The three biggest mistakes amateur golfers make when trying to hit the ball longer with their driver

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Ask any amateur golfer what they would like to do more than anything else and most of them will say that their dream is to carry the ball 300 yards or more with their driver.

Now, that simply isn’t possible for the vast majority of amateurs but gaining extra yards off the tee is certainly a realistic prospect for everyone.

Amateur golfers obviously want to get their handicaps down but the idea of hitting longer drives always has been something that appeals to the masses.

• Read also: How mid-handicap golfers can get down to single digits by making three very small changes

Taking into account the evolution of the game over the past decade or so, distance off the tee is now arguably the most important attribute a player can possess.

However, in an effort to gain more speed and to hit the ball harder, the majority of amateur golfers actually waste a lot of energy before they even reach the impact position.

The key is to store up as much energy as possible before unloading at just the right time. So let’s take a look at three different areas where you can make quick improvements.

Hopefully you’ll be able to start sending the ball longer off the tee in no time.

*Antony Martin is a former professional golfer, who played professionally on the Moonlight Golf Tour and the Grey Goose Gateway Tour in the United States in the early 2000s, winning three times. He competed against numerous big name players including Graeme McDowell in US Open qualifying and 2018 Pebble Beach Pro-Am winner Ted Potter Junior. Before turning pro, he held a career-low handicap of +4 and represented the county of Essex and England schoolboys. He now writes about the sport for a living.

Three biggest mistakes amateurs make when trying to hit longer drives

The good news here is that hitting the ball longer off the tee isn’t actually that difficult, as long as you know what you shouldn’t be doing.

Here are some of the common mistakes amateur golfers make when trying to rip it off the tee…

Big muscles create speed not the small ones

The most common mistake amateur golfers make when trying to gain distance off the tee is trying to generate speed by swinging their arms faster.

They usually rush their swing from the top, thrashing down towards the ball, without having completed their backswing.

The best thing you can do in order to create more speed is to give yourself time to fully complete your shoulder turn, before driving your lead knee down towards the ground – that should be what initiates your downswing.

Rather than casting your club from the top like a fishing rod, try to hold the angle between your wrists and the shaft of your driver for as long as you can, before releasing with a quick snap just before impact. The best training aid for this is an impact bag as it will help you get accustomed to the feeling of where you need to be at impact.

Hit up on your driver to create less spin and more distance

Far too many amateurs hit down on their drives with a choppy, over the top motion.

All this movement does is create a left to right ball flight (for right-handed golfers) and more backspin.

The key to sending your drives longer through the air is to tee up your ball higher, move it further forward in your stance and ensure that your lead shoulder sits higher than your trail shoulder.

This will then allow you to sweep your ball off the tee and you’ll notice that you create less spin in the process. That’s the way that modern drivers are designed to be hit.

Tommy Fleetwood recently shared a great drill to help you with this. All you have to do is place a tee a few inches in front of your ball and the goal is to miss the tee on your follow through.

The more you practice this drill, the less you will hit the tee in front of your ball and subsequently, you will start to hit longer and straighter drives.

Relaxed grip and a slow takeaway to load up and generate speed

In an effort to hit their drives longer, many amateurs are frozen to the spot when standing over the ball due to the fact that they are holding onto their club with a vice-like grip.

The tighter the grip, the less freedom there is to create an angle between your wrists and your driver shaft.

This then prevents you from swinging with any kind of athleticism. Can you imagine an MLB pitcher throwing the ball with a stiff arm? Or an NBA player attempting a three point shot with rigid wrists?

The answer to those questions is obviously no. Lighten up your grip pressure to allow more freedom of movement on the backswing.

That will also allow your takeaway to be smoother, wider and slower as you load up onto your trail side and store as much kinetic energy as possible.

A good drill to help you with this is to place a towel under your lead armpit. The goal is to hit your shot without the towel dropping to the ground. This will ensure that your arms and your body remain as one unit throughout the swing.

If the towel drops from your armpit, it means that your arms have outraced your body on your backswing, which is never a good thing.

If you’re an amateur golfer and you make any of the mistakes listed above, you now have some very simple drills to help your correct them.

So get out there and start the journey towards hitting longer tee shots!