Drew's Tip of the Month
"Drive for Show...if in the Fairway"
The “Power Game” of golf has always received a great deal of attention. Whether it’s Ben Hogan’s first book “Power Golf” or practically every advertisement for clubs with breakthrough technology, golf balls with new materials, or training aids that guarantee more speed, everyone wants to hit it further.
I have been coaching golfers of all levels for 40 years and I have yet to have a student come to me and tell me that they are hitting it too far. Much of the golf information that I have been conveying the past four years in this newsletter has been to help you increase your distance. There is no question that being able to hit your ball a long way is a decided advantage, but a word of warning: Accuracy and Consistency are just as important to your scores if not more so. As the legendary instructor Harvey Penick used to say, “the woods are full of long hitters”.
I’ll often ask a student how far they hit their wedges or five iron and they usually will give me an exact distance, plus or minus a yard or two. When I ask them how far they hit their driver, I will usually have to pull up a chair, sit back and listen to their stories at great length (pun intended). In other words, their driver distances are unlimited. This “swing as hard as you can” mind set equates to the belief that effort equals power, but overpowering physics is a bad idea. All quick and jerky motion is improper execution. Using a swing that over-accelerates the clubhead from the top and reaches peak speed well before impact will often lead to off-center hits, costing you distance.
To help you hit more fairways with your driver, the next time that you are on the tee, pick out a target in the fairway that you can reach comfortably, just like you do with your irons when hitting into the green, not a target at the end of the earth. You will be amazed at how much smoother your swing feels and how your downswing is one of acceleration through the ball. You might even feel that your driver’s pace is the same as your seven iron. This is a swing key thatworked for Jack Nicklaus.
If you have ever tried to lay up short of a penalty area with an iron by making a smooth swing,only to make your best swing of the day, and watched in horror as your ball finds a watery grave, you will know exactly what I am talking about. Byron Nelson, considered one of the best ball-strikers of all-time, said “you can overdo slow, but you can never overdo smooth”. Remember,there are more than two “o’s” in smoooooth. Let the lagging clubhead chase you through impact instead of you chasing the clubhead. Keep Swinging!
