Bombs Away: How to Hit Longer Drives
Bombs Away: How to Hit Longer Drives
One of the most sought after skills in golf is the ability to hit the long ball. There are few better feelings than hitting your drive well past the other members of your group. In order to do so, there are 3 key elements that come into play that can help you take your distance to the next level. This includes factors such as club fitting, swing optimization through work with a teaching professional, and power training which incorporates speed, strength, and mobility together.
Players will frequently invest time and money into new equipment and swing lessons, but little consideration goes into training their body. Consider it similar to investing money into a sports car with a new paint job and fully detailed, but the car has no engine. The body is the engine which enables the golf swing to take place. Your body is the most important piece of equipment you have, yet many people do not place nearly as much time and effort into their fitness as they should. This tends to result in poor distance and all sorts of pain trying to swing as hard as possible. Golfers may frequently experience injuries to the neck, back, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, or ankles in an effort to get more distance out of their swing without addressing the underlying issue which is their physical fitness.
What does improving one’s fitness in order to hit the ball further look like? It requires a diverse approach to training in order to help develop power. Power is a combination of strength and speed, so both elements must be trained in order to improve one’s power. For example, strength can be improved through resistance training with weights, whereas speed is trained with lighter resistance and a focus on performing exercises rapidly. Speed and strength training can also be combined through plyometric exercises which have an emphasis on explosive movements. Lastly, mobility training can be performed in order to allow for greater range of motion while simultaneously reducing one’s risk of injury. Mobility throughout the body, especially the hips, spine, and shoulders allows the golfer to take a longer and wider backswing which will equate to more distance.
At Impact PTP, we are Titleist Performance Institute certified doctors of physical therapy that specialize in golf injury rehabilitation and performance. We also offer 3D motion capture swing analysis to help us identify the root cause of what is causing you pain and limiting your ability to hit the ball as far as you would like. If you would like to hit the ball further or just want to be able to play golf without pain, then give us a call or schedule an appointment online.
Dr. Ryan Stuhr, PT, DPT
Titleist Performance Institute Certified
Phone: (949) 409-1339
E-mail: [email protected]
27071 Cabot Rd #121, Laguna Hills, CA 92653