Six Must-Haves For Incredible Power

By Jack Moorehouse

Sometimes little things make a big difference. That's why professional golfers really scrutinize the greens when putting. They examine the green from different angles to discover its contour. They walk to the hole and back to gauge distance. And they review the stand behind the ball to plot a putting line. They try to account for any little ting that could prevent the ball from going in.

Little things make a big difference off the tee as well. You don't always have to make big changes in your swing to generate an extra 25 yards. Sometime all you have to do is make a slight change. The six tips below don't dramatically affect your swing, but they do produce extra yards when it comes to driving the ball. The trick is finding the ones that work for you. Putt enough of these tips together and you'll find your getting the extra yardage you need to slash that golf handicap down to size.

1. Turn And Burn
What's the difference between long-hitters and short-hitters? If you talk with teaching pros who give golf lessons to players with a wide range of abilities, they'll tell you it's flexibility. The longer hitters are much more flexible than the short hitters. To get maximum distance on your drives, you have to be flexible. If you want to generate that extra yardage that can help slash your scores and drive your golf handicap down, make sure you stretch the entire body.

Following a stretching routine between rounds helps. Yoga works, too. Many yoga positions are stretch key golf muscles, keeping you limber. Before a round, use a driver to stretch the body. Just make sure you do it the right way. Some golfers hold it over their shoulders and simulate the golf swing, which is not the best way of doing it. Instead, hold your arms over the shaft, with the club stretched across your back. Then simulate the golf swing. You'll feel the burn when you rotate back and forth. You can also use this exercise as part of your stretching routine.

2. Upward Bound
Many long drivers use their back leg as a pivot point around which they wrap their swings. By rotating the body around the back leg, you allow your back shoulder to come over the front and turn into the ball. This move produces an upward blow into the golf ball. But first, you need to remember to get your front shoulder above your back knee at the top of the swing. The key to using the back leg, however, is not letting your body outrace the clubhead. So swing around your back leg and let your bigger muscles drive the ball. And stay behind your swing while releasing the hands at impact.

3. Turn Don't Slide
To drive the ball hard you must transfer your weight properly, from one side of the body to the other. To do this you have to do two things: One is keep your back shoulder below your front shoulder through impact. The other is, as I just mentioned, staying behind the ball. I'd love to have a penny for every time I've said that in a golf lesson. Weekend golfers seem to violate this rule more than anyone, sliding instead of turning. You can't shift your weight beyond your back leg on the backswing or beyond the forward knee on the downswing. If you do that you'll direct your power at the ball, not the target.

4. Tee it High
If you've ever watched long drive contests on television, you'll notice that the participants all tee the ball high. Most long drivers would agree that one of the keys to hitting the ball farther is teeing the ball higher. It needs to be above the clubhead at address to encourage an upward arc. On the backswing your front shoulder should be under your chin. On the downswing, your back shoulder should take the place of the left. The shoulders help initiate the necessary rotation when it comes to driving the ball.

Here's a drill you can use to encourage longer drives. Try moving the tee a bit more forward in your stance four to six inches. This tee position encourages you to swing down and through the ball. And since you'll be reaching farther. You'll find that you need to extend your arms to make really solid contact. Now move the ball back to its normal position. You'll quickly notice how much more effective your weight shift and arm extension.

5. Fire Down The Line
You may have heard this term during a golf instruction session or read it in one of my golf tips. What does it mean? Well, it doesn’t mean sliding your body toward the target, as some golfers think. It means directing your energy down the target line to produce longer, stronger drives. To do that you must leverage your upper body against your lower body. In other words, as the lower body stops on the backswing, the upper body keeps moving to produce torque. That way on the downswing the upper body can fire into the lower body for more power. Creating torque is the secret to hitting the ball farther. The more torque you produce, the farther you'll hit it.

6. Narrower the Better
Most instructors tell you that to hit the ball farther you need to widen your stance to at least shoulder width. In fact, one of my recent golf tips carried that suggestion. Widening your stance provides a solid base from which to drive the ball. It also affords more balance. Better balance impacts your whole swing. But there is another school of thought that suggests doing the opposite. This school says that you should situate your feet the width of your hips, not your shoulders, apart. This narrower version of the stance they say allows you to make a bigger, longer coil. The bigger the coil, the more room you have to unwind and explode into the ball.

This last tip seems to be at odds with conventional wisdom. But like so many things in golf, what works for one person doesn't work for everyone. That's one of the intriguing things about the game. You can always find someone who does things differently and still plays well. The trick to lowering your golf handicap is finding what works for you. Try these tips next time your on the range. Keep what works for you and disregard the rest. String enough of them together and who knows how much extra distance you'll get.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book "How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros." He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.