Philippe Bonfanti Golf

Golf Performance Coach - Dorset

Maximise Your Distance

If you ask a golfer how far they hit the ball, they will usually have an answer and even though it isn’t always terribly accurate, it would probably be somewhere in the right ball park.  However, if you ask a player how fast they swing the club, how fast their golf ball leaves the club, at what height they launch the ball, what their angle of attack is and how much spin the ball has, they don’t usually know. In fact, these are the factors that are most important in determining how far a golfer hits the golf ball. They can all be measured using technology such as Trackman and so if a golfer wishes to find out how to optimise the distance they hit the ball through either better fitting equipment or better swing mechanics it is now possible to do so with great precision and feedback. 
 
Here are four tips for you, which will enable you to maximise the distance you hit the ball with your driver: 
 
1. Make sure your club head hits the ball with a slightly ascending or level angle of attack. You don’t want to hit down excessively if you want to hit the ball the furthest. At 90 miles an hour club head speed, changing your angle of attack from -5˚ (downwards) to 0˚ (level) could gain you up to 15 yards of extra distance.
 
2. Make sure you strike the ball solidly, off centre hits can rob you of an awful lot of your potential distance. I recommend you regularly spray your club face with some dry shampoo in order to monitor your point of contact. 
 
3. Use a driver with a sufficient amount of loft. With slower club head speeds (under 90 mph) you need to have between 14˚ and 22˚ of dynamic loft in order to optimise your distance and this can be difficult to achieve with a low lofted driver. 
 
4. Learn to swing out at the ball with an in to out swing path. While a draw shot doesn’t go any further than a fade, the body mechanics used to create an in/out path usually yield a higher club head speed and better delivery of the club through impact. 

slow speed driver max