Instruction
The Quest for 300: How to Bomb Your Driver (Part 1)
An interesting comment followed my last article about what we can learn from professional long drivers. The reader commented, “I would love to hit a true 300 yard drive. How would I learn to do that?”
This inspired me to write a primer for how the “average golfer” would proceed in a quest to hit a true 300-yard drive. I believe many golfers fall into this category, as a poll of avid golfers once revealed that more would rather hit long, straight drives than shoot a low score.
If you are going to truly fulfill this goal, I challenge you to hit the drive without tailwind, hard ground or slope.
You’re going to need three things to happen for you to hit a 300 yard drive:
- Enough club head speed
- Solid, square contact and optimal club delivery
- A well-fit driver that produces optimal ball flight.
In essence, you’re going to need to be fast and efficient.
Click here to read other articles written by Steve Pratt.
The minimum club head speed required to hit a 300-yard drive in neutral conditions is 108 mph, according to Trackman. A 250-yard drive, by comparison, (if this proves to be a more realistic goal for you) requires at least 89 mph.
A good start will be to get an accurate measurement of your club head speed as a baseline.
Given enough club head speed, you’re still going to need solid square contact. You’ll need a smash factor of 1.48 or above. Smash factor is a ratio of ball speed to club head speed. At 108 mph club head speed, this means you’ll need at least 160 mph of ball speed.
Perfect contact is only part of the picture, however. You’ll also need to catch the drive at least 5 degrees on the upswing. Most amateur golfers hit down with their drivers –- sometimes 5 degrees or more downward. At the necessary speed, this will cost you nearly 30 yards.
You will also need to groove either an inside-to-square or slight inside-to-out path. Swinging outside-in has now been confirmed to lose you distance.
Finally, you’re going to need a driver that fits both your speed and attack angle. Most golf shops aren’t equipped to measure both — so definitely seek out a fitter with a Trackman. Golfers lose up to 50 yards of distance by being equipped with an ill-fitting club — I see it all the time.
I’ll give you a couple of examples. A driver with too much loft for your swing will cause the ball to climb overly high and land too steep, which will cost you roll. A driver that doesn’t have enough loft will launch too low and cost you carry.
There is an optimal landing angle for the longest drives, which can be achieved by many combinations of launch angle and spin rate. However, your longest drives will tend to have higher launch and lower spin.
An efficient 300-yard drive might have around 12-14 degrees of launch, and 2100-2600 rpms of backspin. Of course it is possible to go 300 outside these parameters, but it might take you more club head speed than the 108.
Some of you already have the speed to reach 250 or even 300 yards off the tee right now. However, club delivery and equipment could be costing you tons of distance. We shouldn’t underestimate how efficient we need to be to hit a golf ball over 300 yards.
Hitting a milestone drive is a lofty but satisfying goal that can really keep your interest in the sport strong.
I recommend that your first step is to find out what your current launch variables are. Only then can you assess what additional steps are necessary to bomb your first 300 yard drive.
In part 2, I will discuss how to make your club delivery more potent.
The Quest For 300: How To Bomb Your Driver (Part 2)
The Quest For 300: How To Bomb Your Driver (Part 3)
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Instruction
The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic
My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.
As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.
The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.
Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:
Mis-aligned hands
By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.
The position of the grip in the upper/left hand
I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.
To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.
Too much lower (right) hand on the club
It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.
Gripping too tightly
Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.
So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.
More from the Wedge Guy
- The Wedge Guy: Golf mastery begins with your wedge game
- The Wedge Guy: Why golf is 20 times harder than brain surgery
- The Wedge Guy: Musings on the golf ball rollback
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Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?
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Instruction
How a towel can fix your golf swing
This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.
For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.
Setup
You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.
While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.
Get a Better Shoulder Turn
Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.
In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.
Stay Better Connected in the Backswing
When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.
Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.
Conclusion
I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.
