Powerful drives begin with the address position. You need relaxed arms and a wide stance to allow for a big upper-body coil and a wide backswing. Then, during the downswing, you are applying pressure to the ground, transferring the energy you created in the backswing through your legs, up to the arms and upper body, so it reaches the clubhead. That’s what we mean when we say that power comes from the ground.
Shoulder Rotation
Not every golfer is built the same, and not everyone has the same flexibility. Ideally, however, you want as much shoulder rotation as possible. I think it’s possible to over-rotate if you are hyper-flexible, but, generally, you are looking to rotate your upper body as much as possible against a hip rotation of between maybe 30° and 50°. If you can do this, you are producing a really good coil and you’ll be storing lots of power at the top of the backswing. With this coil, your weight should be on the back foot at the top, then on the way down, the moment of maximum speed comes as you transfer your weight back through.
Get Behind the Ball
If you take a photo of yourself at impact, you should see a straight line from your left shoulder through your left arm, the shaft and all the way to the ball. This means you’re in a good position. You also want a straight, or just short of straight, left leg, which means you have pushed yourself from the ground. The other thing you want is for your body to be slightly behind the ball – this helps you hit upwards to generate a higher launch, attacking from inside the ball-to-target line.
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