Use This Incredible Drill To Hit Your Driver Longer
Jul 05, 2024
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I've just had an amazing lesson with one of my students, Bob. He gained almost 40 extra yards with his driver! Interestingly, he had been trying to gain yardage by swinging longer, but all that did was cause him to hit the ball everywhere and gain no yardage. I actually shortened his swing to almost a half swing, and we gained all that yardage.
This is really important for you to know because stats from Shot Scope tell us that if I can help you gain 5, 10, 15, or 20 yards, you'll lower your handicap, lower your scores, and naturally play better golf. In this video, I want to share with you the drill I gave Bob because it can basically help any golfer. But before I do, if you're new to the channel and it's your first lesson with me, please consider subscribing. I release videos like this every single week to help you improve your game. Plus, you never have to remember a thing because I'll always put a free downloadable practice guide in the description box below.
Right, before I get into the drill, you're going to want to know what creates a good, long drive that goes straight. It is incredibly simple, and I'm going to use a football as a guideline here because it's more visual for you. The ball doesn't care what your golf swing looks like; all it cares about is how the golf club is delivered into the back of it. If you want to hit a ball a long way, it's really simple: if you want to hit it straight, the club face has to come back not at an angle but arrive at the golf ball completely square. It also needs to arrive smack in the middle of the golf ball to hit a dead straight shot. With a driver, we want to launch the ball up in the air, so we aim slightly below the equator of the golf ball. This will give you a high, straight shot.
So, how do you add power to this? It's very simple. The amount of energy with which the club attacks the golf ball determines how far you hit it—it's not rocket science. You have to have a swing that achieves that. Now, Bob didn't have that. What Bob had—and I see this often with a lot of golfers—was a shot that set off left of the target with a great big slice that went very low and sliced off to the right. Occasionally, it would also skyrocket. The first question I asked Bob was, "Where are you hitting the golf ball to create this shape?" He said, "It must be here." I replied, "Yes, you're hitting the side of the golf ball with an open club face. You're coming across the ball, creating spin that sets it off to the right. What about the height of your shot, Bob?" He said it was going really low. So I asked, "What have you done to the loft on your driver?" He had come down on it.
This is a common issue—I see it a lot. Not only was he hitting the side of the golf ball, but he was also hitting right on top of it, almost above the equator. This meant there was no real loft on the driver, causing the ball to slice and lose flight. This cost him so much yardage and is a common fault among golfers struggling to hit their driver straight and long.
So, I told him, "Now you know where you are, let's move your impact from over here to around here so you can get right into the back of the golf ball." Here's how we helped him, starting with step number one. Pause the video, go grab a golf club, and imagine a golf ball in front of you. I said to Bob, "We want to move you from hitting this side of the golf ball to more this side." I asked him to put the club out in front of him and look at his setup position. "Are your forearms in a position to hit this side of the golf ball, or maybe more this side?" He realized his left arm and right arm were angled, and his forearms were angled this way without him realizing it. Immediately, he adjusted his forearms and body to move his impact around the ball, improving his setup position.
Now, with his forearms and body positioned correctly, he had the best chance of hitting the back of the golf ball. The next question was, "How do you make a golf swing to actually achieve that?" This is what Bob found incredibly simple. I said, "Right now, with the image of hitting this part of the golf ball, make me a backswing that gives you the best chance of doing that." He swung back and stopped about half the distance of his normal swing. He said, "That feels pretty short, but it feels like the best place for me to deliver power." The reason is, he doesn't have the flexibility of a top player. A top player would continue turning because they have the flexibility. What Bob did, and what many amateur golfers do, is go beyond the point where they should stop, lifting their arms, spreading their elbows, and getting out of position. This caused him to chop down on the ball, hitting the outside of the golf ball with no power.
All he needed to do was find the best place for him to deliver power, even if it felt short. Most people will be amazed at how much energy and consistency they can put into the back of the golf ball with a shorter swing. For example, I can swing quite short here, go back, and bring the club back into the golf ball. Let's see what we can do. Even with a short swing, I can hit 280 yards.
When I gave this to Bob, his shots went higher, straighter, but a little to the right—not a slice, just out to the right. His previous shots were low, slicing, and lacked distance. By hitting the correct part of the golf ball, we saw a massive improvement. Now, to hit the ball straighter, we needed to address his open club face at impact.
So, I gave him a drill. Many golfers have their forearms angled and wrists turned this way at impact, leading to slices. Great ball strikers are completely opposite. We got his forearms here and his wrists turned the other way. This change in pattern helped him hit straighter, longer drives with a shorter swing.
