Most golfers have a desire to try and hit the golf ball further. It can make the game so much easier, as long as you can keep the ball on the fairway.

For many golfers, trying to hit the ball further results in inconsistency, inaccuracy and the breakdown in their technique. This often occurs as golfers try to hit the ball harder using the wrong part of their body, predominantly over use of the arms.

Creating a full chest turn and releasing through the golf ball can be a great way of adding distance without sacrificing accuracy.

To understand the feeling of a full chest turn, take your normal address position then lift the golf club up and lay it across the front of your shoulders so the butt end of the handle points at your target. Next, fold your arms and hold the club across your shoulders.

Start by making a normal shoulder rotation into the backswing. You should notice how the butt end of the golf club is now pointed towards where the golf ball would normally be. This is the feeling of a full chest turn in the back swing. If holding this position feels tight you may have an issue with inflexibility which may result in a loss of power.

As you start your downswing, focus on how you unwind the shoulders and the chest so that the opposite end of the club now points back to the golf ball. This is a full released chest position which will help you create a more powerful swing. Repeat this exercise on a regular basis and incorporate it as part of your golf warm up routine.

During your round of golf, pay particular attention to maintaining this full loading up and releasing chest action to maintain good, powerful long drives.

Tip for Longer Drives Increase Your Chest Turn

Power in golf is a funny thing. While it is not the most important aspect of the game, it is the one which seems to occupy the biggest part of the golfer's brain while on the course. It is common to hear golfers complain about their lack of distance, while relatively few golfers complain about their inability to produce multiple ball flights, or to hit controlled punch shots on command. For the average golfer, there is the distance part of the game first and foremost, and then there is everything else. For whatever reason, it doesn't seem like the golfing public is going to lose its obsession with distance anytime soon.

We could go on and on about how golfers should pay more attention to other parts of their game rather than distance, but that is a topic for another time. If you are here to find tips for adding yards to your tee shots, we are going to talk about one specific way in which you may be able to do just that. By increasing your chest turn – both turning farther and turning faster – you may be able to add speed to your swing at the bottom. And, of course, adding speed to your swing is the best way to hit the ball farther on a consistent basis. Even picking up just a few additional miles per hour on your swing will make a big difference in how far you get to walk down the fairway before finding your golf ball.

As you get ready to work on improving your chest turn in the golf swing, remember that there are plenty of other fundamentals to keep in line and under control at the same time. If you allow some of the other parts of your game to get off track while working on your turn, you will be no better off in the end. It is great to make a better turn, and that turn will help you to hit more powerful shots, but always keep an eye on your swing as a whole while you practice – no one part on its own is going to be enough to lead you to good results.

While we aren't going to talk specifically about equipment in the rest of this article, it is worth mentioning briefly that your gear can play a big role in how far you hit the ball off the tee. With a driver that is properly suited to your swing, you will be able to maximize the driving distance you can produce. Good equipment is never going to be a replacement for a quality golf swing, but pairing the right driver (and ball) with a good swing is a recipe for long and straight drives.

All of the content below has been written from the perspective of a right-handed golfer. If you happen to play golf left-handed, please take a moment to reverse the directions as necessary.

The Importance of the Chest Turn

There are a number of ways in which a good chest turn can help you produce power in your golf swing. This might not be a point which you think about very often as you practice, but hopefully this article will enlighten you as to the importance of this key fundamental. If you get into the habit of making a great turn with your chest, additional distance – as well as improved ball striking – is sure to follow.

For a better understanding of what it is that makes the chest turn so crucial, please see the list below.

