There was an interesting stat at Doral a couple of years ago. On the 11th hole there was a big bunker in the middle of the fairway. There was fairway short and long, so most players were laying up short. However, the stats guys looked at it and found the players who hit driver - even if they went in the bunker or missed the bunker and finished in the rough - were a lot closer to the pin with their next shot. So you gained by whacking it forward rather than laying up. On a lot of courses, the closer you can get to the green, the better. Obviously there are some layouts we play where they’ve been set up with ridiculously thick rough and firm greens, but in general, the further, the better. That shows just how important power is in the modern game.
It’s changed a lot as well. Some of the guys on Tour hit it ridiculously far. I guess I’m somewhere between the average and long hitters, and I don’t feel like distance is an issue for me. I may have hit it a bit further a few years ago when I was young and strong!
Technical Keys
If you’re leaking power through your technique, then you lose speed and you’re never getting optimum pressure on the golf ball. When you are swinging well and playing well, you feel like you have that extra bit of clubhead speed. For instance, I did some good work on the range on the Monday of Abu Dhabi week and I felt I added 10 yards to my game just because I was swinging it much better. When you are not quite on and your timing is poor, you start to try and muscle it looking for distance. That’s when you start losing power. It’s a misconception because the guys who hit it far, there are a lot of factors behind it but, they don’t go hard at it. It doesn’t look like they are throwing themselves at it and yet the ball goes far. If you have an efficient technique, you’ll put a lot of pressure on the golf ball and that’s essential for hitting longer drives, and longer shots in general.
Launch Numbers
Power is about pressurising the golf ball in the right way, because you have to have the right launch angle and spin to optimise your distance. Amateurs can be very strong – a rugby player or hockey player – and they go at it. But they put so much of the wrong spin on the ball that they are never going to get the most from it. So you are never going to be long just because you have big biceps. Getting the right loft, shaft and playing the right golf ball will all help you pick up quite a lot of distance. For me, the right launch is spin at 2,200 to 2,300 rpm, and the launch angle is around 12 degrees.
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