How to Improve Your Golf Drive

While improving your drive doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re guaranteed a lower score, it is definitely the best place to start. The longer your drive, the less shots you should need overall to complete a hole; this, however, depends on your skill with your shots after teeing off, as you could be a big hitter but have poor accuracy and power on your other shots. With this guide you’ll be able to take away some important information that will help you improve on your driver swing for more distance down the fairway.

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Get the Fundamentals Down First

For those of you who are beginners and aren’t accustomed to the technique for hitting the ball with a driver, here is a breakdown of the steps:

1. Place the ball on the tee, the higher the better so you can get a better attack angle on the ball.

2. Widen your stance so that your feet are just over a shoulder width apart, making sure that your leading foot is positioned just in front of the ball.

3. With your driver, line it up behind the ball where you are aiming to hit it – you should be stood bent slightly forward with your club’s shank at an approximately 45 degree angle off the ground. Adjust your positioning further away or nearer to the ball if necessary.

4. Rotate your body to bring your club up behind your head, aiming to bring your leading shoulder behind the ball in a smooth and rhythmic motion.

5. Now unleash the shot, hitting the ball as the club starts to swing back upwards to send it into the air. Try not to chip the grass as this will affect your power and accuracy. Aim to skim the top of the grass blades but no closer to the ground than that.

6. Keep your arms and body rotating and swinging after you’ve hit the ball. Altering the motion or stopping it can actually harm your shot and make it hook to the left or right. It is best to keep it as one swift motion.

7. Evaluate your shot and make adjustments where necessary, then repeat.

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The beautiful thing about golf is that no two shots are the same and everyone has their own individual techniques, so it is best to get practicing and you’ll soon learn your own unique way of playing.

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Hitting Your Driver Further

Now that you have the fundamentals down and you’re comfortable with them, it’s time to improve your shot and get it further down the fairways. Below are some tips and techniques you can use to impress your friends and rivals at your club.

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Hit Up on the Ball

We’ve already mentioned this, but we can’t stress how important it is to angle your swing so that you hit the ball as the club is on the upward swing. If you’re hitting on the downward swing or even at the lowest point of the swing, your ball won’t gain as much height and consequently won’t go very far. The lowest point of your swing should be a couple of centimetres behind the ball to ensure that you hit the ball up rather than down or straight.

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Accelerate at the Right Point

The problem most golfers fall victim to is their timing or lack thereof; this causes their shot to lose power and accuracy. The issue arises when you take the club back too fast, making it near impossible to accelerate through the shot. The key is to master the 3:1 tempo to make your shots consistently good and accurate. The 3:1 tempo is simple to do yet hard to master; you raise your club 3 times slower than when you’re swinging back down so that your momentum isn’t wasted on the backwards swing. To practice, hold your club and count to 3 as you swing it back. When you get to 3, swing as if you’re taking the shot – you should only be able to count to 1 as the club reaches the impact point with the ball. Once you have got the timing down to a tee, you’ll find it easier to make your shots more consistent.

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Go to a Driving Range

If you’re going to say this sounds like a leisurely activity, you’re right… it is, but it can also be used to train those powerful drives before taking them to the green. It allows you to practice in a neutral environment where people go to have fun, so no one will judge you if your shot isn’t very refined just yet. Thanks to the relaxed atmosphere, you’ll also find it easy to get into the swing of things without any pressure.

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Once you have your driver consistently hitting long balls, you’ll find that your scores will naturally lower. Don’t forget to train all of your other shots though; while good for getting you down the fairway, drivers aren’t much use once you’re off the tee so you’ll also heavily rely on your other clubs to sink the ball.