Achieving Greater Distance off the Tee

by Rich Ruzic

Golf tips get thrown our way on a daily basis. Never have so many "top secret" and highly regarded bits of information been thrown about so randomly. We are all as good as the last great visual lesson we got form our favorite magazine or The Golf Channel. We make our mental notes and can't wait to get to that first tee to work on our new reputation as a scratch golfer only to watch our dreams come crashing down as our ball goes sailing off course.

As weekend golfers, none of us have the exact same swing or needs. As a matter of fact most golfers do not have the same swing from day to day, so it is impossible to generalize any real tips that can be used for all golfers across the board. Thus we all end up with a mind full of useless information that we somehow try to process all at once during every swing. Certainly, this is where the mental side of golf comes in and our need to keep an uncluttered mind during our shot routine. There have been several hundred books written on that topic alone and certainly not enough room to get into that here. We will go there later.

There are however a few items that all golfers can improve to help their game overall. One of those key items is our midsection. As much as we don't like to admit it, we all need work on our core. This is one tip every golfer can use to add distance and accuracy day in and day out. The more work we allow our core to do in our swing the more stable we become. This allows for a flexible backswing, a stronger coil and shoulder turn, a powerful downswing and a controlled follow through. Find abdominal and lower back exercises that work for your particular body style. This too can't be generalized because everyone has different needs. Just remember strength as well as flexibility. Work on your core to truly work on distance and accuracy.

Here's a golf swing training tip that will help your backswing range of motion, enabling you to have a much higher clubhead speed and quickly improve your driving distance.

I call it the Backswing Shoulder Stretch:
* Extend left arm out in front of you (if you are a right handed golfer), in a handshake position, thumb pointing skyward.
*Take right hand and put under left wrist, so the back of the hands are touching each other.
* Pull with right hand against left wrist and make as big a turn on back swing as possible.
* Hold for at least 15 seconds, repeat two more times.
* Reverse the stretch to work the follow through.
As you can see this is a simple golf training tip, but one that is very effective if you do it consistently. This is a great stretch to do throughout your round to maintain a full backswing.

About the Author

At Drive for Distance Golf we work with professional Golf Swing Trainers to put together information to help you gain distance through an effortless, repeatable and simple golf swing. For more information please visit http://drivefordistancegolf.com.