So you're relatively young and fit, average height and weight if not a little bigger, and a pretty decent athlete if you do say so yourself. So why are older, smaller golfers always driving the ball past you?

Part of golf's great beauty is that size and strength aren't necessary to hit the ball long distances. Sound, efficient swing mechanics are much more important. That said, a solid swing paired with good physical tools can be a powerful combo.

If your drives tend to fly low and travel shorter than you expect, the problem is clubhead speed – or rather, a lack thereof. Regardless of your size, fitness and flexibility, the body's big muscles (hips, torso, shoulders) must work in unison to create maximum speed.

Here are a few ways to boost your swing speed and hit higher, longer drives:

• Make a full shoulder turn: Standing before a mirror, test your flexibility by placing arms across chest in the form of an “X,” then rotating your shoulders to the right as far as possible. If you can turn until they're perpendicular to the mirror, you should strive for a backswing where the shoulders reach a 90° angle to the target line.
• Transfer weight properly: At address with the driver, about 55-60 percent of your weight should be on your right foot. At the top of the backswing, you'll feel most of your weight on the right side. Swinging down and through, you must transfer weight to the left side to get the full force of your body's unwinding action into the ball. Try this drill to improve your weight shift.

Begin downswing with the lower body: A proper downswing starts with the left foot presing into the ground. Thisinitiates the sequence in which the hips, torso, shoulders, arms and finally, the club, follow in order, and the clubhead accelerates into the ball.

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Causes and Cures of Low, Short Drives

There is no better way to start a hole than with a long, accurate drive down the middle of the fairway. Blasting your driver right down the middle of a par four or par five is going to put you in great position for the rest of the hole. Hitting long drives is one of the best ways to take the challenge out of a golf course, as many golf courses use length as one of their primary defenses. If you can take away the distance challenge of a given course by knocking long drives down the fairway time after time, you will be well ahead of the game.

Of course, this is only a viable strategy if you have the ability to hit long, powerful drives. If you are a short hitter, routinely sending low drives only a modest distance down the fairway, the course is going to feel awfully long - no matter which tees you decide to play. In this article, we are going to offer some advice on how you can hit your drives both higher in the air and further down the fairway. Those two characteristics usually go together – players who hit the ball higher off the tee usually hit it further as well. Hopefully, by the end of this article, you will have all the information you need to add both elevation and distance to your drives.

We are also going to talk about the root causes of short and low drives before we get into the potential cures. It is important to cover causes as well because you need to understand what is going wrong in your swing before you can make it right. Too many amateur golfers bypass this point in an effort to get better as quickly as possible. If you are patient enough to learn about your swing flaws first, it will become easier to make the right changes later on. Think of this as just another step in your ongoing golf education. The more you know about the swing and how it works, the better your chances will be to play at a higher level in the future.

While this article is focused on hitting the ball farther, we should offer the usual disclaimer that distance is not a cure-all in this game. Golf is a game which rewards accuracy, first and foremost. In a match between an accurate player and a powerful player, the golfer with the superior control over the ball is going to come out on top more times than not. Power is great to have on your side, but make sure it doesn't come at the expense of any of your other skills.

All of the content below is based on a right-handed golfer. If you happen to play left-handed, please take a moment to reverse the directions as necessary.

Common Causes of Low and Short Drives

Right off the bat, we should point out that some of the causes on this list are going to be rather obvious. Nevertheless, we are going to include all of the main reasons why golfers are left feeling frustrated at the short, low drives that they are producing. If you take some time to review this list, you should have a clear picture of the challenges that lay ahead. Of course, you probably aren't struggling with all of these causes all at once – more likely, it is one or two of them holding you back. Think about each cause in reference to your game to decide whether or not the given cause is actually an issue for you.