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Bobby
Oct 5, 2015 at 12:59 am
I think a lot of people either hit the range, or inflate their numbers. I can bomb it 270-280 yards, and out of everyone I’ve played golf with I only had two people hit it further in the last two years of playing. It’s a rarity to encounter anyone hitting a 300 yard drive. I disagree with the 108mph swing speed. I say you need a 115mph swing speed. Good luck rolling it out to 300 consistently. With all the divots, sprinkler holes, etc… in your way. I suppose if you were at altitude that would be plausible.
jack
Jun 17, 2013 at 1:41 pm
This is stupid!
Slim
May 15, 2013 at 3:19 pm
Driving distance is always confusing because it’s not always clear whether someone is talking about in-the-air-carry, or total distance. In this case I can tell you’re talking about total distance, including roll.
Steve Pratt
Apr 8, 2013 at 3:48 am
It isn’t necessary to make major compensations with body position. You are correct in your assessment about geometry, but it is as simple as closing the stance about a inch to account for the upward AoA.
D Sgalippa
Apr 6, 2013 at 5:31 am
The requirement to hit with AoA of 5 deg up is terribly misleading to the average golfer. Particularly when you have coupled that with the requirement to have an inside-out/square path.
For a golfer that has aligned their feet, shoulders and hips parallel to the target line, all things being equal, the club will only be going inside-out until the club head arrives at the bottom of the swing’s arc. This basic geometric fact can only be altered if you make some major compensations with body position on the downswing. The corollary of that is that if you are hitting on the up, your clubhead is probably already travelling to the inside.
Jack
Apr 5, 2013 at 12:37 am
For me I’d rather take shooting in the 70’s than driving 300. I already hit it 250-280 with the occasional 300 without swinging out of my shoes. It’s the other parts of my game that need more work!
Steve Pratt
Apr 4, 2013 at 11:36 pm
Mike,
320 on a flat course probably puts you in the 116+ range. See the above picture.
However, ground firmness is a highly variable condition. On fast firm fairways, you could potentially hit it 320 with just 108 mph.
Peter
Apr 4, 2013 at 7:43 pm
Dang, even if I’m leaving 25 yards on the table, that’s way too much.
Mike
Apr 4, 2013 at 4:58 pm
So if I hit it 320 on a calm day on a flat course I am swinging in excess of 108, right?
Jack
Apr 5, 2013 at 12:35 am
Is that your average? Or the best?
yo!
Apr 3, 2013 at 5:19 pm
Every year I bought a new driver and gained 10 yards per year. Next year will be the 10th year, and with another 10 yards from technology, I’ll be in the 300 club. Just a little secret, the brand starts with a “T” and ends with an “e.”
Roddy Spence
Apr 4, 2013 at 6:03 pm
Tourstage?
Jack
Apr 5, 2013 at 12:34 am
Well if you buy one of those Hi-COR ones which are illegal!
Steve Pratt
Apr 3, 2013 at 5:10 pm
@J What about 300+ in the center?
@t Yes fast powerful hips have been proven to give distance – but don’t forget the role of a quick and complete release of the clubhead by the hands.
@Evan If you’re at 375 now, what I will be writing about in future installments will get you over 400, and into the REMAX finals.
@Paul, part two will be coming soon!
t
Apr 3, 2013 at 12:24 pm
distance comes from the core. fast hips equals distance. work on your flexibility first, then worry about getting fit for the proper driver. guys were hitting it 300 yards long before all this technology took over. golfers who hit it 300 typically have the same specs.
Mike
Apr 4, 2013 at 4:56 pm
What produces more speed the hips or the arm swing? CLEARED HIPS = ability for the arms to create speed.
J
Apr 3, 2013 at 12:00 am
You can have every 300 yard drive I’ve hit in my life if you are willing to trade me 285 in the center. Thanks!
CC
Apr 3, 2013 at 12:04 am
ya and then you pinch yourself and wake up
evan
Apr 2, 2013 at 11:58 pm
im driving about 375 right now…will this work for someone who is driving it too far?
Matthew Wheaton
Apr 3, 2013 at 4:02 pm
hahahahahahaha….haha
paul
Apr 2, 2013 at 9:31 pm
Bring on part two!