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Joel Tadman talks through six gear hacks that have the potential to generate more distance for you off the tee!
Transcript
00:00Now, we all want to hit the golf ball a little bit further.
00:02The stats tell us that that is the quickest way
00:04to lower scores, but what if I told you
00:06there were six easy ways you could get more distance
00:09out of your driver without changing your swing
00:12or without taking expensive lessons?
00:14Well, that's what we're gonna cover in this video.
00:16I'm on the driving range here
00:17at the beautiful Gogmogog Golf Club.
00:18It's gonna talk you through six gear hacks
00:21that are gonna give you more distance.
00:22So, without further ado, let's get started.
00:26Now, the first gear hack for more distance,
00:27and arguably the easiest to implement,
00:30I think, is just raising the tee height of your golf ball.
00:32So, typically, amateur golfers tend to tee the ball
00:34quite low with the driver, and that encourages
00:37an attack angle that is too steep into the golf ball.
00:39It's gonna generate a lot of spin,
00:41and it also causes the path to often come out to in.
00:44So, going too far to the left is gonna cause a slice
00:47and rob you of distance by implementing
00:48a glancing blow on the golf ball.
00:50So, with the tee height, raise it up a little bit.
00:52Try and have at least half the ball
00:54above the crown of the driver.
00:55That's gonna encourage more of an upward hit
00:58on the golf ball, and that increases
01:00the speed of the launch, and it also reduces spin.
01:01That's a recipe for more distance with your driver.
01:03One thing to think about, if you do change
01:05your delivery into the golf ball,
01:07and you have more of an upward attack angle,
01:09you might wanna think about reducing
01:10the loft of your driver.
01:11You've got long drivers, they have, you know,
01:13two to three degrees of loft on their driver
01:15because they hit up on the ball so much.
01:17So, you might need to tweak the loft
01:19to get the best results if you do raise your tee height,
01:22but if you have half that ball above the crown
01:24of the driver, it should lead to longer drives.
01:30Now, the second gear hack, we kind of already
01:32mentioned it in the first one, it's all down
01:34to adjusting the loft of your driver.
01:35Most drivers these days are adjustable
01:38for loft via the hosel, and while I would recommend
01:41doing this in consultation with a PGA Pro,
01:43there are some gains that you can make
01:45by adjusting the loft of the driver,
01:47not only to suit a change in your swing,
01:49but also the conditions that you typically play.
01:51And if you're changing golf courses a lot,
01:54it might be worth making tweaks to the loft
01:55of your driver to increase that distance potential.
01:57For example, if the conditions of the course
02:00that you're playing are quite wet
02:02and there's not much run out, you might want
02:04to think about adding a little bit of loft
02:06to give you a little bit more height
02:07and a little bit more spin, which can increase
02:09your carry distance through the air.
02:11And obviously, yes, you're not gonna get
02:12as much roll out, but the conditions are gonna negate that.
02:14So, that's one way you can get more distance.
02:16On the flip side of that, if your course
02:18is quite firm or quite windy, you wanna keep
02:21the ball flight down, lowering the loft
02:23will give you lower launch, lower spin,
02:25a lower ball flight, and that should help
02:28you get more run on your drives
02:29and therefore more distance.
02:30And if it's keeping it down below the wind,
02:32it should also help accuracy as well.
02:34So, play around with the loft again,
02:36get on the driving range, think about
02:37the conditions that you're playing in,
02:39make that tweak to that ball flight,
02:41and it should give you more distance.
02:43Now, while most modern premium drivers
02:45are adjustable for loft, a lot of them
02:47also have adjustability in terms of weight settings
02:49within their head, whether it's at the back
02:51or interchangeable weights on the front.
02:53There's different ways you can move weight around
02:55to give you more distance potential.
02:57Most drivers that you get fitted for,
02:59you often just leave the weight settings
03:01where they were, but there are ways
03:02you can change it to give you more distance potential.
03:05So, for example, on adjustable drivers,
03:07you might better move more weight
03:08into the forward position of the head.
03:10That's gonna give you a lower center of gravity,
03:12gonna lower the spin, it's gonna give you
03:14more ball speed and distance.
03:16Yes, you might also see a reduction
03:18in your accuracy because of that less forgiving setting,
03:21but it's definitely a way you can achieve
03:22more ball speed and distance.
03:24Another way you should be able to get
03:27more distance via sliding weights that move laterally
03:29is by getting the weight more aligned
03:31with your common strike location.