• Prepare for the downswing. This is really the key to making a good chest turn away from the ball. If you turn your chest sufficiently on the way back, you will be positioned perfectly at the top of the swing for an aggressive attack into the ball. Without a good chest turn, you won't have the space to rotate through your drives properly on the way down. Countless amateur golfers struggle to make a proper turn back, and those same golfers struggle to create power as a result. Put an emphasis on creating space in the backswing with a full chest turn and previously undiscovered power will soon become available.
• Create some tempo. Turning your chest properly isn't only about making room for a big downswing. You also want to promote a smooth tempo in your swing, which is exactly what will happen when you use your big muscles to swing the club. Turning your torso and your chest rather than just swinging your arms is going to make it much easier to have a steady, reliable tempo from shot to shot. The average amateur golfer struggles tremendously with the matter of tempo, which is why their results vary so dramatically from hole to hole, and round to round. Anything you can do to improve your tempo is a step worth taking.
• Lead the way for your arms. You don't want your arms to be the first thing that comes down toward the ball in the downswing. Sure, it seems like your arms should lead the way, since they are holding onto the club, after all, but that would be a mistake. You actually want your arms to trail behind, building speed while the rest of your body rips through the zone. A great chest turn can help make this happen. When you pair a proper chest turn with a dynamic rotation in your lower body, great things are possible. Focus on rotation with your big muscles while you let your arms and hands hang back and come through the zone at the last possible moment.
• Remain balanced. It is hard to keep your balance and hit the ball with authority all at the same time. Amateur golfers who do a good job of staying balanced tend to lack any kind of serious power. Those who do have power usually struggle to find some balance to go with it. However, with a nice chest turn back and through the shot, you just might be able to have both of these elements at the same time. By focusing on your chest turn, you will be keeping your center of gravity mostly in place through rotation instead of lateral movement. This is a great way to swing the club, so it is worth the time and effort to learn how to make it happen.

Making a good chest turn should be considered one of the most important things you can do within your swing. In fact, you would do well to keep this as one of your go-to swing thoughts when things start to go a little sideways on the course. If you find yourself struggling in the middle of a round, think about just making a great turn with your chest in both the backswing and downswing. This kind of simple focus point just may be enough to get you back in rhythm for the rest of your round.

How to Make a Great Turn

Like anything else in golf, making a great turn with your chest is easier said than done. Simply knowing that this is an important point is a good first step, but you need to go farther than that. To actually make any progress and improve your game, you are going to have to practice this point on the range. What should you be working on specifically during those range sessions? The list below is a great place to start.

• Take your time. It is impossible to make a proper chest turn without giving yourself enough time to make it all the way back to the top of the backswing. It is easy to get in a rush on the course when you start thinking about how far you want to hit the ball, or how many people are watching your swing. On the range, however, you should be able to practice without any such concerns. Rather than thinking about external factors, focus in on what you need to do to make a great swing. Take enough time to turn all the way back, and then unleash all of your energy into the downswing. If you practice the proper rhythm for this move on the range, it should be far easier to remain in the right tempo once on the course.
• Turn your right foot slightly open. It might not seem like your right foot would have anything to do with your chest turn, but the two are actually closely connected. If you play with your right foot square to the target line, you are going to restrict the amount of turn you can make due to tightness in your right leg and knee as the backswing develops. To alleviate some of that pressure, turn your right foot just a few degrees open to the target line. This shouldn't do anything damaging to your technique, but it should make it easier for you to achieve a bigger turn. And, if you manage to keep everything else essentially the same, a bigger turn should lead to more powerful tee shots.
• Maintain your knee flex. Again here, we see a lower body key which is going to make it easier for you to make a great turn with your upper body. At address, your knees should be flexed slightly to engage your lower body in the swing. Then, once the swing begins, they should stay flexed all the way up to the top and into the downswing. This is not something which is done properly by most golfers. It is common for knee flex to be lost in the backswing, as players stand up out of their stance. You will need to avoid this mistake if you hope to make a quality chest turn while hitting your driver. Pay attention to your knee flex during the backswing and make sure it does not change between address and the transition.
• Turn your back to the target. As you try to execute a solid golf swing, it is helpful to have little keys in your mind to focus yourself on what needs to be done. One of the useful keys you can use while practicing this point specifically is to think about turning your back to the target. At the top of the backswing, your back should be facing the target. By definition, if your back is facing the target, your chest is facing in the opposite direction, away from the target. Then, with the backswing completely, you can work on quickly reversing those positions. Swing down aggressively to turn your chest toward the target, while your back moves away. This is a simplistic way to think about the golf swing, which is why it can be so effective.

You won't find a golfer on a professional tour anywhere in the world who fails to make a nice turn. Some turn more than others, but all pro golfers – and accomplished amateurs as well – make a quality turn with their upper body in order to put speed into the club head. Make this point one of your top priorities in upcoming range sessions and you should see progress out on the course sooner rather than later.

