If you spend any time hanging around your local driving range, you are likely to see a long line of golfers trying to do one thing more than any other – hit the ball as far as possible.

Golfers, in general, are obsessed with distance. Despite the fact that this game tends to reward accuracy rather than sheer power, many players just can’t help themselves when it comes to striving for every possible yard.

Of course, this phenomenon is seen mostly with the driver, which is the club that the average player associates with power. Launching a long drive off the tee is a sure way to impress your friends or playing partners. And, to be sure, those long drives are more than just a way to show off – hitting the ball a long way can help to make the game much easier. If you are able to blend power with control, you’ll find yourself playing plenty of short approach shots from the middle of the fairway. Golf is never easy, but it certainly gets a lot easier when you have simple approaches into the greens.

In this article, we are going to offer some advice on how you can increase your club head speed with the driver. As you would probably guess, increasing your club head speed is going to have a direct impact on how far you are able to hit the ball. Even picking up just a few miles per hour of speed can make a noticeable difference in terms of your driving distance.

When the average golfer heads to the range with the goal of hitting longer drives, he or she usually just tries to swing harder. That isn’t going to get the job done. Golf is not a game which rewards sheer effort, so you can forget about just flexing your muscles and trying to force the club through the ball. If you want to be successful in your quest for additional speed through the hitting area, you need to look to your technique. Refining your technique is the only way to get it done. Have you ever noticed how professional golfers seem to make effortless swings while launching the ball more than 300 yards in the air? They are able to achieve such a feat because they have efficient, technically-sound golf swings. You might not ever reach that level, but you can improve your driving distance by fine-tuning parts of your swing which may be out of whack at the moment.

Before we get started, it is important to mention that you shouldn’t take on too many swing changes at one time. If you try to change three or four different parts of your swing all at once, you are going to become overwhelmed and you may just give up before you make any progress. The best way to improve is to take this one step at a time. Pick out something in your swing that needs improvement and work on it until you are happy with the progress you have made. At that point, you can then move on to another element. In time, you’ll be able to transform your swing, but you won’t be overwhelmed like you would if you tried to do everything all at once.

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 Swing Speed Mistakes

Rather than starting this article by telling you what you can do to create speed in your swing, we are going to go the other way and talk about where many amateur golfers lose speed. There are a few mistakes which are extremely common in the amateur game and making even one of these mistakes will mean that you are going to come up short of your power potential. As you read through the list below, think about your own swing and try to determine whether or not you are guilty of any of these errors.

• Casting from the top. Let’s get the big one out of the way first. This is where many golfers lose a great deal of their swing speed – and once it’s lost at the top, there is no way to get it back. What does it mean to ‘cast’ the club at the top of the swing? Basically, the issue here is giving up the angle between your left arm and the shaft of the club prematurely. There should be a roughly 90* angle between your left arm and the club shaft when you get to the top of the swing, and you want to hold that angle for as long as you can into the downswing. Professionals are great at holding this angle – amateurs, not so much. The average player gives up most of this angle immediately upon transitioning into the downswing. When the angle is lost, the potential for developing swing speed goes along with it. You’d like to use that angle at the bottom of the swing as your final act of power before the club strikes the ball. Unleashing the angle at the bottom is a powerful move – but it only is possible if you hang onto the angle until that point. Give up the angle at the top and you are destined to fall short of your power potential.
• Cutting the backswing short. It is not necessary to make an enormous turn away from the ball in order to hit powerful golf shots. Some players obsess about being able to make a big shoulder turn, but that simply isn’t a requirement. Sure, some players find success with a big turn, but other golfers do just fine without getting back that far. If you happen to be somewhat inflexible and you are unable to make a turn which matches up with some of your playing partners, don’t worry about it. The key here is to simply finish your own backswing completely – whatever that may look like – each and every time. If you make the mistake of cutting your backswing short, you will be robbing yourself of club head speed. Most often, players cut their backswing short because they are nervous and in a rush to get the shot over with. Obviously, this is not an ideal situation. You need to be patient enough on the course to let your swing develop naturally, and you should only start down toward the ball when you are sure your backswing has finished.
• Guiding the club through impact. Golf can be a cruel game. You can do everything right all the way through your swing, only to lose a much of club head speed at the last moment if you decide to ‘guide’ the club through the ball. Players who guide the club are basically trying to steer the shot into the fairway. In the moment, you will feel like you are doing the right thing. You just want to keep your ball in play, so you back off on some of the speed in an effort to guide the shot. The problem with this plan is simple – it doesn’t work. The golf swing tends to fall apart if you ‘chicken out’ at the last moment and slow down your swing. The far better option is to remain confident and aggressive all the way through the ball and into the finish. This will not only allow you to live up to your distance potential with the driver, but it will also make it more likely that you’ll hit the fairway when all is said and done.
• Using a shaft which is too stiff. This is not a swing mistake, but rather an equipment error. If you use a driver shaft which is too stiff (or too heavy) for the dynamics of your swing, you are going to miss out on potential swing speed. Unfortunately, this is an extremely common mistake. Many golfers make this mistake because they are trying to use the same equipment that they see used by their favorite professional golfer each weekend. Pros tend to use extra-stiff flex shafts in their drivers, and they are able to hit long drives on a routine basis. So, shouldn’t you do the same? Absolutely not. Your swing almost certainly does not have the same dynamics as one of the top pros. You need to pick out a club which is a good match for your swing. That will probably mean using either a ‘regular’ or ‘stiff’ flex. Later in the article, we will talk about how you can use technology to find the right club and improve your swing speed.

