How to Hit a Golf Ball Farther with Swing Align!
All golfers want more distance. Why? When you hit a golf ball further off the tee you have a shorter distance to the green. When you hit a golf ball farther with your irons you are able to hit a shorter club into the green. In both cases hitting a shorter club gives you a better chance of hitting more greens and hitting it closer to the pin, which will lower your score!
While distance is important, the ultimate goal is more distance while not losing any accuracy. The versatile Swing Align swing trainer can help you see and feel the key positions and help you to build a better golf swing for both distance and accuracy.
How To Get More Distance In Golf
This article will help you achieve more overall distance with all your full swing clubs with some specific tips on how to get more distance with irons. If you are interested in more distance with your driver, see our blog on How to Drive The Golf Ball Further.
1. Control The Clubface
The first step in learning how to hit a golf ball farther is to learn to control the clubface. Most golfers lose distance because they spin and curve the ball too much. If the clubface is not square to your club path you create spin; an open clubface in particular causes slice spin, which robs you of distance.
A simple drill to teach you clubface control is to take a #7 iron and grip the club on the shaft just above the head. Grip down the shaft and set up so the club extends behind you and sits along your lead hip. Practice taking the club slowly back to waist high and be sure the face continues to point back down towards the ball. You will be able to see immediately if you are rolling the clubface open as it will point up in the sky. Slowly return the clubface to the impact position and square it by rotating your body. It may also help to think about slightly bowing your lead wrist towards the target. Do this a few times to get a feel for controlling the clubface.
2. Use Your Body
Players that hit the golf ball farther use their body to rotate the club to the top of their swing instead of swinging their arms with little body movement. Most average golfers are too arm-centric. Think more about body rotation with less arm swing on the way back and your arms and body will stay connected and in sequence, which is a key to distance. Remember, distance and arm speed come from your big muscles, not your arms. If you struggle to make a full turn with your shoulders, focus on rotating both your hips and shoulders away from the ball. Rotating your hips gives your shoulders more room to turn and is particularly helpful to those golfers that don’t have as much flexibility.
The Swing Align swing trainer will help you develop the proper takeaway and turn, and will show you how to keep the club on the correct plane. It will keep your arms and body connected and working together throughout the golf swing.
3. Use The Ground
Smaller PGA Tour players like Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas are a great example of how you can hit the golf ball longer just by properly utilizing the ground. Instead of swaying and trying to shift their weight to generate power, they rotate and explode up off the ground by shifting the pressure in their feet to create ground force. Trying to shift your weight often causes a sway which slows your golf swing. Good players learn to shift pressure from their trail leg to their lead leg early in the downswing. At the start of the downswing push off your trail leg and start to rotate your lower body, then swing your arms towards the ball like you usually would. Getting more pressure and weight onto your lead side (left leg for right hand golfers) allows you to create maximum ground force before impact and transfer that force to the ball at impact to hit the golf ball longer.
If you are interested in learning more about ground pressure and force, book a lesson with a professional golf instructor that has a pressure mat. They can measure and show you how to better use your legs and feet to generate distance.
4. Swing Freely
Learning the right golf swing that works specifically for you is complicated. There are often too many things to think about. Always remember, no matter what you are working on, to do your best to swing freely and athletically using your big muscles. Think active body and passive hands! Keep your grip pressure light or moderate to reduce tension. Try to generate the most speed in your swing past impact. The downswing happens quickly with every club in your bag (except chips and putts) and so thinking about being fast past the ball means you’ll likely be fast at the ball.
The Swing Align swing trainer allows you to make a full speed, athletic golf swing with any club in your bag, while letting you feel what it is like to have your arms and body working together. Many golfers don’t know this feeling, but you’ll get it with the first swing you make wearing the device!
5. Get More Distance With Irons
Getting more distance with your irons will do wonders for your game. Hitting a shorter iron gives you a better chance to hit it close. And being able to generate more carry distance with your irons helps reduce shots lost by dumping the ball short of the green into a hazard or a bunker.
The most simple and important step in how to get more distance with irons is learning the correct ball position. The ball should be back in your stance more so than with a driver or fairway wood. While you don’t want to swing too steeply, to avoid increasing spin, you do have to hit the ball first with a slightly downward angle to make the ball launch into the air and gain more carry distance.
Proper rotation is important with irons but a longer swing is not better. Making solid contact creates the right trajectory and distance with an iron. You don’t need to rotate more than 90 degrees on an iron shot and for shorter irons it is ok to rotate a little less to create solid contact. The Swing Align device can help you see the amount of your rotation in your swing and keep you connected.
If you really struggle with getting more distance with your irons, modern equipment can help. There are great lightweight shafts in both steel and graphite available. And modern club designs have stronger lofts that create more ball speed at impact without losing any trajectory. Both technique and equipment play a role in hitting it farther.
Get More Distance with Swing Align!
Swing Align is the best swing training device available to help you both see and feel the proper golf swing. It helps you hit it farther and straighter by reinforcing the most important fundamentals including alignment, rotation and connection. Don’t wait, begin building a better golf swing today!
