Why hitting the ball farther should be the goal of every golfer
by PGA Teaching Professional Marc L. White

As a seasoned instructor, I have a regimented routine for all new students. Even though my normal lesson time is 30 - 35 minutes, whenever I have a new student come to me our first session is normally 45 - 50 minutes. I use this extra time to get to know them better and for them to get to know more about me. It gives me a chance to share my teaching background and philosophies. Some are interested in my resume, where I have taught, or what nationally known instructor had the most influence on my teaching methods. (I always encourage new students to check out my website prior to our first meeting.) This introduction time includes what I call a “student profile.” First, I gather important contact information including address, phone numbers, email address and the like. I also need to know the age, occupation and golfing background of the student. It is important for me know if they have any physical limitations or injuries that may limit their golf swing movement. Then, along with learning of their athletic background and interests, I need to know what their golfing goals are.

Knowing what a golfers goals are, is very important. Many times they have to stop and really think about their answer. Sometimes they say they need work on their short game. Often times it’s “fix my slice!” The most common answer is “I need to be more consistent.” The answer that I seldom hear is “I need to learn to hit the ball farther.” When I hear this I get excited because I know that the student standing in front of me is serious about learning the game and wants to get more enjoyment out of it.

Let’s think about this for a minute. What truly and honestly gives us the most joy when playing the game? Is it hitting nice drives down the middle of the fairway? Only temporarily because you could hit the next shot out of bounds. Is it sinking a long putt on number nine to win the front nine bets and shoot your lowest nine hole score? Only temporarily because you could then go out and shoot your worst back nine score ever. Personally, what gives me greatest enjoyment is shooting lower scores. The game is all about scoring. When you play a poor round of golf, you don’t remember the career tee shot you hit on hole number four. You also don’t remember the chip in or birdie you made on the difficult 10 th hole. You remember the bad score you shot and are frustrated at how and why. Think how much more meaningful those good shots and well-played holes are when you post a near career low round. How many times have you sat in the grille after a round of golf and listen to a fellow golfer recite every hole he or she played. Even an outsider could recognize that person just shot an exceptional round of golf for them.

So, if our goal is to shoot lower scores (as it should be), what is the easiest way to accomplish that? Simple. Hit the ball farther! Is that an oversimplification? Maybe. Nonetheless, wouldn’t you rather be hitting an eight iron into a par 4 than a five iron? Or, how about a pitching wedge instead of a seven iron? Would it help if you could hit the par 5’s in two or three shots instead of three or four shots? You get my point. Just look at the PGA tour events over the last 10 years. Many of the older golf courses have been rendered obsolete because of how far the modern tour player is hitting the ball. Or, the classic venues such as Augusta National, Oakland Hills and Pebble Beach have had to lengthen some holes to maintain their challenge, mystic and reputation.

What then are the factors that allow us to hit the ball farther? The first factor is the most obvious. It’s clubhead speed. The faster we swing an object to hit an object, the farther it will fly; provided the second factor is also applied. We must make contact with the ball in the center of a square clubface position. The third factor involves the angle of attack to the ball on the downswing. The path or angle of attack must be approaching the ball from a shallow, inside path, giving us a feeling like we are striking the inside-back part of the golf ball. From there, the clubface should square up at impact and then move back to the inside on the through swing. All three factors must be in place to create maximum distance. For example, even if you swing the club as fast as Tiger Woods on the correct path, yet hit the ball out on the toe of the club, you still wouldn’t create maximum distance and would probably hit it off line as well. Or, you could swing the club as fast as Tiger, hit the ball dead center of the clubface, but be swinging on an outside-to-inside path and hit a big slice because you simply cut across the back of the ball, creating tremendous sidespin.

So, how do we go about putting it altogether? Is one factor more important than another? My feeling is that the more mechanically sound our golf swing is, the more clubhead speed we can generate. My first concern is to get the student to hit the ball in the center of the clubface. Now, if the path is from outside-in (over-the-top), the resulting shot will be a pull to the left for a right hand golfer. If the clubface is closed at impact the result will be a pull-hook. If the clubface is open at impact the result will be a slice. I want to see solid center-of-clubface-contact regardless of the direction of the shot first. Then as we work to get the club path coming down more from the inside with a square clubface at impact, we then begin hitting good straight shots with maybe a little draw to the left. The better the path becomes, with a square clubface position at impact, the more we can then work on the factors that can help us generate more clubhead speed. The factors involved in creating more clubhead speed are multiple and will be discussed in a future newsletter. Good luck. Feel free to contact me at the provided email address.