More distance

[xerex250]

Hello. im curious on how i may improve my distance with driver. the irons dont need more distance mainly because or at least what ive heard is that your irons vary so if you want a longer shot you take more club. driver doesnt vary so id like to know how to increase my yardage. generally i hit it about 210 on average. im a 20 handicap with a decent swing. not perfect but could do with some improvement. really would enjoy more distance. by the way, i believe that distance does indeed matter when it comes to score. scoring comes from 70 yds in. so in general, if you hit your driver 90 yards obviously it will take more strokes to get the ball onto the green. golf is a logic game. so if there are any logical answers to get more distance if you could please share them and it would be very much appreciated.

Thank you for your concern.

[inthecup]

Distance is a function of club head speed and hitting the center of the clubface.  I have found that clubhead speed is a function of lag.  I have also found that lag is a function of a correct swing.

By the way distance is a huge advantage don't kid yourself.

My advice to gain distance is to take lessons and practice.  A golf swing is not an intuitive move, very hard to learn quickly on your own.

[xerex250]

thank you. i will see if i can increase my speed. i wonder if swinging harder equals faster speed? because if i were to swing easy wouldnt that be less speed than swinging harder? what do you think?

[xerex250]

by the way does the swing really make a difference? ive seen many different swings on tour and many of those swings hit the ball just about the same. whats your thoughts on this?

[Strandly]

thank you. i will see if i can increase my speed. i wonder if swinging harder equals faster speed?  because if i were to swing easy wouldnt that be less speed than swinging harder? what do you think?

Yeah but it doesn't really matter how hard you swing if you're hitting worm burners and spraying the ball out of bounds every drive.

If you're hitting it 210 and you're not a midget I think swinging harder is the least of your problems as far as distance is concerned.

[xerex250]

maybe i shouldnt work on more distance. can i still score well with 210 average drives and 100 yard 7 irons?

[joekelly]

IMO, using the words 'hard or power' throw us onto the wrong track. Most of us here are men and have learned from childhood the upper body way of life. Like big pecs, biceps, shoulders back,  pump up and look fierce...get the idea. If we can learn golf when young enough to distort this cultural notion then golf is easy. But for most men the upper body dominates our self image.

And unfortunately, if the upper body image of 'hard or powerful' starts before the lower body in the golf swing, forget it becoz it's not gonna work right. There is no way you, or anyone, can muscle the club head with the upper body faster (and that is what we need) than using the correct method of lower body (legs, butt), lag, etc. Correct here is only the most efficient and trustworthy method, there is no golf god or ideology.

[saevel25]

Check out the videos for the first three keys. Having the stable base to apply the golf club to the ball the way you intend will increase distance greatly. When you get that you can increase and decrease power depending on application, but being a 20 handicap you have room to grow with your swing. Work on the swing first, then specific power aspects 2nd.

[David L Yskes]

A friend of mine told me, worry about hitting the ball straight first and then worry about distance next.....

Think of it this way... on most courses if you can drive the ball 200 to 250yards and be on the fairway, your next shot is pretty easy....

but it also depends on if you are playing from the Tip's or the next Tee???   Thursday night i went and did 9 holes and instead of playing from the Tips, i went to the next set of tee's and played from there and found, that with my normal drive which is about 225yds, my next shot was usually a 7 or 8 iron.. and  I was missing the trouble area's i would normally encounter from Teeing it up from the Tips...

And in the end i ended up having the best 9 holes in a long time. i shot a 45... and could of been lower but i stunk it up on the two par 3's...

