GOLF TIPS: Focus on extension in your swing to hit the ball farther
Instruction

GOLF TIPS: Focus on extension in your swing to hit the ball farther

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Do you ever ask yourself how tour players generate a swing with such effortless power? It’s like they aren’t even swinging hard, yet the ball still goes a mile.

Tour pros are able to harness such power mechanically, much like LDRIC the Golf Robot.

Make no mistake about it, they are swinging the club very hard, but the difference is how they are doing it versus how amateurs are doing it.

The thing they do is create extension...A LOT of extension!

When talking about extension, we are talking about the distance the hands and arms move away from the body throughout the arc of the swing. This is where the effortless power begins to harness itself. The further the hands and arms move away from the body, the tighter the muscles in your body wind up like a rubber band.

The easiest swing thought to think about is to have the arm furthest away from the target stay on top during the backswing. If you’re a right-handed golfer, focus on your right arm staying on top of your left arm throughout the takeaway. (Left arm on top of right for the southpaws.) The right arm will eventually collapse and fold to create a right angle but the longer you can keep it on top of the left, the more extension you will create.

A common tendency for amateur players is to roll the hands at takeaway. This creates a laundry list of issues that need to be avoided all together. Ideally, if a golfer can get from the takeaway to halfway through the backswing with the trailing arm over top the lead arm, we’ll be on our way to generating power like the guys do on TV. The longer we do that, the longer the club stays on plane, the longer the club face stays square to the ball and the more effortless power we generate.

Seth Hill is a contributor at Golf News Net and an instructor at Hozl, a golf instruction company based in Austin, TX that offers a personal swing coach at an affordable price. 

About the author

Seth Hill