The Swing Speed Report
Learning the Secrets of Longer Drives
Table of Contents
Learning the Secrets of Longer Drives ................................................................................................ 2
1.
Keep it Flowing ............................................................................................................................. 4
2.
Load the swing around the right leg .......................................................................................... 5
4.
Swing Faster – Not Harder ......................................................................................................... 7
5.
Lead with the hips ........................................................................................................................ 8
6.
Keep your head behind the ball ................................................................................................. 9
7.
Release – Don’t Flip................................................................................................................... 10
8.
Let Your Head Rotate ................................................................................................................ 11
9.
Training for Speed? – Train Specific ....................................................................................... 12
10. Training for speed? – Work Fast.............................................................................................. 13
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The Swing Speed Report
Learning the Secrets of Longer Drives
It is no secret that diving the golf ball long distances, can help
you improve your scoring providing the shots are relatively
straight. Reducing the length of your second shot enables you
take a shorter club, increasing your margin for error and control
over the golf ball.
However despite this, it still common belief that long hitters are
born rather than developed and if you don’t have natural speed,
then you probably never will.
Well I’m here to tell you that you can!!!!
By adopting the correct approach, you can increase your
clubhead speed dramatically. The people who say that you
can’t train for speed have just been doing it wrong.
In this report, I have listed 10 simple tips that will help you to
increase clubhead speed and hit the ball further leaving your
regular playing partners in awe.
Enjoy
Greg Smith (PGA Professional)
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1.
Keep it Flowing
Tension in the golf swing is the
biggest killer of clubhead speed.
When muscles become tense, the
rate at which they can fire is greatly
reduced. This has a detrimental
effect on swing speed.
By having loose wrists, we can create a tighter angle between
the club shaft and the left arm in the downswing. This angle is
commonly referred to as the “Snap Angle” and by having a
tighter snap angle, we can increase leverage during the swing.
Tip 1:
Grip the club lightly. A light grip allows you to fully release the
club and create a tight snap angle.
Tip 2:
Waggle the club head before the takeaway. The waggle before
the actual swing helps to prevent the muscles from becoming
too tense during the swing.
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2.
Load the swing
around the right leg
Producing a large body turn is key
towards increasing leverage and
speed in your golf swing. Rather than minimising hip turn in the
backswing, most golfers will benefit from increasing hip turn.
Increased hip turn allows for increased shoulder turn, resulting
in increased leverage.
It is however important that there is adequate resistance by the
right leg to provide solidarity to the swing. Any lateral
movement of the right leg will compromise the accuracy of
strike causing inconsistency in your golf swing.
Tip 1
Turn the hips and shoulders as far as you can as you take the
club back.
Tip 2
Load the body weight onto the right but maintain the angle set
at address with the right leg. This will provide enormous turn
with adequate coil.
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3.
Don’t Loose
connection
When the golf swing becomes
loose, the energy stored up during
the backswing, is lost through this
sloppy connection.
Keeping the swing consistently connected throughout allows
you to release maximum energy into the golf ball at impact.
Think of it this way; towing a car is much easier when the rope
remains taught.
Tip
Keep the left arm a consistent length all the way from set up, to
backswing and then down into impact.
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4.
Swing Faster –
Not Harder
A common characteristic of many
club golfers is to try and swing the
club much harder to gain more
distance. The swinging harder
technique in most cases actually reduces speed rather than
increasing it. The whole process of swinging harder causes the
muscles to become tense, reducing the speed at which they
can fire.
The increased muscular tension also reduces the co-ordination
of the movement, resulting in un-centred ball striking.
Tip
Try swinging faster, not harder. In other words try to speed up
the transition from backswing to downswing while keeping the
swing as smooth as possible. A slow backswing is essential!
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5.
Lead with the
hips
The transition from the top of the
backswing to the downswing must
follow a chain sequence which is
started by the movement of the legs and hips.
Studies have actually shown that increasing the separation of
the hips and shoulders early in the downswing can have a huge
effect on creating substantial clubhead speed.
This separation is created by the hips moving first on the
downswing leaving the shoulders trailing behind. This process
stretches the muscles in the lower back increasing the torque of
the golf swing. When the shoulders begin to catch the hips up
and close the gap just before impact, enormous clubhead
speed is created.
Tip
From the top of your backswing, feel that the movement into
the downswing is started with the right leg moving towards the
target and the left hip unwinding. This will create the correct
sequence for the downswing and develop phenomenal
clubhead speed coming into the ball.
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6.
Keep your head
behind the ball
Allowing the body to slide forwards
through impact inhibits the release of
the clubhead resulting in an un-square clubface position and
reduced clubhead speed.