Without further delay, let's get to the list –

• Lack of swing speed. Okay, so you probably knew this was going to be first on the list. If you don't have much swing speed to work with, you are always going to struggle to create distance off the tee. While there are a variety of factors at play when trying to determine how far the ball is going to fly when it leaves your driver, swing speed is number one on the list. With every mile per hour you gain when swinging your driver, you should gain some distance down the fairway (as long as you are using the right equipment). It can be tough to pick up swing speed, but we will offer some tips later in the article for doing just that.
• Poor angle of attack. Another common cause of low and short drives is an incorrect angle of attack. Specifically, players who hit down steeply on the ball when swinging the driver may struggle to get the ball up into the air. The combination of low swing speed and a downward angle of attack is particularly troublesome. Without much speed to work with, you'll struggle to impart much backspin on the ball. When that low spin rate combines with the low launch angle created by your steep swing, it's a recipe for a low and short shot. Simply by fixing your angle of attack to sweep the ball off the tee, you may be able to gain yards even if you don't swing any harder.
• Wrong club. Sometimes, struggling to hit the ball far enough can be a symptom of nothing more than using the wrong club. If your driver has a shaft which is too stiff, or too heavy, for your swing, you will struggle to get the ball up in the air. Most people laugh when a golfer blames his or her equipment for a poor shot, but equipment issues really can cause trouble on the course. To make sure you are using the right driver, with the right shaft, consider visiting a local pro shop for a club fitting session. A club fitting usually takes only around 30-60 minutes, and most facilities offer them for a modest fee. The information you pick up during the fitting process will help you select the perfect driver for your needs.
• Coming up out of the swing. This might not be the most common mistake on the list, but it is one which affects at least a small percentage of amateur golfers. As you swing down into the ball, it is important that you keep your head and shoulders down through the shot. If you lift out of the swing at the last moment – meaning your head comes up and away from the ball – you are likely to hit the ball low on the face. When that happens, the shot will fly low to the ground and it will lack the speed it would have had with a better strike. Learning how to stay down all the way through impact is necessary if you are going to live up to your distance potential.

In reality, there endless ways in which you could wind up with low and short drives. However, this brief list covers some of the most common issues. If you feel that any of these points are currently affecting your game, it would be a good idea to get down to work on finding a solution right away.

Adding Swing Speed

To get the big one out of the way right from the start, we are going to talk in this section about how you can pick up swing speed by making changes to your technique. These kinds of changes rarely take hold quickly – usually they require a lot of hard work and weeks or even months or practice – but they can pay off in a big way down the line. If you are determined to add speed to your swing, the tips included in the list below are a smart place to start.

• Make a bigger turn. Perhaps the single best thing you can do for your swing speed is to make a better turn in the backswing. If you are able to turn back farther, you will have more room between the club and the ball to work with. That means you'll have more time to accelerate the club, and in the end, you'll be able to hit longer drives. Most people think of flexibility as being a limitation on backswing turn, and that's true, but it is not the only consideration. It's possible that you are currently coming up short of your potential just because you are rushing through the backswing – not because you are running into the limit of your flexibility. Try taking an extra moment in the backswing to turn back as far as you can (without losing your balance). You might find that there is more turn there to be used than you previously believed.
• Improve your sequencing. Golf swings which produce plenty of speed at the bottom are particularly efficient when it comes to sequencing. In other words, good swings use their various parts in the proper order to accelerate the club all the way from the top of the swing down into the ball. Remember, the club has to stop at the top to change directions, so you aren't carrying speed from the first half of your swing into the second. All the speed that you create in your swing has to be found somewhere between the top of the backswing and the moment of impact. To get your sequencing right, you will want to start the downswing by rotating your hips toward the target. If you can get your hips to lead the way, things will start to fall into place from there. Your lower body will be turning to the left, the club should fall 'into the slot', and you can fire on through the ball with confidence. Starting with your hips from the top is going to take practice – especially if you are used to starting down with your hands first – but making this change can have a powerful impact on your game as a whole.
• Learn to lag. We can avoid this topic no longer. If you are going to maximize your power in the game of golf – with the driver or any other club – you are going to need to learn how to lag the club head down into the ball. What does that mean? It's pretty simple in definition, but tricky to execute on the course. Basically, lag means that you are lagging the club head behind your hands on the way down into impact. Rather than letting the club head lead the way, your hands are leading the way and the club head is going along for the ride. Your hands arrive over the ball first, and then the club head is fired through the hitting area. When done correctly, the results are incredible. If you have ever wondered how professional golfers are able to hit the ball so far despite using such smooth swings, it comes down to lag. The best way to learn lag is to start small. Use small swings with your wedges to get comfortable with this type of swing, and then build your way up into bigger and bigger swings. Eventually, you will be comfortable swinging like this with the driver, and you'll hit the ball farther than ever before.

Make no mistake – it is a challenge to add club head speed to your swing. With that said, it can be done. Give yourself plenty of time to work on the techniques above and you just might be able to tack on a few extra yards, or even more. As you make progress, pay close attention to your ability to hit targets. If you start to get loose with your shots, consider pulling things back a little to find a happy medium. As was mentioned earlier in the article, you never want to trade accuracy for distance.