Distance - Part 2...20

Now Let's talk Club Speed

Golfer intending to put speed in the club.

In our previous post, we called attention to “contact” as being the first place to look for improved distance. By way of review, here are the 3 factors for optimal contact: 1) center of the clubface contacting the ball, 2) the clubface perpendicular to your target line, and 3) the clubface moving on a plane parallel to your target line. Improving contact should be your first tactic for improving distance (it’s also beneficial for direction). (Want to revisit our first article? Click here)

Is it possible for you to put speed into a golf ball? It's an interesting question and one that I find keeps many players from achieving their optimal distance.

You'll find improvement if you conceive that you cannot put speed in the golf ball. What you can do is to put speed into the golf club which in turn gives speed to the ball. This is not a matter of semantics.

When I coach a player to put speed in the golf club, I'll have them set up to make a swing horizontal plane like hitting a chest-high baseball. I'll ask them to make that swing as if they were going to "throw" the club as far as possible. To do this they will need to put speed in the golf club.

After two or three of these swings, I'll ask them if that feels like the speed of their golf swing. Almost every player reports that the swing is faster. The underlying reason is that almost all of us have been led to "hit the ball hard". Hitting action is a downward motion to the ball. Putting speed in the golf club is a forward motion with the club continuing to accelerate past the ball.

In addition to increasing the club speed (which has the greater potential to impart more speed to the ball), putting speed into the golf club promotes a swinging motion mitigating the ruinous action of hitting at the ball.

In his book Extraordinary Golf, Fred Shoemaker shows photo sequences of students making their golf swing compared to throwing clubs. So often the throwing action produces a better golf swing motion than their golf swing--even for better players.

Bottom Line:  Open the door to a possible step-up in your game by spending some time identifying what it's like to have an objective of your swing to put speed in the club.

Each Thursday we’ll bring you a helpful insight.

Swing to the Target,

Ed

Heartland Golf Schools

1. Learn from our YouTube Videos

2. Scroll down on this page to see previous insights

Have golf buddies? Share this article.