Golf Driving Distance, How Do The Pros Drive So Far (Video) - by Pete Styles
Golf Driving Distance, How Do The Pros Drive So Far (Video) - by Pete Styles

Here’s a question about how the golf pros hit the ball so far. Now I’m a golf pro yes, but in terms of the tall players, I’m not really up there in their league of hitting the ball so far. These guys are like NASCAR’s or Formula One cars; these guys are absolutely at the top of their game. Physical condition is out of this world, all these guys; maybe Patrick Reed, exclude that I’ve just watched him in the Ryder Cup this week.

He’s a big fellow, but he hits the ball a long way. You look at someone like Mark Reid absolute Formula One car, top of his performance. He’s in the gym four or five times a week. He’s eating the right nutrition. He’s having the right sort of muscles, flexibility, strength and conditioning, and also his swing is very efficient. So you put all that together; you’ve got an athlete that’s horned and ready to hit the ball a long way. You then give him a golf club that’s sparked within a half a degree of maximum performance; you know the modern technologies, the truck man is a flight scope, the GC to the launch monitors. They’re make you sure these golfer are absolutely getting the maximum performance out of every mile an hour of club head speed. You’ve then got to trust a guy like Mark Reid, he’s hitting the center of that clubface 99% of the time he’s right at the middle. So you put all that together; you got the athlete, you got the technology, you got the swing, you’ve got the consistency of a good strike. A little bit of the warmer weather than I get in the U.K. particularly and a few good bounces down the fairway and you’re starting to look at Mark Reid’s drive and averages exceeding 300 yards. Now, I don’t go that far on my holidays; it’s usually 300 yards. If I hit one of those drives in a year, I’d be pacing it up and down and measuring it. These guys are averaging that distance. And when they let go on a big one and they get the downwind downhill sometimes towards 400 yards, I mean that’s obscene distances. So, how can we learn? What can we learn from that? It’s all well and good me saying well I’m not in their league, but how can I move towards their league? So I’d have to look at everything they do and try and match it to a certain degree the best I can. So improve my physical conditioning, lots of good flexibility exercises for golf. There’s no point just being real meathead and really big stuck. I teach a lot of these guys, and they just can’t generate clubhead speed because they can’t swing back, there’s no flexibility. You get a big guy there over the ball; huh, is that enough speed, is that going to provide enough power? Well you’ve got to accelerate that clubhead to that to get it over 110 miles an hour from there, they’ll never do it. Get the flexibility, turn back a bit more, now that club head comes down a little bit quicker. So, yes be nice, and fit, and strong, but also keep some flexibility. Go and get fitted for the right type of golf club. And that does not mean spending $400 on a golf club; that means go and get fitted for one. The club you’ve already got might be the best you could do, but if you can get the right loft, the right shaft, and the right length on your golf club that’s going to improve your performance as well. And then practicing your good swing technique so we don’t have too much curve, too much spin on the ball, and learn to strike the ball right in the dead center. That’s how you could improve your driving to copy from what the pros do and try and learn to hit it nearly as far as them. 2014-11-04

Here’s a question about how the golf pros hit the ball so far. Now I’m a golf pro yes, but in terms of the tall players, I’m not really up there in their league of hitting the ball so far. These guys are like NASCAR’s or Formula One cars; these guys are absolutely at the top of their game. Physical condition is out of this world, all these guys; maybe Patrick Reed, exclude that I’ve just watched him in the Ryder Cup this week.

He’s a big fellow, but he hits the ball a long way. You look at someone like Mark Reid absolute Formula One car, top of his performance. He’s in the gym four or five times a week. He’s eating the right nutrition. He’s having the right sort of muscles, flexibility, strength and conditioning, and also his swing is very efficient. So you put all that together; you’ve got an athlete that’s horned and ready to hit the ball a long way.

You then give him a golf club that’s sparked within a half a degree of maximum performance; you know the modern technologies, the truck man is a flight scope, the GC to the launch monitors. They’re make you sure these golfer are absolutely getting the maximum performance out of every mile an hour of club head speed.

You’ve then got to trust a guy like Mark Reid, he’s hitting the center of that clubface 99% of the time he’s right at the middle. So you put all that together; you got the athlete, you got the technology, you got the swing, you’ve got the consistency of a good strike. A little bit of the warmer weather than I get in the U.K. particularly and a few good bounces down the fairway and you’re starting to look at Mark Reid’s drive and averages exceeding 300 yards.

Now, I don’t go that far on my holidays; it’s usually 300 yards. If I hit one of those drives in a year, I’d be pacing it up and down and measuring it. These guys are averaging that distance. And when they let go on a big one and they get the downwind downhill sometimes towards 400 yards, I mean that’s obscene distances.

So, how can we learn? What can we learn from that? It’s all well and good me saying well I’m not in their league, but how can I move towards their league? So I’d have to look at everything they do and try and match it to a certain degree the best I can. So improve my physical conditioning, lots of good flexibility exercises for golf. There’s no point just being real meathead and really big stuck. I teach a lot of these guys, and they just can’t generate clubhead speed because they can’t swing back, there’s no flexibility.

You get a big guy there over the ball; huh, is that enough speed, is that going to provide enough power? Well you’ve got to accelerate that clubhead to that to get it over 110 miles an hour from there, they’ll never do it. Get the flexibility, turn back a bit more, now that club head comes down a little bit quicker.

So, yes be nice, and fit, and strong, but also keep some flexibility. Go and get fitted for the right type of golf club. And that does not mean spending $400 on a golf club; that means go and get fitted for one. The club you’ve already got might be the best you could do, but if you can get the right loft, the right shaft, and the right length on your golf club that’s going to improve your performance as well.

And then practicing your good swing technique so we don’t have too much curve, too much spin on the ball, and learn to strike the ball right in the dead center. That’s how you could improve your driving to copy from what the pros do and try and learn to hit it nearly as far as them.