In this ladies golf swing tip video we are going to look at how to create more powerful and longer drives by holding the angle that you create between your left arm and the driver.

When you create the correct angle between your left arm and the driver on your backswing, you have a lot of power stored up in the club. If you learn how to release this power correctly and at the right time on your downswing, you will deliver maximum club head speed into the golf ball and hit your furthest and most powerful drives.

Initially, you need to set up in the correct address position to hit a drive. You are going to swing the club head of your driver at the highest swing speed of all of your golf clubs, so it is really important to address the ball with a wide, solid base that will provide the balance and stability to accommodate such a high swing speed. Ensure that your feet are shoulder width apart and that your weight is distributed evenly between your left and right foot. You need to play the ball forward in your stance so position the ball opposite the inside of your left shoe (for right handed golfers).

This position will allow you to square the club face to the target as you strike the golf ball but also allow you to catch the ball slightly on your upswing and help you to launch the ball up into the air for maximum shot distance. Position the golf face next to the golf ball so that it is aiming at your target. Position your hands so that they are over the crown of the driver, or the top and then position your head just to the right of your hands. This will place slightly more weight on your right side and will help align your shoulders so that they are parallel to your hips, knees and toes.

You need to make a sweeping action through impact with the club head and to achieve this you should work on making a U shape swing where the club head can approach the golf ball at a shallow and gentle angle. To achieve this, move the club head away from the golf ball with your left shoulder and arm to begin your backswing. As your hands move across your right thigh, hinge your wrists so that the club head rises to level with your hands by the time your hands are hip height and the shaft of the golf club is pointing to the right and parallel to the target line. Keep your left arm straight and extended as you continue to rotate your shoulders and at chest height with your hands, you should have created an L shape between your left arm and the shaft of your driver. This angle that you have created between your left arm and the driver shaft is the angle that you need to hold to hit your most powerful drives. Keep your balance and complete your shoulder turn to 90 degrees right of their start position.

As you make your downswing, initiate it by rotating your lower body towards the target and pull the angle between your left arm and the club shaft angle back down to hip height. For full power, you need to maintain this angle to hip height on your downswing. If you release the angle between your left arm and the club shaft during your downswing, creating a straight line between your left arm and the club, then you have released all of the power that you had created before you have struck the golf ball. Hold the angle between your left arm and the club shaft as you rotate your lower body towards the target and then once at hip height, extend and explode your right arm through impact to release the full speed of the club head into the golf ball.

Work on doing this and you will hit your most powerful drives and your longest tee shots when you are next out on the golf course.

How and Why Hold the Angle for Powerful Drives

Every golfer loves to hit powerful drives. Even if you can't hit the ball 300 yards in the air like some of the top professionals, it is still a good feeling to drive your ball a significant distance – while keeping the ball in the fairway at the same time. Of course, in order to hit powerful drives, you need to execute your technique properly swing after swing. One of the key techniques to focus on with the driver is holding your angle in the downswing. What does that mean? We will take a close look at the topic throughout the rest of this article.

First, before we get into the matter of holding your angle in the downswing, we first need to point out that there are many other elements involved in hitting powerful drives as well. Beyond hold in the angle, you also need to stay balanced, make a full shoulder turn, rotate your hips in the downswing, keep your eyes on the ball, and more. There is no one piece of technique which will make up for glaring mistakes in other parts of the swing, so always think about bringing your mechanics together into a cohesive package. Only when all of the parts of your swing are working in concert with one another will you be able to reach your potential.

Sadly, holding the angle in the downswing is one of the elements of the swing which gives amateur golfers significant trouble. Often referred to as 'lag', it is hard to hit the ball with any kind of authority without holding your angle nicely. The big challenge here is the fact that this point takes a long time to work into your game. Even if you understand what it is that you should be trying to do, you may struggle to actually pull it off. Of course, it needs to be mastered on the driving range before it is ever going to work for you out on the course.

By the end of this article, you should have a clear understanding of what it is you need to do in order to hold your angle properly. Also, you will understand why holding the angle is crucial. It is important to understand the 'why' with any swing change you make, and knowing the benefit behind your techniques will help you to stay motivated when the going gets tough. Keep your eye on the prize while working on your lag and you will be more likely to see it through to the end.

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.

The Benefits of Holding the Angle

It is no coincidence that every professional golfer you could find will use lag in their downswing as a way of generating speed. All accomplished golfers use this technique because it works – plain and simple. There is a lot to gain and nothing to lose by adding this move to your swing. Powerful, accurate, consistent golf shots are waiting for those who are able to incorporate the skill of holding their angle into the downswing.

