4 Pillars of Long Drives

Hit your longest drives with Joe Miller

Contents:

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The wind causes it to rise about 6 yd higher in flight and reduces the carry distance to about yd 14 yd shorter , which is about a club and a half different. Now, let's say you hit the 7-iron on a slightly higher trajectory say 2 degrees higher or 25 degrees. This trajectory is in red in the diagram. It flies about 10 yd higher than normal and ends up carrying only yd. The green trajectory occurs with a launch angle of 21 degrees 2 degrees lower than normal. It carries about yd.

There is about a half club difference between mishitting low and high in this instance. And, this all assumes the same ball speed for all. Usually when you mishit a shot, the ball speed is lower and thus the carry distances are smaller. In effect, the wind increases the variability of your mishits which leads to more missed greens and more penalty shots due to hitting balls in hazards.

Note that these players typically hit the ball lower, mainly due to the fact that they have descending angles of attack with irons shots which delofts the club. The wind causes a variability due to the wind of about 4 yd yd carry to yd carries. Slightly lower variability because of the lower trajectories. One Club Length, Different Lofts. One length club, one set up, one swing, more consistency.

Let the club do the work. Enter the code and receive free shipping, around the world, for a limited time, so act now! Learn more about these revolutionary clubs HERE. A 3-iron is only 2 inches longer than a 7-iron. The major determiner of distance next to club speed is club loft.

3 SIMPLE TIPS TO HIT YOUR DRIVER LONGER!

Golfers hit their irons different distances because of their different lofts, not their different lengths. Revolutionize your long game! In general, the higher the trajectory, the greater the effect of the wind on the carry distance, and the greater the variability due to the wind with mishits. Players that are good wind players typically hit the ball lower than average or have the ability to modify their swings to do so and thus experience less variability in carry distances with their mishits. So, what can the player do to decrease the launch trajectory so as to minimize the effects of the wind?

Learn how to hit the ball lower hitting shots such as punch shots. This is difficult and requires changing the ball's position in your stance and swinging differently.

Most amateur players haven't a hope in hitting the ball lower by changing their swing. Use a club with lower loft than normal. You could have a full set of clubs that have say 2 to 4 degrees less loft compared to your normal clubs your 7-iron would have a loft of 31 degrees instead of 35 degrees , but his would be very expensive. The alternative is to simply use a lower lofted club from your bag. If you normally carry your 7-iron yds and need to play a shot into a headwind, then use a 6-iron or 5-iron. The actual amount depends on the speed of the wind.

I've developed a simple rule of thumb to use when playing the wind. It's a fairly simple process to estimate the speed of the wind and to get the general direction. You can then use my rule of thumb to know the effective carry distance compared to a normal shot without wind. You then select the club to carry that new distance. You would need to hit a club that would normally carry yd to carry the yd, most likely a 5-iron.

My little wind rule book explains how to easily measure the speed of the wind and then how much to adjust your carry distance compared to normal to hit your target. If you're playing a cross wind, I can tell you how much you need to aim left or right and then how far to carry, compared to normal. Putting distance variability is greatly influenced by putter face contact with the ball. If the contact is high on the face, low on the face, left side or right side, one won't have solid contact and the ball won't have sufficient speed unless you compensate by swinging harder.

Conditions for the Longest Drive

Consistently ensuring contact with the ball and face are at the "sweet spot" of the putter is essiential to distance control. What is your variability in carry distance for your clubs? This variability is increased when playing in the wind, which means you're less likely to choose the correct club to hit your target. To the left is an image from Dave Pelz's Putting Bible showing the difference between the scatter of putter face contact for a Tour Pro compared to a 30 Handicap golfer.

And, when the contact is left or right of the center, the putter face will twist open or closed causing an error in direction as well. I really encourage you to practice this winter by simply trying to make solid contact with your putter.

This will improve your distance control and your direction control. Proper alignment can be learned. It can be mastered. You just need to know how you're aligning. You need a measuring tool to let you know. Watch Phil Mickelson one of the best putters on Tour talk about putter face alignment. You need a Laser Putting Alignment System. It'll help train your eyes, hands and arms to aim the putter face correctly. So, cutting across the ball by about 6 degrees will have about the same effect as the putter face being closed by 1 degree. Take a look at the Laser Putting Device that I use and consider getting one for yourself.

What creates the variability in carry distance with the rest of your golf clubs?

What happened?