03:33So if you know that you're hitting the ball
03:34a lot in the toe portion of the face of your driver,
03:37having more weight in the toe is gonna get
03:39more mass behind where you're striking the ball,
03:41and that's gonna give you more ball speed
03:43and hopefully more distance.
03:44So really think about whether your strike pattern
03:47is moving around, especially if it's moving around
03:49based on where it was when you got fitted.
03:50It might mean that you need to make a change
03:53to give you a little bit more stability
03:54and distance from your driver.
03:56So think about the movable weight options within the head.
03:58Could give you more distance overall.
04:01Now one pretty simple gear hack that's gonna give you
04:04more club head speed and therefore more distance potential
04:06is to lengthen the shaft.
04:08We've seen the governing bodies out on tour
04:10reduce the maximum shaft length from 48 down to 46 inches,
04:15and that's because they know a longer shaft
04:17will give people more club head speed
04:19and therefore more distance,
04:20and they're trying to counteract that.
04:22You think about the longer the shaft,
04:24the further the club head is away from your hand,
04:26the more distance it's traveling,
04:27therefore it's got more time to generate more speed.
04:30So definitely something to consider.
04:32We see stock shaft lengths going up a little bit
04:35often with generation and generation of product launches.
04:38So think about what length of your shaft is.
04:41Definitely a longer shaft will give you
04:42more speed potential.
04:43The only caveat to it is you may well have a reduction
04:46in the control and the delivery of the club face.
04:48For example, this driver shaft that I've got
04:51is actually a little bit shorter than the one I had before
04:53because I wanted to have a little bit more control
04:55of the direction the golf ball was going.
04:57So it's definitely a trade-off.
04:59So while a longer shaft might see you lose
05:01a little bit of control of where your golf ball is going,
05:04it's definitely gonna help you increase your club head speed
05:07and therefore give you potential for more distance.
05:15Another gear hack that might help you
05:17get a little bit more distance without changing your swing
05:19is to opt for lighter components within your club,
05:22especially the grip.
05:24We see often grips can come in at standard
05:26around 50 to 60 grams,
05:28and there are lightweight options out there
05:30that might help you reduce the overall weight of the club
05:33and help you swing it faster.
05:34Generally speaking, the lighter something is,
05:36the easier it is to move.
05:37There are some caveats to that.
05:38Obviously it will affect the swing weight
05:40and there is an area of diminishing returns
05:42when you're taking weight out.
05:44They might get to a point where actually
05:45it's more difficult to swing faster,
05:47but definitely experiment with potentially
05:49trying a lighter grip,
05:50maybe taking a little bit of weight out of the shaft.
05:53That might help you swing the club a little bit more faster
05:56and therefore translate into a bit more distance.
05:59And the final gear hack to give you more distance,
06:01it comes down to these golf balls,
06:03and specifically changing into
06:05a more distance-orientated golf ball,
06:07one that's typically a two or a three piece,
06:10often has an Ionoma or a Cerlin cover,
06:12and certainly has a higher compression
06:14than most golf balls out there.
06:15That's gonna give you more ball speed,
06:18more distance, often lower spin as well.
06:20Yes, it does have a firmer feel,
06:22so you're gonna be sacrificing control
06:24in and around the greens,
06:25but if distance, again, is your number one priority,
06:28switching golf balls is a really easy way to achieve that.
06:30And don't forget, the rules of golf allow you
06:33to change, make a model of golf ball
06:35on every hole that you're playing.
06:36So every tee shot, you can switch into
06:39a more distance-orientated golf ball
06:40on a par four or a par five.
06:42It's gonna give you more potential
06:43of getting on the green in two
06:45or on a par five, reaching the green in two
06:47and give you a better chance for birdie.
06:49So take advantage of that rule in golf,
06:50switch the golf balls if you want to
06:52on an appropriate hole.
06:53But generally speaking, a distance golf ball,
06:55a firmer golf ball, is gonna give you
06:57a bit more distance, and as an added benefit,
06:59they tend to be a little bit cheaper as well.
07:01So there you have it, six quick and easy gear hacks
07:04that could potentially give you more distance.
07:06I hope you enjoyed this video.
07:07Do comment down below.
07:08Are there any that I've missed?
07:10Is there any that you're really excited to try?
07:11I'd love to hear from you, but hopefully
07:13you've taken away one or two really good pointers
07:16that you're gonna implement in your own games
07:18and that's gonna give you more distance off tee.
07:20But that's all from me from the range here
07:22at Gogmogog Golf Club in Cambridgeshire.
07:23I'll see you next time.