So why don't more amateur golfers use this technique properly? Well, it's difficult, that's why. Despite the many gains that can be enjoyed by using this technique, most amateur players are never quite able to figure it out. Lagging the club is a relatively unnatural way to hit the ball, as it feels weird at first when you try it out for yourself. Only the players who are willing to work through that initial discomfort will be able to get to the point where this technique works for them out on the course.

The following list includes a number of specific benefits you can enjoy by learning how to hold your angle while swinging a driver.

• Added distance. Of course, this is why you are here. You want to hit the ball farther from the tee, and lagging the club properly on the way down is going to help you do just that. If you learn how to lag the club nicely from the top of the swing all the way to impact, you are surely going to add yards to your tee shots. By hitting the ball farther, you will be able to set up shorter approach shots, meaning you may wind up making more birdie putts in the end. Also, it is always fun to keep walking past your playing partner's drives in order to find your own ball. Whether you are motivated by lower scores or just simple bragging rights, adding distance to your tee shots is going to be a positive thing for your game as a whole.
• Solid ball striking. Another advantage to lagging the club down into the ball is the fact that you are likely to strike the ball more solidly than if you were to throw away your angle early in the swing. Even though the ball will be on a tee when hitting the driver, you still need to find the sweet spot if you are going to maximize your distance. It might be odd to read this point at first, because those trying to learn how to hold their angle often find that they can't hit the ball solidly when just getting started. That is a common problem, and one you should be able to work through with some patience. Once you get the hang of how to make this kind of swing, however, you should start to find the sweet spot on your driver time after time.
• Efficient power. It is one thing to hit the ball hard – it is another thing to hit it hard while being efficient with your movements. Many amateur golfers marvel at the fact that professional golfers are able to hit the ball such long distances without making it look like they are swinging very hard. How do they do it? Simple – they don't waste movement in the swing. By lagging the club, a lot of speed can be generated without any dramatic actions taking place in your bigger muscles. A clean turn toward the target along with great lag is enough to send the ball far off into the distance.

Effortless power is something every golfer would like to discover, and learning how to lag the club will take you a big step in that direction. You might not start to blast the ball more than 300 yards from the tee, but you should pick up some distance while being able to decrease your overall effort level at the same time. Of course, as you learn to properly hold onto your angle in the downswing with the driver, you will also be teaching yourself how to do the same thing with the rest of your clubs. Lag is just as important with your irons as it is with your driver, so this is a skill that can transfer throughout the bag once you have it mastered.

Three Keys

Teaching golfers to hold their angle with the driver is a tricky task, to say the least. This is a move which is more about feel than anything else, so telling someone how to feel this move properly is a tough ask for any golf teacher. While you will have to find your own way to a certain degree through trial and error, we will offer some keys here which should help you to figure out how to lag the club successfully on the tee.

Below is a list of three keys which you can focus on as you try to lag the club to the best of your ability.

• Pull down hard with the left hand. This is the best way to get your lag started. From the top of the swing, think about pulling down with the back of your left hand. Put another way, you should try to drive the butt end of the grip down toward the ball. By starting your downswing with this type of move, you should be able to avoid the dreaded 'casting' action which causes so many players to hit weak slices with the driver. If you can simply conquer this first point each time you swing the driver, you will be in great shape to lag the club throughout the downswing.
• Be patient. One of the problems that many players run into with regard to lag is the fact that they need to be patient in order for the swing to develop properly. If you try to rush through your swing, your right hand will take over and you will lose your angle before you get anywhere near the ball. Golf is a game which requires plenty of patience, and nowhere is that more clear than when trying to lag your driver. The driver is naturally the longest swing – because it is the longest club in the bag – so plenty of patience will be necessary if you are going to let your swing develop naturally. The ball isn't going to run away while you are swinging, so there is no need to hurry. Take a deep breath prior to starting your swing, take your time, and look forward to seeing the ball rocket off into the sky when impact does come around.
• Be aggressive. There is no room for caution when swinging with plenty of lag on the tee. If you are hitting your driver, you should be committed to turning it loose through the hitting area. That doesn't mean that you have to swing as hard as you can, but it does mean that you shouldn't be 'steering' the ball into the fairway. Fire the club through the hitting area and be confident that you will deliver an accurate strike. It is nearly impossible to hold your angle if you are trying to guide the club into the ball, so don't play that tentative style of golf. Ripping a driver from the tee is one of the great thrills in golf – don't rob yourself of that feeling by being too cautious.

The one big mechanical key that you want to keep in mind is pulling the club down from the top with the back of your left hand. If you can do that, and you are also patient with the swing and aggressive through the hitting area, you will be on the right track. From there, it is just going to be a matter of practice. You are going to have to hit a great number of practice balls before you become proficient with this swing. How many swings will it take? There is no way to know. Every golfer is different, so stick with the process until you start to see the type of results you have in mind.

