Most of my fellow golfers have walked the path to trying to hit their driver longer. Some were successful and others….well, not so much. I have recently started re-walking this path and I have found some success that makes me think that I need to continue heading in this direction. As I mentioned in past articles, (yes, the saga continues) I found that I am consistently hitting the ball between 7 and 10 yards farther than normal. Yes, this is very precise, but I have been measuring my drives with my Garmin S80 and gathering the data I need to make this claim. So, the real question is how did I do it and how can you?

First the data. Over the past month I have made adjustments to how I hit my driver. The results speak for themselves. At the beginning of the month, I was hitting my driver about 246 yards from contact to the end of the roll out. As I made changes, my distance started to lengthen a few yards at a time. Well, I am happy to report that after measuring six drives yesterday, I was averaging 255 yards. My longest was 259 yards and shortest 253 yards. All but two drives were on level terrain. So you can see, that I am pleased with my improvements and hopefully I can continue to squeeze out a few more yards and average of the 260 yard mark.

Now, I bet you are wondering how I was able to extend my driver distance in such a short time. To be far, I have been on and off this path for a long time. As I focused on my changes this year, I found that for some reason they are sticking with little challenges to my accuracy. I changed four things that drastically improved my drives.

First, I tee the ball up so my ball so half I that it was half way above the top of my driver. I heard this tip a long time ago, but for some reason I never took it seriously. But, in conjunction with my other two changes, this tee height change allowed me to hit upward on the ball. This changed my launch angle and helped me hit the ball with more power.

Second, I moved the ball to align with the big toe on my lead foot. This was movement of about one inch forward from my previous stance. This change allowed me to clear my hips better because I had a longer swing to make contact with the ball. This particular change was a challenge because it messed up some of visual cues, but I was able to adjust and now it seems very natural.

Third, I closed my stance. I had mentioned this a few times in the past and I think this particular change created the club head speed I needed to hit the ball longer. By closing my stance, I was able to create a larger arc and longer swing. This slightly longer swing plane is what I needed to change my overall swing. I noticed that there is an exact position of my trail foot that helps my swing. I drop my foot two inches and that is perfect. I tried a change up to 5 inches, but that was folly. Two inches is the spot for my swing.

Lastly, I tried to keep my head still as possible. I always thought that I was pretty good at this technique, but for some reason I noticed that with all the other changes my head wanted to move more than I wanted. It actually caused many accuracy challenges and pulled shots! Yup, apparently a bobblehead is not good for my game! Not moving my head (and it does slide no matter how hard I try) or at least trying to keep it still is the last and important part of my changes.

Combining all my changes created a condition for success. All four changes helped my hit the ball consistently farther and this is where my advice to you comes in. Not all changes work, but working on your game to increase your distance does take some effort. The things that worked for me may not work for you, but changes have to occur if you want to see real progress in your game. If you are stuck, I recommend seeking out your local professional for a lesson. They will, hopefully, put you on the right path to success.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!