[TourSpoon]

I have to agree with the above... Club head speed and hitting the center of the club face are essential. Speed comes with proper technique which means having your lower body engaged with your upper body. You can swing really hard with your arms and shoulders or swing in control from the ground up and hit it so much better. Like in so many sports power comes from the ground up. To get a feel of what I am saying, take the club back and stop when the butt is pointing to the ball (arms parallel to the ground). Now start your swing and swing to finish by using nothing but your arms. Then try it by starting with your hips with your upper body engaging as a result (also swing to the finish). This exercise will quickly demonstrate that the body is essential in delivering the club with any kind of power. The problem is that many golfers get to the top and start with the shoulders and that's it. I do the half swing drill whenever I start feeling disconnected as you have to start with the lower body to get any real speed. When you can put this together in your full swing you will have something. Now to get there, I would seek out some quality instruction.

[Strandly]

maybe i shouldnt work on more distance. can i still score well with 210 average drives and 100 yard 7 irons?

It depends on the difficulty of the courses you play at and what tees you hit from I suppose.  Personally, I'd like to get good enough where I can play from the tips at all the local courses in my area and still play bogey golf or better because I assume that is the way courses were intended to be played.  In the meantime though I don't have a problem refining my savage skillz on a closer tee. If you don't have the goal of playing well from some of the longer tees or tend to play executive courses then your distances might work out alright.  It simply comes down to how much you want to challenge yourself.

[bubble]

maybe i shouldnt work on more distance. can i still score well with 210 average drives and 100 yard 7 irons?

it's going to be very, very difficult !

on top of it all lanching the ball those distances makes me think that technically you have big issues. (just think that 100 yards/90 meters is the average players GW 52° shot).

I would'nt use the words hit the ball harder, because "hard" adds tension often undesirable.

I would recommend going to a range pro once a month at least and practicing 2-3 hours minima per week just on your swing hitting a lot of balls; after a year or 2 you should have a huge diffrence with todays result.

I beleive nicklaus said "first launch the ball as far as you can, precision will come latter". thinking power and distance is'nt a bad way of learning golf. your quest seams good to me;

[JCRuzanski]

How I got more distance with my driver, in just a couple weeks, was turning my trunk and shoulders more... then timing the forward turn of my hips just as I completed my backing... I like to think of my body as a coil spring... the more coil, the faster the club will snap through... tempo, tempo, tempo... if you stop at the apex of your backswing, then try and pull through with your hands you've just lost most of your stored energy... just my two cents, your mileage may vary.

[JCRuzanski]

Although not really the methods taught here, the book "Swing Like a Pro" completely redesigned my thoughts on my swing, and enabled me to become more consistent, and accurate in a very short time.

[Valleygolfer]

maybe i shouldnt work on more distance. can i still score well with 210 average drives and 100 yard 7 irons?

I was curious about your iron distances too and you are hitting a 7 at well... some peoples PW range and to me a 100 yd PW is still a little short. How old are you? I would say unless you are under 13 or over 60 maybe physically it is unattainable. Otherwise, you need to work on swing mechanics solely and the distance should come along.

If you are under 60 and over say, 16, I hope you don't get stuck in any wet paper bags....

[xerex250]

Well generally i used to hit the ball alot further when i didn't think about my swing. since i began working on it im hitting the ball shorter the more i work on it. it seems counter intuitive but i think if i stop worrying about the swing and focus mainly on getting the ball in the hole in less strokes maybe my distance will come back??? i remember my mechanics were unorthodox when i had more distance and i was just beginning to play. im 17 by the way. started when i was 14 or 15.

[xerex250]

my iron distances are as follows:

sw: 50

pw: 75

9: 85

8: 95

7: 105

6: 115

5: 125

4: varies between 135 and 150

3: 140 to 150

My driver carries about 200 and rolls about 10 to 20 yards.

My previous iron and driver distances:

sw: 110

pw: 125

9: 135

8: 150

7: 175

6: 190

5: 205

4: 215

3: 225

Driver: usually would carry about 270 and roll about 30 yards.

So i once had alot of distance. but since ive worked on my swing ive messed it up.

[xerex250]

by the way thank you guys so much for you advice. i will do my best to try it out. once again thank you all for your responses. i deeply appreciate them.