To build the skill of hitting straighter, longer drives, I helped him feel the correct pattern. Moving around the ball with proper wrist and forearm positioning allowed him to hit beautiful draws from right to left. For a draw, we need to hit more of the inside of the golf ball. I set myself up for a draw, closed the face slightly, and felt the wrist working correctly. With a short swing, I hit a beautiful draw at 285 yards.
To hit straighter shots, adjust the swing direction slightly. Play around with hitting different parts of the ball and make sure to only swing as long as your flexibility allows. Most people have a good arm structure but spoil it by using their arms too much. Keep it nice and short, rotate if you can, but don't compromise by using your arms. By doing this, you will hit much straighter and longer shots. Bob gained almost 40 yards with a shorter swing.
If you enjoyed this video, give it a thumbs up. If you have the flexibility to swing longer, check out this other video for more yardage with your driver. I've also put a free downloadable practice guide in the description box below. Until next week, have a wonderful golfing week!
Full Transcript- I've just come off an amazing lesson with one of my students Bob where he gained almost 40 extra yards with his driver but get this he'd been trying to gain yardage by actually swinging longer all that did was basically get him hitting it everywhere and Gain No yardage I actually shortened his swing to almost a half swing and we gained all of that yardage now that's really really important for you because stats from shot scope tell us that if I can help you gain five 10 15 20 yards you will lower your handicap lower your scores you'll naturally play better golf so in this video I want to share with you the drill like GE Bob because I think it can have basically help any golfer at all but before I do if you're new to channel it's from your first lessons of mine please consider subscribing release videos like this every single week to try and help you improve your game plus you never have to remember a thing I'll always put a free download practice guide in the description box below right before I get into the drill you're going to want to know well what creates a good long drive that goes straight it is incredibly simple and I'm I'm going to use a football as a guideline here cuz just it's more it's more visual for you so it's really simple the ball doesn't care what yours golf swing looks like all it cares about is how this golf club is been delivered into the back of it now if you want to hit a ball a long way it's really simple if you want to hit it straight the club face has to come back not an angle it has to arrive at that golf ball completely square right there now it needs to also Common Sense needs to arrive at the golf ball smack in the middle of that golf ball if you want to hit a dead straight shot and with a driver we want want to launch the ball up in the air so we're going to hit slightly below the equator of that golf ball yeah this will give you a high straight shot so how do you add the power to this all you then got to do is it's very simple the amount of energy that you there this club is attacking into that golf ball will determine how far you hit it not rocket science right so you have to have a swing that basically achieves that now Bob didn't what Bob had and this is I see so often with a lot of golfers he would have a shot that sets off left of target with a Great Big Slice actually it was very very low sliced off to the right every so often it would also sky so the very first question I want you to ask you ask your yourself and I asked Bob this was Bob where are you hitting on the golf ball for you to create this shape and he goes must be here and I went yes so you're hitting basically this side of the golf ball with a club face that's open so what you're doing is is you're coming across the ball like this and this is creating the spin on that ball that sets it around but not just that what about the height of your shot Bob well then it's going really really low so what have you done then to The Loft on your driver you have come down on it absolutely I see this a lot so you're not only you're hitting on this side of the golf ball you're also hitting right on top of it almost above the equator so now there's no real Loft on that driver so not only hitting it with a slice you're hitting it with no flight this is costing you so much yardage and to some degree it's probably the fault that I see with more scers who are struggling to hit driver straight and struggling to hit driver long so I basically said to him well now you know where you are we've got to help you look move your impact from over here look around here so now we can get right into the back of that golf ball so here's how we helped him to start with with step number one so if you can pause the video and go and grab a golf club cuz this would be incredibly valuable and I want you to picture a golf ball right in front of you right here and this is what I said to Bob right Bob we want to move you look from hitting this side of the golf ball to more this side of the golf ball okay so I want you to now put the club out in front of you and I want to look at your uh setup position here are your forearms in a position to hit this side of the golf ball maybe more this side and he and he go and straight away he went oh my God Danny this left arm here and the right arm was angled his forearms are angled this way and he didn't even realize and immediately without me even saying it he went boom and his forearms and the whole look and look at the whole body ship as he work to try to hit from this side of the golf ball tomorrow around this side look at the shape he starts to move his his body in this was a brilliant step number one getting him now to move his body and set up in such a way that would hit the correct part of the golf ball look at this he'd been set up like this without realizing now his forearms and as his body is moving around the ball look to now look ah now he's in a position at setup to give him the best chance of hitting right there in the back of that golf ball so the question now is you're in a setup to hit the ball in the correct position to generate that power how do you make a golf swing to actually achieve that and this is what Bob found just incredibly simple all I said to him was look right now you've got the image you're trying to hit this part of the golf ball here make me a back swing that