If you can successfully avoid the mistakes listed above, you will be well on your way to having plenty of swing speed available through the hitting area. Take some time to analyze your current swing technique and find spots that are ripe for improvement.

Building a Foundation for Speed

A big part of your success or failure with the driver is going to come down to what you do before the swing even begins. Building a foundation for speed means you are doing things with your address position that will promote a fast, powerful move through the ball later on. Many golfers ignore the importance of the address position – probably because it is rather boring to work on – and instead focus only on the swing itself. You stand to make great progress if you can focus in on the value of your stance and make meaningful improvements going forward.

The first thing to think about with regard to your stance is the flex in your knees. ‘Bend your knees’ is a tip you’ve probably heard many times before, but there is a reason that it’s a popular tip – it works. You want to set up over the ball with plenty of flex in your knees, and you want to maintain that flex to the best of your ability through the swing. By flexing your knees, you will be engaging the big muscles in your legs, and those muscles have a lot to offer your swing as it develops. A golfer who stands straight-legged over the ball will only be able to swing the club back and forth with the upper body, and that is no way to generate any kind of power.

In addition to bending your knees, you also need to make sure that you are properly positioned in relation to the ball. When preparing to hit a driver, you want the ball well forward in your stance, so you have plenty of room to rotate behind it and unleash all of your power at impact. For most players, lining up with the ball just inside the left foot is the best spot, but feel free to experiment until you find a good position for you. Also, remember that ball position is more than just how far forward or back you place the ball in your stance. You need to be the right distance away from the ball as well. Try to find a spot where you don’t feel like you are reaching out awkwardly, but you also don’t feel crowded. Again here, experimentation is going to be your friend. Work on this point on the range and settle on a spot that feels comfortable as you make your swing.

The last point we would like to make in this section has to do with balance. You really can’t have a discussion on any part of the golf swing without talking about balance for at least a moment. Simply put, it’s nearly impossible to play good golf when you aren’t balanced. You need to be balanced at the start of the swing, and you need to remain balanced all the way through to the finish. When getting ready to hit a drive, pay attention to your balance and do your best to distribute your weight evenly between your two feet. You should feel grounded, stable, and comfortable when the swing begins.

Using Technology

At this point, we are going to swing back around to talk about the importance of using the right equipment. While you don’t want to be a golfer who is always blaming his or her gear for a poor shot, it is important to have the right clubs. If your driver is not a good fit for your swing, it’s inevitable that you are going to struggle to produce good results.

Thankfully, as a golfer playing in the 21st century, you have a tremendous amount of technology at your disposal. You don’t have to wonder if you are using the right club, because you can enlist the help of a launch monitor to figure it out. Most golf facilities have both a launch monitor and a professional on staff who knows how to work the equipment and relay the results to the player. If you are serious about maximizing the performance you get from your driver, consider scheduling a club fitting session at a local golf facility sometime soon.

When you go for your fitting, don’t fall into some of the common traps that catch other players. One of the big issues is trying to ‘impress’ the computer or the pro who is working with you on the fitting. Some golfers will swing extra hard during their fitting, trying to put up the biggest numbers possible on the computer. This is silly and is going to invalidate most of what you are doing. The best thing you can do is to make your normal swing. That is the swing you will be using on the course, and that is the swing which needs to be measured. Set your ego to the side and simply make a standard golf swing throughout the fitting session.

