Driver Drill for Increased Distance

Hannah Gregg Stops In To Talk Driver Distance

By Ryan Gager

Raise your hand if you want to hit the ball farther! Hannah Gregg stops by the GOLFTEC Studio for a distance lesson with GOLFTEC’s Nick Clearwater. Everyone is chasing distance, but it’s not as simple as just swinging the club faster, you have to know how to control your body and the club through impact to not only gain distance, but keep the ball on the course too!

Tips That Hannah Works On To Increase Her Distance

Swing the club back faster. A quicker motion on the backswing will help you turn your hips and shoulders more. This increased rotation will generate more club head speed.

Hannah’s thought is to, “rip it back.” Most amateurs take the club back slowly, and this is where they loose a lot of speed throughout the swing. One tip to do this is to get your body in motion a little bit prior to the swing. Starting from a stiff position hinders speed.

Change of direction requires more effort. When you take the club back faster, it forces you to pull the club down harder when you change direction for the downswing. This extra force will have the club moving faster through impact.

Distance Increases Measured Through OptiMotion

Next, Clearwater takes a look at Hannah’s OptiMotion numbers on her downswing. One thing Hannah does well that enables her to hit it farther is her trail knee flex.

Hannah’s trail knee starts at 9 degrees forward, then flexes until her lead arm is about 45 degrees to the ground. This pattern helps Hannah keep the correct angle of attack.

She is using the ground to push herself up, raise her hips and bend backward more, which helps release the club faster through impact.

The Drill You Can Do To Help Increase Distance

This drill can help you get in a good position on the downswing and through impact to help you add distance.

Start with the shaft parallel to the ground on your downswing. While keeping the shaft in that position, bend both of your knees. Then as you swing through to about head height, straighten your legs and get your hips up as high as you can.

Introduce a ball and just do half swings while chipping the ball at first. This motion will help you bend backwards through impact, shallow out your swing plane and add distance to your drives.

For more help adding distance to your game and to see your OptiMotion numbers, visit your local GOLFTEC and start working with a Coach today! You’ll be hitting it out there like Hannah, bombing it past your playing partners in no time!

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