All golfers want to be long off the tee, blasting powerful drives deep into the fairway to set up easy chips and birdie opportunities. Big drives tend to build confidence, providing a little extra swagger on the course. Hitting consistently long drives may even intimidate the opposition. If you want to be known as a big hitter, it's important to remember a few key points
Posture
Before even starting your backswing, stand with proper posture to ensure you can transfer the most power to the ball. Don't hunch over the ball with rounded shoulders, or you'll have a difficult time freeing your arms to generate swing speed. Stand farther from the ball and with a more erect posture, allowing room for your arms to swing and your shoulders to rotate. The extra space will permit you to explode on contact and swing through the ball, resulting in greater distance.
Arm Extension
For maximum power, extend your front arm fully before and after contact. Many amateur golfers will bend the elbow of their lead arm when taking the club away from the ball to begin the backswing. In doing so, they make it more difficult to fully extend on the forward swing. Keep your front arm straight on the takeaway and keep the same position when you swing through the ball, pointing your fully extended arms toward the target.
Swing Around
Another common mistake golfers make is to pull their driver straight up in the air on their backswing, forcing them to swing through on an almost vertical plane. Swinging straight up and down like that makes it difficult to generate power. Instead, lower the plane of your backswing, swinging around your body and into the ball. This subtle adjustment will allow more body rotation to drive the ball farther.
Sweet Spot
Striking the ball with the clubhead's sweet spot maximizes drive distance. If you contact the ball a fraction of an inch to either side of the sweet spot, your distance --and accuracy -- will suffer. Keep your head as still as possible throughout your swing to help ensure perfect contact. If your head bobs or jerks around, it becomes far more difficult to line up the ball on the clubface.
Wrist Rotation
Clubhead speed translates into greater distance. To maximize clubhead speed, rotate your wrists on contact with the ball, finishing with your back wrist rotated over the lead arm's wrist. This rotation lets the clubhead fly through the ball without restriction, achieving faster speed and, in turn, more distance.
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