf swing, although I want you to focus on not swaying too much.  For a right handed golfer, you should feel yourself storing the power in your right leg on your back swing, which can be done by feeling as though you are pushing your foot down hard into the ground.  Once you have made your full back swing turn and stored all of that power, you release the power by turning your hips and transferring that power storage to your left leg.

Once again, there aren't many drills for this that I find very effective other than simply closing your eyes and feeling the power being stored, and then transferred.  Imitate this same feeling when you have your eyes open and are ready to hit the golf ball!  While you are practicing this, and I can't stress this enough, make sure that you are not swaying back and forth.  I always tell my students to feel as though they are standing inside of a barrel.  When standing in a barrel, you cannot sway back and forth out of the barrel, you have to simply turn your right hip behind you on the back swing, and turn your left hip behind you on your downswing. 

Try the things that you have learned in this lesson on the practice range, and I guarantee you will notice huge improvements to your distance.  Now, you may not be able to hit the ball as far as the pros, but I can almost guarantee that you are more than capable of adding distance to your game by incorporating these ideas.

I want to leave you with a link to a video of professional golfer, Gary Woodland, and notice how well he stores, then transfers his power throughout the swing.  I literally just watched the guy hit a 250 yard 5 iron on TV!  Try to imitate his lower body motion and who knows, maybe you'll be pulling out your 5 iron from 250 yards out!

http://bit.ly/1bqP7QK

Good Luck, have fun, and thanks for reading!

TheGolfGuy