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By: Brian Neufeld, GolfTourney.com Contributor
Almost every golfer on Earth wants to hit the ball farther. One of the biggest differences between amateurs and professionals is distance off the tee. While improvements in ball and club technology have helped narrow the gap, most of us still have room for improvement in the distance category. As courses continue to get longer, keeping up with bigger tee shots becomes imperative. Below, we’ll look at some simple tips to help add some length off the tee for the average golfer.
Hit the Gym
As we covered a few weeks ago in a previous post, weight training for golf is no longer a taboo subject. Our understanding of weight training as it relates to the golf game has increased dramatically over the past several years. The majority of power in the golf swing is generated through the legs, so focus your training on squats and lunges to gain yards on your tee shots.
Adjust Your Stance
Just a decade ago, seeing someone tee up with an eight degree lofted driver wasn’t an uncommon sight. Today, the majority of golfers use drivers with a loft of 10 degrees or more. Moving the ball back in your stance might be one of the most cliche pieces of advice the game has ever seen, but that doesn’t make it inaccurate. By taking a wider stance, and playing the ball just inside your back foot, you will reduce the loft of the ball flight and add yards to your shot.
One important thing to keep in mind when playing the ball further back is the position of your shoulders. Most right-handed golfers have the tendency to shift their front shoulder to the right when making this adjustment causing a massive slice. By bringing the lead shoulder back to the left you can avoid errant tee shots and those dramatic banana slices.
Mind the Tempo
The vast majority of amateur golfers correlate faster club head speed with increased distance. While there is some truth to that statement, most amateur golfers should focus on tempo more than swinging out of their spikes. Having a controlled tempo from the backswing through impact is the best way to make flush contact and maximize your distance. Without hitting a shot, you can practice good tempo and rhythm with your swing by counting to three to the top of your backswing and then to three again to the end of your follow-through. Your golf swing shouldn’t take six seconds to complete so the counting will be faster than a full second, but the idea is to have a level tempo on both parts of the swing. Unless you’re a long drive champion, an evenly controlled swing is the best way to make solid contact. Typically, the purest contact is made on the most effortless swings.
There are myriad ways to increase distance and the internet is littered with good, and not so good, advice on how to accomplish this. We’ve just scratched the surface in today’s post, but these tips are an excellent starting point to increase your power off the tee. If you start a golf-specific weight training program, place the ball properly in your stance with a solid base, and swing under control with a good tempo, you will undoubtedly see an increase in distance off the tee.
About the Author: Brian Neufeld
Brian Neufeld’s background includes more than 15 years of experience in golf course management, specializing in agronomy. Brian uses his knowledge of the game and best practices in turf sustention to create informative pieces for GolfTourney.com’s readers.
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