One that was not measured, however, was club face contact position contact position relative to the club's sweet spot. All of these variations result in golf ball trajectories and final shot results that vary, resulting in a scatter plot of end results. The better the golfer, the smaller the total area of the scatter plot. That way, the golfer can best estimate where to aim so as to increase the chances of getting the ball close to their target.

For most amateurs, this usually means hitting one more club than normal, especially when there is trouble water or bunker short of the target. And, it usually means aiming left or right to compensate for tendencies to hit the ball right or left. One of the things that the best players practice is trajectory control and consistency.

Hitting shot after shot so that they reach the same peak height. You'll recall from my last newsletter that for most golfers, the maximum height for each club is about the same: The 9-iron "appears" to fly higher because it reaches its maximum height soon and at a closer distance to the golfer.

Now, when you hitting balls, it's unlikely that the trajectories with any one club are consistent, even when you are hitting the ball well. For instance, say you are hitting 7-irons. You might be hitting the ball very solidly but some of the shots "seem" to fly signficantly higher than others, especially those that start right of your intended target for a right swinger.

Those significantly higher shots are likely not that much higher at all. It's all a matter of your perspective again. Recall that a shot that appears to be higher is due to a steeper launch angle. So lets say you're hitting 5-irons with an average launch angle of 15 degrees. You hit 4 in a row, solidly, and on almost the exact same trajectory at your target. Then, you hit one about 10 yards right of target assuming you are a right swinger with a push and it has a higher trajectory that "appears" to be significantly higher.

A very plausible launch angle for such a shot is 17 degrees which is only 2 degrees higher. But again, it's about perspective and comparison. Below are the trajectories for an average PGA Tour 6-iron when it with a square clubface, a 2 degree open and a 2 degree closed clubface. The golf ball heights, however, are 27 yards and 32 yards, respectively.

Golf: When to Use Which Club

There is no disputing that technology in recent years has increased how far golfers can hit the ball, especially the professionals. There is countless stories of older PGA players hitting the ball in their later years the same or farther than when they were playing in their youthful prime. There have been improvements in the golf ball as well as the golf club. This newsletter will focus on the improvements in the golf club.

Check out my last newsletter for more on the golf ball. The significant gain in distance with the Driver came with the invention of hollow, metal face "woods. This in effect increased the collision time between the club face and the ball although still very short in the order of micro-seconds , which increases the efficiency of energy transfer, resulting in higher ball speeds. The measure of efficient transfer is call the coefficient of restitution, or COR. As soon as manufacturers realized the effect, they began to experiment with larger club faces thus increasing the trampoline effect , so much so that the USGA had to place a limit on it.

The old wooden Drivers had CORs on the order of about 0. The limit set by the USGA is 0. Imagine yourself jumping on a trampoline. The flex of the trampoline tarp enables you to bounce and gain significantly more height, especially from the center. Move off towards the outer edges, and the effect is not as greater, plus, you are forced towards the center of the trampoline instead of straight up.

With the larger faces also came further distance on mis-hits when the ball doesn't make contact with the sweet spot of the Driver.

Effectively, the sweet spot size was increased, which really benefited those that have the greatest number of mis-hits higher handicappers. So, distance gained on sweet spot shots and on mis-hits, thus the average distance increase. Below is a graphic which shows those losses for a mph swing speed. Manufacturers today are experimenting with variable thickness club faces to increase the sweet spot even more. This is most beneficial to higher handicap golfers. So, if you haven't bought a new Driver in the past 5 years, I'd suggest you do so this year, even if it'one of last year's models.

But, make sure you test some Drivers using a golf ball monitor such as Trackman or Flightscope , because the launch angle and amount of backspin is crucial for maximizing your distance this is influenced with weight placement in the head to alter the center of gravity. Looking for a new start this season. How about a set of irons that are all exactly the same length and weight? You'll only need one swing and one swing plane.

If you are yards or more from the flag, a wood is the way to go. Most golfers carry a 3 wood 15 to degree loft and a 5 wood 20 to degree loft.

Irons are flexible old things; your go-to clubs when you are less than yards from the flag. The most common irons are 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. For example, a ball hit with a 5 iron will travel 10 yards further than a ball hit with a 6 iron - all else being equal.

In essence it means the closer you are to the green, the higher the iron you should use. Wedges are a special type of iron, used when you are tantalisingly close to the green. They are best for high trajectory, low distance shots. The high loft of these clubs also make them essential for playing out of trouble when your ball is buried in the rough or submerged in a bunker.

Not that you ever overcook your shots, of course. The wedges increase in loft from pitching wedge to approach wedge, lob wedge and high-lob wedge. Your putter is another one-purpose club, used for sending that ball home. