SWINGING FOR DISTANCE 
1) TEMPO
- If you want to add some serious distance to your
tee shots, you have to first learn how to generate
"effortless power." The key to that is to relax, stay
loose and swing with a smooth fluid tempo.
- Power is generated by a full free swing and a
delayed hitting action, not a forced, sped up
tempo.
- Take the club back very SLOW and try to keep your
lower body as quite as possible.
- The backswing of most amateurs is way to fast. By
starting your backswing
slowly you prevent your natural tendency to
overswing or lunge at the ball.
- A smooth slow back swing initiates a flowing
tempo.
- Try to visualize yourself slowly coiling back as a spring and then at the top of
your swing you "flow" down and through the ball.
- A good way to help ensure a smooth fluid swing is to take a couple of practice
strokes with a loose grip, while using "slow coil" and "sweet swing" as your
swing thoughts.
2) WEIGHT SHIFT
- It is important that at address, you keep most of your weight on right foot.
- The secret is to load up your weight to your back foot as soon as possible
- The act of swinging will automatically transfer your weight to the front foot as
you come through the ball, the secret is to have all of the power of this shift
delivered to the ball at the impact point. To do that you have to be behind the
ball.
- simply stay behind the ball, thus, keeping your power directed at the ball.
- Keep your head and upper body behind ball throughout swing.
- A little known secret is the right heel. Try keeping it on the ground a little
longer during the downswing. What this does is to help you stay behind the
ball.
3) TURN
- Maximize your coiling action with a large shoulder turn
- Maximize your shoulder turn by minimizing your hip turn and not lifting your
left foot on backswing.
- Make a wide arc and strive for maximum extension.
- Simply turn your shoulders a little farther on the backswing. This extra coiling
creates a greater swing arc and leverage. More leverage equals more club
head speed.
- The best way for an amateur to increase his distance is to work on getting
more shoulder turn into the shot.
- Get your left shoulder above your right knee at the top of my backswing.
- Remember, the golf swing is a turn, not a slide. An easy way to hit it long is to
concentrate on your shoulder turn.
- On the backswing, your left shoulder should be under your chin.
- To drive longer try to leverage the upper body against the lower body. This
means, as the lower body stops on the backswing, the upper body keeps
moving to produce torque. It's this extra torque that fires your body into the
ball for more powerful drives.
- Extra shoulder enables you to build tremendous torque at the top of the
backswing, like a spring coiling up. Then you simply initiate your turn to let
the spring loose.
- Hinge wrists fully at top of backswing but don't let your left arm bend.
4) THE SWING
- Begin the downswing not with your hands, but with your larger, more powerful
trunk and leg muscles. To achieve this try leaving the club at the top of your
backswing for as long as possible. By starting the downswing with the body
and then with the hands, you can achieve some serious lag that's going to
release when your club head meets the ball.
- You want to achieve maximum club head speed as the club head passes
through the ball not before impact.
- Let arms extend and accelerate the club into the impact point.
- By concentrating on moving the right shoulder down and under as you begin
the downswing, you create a flowing swing that stays behind the ball.
5) RELEASE
- A common misconceptions is the benefit of holding the club in a cocked
position until the last nano second prior to impact and then forcing the release
by slapping the club through the ball. Holding the cocked position interferes
with the action of the arms and typically results in the disruption of the natural
energy flow.
- A lighter grip is the best way to promote a quicker, smoother release through
the point of impact. With a light grip the release will time automatically.
- Gripping the club looser keeps your lower arm and wrist muscles from tensing
up and prematurely firing into the shot.
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One last point on hitting the WOW! drive. If you are serious about generating more length off the tee, I would encourage you to aquire a swing speed trainer. There are several types out there, but they all help you to hone in on your primary goal - increased club head speed. This in turn, enables you to fulfill your ultimate goal - more distance. They achieve this by strengthening the swing muscles, improving overall flexibility, maximizing your range of motion, improving balance, and most of all they provide you with a means to measure your progress.
Have fun - Hit'em long!
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