We all want to hit the golf ball farther so that we make the game easier. As there’s no doubt one of the main reasons that a PGA Tour Player can score better is because they hit the golf ball with more distance.

For example: if you played a golf course that’s 7,200 yards, and had as consistent a golf swing as the PGA Tour Player … though were limited to your current distance … he would squash you like a grape. Why? Because it would take that Player less strokes as they may only need to hit a 7 iron to some greens … when you’re hitting a hybrid.

Distance is like money – it’s not everything … but it helps to have some!

So how can you generate extra power in your golf swing?

The key to hitting the golf ball farther isn’t only about a bigger shoulder turn, a better release of the club, or more follow through. It’s about understanding your own personal golf swing to find what you’re already doing well … and what needs to be improved.

A ‘how to article’ to help create more distance can not be written in a magazine. You can not even break it down to say that all Golfers in the 90’s can get more distance by doing “x”. And all Golfers in the 80’s can create more distance by doing “y”.

Your golf swing is an individual issue. Because all Golfers in the 90’s (or 70’s or 80’s or 100’s) do not have the same ‘Strengths and Weaknesses’ in their swing even though their scores are similar.

For example: I know Golfers in the 90’s that already have a great shoulder turn and are pretty close to getting maximum power from it. Yet, in their quest for more distance – they’re trying to make an even bigger turn. But the extra effort in the turn is over-doing it past what can be called efficient.

What these Golfers should be doing is listing their shoulder turn as a ‘Strength’ and start finding where the ‘Weaknesses’ in their swing are. Then start working on those ‘Weaknesses’ to find where they can generate more efficient power. Because if this Golfer continues to work on their shoulder turn … they will only gain a little, if anything. And will most likely start overdoing their turn to a point that they’re making their golf swing less consistent.

I can’t count the number of Golfers that we see that used to hit the golf ball better before they started working on their swing to generate more power. Not that this is a bad thing … it can be a good thing to work on more power in your swing … as long as you’re using a ‘Strength and Weakness Approach’.

However, if you continually work on what you do best … it can start to become a ‘Weakness’ if you over do it.

In the example above – the key for the Golfer is not to compare their shoulder turn to Tiger’s or Adam Scott’s shoulder turn. It’s to compare how well they’re doing it versus how well they use the other parts of their body. And if they feel they still have more power that can come from their shoulder turn … find the ‘Weakness’ that is inhibiting the shoulders from unleashing this power.

Take a Boxer for example: if a Boxer wanted to generate more pop in his punch … his trainer would have to determine where he can help the Boxer to increase efficiency to produce this power. So the trainer may find that the Boxer gets a lot of power from his strong arms and broad shoulders. However, the Boxer doesn’t step into his punches with as much authority as he could.

From even more study, the trainer notices that the reason the Boxer doesn’t step into the punch efficiently is because his hips aren’t turning soon enough to allow a release of his strong shoulders into the arm thrust.

So the trainer will teach the Boxer to get his hips to work in conjunction with his shoulders. While this allows the Boxer to increase the strength of his punches … he might feel as if he’s getting more power from his hips. However, the power he is sensing is because the trainer broke down the punch into the Boxer’s ‘Strengths and Weaknesses’. Then corrected the major ‘Weakness’ to allow him to become more efficient with his ‘Strength’.

The same should be done with your golf swing.

Maybe you sense power coming from your shoulder turn … but that doesn’t mean you need to work on a bigger shoulder turn to generate more power. Maybe you need to look at other areas of your swing to see what’s holding you back … without trying to over-use what you already do well.

Now this is just an example using shoulders as someone’s ‘Strength’ … your ‘Strength’ might be coming from somewhere else. They key is that we find your ‘Strength’ and then find your ‘Weaknesses’ so that we can allow your ‘Strength’ to become even more powerful.

Creating more distance is an individual issue determined by what you’re already doing well and what you can do better. Do not get caught up in the downward spiral of most golf instruction that teaches a ‘one size fits all approach’ … start using a ‘Strength and Weakness Approach’ when working on your golf swing.

The Monkey continually tries to get too much from their ‘Strengths’

The Player works on his/her ‘Weaknesses’ to make their ‘Strengths’ more powerful

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com