Ready To Rip

If you asked me what I think is the best part about playing golf, I'm going to always say that it's having the ability to pound the golf ball as hard as you can. But doing that isn't just a matter of swinging harder– quite the contrary! If anything, it's about swinging faster, and the quickest way to a faster swing is to make a bigger, more powerful coil away from the golf ball.

So, to really nuke your next drive, rehearse a few practice swings with the club held across your shoulders as I'm doing here. If you look closely at the photos, you'll see I have an iron off the instep of my right foot laying perpendicular to the target. The goal, with the club against my upper chest, is to rotate the club so the shaft across my chest is parallel and directly above the iron I've laid on the ground. Doing this will help you not only add some serious width to your turn, it will help ensure you properly shift your weight to your right leg as you load up to the top of your backswing.

Rehearse this move a few times, and check to make sure both clubs are parallel. Then, come time to hit the ball, I want you to visualize the drill in your mind as you make a backswing and coil away from the ball, storing massive energy at the top of your backswing.

What happens next, you ask? Let it rip! The body has so much torque at the top of the swing that all that's left to do is let the muscles and tendons release all that stored energy as you shift your weight toward the target. Just remember, allow the body to uncoil in a ramped fashion, meaning let the clubhead, arms, hands, upper body and lower body accelerate on the downswing as opposed to firing on all cylinders from the top.

Remember, just because you're hitting the ball during the backswing, it doesn't mean it's not important. The backswing is where you create power; the forwardswing is where you release it!

Pomp Braswell teaches at the Jim McLean Golf School at SunRidge Canyon Golf Club in Fountain Hills, Arizona. For more information, visit sunridgegolf.com.