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Secrets To Long Golf Drives

KellyBo

KellyBo

Golf, Have Fun or Quit!
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I found this article interesting because it tells you to do what my coach has been teaching me. Thought I would share the link even though it comes with an ad......good info. I've been doing some of the workout exercises this guy teaches too. He's a great golf fitness coach.

http://www.mikepedersengolf.com/tips-for-beginners/secrets-to-long-drives/

"Tee the ball forward in your stance. I mean almost outside your comfort zone. Draw a line straight out from your lead foot big toe and that’s where your ball should be. This enable you to do two very important things to hit it LONG.

First it allows you to get behind the ball and STAY behind it at impact, imparting “all you’ve got” into that poor golf ball. Secondly, this promotes an ascending blow on the golf ball. That means you are catching it up on the UPSWING which promotes a higher launch angle and more distance.

Tilt your spine away from the ball. Most amateurs stand with a vertical spine with no tilt. This makes it nearly impossible to hit an ascending blow, and you have a greater chance of a reverse pivot on your backswing. Tilting your spine away from the target, puts you in the ideal position to arrive at impact powerfully.

Grip pressure should be on the light side. Here again is where we get in trouble. We put a death grip on the club which SLOWS down clubhead speed. Why? Because muscular tension kills speed. Try to do anything fast when you tighten your muscles. It ain’t gonna happen! Next time you want to hit it LONG, just before you start your backswing, lighten your grip and see what happens.

Create and maintain lag. This is a BIG ONE! In order to have maximum clubhead speed at impact and beyond, you MUST hold your wrist cock as long as you can, coming down. This is one of the biggest power leaks in all of golf. Releasing that angle in the wrist creates a tremendous loss of clubhead speed and ultimately distance. Strengthen your wrists to be able to hold this angle WAY into the downswing."

p.s. Can you tell I'm bored? It rained all day!
 
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I read the same thing Kelly. I've tried holding the lag with limited success. For me I find I have a tendency to want to hit the ball with my hands, which is where I lose my lag. If I lead with my lower body, and allow my arms, hands, and club to tag along for the ride...without any interference on my part...the lag will take care of itself.

The hard part for me is trusting that this will happen! That is...that the club head will catch up to my hands. It will. It has to. It's physics. Now, if I can trust that this will happen, and if I can keep a light grip pressure throughout the swing, I may be onto something. :)
 
I have been working on my lag. Can you say SLICE. Still havent ironed out the kinks.
 
Sean said:
I read the same thing Kelly. I've tried holding the lag with limited success. For me I find I have a tendency to want to hit the ball with my hands, which is where I lose my lag. If I lead with my lower body, and allow my arms, hands, and club to tag along for the ride...without any interference on my part...the lag will take care of itself.

The hard part for me is trusting that this will happen! That is...that the club head will catch up to my hands. It will. It has to. It's physics. Now, if I can trust that this will happen, and if I can keep a light grip pressure throughout the swing, I may be onto something. :)
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Tell me about it! Keeping that lag is the hardest part of the golf swing to me. If I can ever get that figured out, I will improve so much.
 
Good tips, I will give them a shot at the range and see how they work out for me, thanks
 
It is SO hard! The lag is where solid contact and distance comes from. Everything else is just slapping at the ball. In my view we shouldn't think about hitting the ball, but we should think about swinging through it. Easier said then done.
 
Lag is probably the hardest thing to "learn" to do. This is currently the target of my golftec lessons. The great thing about the golftec system is that you can see your swing on video instantly after you complete it, in frame by frame segments if you choose. What the video shows, like many amateur golfers, I struggle with "dumping" the lag in my club much too early, robbing my swing of power and consistency. I get to a really good position at the top, and have a great angle between forearm and club for the first third of the downswing, but I just let it go far too soon.

I've now had 2 1.5 hour practice sessions working on both this and getting enough hip turn at the impact position, and I'm finally seeing some results in 3/4 swings and knock down type shots. Full swings are still causing me fits, but I'm getting there I think.... lag is like that magic elusive elixir of a good golf swing.... I will have you lag, oh yes I will:angry:
 
Oh dear, Lag and spinal tilt are the cause of the scuffs on the bottom of my driver.
 
You have to come way from the inside if youre gonna drop your weight behind like that. Recipe for a slice machine.
 
It's a timing thing, a good drill I read about what turning the club uside down and focusing on the woosh sound it makes as your coming through the impact zone, you should hear it near the bottom of your swing.
 
Man oh man! I think that 95% of amateur golfers have this problem. I can't wait to try these tips and the baseball drill. It's still too cold for us up here in Northern NJ to go to the range regularly.
 
I wish there was a distance pill I could just take daily. So much easier then all this lag stuff. Anything but golf lag is usually bad.
 
The baseball drill is basically just getting out in front and turning your hips earlier like you were pull hitting?
 
ripper said:
The baseball drill is basically just getting out in front and turning your hips earlier like you were pull hitting?
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The baseball drill helps fight coming over the top. You cant try and hit the ball towards first base and come over the top at the same time. Coming over the top is usually where the slice originates from and kills distance. I suffer from it. Its either one or the other you cant do both. This also will help kill the slice. One of the best drills out there.
 
What if you started with the wrists cocked as a lag drill? Set up normally, cock the wrists back, then take your back swing and just try not to release that wrist position though the swing till the bottom. You might have a better 'feel' for where the club is supposed to be through the swing with the lag. Does that sound like a decent drill or a waste of time?
 
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