Relax the Arms to Maximize Distance, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Relax the Arms to Maximize Distance, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

If you feel that you are not maximizing the distance that you should be hitting the golf ball, you also feel that the harder you try, the shorter the shot gets. The problem could be that you are just getting too tense particularly in your hands, forearms and shoulders. And actually relaxing the hands and the arms through the impact area is one of the biggest things that actually give us the distance. So if you are grabbing the golf club too tightly, squeezing with the forearms and the shoulders, it doesn’t matter how fast you turn your body, you won’t be getting that width and that lag through the impact area that you should be doing.

So here is a couple of checkpoints for you. In your address position, just start off and monitor how tightly you are holding on to the golf club. The easiest way to do this is grab the club as tight as you possibly can and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze, a number to that is a 10. And then just countdown 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, slowly releasing the grip until you get to a 1 where you would actually just let that hands to go, so you have got any strangling it, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 is letting it go. And then grip the club with about a 4 or 5 so quite a soft grip pressure. You want to be holding on to the golf club so yes it’s not going to pull out to your hands but likewise you don’t need to be strangling it. If you can feel tension building in your forearms and your shoulders it’s a key sign that you are holding the club too much. From this position I have got the golf club nice and lose maybe even just playing with my finger a little bit about just to keep it nice and relaxed, I then have a little pre-shot waggle just a little movement and again the same thing it just stops me locking my hands out too much. So a little bit of a waggle, a little bit of softness in the wrist, then I can go ahead and make my swing.

And as I come through the golf ball, here I really want to feel that the club is pulling my hands forwards, I am nicely relaxed, letting the club pull me forward rather than fighting the club and pulling it back in which gives lot of tension, gives this chicken wing positions through the top arm here which is a very awkward position and often what we see when people are tense it doesn’t let the club head release and sort of kills you and saps your power. So through the golf ball let the hands and arms relax and release and you will generate more power. So a grip pressure, a nice little waggle and then release the golf club as quickly as you can and hopefully that will maximize your efficiency and maximize your distance.

 2012-07-12

If you feel that you are not maximizing the distance that you should be hitting the golf ball, you also feel that the harder you try, the shorter the shot gets. The problem could be that you are just getting too tense particularly in your hands, forearms and shoulders. And actually relaxing the hands and the arms through the impact area is one of the biggest things that actually give us the distance. So if you are grabbing the golf club too tightly, squeezing with the forearms and the shoulders, it doesn’t matter how fast you turn your body, you won’t be getting that width and that lag through the impact area that you should be doing.

So here is a couple of checkpoints for you. In your address position, just start off and monitor how tightly you are holding on to the golf club. The easiest way to do this is grab the club as tight as you possibly can and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze, a number to that is a 10. And then just countdown 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, slowly releasing the grip until you get to a 1 where you would actually just let that hands to go, so you have got any strangling it, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 is letting it go. And then grip the club with about a 4 or 5 so quite a soft grip pressure. You want to be holding on to the golf club so yes it’s not going to pull out to your hands but likewise you don’t need to be strangling it. If you can feel tension building in your forearms and your shoulders it’s a key sign that you are holding the club too much. From this position I have got the golf club nice and lose maybe even just playing with my finger a little bit about just to keep it nice and relaxed, I then have a little pre-shot waggle just a little movement and again the same thing it just stops me locking my hands out too much. So a little bit of a waggle, a little bit of softness in the wrist, then I can go ahead and make my swing.

And as I come through the golf ball, here I really want to feel that the club is pulling my hands forwards, I am nicely relaxed, letting the club pull me forward rather than fighting the club and pulling it back in which gives lot of tension, gives this chicken wing positions through the top arm here which is a very awkward position and often what we see when people are tense it doesn’t let the club head release and sort of kills you and saps your power. So through the golf ball let the hands and arms relax and release and you will generate more power. So a grip pressure, a nice little waggle and then release the golf club as quickly as you can and hopefully that will maximize your efficiency and maximize your distance.