Making Some Adjustments

Now that you are doing a better job of turning your chest during the swing, you will probably need to make a few adjustments to your game in order to get the best possible results. This is the step that many golfers fail to consider when they work on some part of their technique. You probably understand that you will have to work hard on the range to learn a new move, but you might not realize that a period of adjustment will be necessary before you can turn that new move into lower scores. If you fail to realize that fact, frustration could set in before you ever make progress.

The first adjustment you are likely to need involves your aim. It is natural for your ball flight to change when you alter the way your body moves in the swing, so you have to respond by finding a new aim point for your tee shots. In most cases, the ball will be drawing more from right to left as a result of an improved turn. This is good news, of course, as a controlled draw is a shot which typically helps the player to maximize power. However, if you are used to hitting a fade, you are probably comfortable aiming down the left side of the fairway. That won't work with a draw, so pay careful attention to how you are aiming during your first few rounds in order to establish a new habit which matches up with your new ball flight.

Another adjustment is going to be learning how to plan for the new distance you are now capable of achieving. You have probably been driving the ball roughly the same distance for many years, but you may now be able to push the ball farther down the fairway than ever before. This is a helpful skill only if you know how to plan for it properly. Watch out for fairway bunkers that used to be out of reach, and of course water hazards as well. Driving distance is only helpful if you understand how to deploy it wisely. Don't be in such a hurry to show off your added distance that you hit your driver in situations where it really isn't needed. Be smart about your club selection and only pull the driver when you are sure there is enough room to make it work.

One final adjustment which you may have to consider comes in the form of your equipment. We talked briefly about equipment in the introduction, and it is worth another mention here because this is the time when you might want to find a new club. Assuming you have added swing speed to your driver swing successfully, the club you have been using may no longer suit your needs. Specifically, the shaft of the driver might not be able to keep up during the downswing. How will you know if this is a problem? The first sign is a 'ballooning' ball flight. If your drives are soaring high up into the air, but aren't going any farther down the fairway, your spin rate is too high and your shaft is likely too soft. Also, if you feel like you have no control over the pattern of your ball flights, there could be an equipment issue to address.

Golf is a game of never ending adjustments. If you are looking forward to a time when you can stop adjusting and just play your game, you should get that notion out of your head right away. You will continue to make adjustments for as long as you are a golfer, and that is a good thing. The need to adjust keeps the game interesting, and it provides you with an ongoing challenge. As you go through the process of improving your chest turn, remember that adjustments will be necessary and act quickly to adapt to your newfound power.

Other Ways to Boost Distance

Once you are finished adding distance to your drives through the use of bigger chest turn, you might start looking for other ways to add even more yards from the tee. If you would like to pursue other avenues of added power, be sure to think about the following points.

• Swing up through impact. This is one of the keys to great driving in golf. By placing the ball forward in your stance and rotating rather than sliding, you can hit up and impact and create an excellent launch angle. Not only will this technique start your ball on a nice angle, it will also reduce the amount of spin you put on the shot – which is likely to help you hit the ball even farther. In order to make sure you have enough room to hit up on the ball, be sure to tee it high at address. As a rule of thumb, the midline of the golf ball should be roughly even with the topline of your driver prior to starting the swing.
• Strengthen your grip. To improve the way you release the club head through impact, consider turning your left hand into a stronger position on the grip. At the same time, you should turn your right hand to the right so that it matches up nicely with your left (your palms should be facing each other). A stronger grip should add a bit of speed through impact thanks to the extra hand and wrist action that will be present at the bottom of the swing. However, this change can also cause your draw to become more pronounced, so you won't want to try this adjustment if you are already hitting a big curve from right to left.
• Keep your left heel down. During the downswing, some golfers have a tendency to push their left heel up off the ground as they roll onto their toes. This is likely done in an effort to add power to the swing, but it is actually going to have just the opposite effect. To make sure you can keep rotating freely through the downswing and into the follow through, keep your heel flat on the ground at all times. This should help you maximize speed through the ball, and it should make it easier for you to find the sweet spot of your driver as well.

Using your chest properly during the golf swing is one of the best things you can do in the quest for greater distance. Of course, adding distance should not be your only goal in golf, but it can help to make the rest of the game a bit easier. We hope the advice provided in this article will allow you to make a better turn with your chest each time you take the driver out of your bag. Good luck!