‘Why am I 35 years old, the people who I usually play golf with are over 65 and they hit the ball 40 yards past me off the tee………it’s not fair’!!!
I hear this a lot. The younger, fitter golfer gets outdriven by their older counterpart who have never possessed biceps and are a foot smaller. How can this be?
For starters, it’s a frustrating from the younger golfers point of view. It wouldn’t happen in any other sport! The older person would (rarely) beat a younger person in a 100m sprint. The younger person wouldn’t be beaten (again, rarely) in a marathon. So why is it a fairly regular occurrence that a supposedly stronger person can be many yards behind a comparatively weaker person when longer hitting takes a lot of strength?
It’s all about the two ‘T’s………. Timing and Technique. The good news is that one comes with the other. If you have the technique, the body and the movement will find its natural sequencing motion, putting all the pieces of the puzzle in the right place, allowing the club to be at maximum speed and energy where it needs to be….. at impact.
However, if one person swings the driver at 90mph and another player swings the driver at 105mph per, who will hit the ball the furthest?
If you say the 105mph swinger will hit the ball further, you would be incorrect………on some level!
“SPEED DOESN’T NECESSARILY EQUAL DISTANCE”
Speed doesn’t necessarily equal distance! Let me give you an example. If I was to hammer a large wooden stake into the ground, would I better off hammering at high speed/force hitting the stake from a horizontal angle or would I be better off striking the stake with the hammer with slightly less force/speed from a vertical angle? By far and away, you would be better off striking from the vertical angle at less force. Why? Purely on the basis the hammer when striking the stake would be ‘on plane’ in relation to the stake, compared to a very different angle if approaching the stake from horizontal. Try it. See how much energy is going into each hit from various angles.
So how does this help you hit the ball further than your playing partner who’s 40 years your senior?
Check that your club is on plane. If it’s not, it will sure eat up a lot of distance, no matter how hard you’re trying to hit the ball.