Another trap which often makes for a problematic fitting is when the player thinks that he or she knows more than the pro. Remember, this is something that the golf pro does on a regular basis, often several times per day. He or she knows how to work the computer and knows how to interpret the results. You should feel free to ask questions, of course, but don’t assume that you know everything before you even get started. Be open minded and respectful of the knowledge that the professional has in this field.

Do you have to go through a fitting session in order to hit good drives? No. You could simply purchase a club off the shelves and hope that it works nicely with your swing. However, given the relatively modest cost of a fitting session, and the fact that it usually takes less than an hour to complete, you have a lot to gain and very little to lose. Many golfers who go through a driver fitting only regret the fact that they didn’t do it sooner.

Taking Your New Power to the Course

In this last section, we are going to assume that you are able to successfully increase your swing speed with the driver. That’s great! You’ll be launching longer drives and impressing your friends in rounds to come. And your scores will go down as a result, right? Well… maybe not. Plenty of golfers have been able to improve their driver swing speed only to find out that lower scores don’t automatically come along for the ride. With the tips below, we hope that we’ll be able to help you actually turn your newfound power into improved scoring.

• Put the driver away. That’s right – the first tip we are going to offer is to hit fewer drivers during an average round. If you have managed to improve your driver swing speed, there is a good chance you are swinging faster with your other clubs, as well. So, for instance, you can probably hit your three wood a respectable distance, meaning it can be used effectively from the tee. Instead of always using your driver – and taking on the risk that comes with it – try hitting your three wood on some of the shorter par fours. You should have improved control and still enough distance to get the job done. There will be a time and place to put your driver into action, but don’t force yourself to use it on every par four and par five. Pick and choose your spots and place an emphasis on putting the ball in play.
• Think ahead. Let’s imagine that you are playing a short par four during an upcoming round. The hole is only 300 yards long, so it’s quite a modest distance by any standard. Previously, you would hit your driver 220-yards, and you’d be able to hit a nice approach shot from 80-yards into the green. Now, however, you are hitting your driver 250-yards. If you go ahead with the driver, you are going to be left with an awkward 50-yard pitch. No golfer likes that shot. If you think ahead and realize your driver would put you in a bad spot, you can choose a shorter club from the tee to avoid such a problematic approach.
• Stick with one ball flight. If you watch golf on TV, you might think that you need to work the ball in both directions with your driver, based on the design of the hole you are playing. That’s a great skill for professionals, but not something you should be worried about. To put the ball in play as often as possible, stick with the ball flight that is most consistent in your game. Most of the time, you’ll be able to find a way to make your natural ball flight work on a hole, even if it might not be a perfect fit.

Increasing your club head speed with the driver is a great thing, but it does not automatically guarantee that you will shoot lower scores. We hope the advice in this article will help you move in the right direction, and we hope longer drives are in your future. Good luck!

How can I increase my club head speed with my golf drive? Now the first thing to say if you want to increase your club head speed with the driver, this is all about distance. It’s not very often that you’ll increase your club head speed and increase accuracy, so just be careful what you wish for. If you increase your club head speed you will hit the ball further but you could hit it more offline. You got to consider would you rather be slightly shorter within the fairway or slightly longer and maybe in the semi rough. But if you can increase the accuracy as well as the club head speed, then that is the best of both worlds.

If you want to increase club head speed specifically there are quite a few things you can do to actually increase. Now what we’ll do kind of in this tip is just to really exaggerate some of the movements that you need to make; namely a massive shoulder turn going back, a massive hit turn coming through, and a big extension of the arms and the club down towards the target. Now this isn’t about kind of making the prettiest golf swing this is just about making the fastest golf swing that you can do.

So get set up with that ball just inside the left hill, a strong setup with a strong posture, get the club moving on a wide arc, push it low and slow, and wide to the ground, try and get those hands as far away from the right shoulder as you can at the top of the swing. Now that is going to create a very wide swing arc. From there, turn and rotate the hips, bumping the weight a little bit forward, but turn and rotate as much as you can up until the point of impact.

Now what that’s going to do it’s going to cause a bit of a coil and almost a whip lash effect with the upper body. The body half – the lower half will spin, the upper half will come along for the ride, and it will increase, and increase, and increase the club head speed up until the point of impact. And to add that extra little bit of blast to the ball, as you come through extend those arms down towards the target. And if you can do that it’s going to add a little bit more punch and a little bit more power to the end of the shot. Now this might not increase accuracy but it will increase club head speed and overall distance.

So get those factors working together and you will be able to hammer that ball a lot harder than usual.