This is one of many simple golf exercise drills you can do to quickly improve your golf swing power and distance. Watch this golf video tip and you’ll see how your shoulder rotation, core, and overall strength can be built with these simple fitness tools you can get anywhere, and do, right in your own home.
If you want to take a look at my Power Golf Swing Weight to increase your clubhead speed and distance, click here.
To achieve powerful drives you need to make as full a shoulder turn as possible. Don’t start sweating, as I want to explain what a full shoulder turn is, and how you WILL be able to do it after reading this golf tip.
What’s prevalent on both the PGA Tour and the Seniors Tour are players not getting there club parallel at the top of their backswing. When most amateurs see this, they immediately think that they are cutting their backswing short, but in reality they are not.
In fact, they are making a FULL shoulder turn, but not “lifting” their arms and club higher than they need to, which gives them better control of their golf balll.
So the goal is still a 90 degree shoulder turn with a 45 degree hip turn, BUT…keep your arms a little lower and I’ll bet you don’t lose any distance, and you hit more accurate shots.
A simple golf tip (drill) is below. Where I put a club on the ground, and one across my chest and I match both clubs. This will tell me I have made a full shoulder turn. Give it a try.
We’ve talked a lot about right wrist lag in your golf swing. But for power you MUST unhinge your right arm (elbow) early on in the downswing to help you maintain your width (leverage). Many golfers see pictures of golfers in their downswing and think the right arm stays bent (hinged) along with the right wrist. This is NOT so!
I like to think of the downswing as the exact opposite in regards to motion and movement. Whatever you did going back, you undo in the opposite sequence coming down. Make sense? So to get the clubhead back to the ball with width and leverage, you need to start first with your lower body, then as you start rotating your shoulders back to the ball, you also start to unhinge your right arm.
I know for a long time, I was starting down holding the bend in my right elbow way too long, and it was not allowing me to make solid contact with the golf ball.
So get up right now, grap a short club as not to break anything in the house, get in front of a mirror and do some downswings with the thought of unhinging your right arm earlier and see how it looks.
I am a firm believer in using certain, proven training aids to improve your power and distance in your golf swing. I am always on the lookout for such golf swing trainers, and I have recently found one that I feel is one of the most effective, easy-to-use, and portable weighted swing trainers on the market, so I wanted to let you know about it.
This weighted swing trainer has many uses that will quickly improve your power and distance.
A great drill for learning wrist is the early wrist cock lag drill. This is a golf drill you can do in your home, office or of course on the practice range, but it will give you the correct feel for a full wrist cock in your golf swing.
What you want to do is address the ball, pre-cock (early) your wrists so the club is parallel to the ground, and parallel to your target line.
You are now in the perfect position for a full shoulder turn with the proper amount of wrist cock for maximum power and distance.
Once you preset your wrists and make sure your club is in the correct position; make a golf swing. Try to hold the wrist cock without an early release on the way down, then hit the ball. This may take several attempts to hit a solid ball, but this will also teach you good tempo and a proper transition into your downswing.
This is a drill Nick Price used to do with David Leadbetter years ago, and he was known as one of the best ball strikers of his time.
Give it a try!
Do you want to learn a Proper Golf Swing? Take a look at Bobby Eldridge’s new Golf Swing Instruction ebook.
In an earlier article, we talked about the importance of wrist lag in golf. It is one of the main power sources for longer drives, and yet many golfers don’t work on it.
A great power golf swing tip is to focus on keeping the angle in your right wrist for as long as you can in the downswing. This is so important, that there are a couple of golf training aids specifically for that reason. Maintaining the right wrist angle (lag) is a fantastic thought during your downswing.
For a good visual, look at the picture of Tiger Woods below. Wow! Look at how long he holds this wrist angle into his downswing!
With all the great ball strikers, you will see an angle in the right wrist even at impact. The right forearm is angled away from the shaft, allowing maximum compression onto the golf ball.
Learning what are the key golf muscles will give you a much better understanding of how to achieve more power and distance in your golf swing. There are several muscle groups that can quickly enhance your distance, if you take the right approach, that is specific to your needs.
It is SO important you quickly realize the need for improved muscle strength and flexibility if you want to enjoy your golf for years to come! As you get older, the challenge of even maintaining your current swing will be daunting to say the least.
The Back Of The Lead Shoulder
This little golf muscles is critical to your generation of power in both the backswing and downswing. This little muscle needs to be both flexible to allow for a full shoulder turn, and strong to be able to take that stretch in the backswing, and turn it into a power “pull” in the downswing.
Stand up right now and make a backswing. Feel how tight the back of your lead shoulder is? This might be the culprit to your distance issues (if you have them). This muscle is activated hugely throughout the entire golf swing. I strongly feel this muscle is the “secret golf muscle” to more distance, especially for the older golfer.
Core Muscles
You’ve no doubt heard the term core on the television, as it seems to be the big buzzword in golf right now. Too bad most golfers are using the term, but not doing anything about it.
I want you to think of your core being from your sternum to your belly button. Those muscles are a huge factor in your rotational speed, especially in your downswing. When you work your core muscles for golf, you should focus primarily on rotational movements, as that is the primary movement in the golf swing.
By stretching AND strengthening your core golf muscles you will be able to make a FULL backswing loaded with torque, ready to unleash those power muscles into that poor golf ball.
Legs
This is where it gets a little dicey! I believe the legs are your support (stability) to your golf swing. That is their primary function. Just my opinion…it’s not “in stone”. Of course the legs provide power in the downswing, but too much leg action and you’ve got either a lateral slice, or a “spinning out” of the hips, breaking up the sequence of motion for a powerful downswing.
If you can use your leg muscles to keep you in your golf posture (flexed knees) throughout your golf swing, and have them work from the “ground up”, you’ve got a powerful support structure to your golf swing.
If you’re in need of simple golf exercises and stretches to help you improve your golf swing power and distance, click on the image below to find out more.
You must hit the ball in the upswing for longer drives loaded with power. There is no way around it. You cannot hit the ball with a downward blow with your golf driver and expect it to go your maximum distance. The launch angle and trajectory is not optimal with this type of blow to the golf ball.
Golf Driver Tip
Tee the ball forward in your stance. If you are a right-handed golfer, your ball must be even with the inside heel of your left foot. This will feel WAY UP there in your stance, but you will find it makes it much easier to hit the ball on an ascending (upward) trajectory as opposed to a downward (descending) one which is what many amateur golfers do on a regular basis.
You’re going to feel like you are “sweeping” the ball off the tee from now on. Your swing arc will bottom out just before the ball, so by the time it gets to the ball, it will be on the upswing. Make sense?
Here’s a great video for hitting your golf ball on the upswing:
One of the KILLERS of clubhead speed, power and distance is arm tension. This tension in your golf swing starts with your grip and quickly works its way up through the forearms, upper arms, then the shoulders and then in the neck.
TENSION KILLS SWING SPEED!
Would you EVER swing a baseball bat or tennis racket with a “death grip” on the handle? No way! Then why do we do it in golf?
We are trying SO HARD to hit it LONG that we think that effort equates to distance, and in golf it’s the exact opposite. The harder we try, the more tension we create, which SLOWS down clubhead speed and wipes out any chance of distance.
LOOSEN YOUR GRIP!
Start with your grip. Just before you take the club away to start your backswing, give it one last waggle with your hands and wrists. Do it RIGHT BEFORE you take the club away!
This will eliminate the “death grip” and tension in your hands, giving you a great chance at a tension-free swing loaded with speed, power and resulting in maximum distance.
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