The Right Mindset

Believe it or not, having the right mindset is going to play a big role in your ability to hold the angle nicely in the downswing. We touched on mental game topics briefly in the previous section with regard to your patience and aggressiveness, but this concept needs further discussion due to its importance. To have great success when lagging your driver down into the ball, you have to be thinking the right way both before and during the swing.

Golfers who think about making a free swing through the ball are the ones who do the best with holding their angle. In golf, you aren't so much trying to hit the ball as you are trying to swing through it. Some golf teachers like to say that you should be just trying to make a swing where the ball happens to get in the way – that is a good way to put it. If you can make a smooth, flowing swing from start to finish with your driver, the ball will be swept off the tee cleanly.

You need to understand while you are swinging the club that the club head is actually going to be the last thing to move through the hitting area. This is the opposite of the way most amateur golfers imagine the swing. Most golfers force the club down from the top before the body has had a chance to turn – thinking that this will be the best way to build speed. That is incorrect, unfortunately. You should be turning the rest of your body through the ball prior to the club coming down. By holding the club back until the last possible moment, you will be allowing your body to accumulate speed which can be transferred into the club and then into the ball.

To make a free swing which will allow you to hold your angle properly, you need to let go of a measure of control prior to starting the swing. Many golfers – the majority of golfers, most likely – attempt to steer the ball into the fairway by guiding the club through the hitting area with their hands. In doing so, those players lose their angle and they lose all of the speed they could have carried through the shot. Don't put yourself in that group. At address, you have to realize there is only so much you can do to control the direction of your shot. Accept the fact that you can only make your best swing and then hope to see good results from there. Mentally letting go of some of the control over your shots can be a freeing feeling – and it can lead to surprisingly good outcomes.

A great deal of your success or failure on the course is going to come down to the way you think. Yes, professional golfers are physically better than amateur players from a technique perspective, but they also do a better job of using their minds. They are more confident, they think positively in most cases, and they focus only on the things they can control. While you spend time on the driving range working on your physical technique, be sure to point at least some of your attention toward your mental game. Sharpen up the way you think about the swing and progress will be quick to follow.

Using Your Improved Driver Swing

If you have managed to get through all of the hard work and you are now lagging the club beautifully with your driver, there will be some adjustments to make in order to see the results pay off on the course. That's right – even when you successfully make a swing change, there is still more work to be done in golf. This game has earned its reputation as one of the hardest in the world.

To make the adjustment to your new swing as quickly as possible, keep the tips below in mind.

• Plan for added distance. You are almost certainly going to be hitting the ball longer now that you are holding your angle throughout the downswing. That's great – but only if you account for it properly. For instance, you might not be able to take the same lines you are used to using on your home course, as you could hit the ball through the fairway. Think strategically about how to use your new found power and pick targets which makes sense for your updated distance potential. Also, now that you have a more powerful swing, you may be able to use your three wood off the tee more frequently, keeping the driver in the bag and gaining some control in the process.
• Tee it high. Assuming you are using a modern, 460cc driver, tee the ball high so you can turn the club loose through impact. Many amateurs make the mistake of teeing the ball too low, and they are unable to make solid contact on the sweet spot as a result. Pick up some long tees in the pro shop and make sure you are giving yourself enough room to swing up through the ball freely. As a good rule of thumb, the tee should be at least high enough to have half of the ball sitting above the level of the top of the driver at address.
• Understand your new ball flight. With added lag in your downswing, you will now be producing a different ball flight than you did previously. There is nothing wrong with that, but you need to adjust as necessary to aim in the right direction off the tee. For instance, if you are now hitting a little fade where you used to hit a power draw, you will need to aim well left of the points you used to use as targets. It shouldn't take long to make this adjustment, but you do need to pay careful attention in order to hit as many fairways as possible.

Consider new equipment. It is possible that you will need to look for a new driver – or, at least, a new shaft – after making this improvement to your driver swing. Now that you should be creating extra swing speed at the bottom, the club you are currently using may no longer be able to keep up. If that is the case, go for a club fitting session to receive some help in finding the perfect driver for your new needs.

Learning how to hold the angle with your driver is one of the best things you can do for your game. You will start to hit your drives farther, and you will hit the rest of your clubs with more authority as well. We aren't pretending that this will be an easy thing to learn, as it is one of the trickiest skills in golf to get just right. However, when you do get it right, you will be rewarded with impressive distance and clean ball striking. It is exciting to have the chance to make a major improvement in your game, and learning to hold the angle is just such a chance. Good luck!