- Loss of balance. This is the first sign that you have taken things too far. Distance is important in golf, but it is not as important as good balance. You need to be nicely balanced throughout your swing in order to hit solid golf shots over and over again. If you lose your balance at any point along the way, it will be tough to hit clean shots. Of course, straining to hit the ball farther is an easy way to get off track from a balance perspective. Pay close attention to this point and reign in your swing as soon as you start to notice balance becoming an issue. The ultimate goal is to find a nice compromise between swinging hard enough to hit the ball with authority and not swinging so hard that you nearly fall over.
- Loss of accuracy. Distance without accuracy is useless. Golf is a target-based game, and you need to be able to hit your shots on the proper line if you hope to place your ball near the target when all is said and done. You should not be willing to sacrifice accuracy in the pursuit of greater distance, as making this trade will not make you a better golfer in the long run. Instead, you should only be trying to acquire as much distance as you can add without having to give up any of your control.
- Loss of impact quality. Clean ball striking is one of the central requirements to play good golf. Striking the ball on the sweet spot is an important skill, as hitting your shots cleanly means you will be able to accurately predict how far the ball is going to travel as it flies through the air. Also, shots hit on the sweet spot are going to usually do a better job of holding their line. As you swing harder and harder in an effort to hit the ball farther and farther, you may notice that you suddenly are not able to hit the sweet spot with the same regularity that you could before. That loss of ball striking prowess is going to have a direct impact on your scores.
If you are currently working to add distance to your game, you would be wise to watch for signs of trouble along the way. It is possible that your distance gains will come without much in the way of drawbacks, but that is not always the case. Sometimes, efforts to hit the ball farther will lead to other problems developing in your game – and those problems may be more damaging than the added distance is beneficial.
The list below highlights some of the problems you may find waiting along the path to longer golf shots.
It is not the addition of distance that is going to lead to problems in your game. If you are able to add distance in a vacuum – that is, without affecting other parts of your play – you can feel free to gain as many yards as you would like. Unfortunately, that is not usually how it works. Instead, you usually will lose some of your other abilities on the course as you pick up distance. The list above should make it clear that you should not be willing to trade things like balance, accuracy, or impact quality for extra yards. Monitor the state of your game carefully as you build up your swing speed and stop short of damaging your performance in any of these key areas.
