To achieve extra distance.
I often get asked “how can I increase the distance that I hit the ball?” The answer is simple…. To hit the ball further with each club you need to increase your clubhead speed into and through the impact zone.
Sadly though, doing this isn’t as easy as it sounds. If you stand there and slash away at the ball as hard as your body will allow, even though doing so may increase your clubhead speed, the problem will be that your body is so out of ‘sync’ with your golf club that you will end up spraying the golf ball in a myriad of unwanted directions.
The following drill will not only help you to gain more clubhead speed but just as importantly it will train your body to be in the correct position at impact so that when you do hit the ball it will go in the direction that you intend it to.
What is ‘lag’? Lag is created and first takes effect on the transition between the completion of the backswing and the initiation of the downswing – (simplified: it is the movement that changes the direction of the golf club from going back to going through).
You will see top players retaining this ‘lag’ until just before impact. Sergio Garcia is a classic example of a player that harnesses lag as late into impact as possible. It is the late release of this harnessed power that has a spring like effect in applying additional clubhead speed into the strike of the golf ball.
Drill:
- Take your driver and flip it so that with your left hand you are holding the shaft just below the clubhead itself. Hover the end of the grip 8 inches or so off from the ground and place your right hand behind your back (see pic 1).
- Swing the club to the top of the backswing using your left arm and body as you would normally (pic 2).
- Start your downswing and try to mirror what I have done in (pic 3) – you will see that after starting the downswing movement with body and hands there is still a definite angle between the clubshaft and my left arm. (Pic 4) is incorrect as you will see that I have immediately unhinged my left wrist and all lag has disappeared – the shaft and left arm are already on one line.
- Try to retain the angle between your club and left arm as long as you can on the downswing until you rotate your hips and torso into impact – at that point the shaft and the left arm will align. (See pic 5)
You should hear a definite ‘swoosh’ noise through the impact area – This is created by the grip and shaft slicing through the air. Once you have the hang of this movement, you can increase the speed that you carry out your downswing. As the ‘swoosh’ noise becomes more significant through the impact zone it will indicate that your clubhead speed is increasing.
