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Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Hit longer drives with less effort

What golfer doesnвt envision himself getting into the tee-box and calmly, effortlessly smoking the ball 300+ yards, straight down the middle of the fairway?

For many of us, this is no more than a fantasy. Even if we do hit that occasional “perfect” drive, weвre hardly consistent about it.
But luckily, it doesnвt have to be this way.

By practicing this very simple golf lesson to follow, being more consistent with long, straight drives doesnвt have to be just something you wish for but a reality instead.

Adding 10 or 20 or even more yards to your tee-shot can dramatically shave strokes off of your game and that is the focus of this short golf lesson.

Whether youвre playing golf for money as a professional, for bragging rights or just for fun, an extra ten to twenty yards with your driver can vastly improve your ability to score well.

Maybe you are a long hitter already or you might be a player who doesnвt hit it long yet, but you can add at least 10 yards to your drive easily with a simple drill that anyone can learn to practice.

For those of you, who often grab your 3-Wood or use an iron off the tee because youвre afraid of going for the long ball, listen up.
I feel your pain!

It is extremely frustrating to try and hit a perfect driver only to be deep in the rough to left or the right of the fairway or who-the heck knows where.

But before you give up on it and convince yourself that real golfers "Drive for show, and putt for dough" listen to what Greg Norman had to say about the subject:

In his book SHARK ATTACK he wrote, "Don't ever sell me on that line. If you can't put your tee-shot in play, the smoothest stroke in the world won't help you enough. To my mind, the most important shot in golf is the drive".

Alright then, letвs get started. Grab your driver and put on your normal grip.

Now release the last 3 fingers on each hand (for those of you slow learners like me, weвre talking about the pinky, ring and middle finger on each hand). You should now have only the index finger (pointer) and thumb of each hand on the club.

With your left thumb and pointer, start your swing by pushing the left side of the grip back, adding just a bit of shoulder and hip turn.

Notice how the driver head extends naturally back along the target line and the toe of the club is pointing up. Your swing will now be on line and on plane and will automatically give you the right feel and easily add more than 10 yards to your tee shots with greater accuracy.

Keep drilling this until you really get the feel for it. Start slow with the driver and practice with all of your clubs. Keep this slow pace and visualize what it is you are doing.

When done correctly, repeatedly and with focus, your body will remember what to do and youвll be getting the clubface in proper position time and again.

Make sure to start with your hands and then add your shoulders and hips naturally.

Too much shoulders takes the clubhead back on a shallow plane, thatвs why starting the club back with just your index finger and thumb, prevents you from manipulating the club off plane and helps the club extend back on that natural arc weвre all looking for in order to stay on plane.

I just know that if you spend a few minutes working on this you will reap the benefits pretty quickly and start adding 10, 20 or more yards to your driver with greater accuracy.

Thanks for reading, good luck and good golfing.

Fred Kaboot