Sliding through impact is also a common cause of the slice shot
and inconsistent ball striking.
Tip
Keep your head behind the ball through impact. This will allow
you to strike the ball more consistently, square the clubface at
the moment of impact and deliver maximum clubhead speed
into the ball.
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7.
Release – Don’t
Flip
A common fault of many golfers is to
use the wrists to release and square
the club through impact. This causes a golf swing where the
club actually passes the hands before impact, resulting in very
inconsistent ball striking.
The correct position sees the hands actually leading the club
through impact. Every single top professional will be in this
leading position at the moment of impact, which is why they are
able to strike the ball very consistently.
Tip
Allow your body to turn through towards your target, and the
club should follow naturally producing the correct chain reaction
responsible for producing the ideal impact position.
Contrary to what many golfers think, the release in the golf
swing is actually created by the correct unwinding of the body,
not the flipping of the wrists.
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8.
Let Your Head
Rotate
One of the most common faults I
encounter when teaching amateur
golfers is trying to keep the head down.
This is usually as a result of a poor ball striking period and the
golfer tries to ensure that he/she keeps their head down in
order to achieve solid contact.
The incorrect fix of forcing the head to stay down inhibits the
turning of the body and usually results in poor ball striking and
slow swing speed. If your head stays down past impact, your
shoulders won’t be able to unwind fully which in turn restricts
the unwinding of the hips.
Remember!!! Your head is attached to your body (hopefully)!!!
Tip
When your right shoulder meets your chin at impact, allow your
head to rotate with your body up into the follow through. Two
former world number one golfers Anika Sorrenstam and David
Duval don’t even look at the ball at impact!
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9.
Training for Speed? – Train Specific
Every repetition that you make when training for clubhead
speed must be specific to the movements made in the golf
swing. Why waste precious time and energy on training
muscles that aren’t directly responsible for clubhead speed.
Training the more active muscles during the golf swing with
more specific exercises not only increases their strength, but
also the supporting muscles around them.
Tip
Choose exercises that are very similar to the movements made
in the golf swing. Swinging with a weighted club is one of my
favourite training methods as it produces the same movements
made in the golf swing against a resistance.
(Always consult your Doctor/ physician before
undertaking any training of this type. Always ensure that
you have performed a sufficient warm up before any
training is undertaken).
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10.
Training for speed? – Work Fast
The reason many golfers fail to increase clubhead speed from
gym training sessions, is that they work too slowly. You are
trying to train the muscles to fire more quickly, so why would
you try and slow down the movement?
The fast twitch muscle fibres are responsible for producing
clubhead speed, so your training session should be aimed at
increasing the recruitment and quantity of these muscle fibre
types.
It is possible to train fast twitch muscle fibres using very heavy
loads at slow pace, but this type of training should only be
performed by experienced athletes. The risk of injury is great
and gym sessions will be exhausting as heavy weights must be
used when attempting this method of training.
I much prefer my students to use lighter weights at a faster
velocity.
Tip
Perform your repetitions under resistance but at an explosive
rate. Concentrate on increasing speed of movement rather than
resistance or load lifted.
However, please ensure that you work at a comfortable pace
for you to avoid injury.
(Always consult your Doctor/ physician before undertaking
any training of this type. Always ensure that you have
performed a sufficient warm up before any training is
undertaken).
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Final Thought
This report acts as a guide, showing you which areas you need
to concentrate on to gain improvement in driving distance. It is
by no means the complete guide to long driving but will
certainly help you improve.
There is a lot of literature out there that can help you develop
fast clubhead speed so don’t be afraid to look. I have found
lots of useful tips and drills which I have used myself and with
my students time and time again and I would be happy to share
them with you on request.
For more information to further increase your driving distance,
you can visit my website www.gregsmithgolfcoach.com
I am currently in the process of re-writing my “Long Drive Golf
Swing” video coaching series which should be re-launched in
the very near future. This product consists of 8 simple lessons
guiding you through the simple stages of how to develop a
powerful, repetitive golf swing. There are also several bonus
lessons which will show you how to really boost your clubhead
speed, improve accuracy and become more consistent.
I truly believe that this is the best way to swing the golf club and
have enjoyed repeated success with my students who use it.
Be sure to stay in touch for further details of the release for the
“Long Drive Golf Swing”.
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In the mean time, I hope you enjoy using the tips written in this
report and achieve real gains in your driving distance and
accuracy.
Please keep in touch with our progress via Facebook and Twitter to hear more about events and
seminars for the future.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greg-Smith-Golf-Coach/310542598987842
https://twitter.com/#!/gregsmithgc
Have fun bombing it!
Greg Smith
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