How to hit the ball farther, really!

 How to hit the ball farther!! REALLY

Hitting the ball farther is not a mystery.  It is not a magic pill but fortunately almost everyone of us can hit the ball further with the proper information.   The secret to hitting the ball farther is in the increasing your smash factor and increasing your club head speed.  Increasing your club head speed requires certain mechanical knowledge of how your arms and the club work.   Without getting overly technical there are 5 basics factors on how to make the ball go far.

1. Smash factor – transfer of energy
2. Angle of attach
3. Right arm extension, lever
4. Body speed
5. Shaft flex and material, (not covered, too many opinions and too long of a subject.)

1. Smash Factor

You have probably heard smash factor mentioned on TV during a tour event right after a player hits the ball 300 yards. Smash factor is  similar to  an efficiency rating of how far the ball will travel compared to club head speed. In short, smash factor is the difference between club head speed and ball speed. It is possible to hit the ball farther than someone with a faster club head speed.  If you want to get technical about smash factor Trackman has a complete guide to the science behind smash factor, Trackman, understanding smash factor.

The theoretical highest smash factor is 1.5, I have seen 1.52 with only one player.   Many players on tour are at 1.5 to 1.51, see PGA Tour smash factor stats.  The closer your smash factor is to 1.5 the more efficient your transfer of energy is and the longer the ball travels. The average amateur golfer is probably around a 1.25 smash factor.  So lets do the math.   If you swing the club at 100 mph with;

• 1.25 smash factor       Ball speed 125         you may hit the ball around 245 yards
• 1.50 smash factor       Ball speed 150         you may hit the ball around 275 yards

So yes, this is important!

2. Angle of attack

This describes the angle the club is traveling at impact either by downward angle or upward angle at impact. It is proper to hit a golf ball with a downward impact trajectory of -2 to -4 degrees when hitting a iron. Many were taught to sweep the driver or hit it on the upswing but until recently most golfers didn't understand how important this is. To hit a ball your farthest you actually want the club head moving upward at impact with the driver, yes up. The common angle of attack of long hitters with a driver  is up/+4 degrees.  Some long hitting players exceed this upward angle of attack.  Most short hitters have a negative or descending blow. You will need to go to a PGA instructor or club fitting facility to see what your current angle of attack is with a driver.

3. Right arm extension, lever

We discussed how distance is created now we need to understand how to create speed. Your right arm combined with the angle created in the shaft vs your arms has the biggest impact on speed. Very few poor golfers copy the positions in the pictures below but every tour player is very similar. It is important to understand how your right arm and shaft work in your golf swing to create power.

In short the right arm creates a 90 degree angle at or before the top of the back swing, that angle is then retained to start the downswing. At the same time the club shaft creates a 90 degree angle vs the right forearm by the top of the back swing and is retained to start the downswing. At the last moment possible the right arm and shaft angle are extending as fast as possible, just after impact. That is not a misprint. What you will feel is that you are extending both arm and angle at impact but what is actually happening is the club is slowing down, don't worry about that!  The right arm is still slightly bent and the shaft is still retaining a little angle at impact.  Learn to retain these angles as long as possible and then release them at "impact" as fast as you can while maintaining control. Visualize and copy these motions below

Learn to create the two right or 90 degree angles in your back swing and then mirror that in your follow through.

The second part of these levers or angles is from the view down the target line. Without going into too much detail about swing plane it is important that your swing plane does not require energy in the downswing to correct. I will provide another article on swing plane later but as you can see below, the golf club and hands should work on an angle from the ball through approximately the right shoulder on the back swing and then the left shoulder on the follow through.  You will find the more accurate the ball striker the more the hands, club and club shaft stay close to the "plane" line during the swing. The better the golfer the less corrections he/she needs to make on the downswing to correct a bad back swing. Remember, the back swings only function is to create a good starting point for the downswing.

For the right arm to work properly along with the shaft see how close the hands, elbows and club shaft stay to the blue line. The top 50 ball strikers on tour except for Jim Furyk will typically deviate from this line at most approximately 13 degrees. Ben Hogan's book may have put it best with a pane of glass leaning from the golf ball through the players shoulders at impact to represent swing plane.

4. Body Speed

The body provides speed and stability for the arms to work properly during the swing. To learn more about how the body should work see proper body motion on myhome4golf . com

5. Shaft flex and material

Shaft flex is critical to maximize your club head and ball speed. For most amateurs trying to hit the ball consistently is hard enough without worrying about expensive shafts that may or may not help you. If you are a normal strength person you should be fine with off the shelf shaft technology.   Shafts really start to make a difference once you have a swing that repeats consistently. If you need more information about club shafts please see you local PGA club fitter.

Hitting the ball far is the quest of nearly all golfers. There is a ton of secret distant tips or drills that remind me of magic diet pills. Learn to use your arms properly and not only will you hit the ball longer you will hit the ball more consistently. If you have questions e-mail us at [email protected] or [email protected]

Jim Hartnett

myhome4golf.com