On the PGA Tour, the average professional golfers are trying to hit drivers with a high trajectory and minimal spin. This allows for less side spin and backspin and more rollout when it lands. There are some tips you can pick up from them that will help you hit some high bombing drives and be the envy of your group.Â
I worked with Butch Harmon’s son, Claude Harmon III, for a little while down at his facility north of Jupiter, FL. As I had been working out a lot, it created the need to make sure I was still fundamentally sound with my swing. Normally, we would work on honing in the iron game, but then my driver swing started to get unreliable.Â
What we found on the video will highlight a few points from this article. As I had gotten stronger, my swing got slightly shorter. This created a different transition and release which meant a lower trajectory with a weak left to right tendency. I also had some lower back pain that caused me to come out of some shots. What we worked on for the next three hours can help you hit higher, longer drives that are more likely to find the fairway.Â
So what did we do to fix it that can help you? The first thing Claude did was take the longest tee he could find and teed the ball up as high as possible. He told me to hit the ball as high as possible. What actually happened was the ball flew dead straight and had a perfect trajectory. What he corrected was the release of the golf club. The proper release is when the right hand (for a righty) travels underneath the other hand. Too many people try to rotate their forearms to square the club which leads to inconsistency and a slice.Â
Once we fixed the release, we worked on staying in the shot or holding my posture. To do that, Claude held a club under my chin and the goal was to have my left shoulder rotate underneath on the backswing and my right shoulder to travel underneath on the downswing. This forces you to stay in the shot which is key to consistently squaring the clubface.Â
The third item we worked on was the role of the lower body. Like many golfers, I was not using my hips and legs to my advantage. They were tight and static and our goal was to get to a point where I could maintain the width of my knees in my golf swing. This helps your swing stay on plane and guides you to hitting up on the ball. To do this, Claude put a club touching the inside of my right knee (again, I’m a righty). The goal was to rotate and not hit the club in the downswing. If I hit the club, I shifted too much laterally and lost consistency.