Video:5 Tips for Increasing Distance in Golf

Transcript:5 Tips for Increasing Distance in Golf

Hey golfers, I'm PGA Teaching Professional Todd Kolb with About.com. I'm going to give you five tips that are going to increase your distance.

Reasons to Learn How to Hit the Golf Ball Further

Hitting the golf ball further and with more distance certainly makes the game more enjoyable and a little bit more fun, and certainly easier. These five tips are going to help us do that.

Tip 1 for Increasing Distance in Golf

The first tip that I'm going to give you—and I think it's the most important—is that you make sure you have a nice, strong grip. Now, for a right-handed golfer, that simply means taking the top hand—the left hand—and rotating it over a little bit, so you can see maybe three or four knuckles on your left hand. With a stronger grip, it's going to allow you to hit a draw shot, which is a ball that goes out to the right and turns over a little bit; and the reason that's important is that a draw shot will always roll out a little bit further than a fade. So, the number one tip is to make sure you have a good, strong grip.

Tip 2 for Increasing Distance in Golf

The second tip is to make sure to tee the golf ball up nice and high, especially for your driver. The higher you tee the ball up, the more apt you are to swing up on the golf ball, and when you swing up on the golf ball, it decreases spin, allows the ball to carry a little bit further and certainly will roll out as well.

Tip 3 for Increasing Distance in Golf

The third tip is to make sure you have a good turn and, specifically, a good shoulder turn. When we want to hit the ball a little bit further, I have to make sure that I have a nice big shoulder turn when my shoulders rotate—as much as possible—against a relatively stable lower body. This is going to allow me to create some tension and some coil in my body so that when I swing forward, I can increase my clubhead speed all the way into the golf ball.

Tip 4 for Increasing Distance in Golf

The fourth tip is to make sure to hinge your hands, or to use your wrists properly. When you swing the club back, you want to make sure you go ahead and hinge the wrists. What I mean by that is hinging the club so that it almost forms like an “L”; the left arm and the club forms an “L”. The hands are a power source, and when you hinge them, that will allow you to hold the angle on the downswing and increase your clubhead speed.

Tip 5 for Increasing Distance in Golf

The fifth and the final tip is transferring your weight. If you're going to hit any ball—soccer ball, baseball, especially a golf ball—with some velocity and speed, you have to be transferring your weight, transferring the energy of your body and the golf swing into the back of the golf ball. So, you want to make sure that your weight goes forward, transfers all of the weight into your left side, to a point where your knees are touching.

So, if you want to hit the ball further, these five tips—a little stronger grip, a nice big turn, hinging your wrists, teeing it up a little bit higher, and transferring your weight will all help you increase your distance, and certainly hopefully enjoy the game more.

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