Hitting Long Golf Drives in the Real World

You start every hole you play at the tee. If you’re having trouble driving, then you’re opening every single hole scrambling. You might scramble your par with a great chip, but you might well be going for birdies if your drive had found the fairway.

For nearly all players, being consistent with the driver and hitting long golf drives aren’t impossible. Hitting the long ball is easier than most players appreciate.

Modern golf equipment means golf balls today get the best distance higher launch angles and a shallower angle of descent. It’s not about low stingers anymore. Long drives now come from high launch and long carry.

Sure, with their 120 mph club speed and clean striking, pros still manage to launch the ball high, even with low lofted drivers. For the majority of club players however, playing extra loft in their drivers will amplify accuracy and carry. The majority of club golfers would get better results from drivers with 11 – 14 degrees of loft.

Playing the proper shaft is vital when it comes to being consistent with the driver. The shaft plays a crucial part in all your clubs, but play the wrong shaft in your driver and any miss-hits are expensive.

Most golfers play drivers with graphite shafts. Unfortunately, a large percentage of golfers also play shafts that are too stiff for their swing speeds. That might be the cause of the most common fault in golf, the slice. Use a shaft that is too stiff and you’ll probably suffer from a slice.

In part, that has to do with the popular misconception that graphite shafts are too whippy, too soft. That might have been the case 10 years ago, but modern graphite shaft fiber patterns have given us first-rate models with excellent flex profiles.

A medium torque, light-weight driver shaft would give the best results for the majority of golfers. Lighter shafts increase your swing speed and a medium torque shaft will load better in your back-swing, delivering more energy into your drives. More yards come from more energy.

Tip stiffness also has a important role to play in how your drives will launch. A shaft which is overly tip-stiff will have an bad effect on your yardages as the trajectories will suffer. Launching the ball on the best trajectory is where a long golf drive comes from. Keep in mind, we’re after soaring flights not low stingers.

Matching your driver head and shaft combination to your swing speed is the most crucial part of being a long hitter. Your clubs should help your game, not amplify any swing faults.

We could all do with some extra yards and the easiest place to start is at our Clone Golf Clubs site.