gives you the best chance of doing that do you know what he did he swing all the way back and he stopped about half the distance of his normal golf swing I said Dy that feels pretty short but feels like the best place for me to deliver this power and the reason being is he doesn't have the flexibility of a TP player so a top player would go here and then continue turning why because they've got that flexibility what Bob was doing and I see this his so many amate golfers is he they was he'd set up here they get to about position where this would be the best place for him but now because he felt he needed to hit it further he would now lift his arms up he'd get spread his elbows out get quite chicky wiy and go up here and now he's completely gone now he would chop down the golf ball he would hit the outside of the golf ball no way could he hit this with any power so all he did was go this is my best place tonight I think to hit that ball where I need to hit it so that's where we'll start and that's where we'll start with you clearly if you can swing longer you do it but do you know what for most people just keeping that swing nice and short you will be amazed at how much energy and consistency see you can put into the back of this golf ball just take a look at this I'm going to swing quite short here I'm going to go to here and I'm going to bring that club look back into that golf ball there let's see what we can do so short through let's have a look at where this ball goes so look at that there I had 280 yards which what feels for me like an incredibly incredibly short golf swing now I gave this to Bob immediately his balls went higher they went straighter but they did go a little bit out to the right it wasn't a slice it wasn't like he was doing before so his previous shot looked something like this he'd been set up like this he'd hit the outside of the golf ball and it look like this very very low low very very Cy motions look at that there not as quite as low as that but you can see here it'd be go low to the ground wouldn't be any distance whatsoever so it was already a massive Improvement but we we got him hitting the correct part of the golf ball but I needed him to hit the ball much much straighter so now what I did is is we got him hitting the correct part of the golf ball but his Club face was a little bit open at impact he needed to build the skill of squaring it so this is what I gave him and if you're a slicer you're going to absolutely love this so this is what Bob and so many golfers fall into the Trap of his forearms were angled here and his wrists were turned here and this was impact for him right now great ball Strikers are completely opposite notice this we got his for arms to here and his wrists are turned the other way it's a completely different pattern this is a pattern of great great ball Strikers I'll do this again look so you can see it look at this forearms angled wrongly this way wrists turn this way leads to slices notice this we're going to square up those forearms and we're going to turn the wrist in the opposite direction so I got him to kind of feel this pattern here and got him in a sense now to kind of sense this was the motion we wanted not the other way around Nelson look at this when you now move around the bu ball here as a look at this as opposed to having the wrists open here where if he did hit this part of the golf ball the ball would go out to the right I got him to feel look those wrists just angled more this way so now we could come in and we could start to in anything we could even start to Cate beautiful draws from right to left so let's now help you build the skill to hit straighter longer drives with a shorter goal swing so look I'm going to try and help you hit a draw actually at the moment we'll move to kind of straight shots in a second so to hit a draw we need to hit more of the inside of this golf ball it's the opposite to a slice we're going to move you look set ourselves up to a draw here now we've got the inside line brilliant then I'm going to set the face just close it a little bit feel those wrist working this way a little bit now just to kind of feel that face ready to go and I promise you a short swing so I'm going to swing just to here because that's going to give me the best chance to come right into the back of that golf ball let's see this in action one two let's have a look should be a nice little draw look at that there look beautiful little draw coming back to the Fairway and 285 yards with what you Pro see is a very very very very short swing now if we have a look I guess t i the ground a second if we have a look at this swing Direction here 9.7 that means my swing circle is a little bit out to the right great if you want to hit a draw maybe inside here but probably a bit excessive so the whole point with this exercise and this what I said to Bob is is it's about building the skill of working around the ball I did it too much there all I would do now is is make a golf swing and maybe set myself up a bit more this way to hit now more bang into the golf ball here so look at this in action so I'm G to hit this one a little bit
straighter and that should be naturally a there you go much much straighter golf shot look swing circle now shifted around why cuz I'm intending to hit much more this side of the golf ball that's a skill that you have to build that's what I said to Bob play around me working yourself around here and make sure that you only swing to length that you're flexible enough to keep so many people look at this you've got this beautiful arm structure going back here with all the wrist clish ready to go but then what happens is is then you start to kind of Bend those wrists just to kind of complete your swing the club comes down face wide open and you've got to slice stretch those angles out keep it nice and short here if you've got the rotation then yes rotate but don't spoil it by using it with your arms bring that club around and you're going to hit much much much straighter and longer shots and like I said Bob GED almost 40 yards with a swing that was so much shorter so I hope you really enjoyed this video if you did give it a thumbs up and if you want to if you do have the flexibility by the way to swing longer check this video out right here um it's um an absolute belter for understanding what to do here to get even more yardage with your driver I put a free download of practice guide in the description box below but until next week have a wonderful golfing week.
