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Lengthening your golf drives is an aspect of the game every golfer wants to explore with some interest, but before doing so it is vital to make sure the fundamentals of the address position are perfect so that any swing changes can be implemented.

If extending your back swing is an area for improvement, in order to increasing the swings arc and club head speed, the fundamentals that need to be checked are:

• Posture - A good bend from the hips with a straight back with a small knee flex
• Grip - Should be relatively neutral to encourage the correct hinge of the wrists. Bowing the wrists can result in a shortened swing
• Width of stance - Should not be too wide otherwise rotation and weight transfer cannot happen adequately enough

Once these checkpoints are ticked off the list, you can now look at extending your golf swing. To do so, aim to get a full 90 degrees shoulder rotation but do not allow your hips to surpass 45 degrees of rotation to the right otherwise the tension between the two areas is lost, resulting in a weakened down swing speed. It is this tension and energy between the two areas that implement the gradual increase in club head speed during the down swing.

To practise this on the driving range, you should do the swing in two steps. First, take the swing to the top, making sure you create as much coil and tension as possible, and pause.
Start the down swing using your hips to shift the weight to the left side and rotate them towards the target, aiming to get the hips facing the target before the club head reaches impact.

This increases the club head speed by using the bodys core muscles rather than aggressively throwing the arms at the ball and actually losing speed and distance.

Allowing the left foot to lift during the back swing is not necessarily a bad thing unless the left foot lifts all the way on to its toes. This means the weight has transferred too much to the right foot which will stop the weight from being able to transition back to the left side in time for impact, causing poor striking and a loss of distance.

Allowing the hips and shoulders to work in conjunction with each other will cause the swing to lose its power because the tension and swings energy will be lost causing a slower swing speed, loss of ball striking and distance.

Guarding against any movement of the hands during the swing will not only decrease the clubs swing speed but will also hinder the swing from finishing at the top of the back swing due to the movements the body needs to make to ensure the left arm finishes its rotation to the top of the swing.