Golf Article
Longer Drives: The Pursuit of the Elusive "Few More Yards" by Steven Passarell
In my years as a professional club fitter/builder, and the years before that I spent as a player, I do not recall anyone asking for less distance in favor of accuracy. In my studies of club fitting, every book and courses first step is the player interview. Every form for an online fitting has the question "what are you looking for in a new set of clubs" Virtually all answers are more distance. I had a call a while ago from a potential customer. He told me that he hit his drives about 250 yards off the tee, and in the fairway. He wanted to get another 25 yards! Every brand name club manufacturer, when marketing a new driver, makes the claim of longer distance. The point is that almost all golfers desire and try to get that "few extra yards."
How can all the drivers on the market be the longest? Of course, they cannot. When you hear these claims, how confident are you in them? Is there anyone that can get you those few yards? I may have a skewed perspective, but I tell my customers that I can guarantee more yards off the tee! In truth, there are very few golfers that I can't get to hit it a bit farther. While I guarantee more yards, I do not guarantee direction. Harvey Penick, who is arguably the best golf teacher of all times, said that "the woods are full of long drives." I'm going to show some "trade secrets" of longer drives.
The fact is that the vast majority of golfers have miss-fit equipment. The fitting process is a juggling act of trade-offs to achieve maximum performance. Properly fit clubs can help you attain more yards. What equipment changes can you make to result in more distance?
There are two ways to increase distance. The first is to increase your swing speed. An increase in swing speed of 1-2 mph can result in a distance gain of 2-6 yards. How can you increase your swing speed? The most obvious way is to increase the length of your club. If you have your club lengthened ½ inch, you can see a swing speed increase of 1-2 mph. That does not mean that you should lengthen your driver 4 inches to get up to 48 yards more on your drives. Length is a quick way to increase swing speed, but it is also a quick way to get your swing off line resulting in shots that are not playable. It would increase the overall weight of the club causing you to lose control. If you decide on a longer club, choose a lightweight shaft. This will help maintain control over head of the club so you can bring it to the square position and on the correct swing plane at impact. You can find out if length will help distance without a lot of cost by adding an extender to your driver. This is cost effective, and can be brought back to the original length, if needed. I also recommend not extending any club more than 1 ½ inches as this could create a stress point on the shaft, increasing the possibility of breakage. Some players can get a swing speed gain by reshafting with a lightweight shaft and decreasing the overall weight of the club.
There are equipment changes that can add distance.
- Get a bigger club head. If you haven't made the move to the larger head clubs, it may be the time. The larger the head the greater the COR, (what some call the trampoline effect); the farther the ball will travel. In addition, the larger head allows for greater perimeter weighting, which helps the ball go straighter on off- center hits.
- Get lofty. A mere 5 years ago, many golfers, especially with high swing speeds, were going lower on the lofts of their drivers. The thought was that by lowering the loft you would produce more roll. Today with all the data from launch monitors, we have learned that higher lofts mean more distance. Also, ball technology has increased and balls are now being made with less spin. Backspin on the golf ball is what causes it to fly higher. Less spin makes the ball fly lower, so to get the maximum distance, you need more loft on the driver. Even the fastest swingers in golf are going to higher lofts than they used a couple of years ago.
- Get flexible. Shaft flex can also get the ball further down the fairway. I've stated before that club fitting is a juggling act. As a general rule the more flexible shaft a golfer can use and still control direction, the more distance. Most male golfers have a mindset that they need a stiff shafted club. The majority would be better off with a softer flex.
Start with these three tips and you can be on your way to more yards off the tee and shorter irons shots to the green.
Steve Passarell is the owner of Custom Club Creations, a golf club fitting and building facility. He has over 15 years of experience and has had extensive training by some of the industries best experts. His philosophy on custom clubs is to offer the best quality products at prices that all golfers can afford.
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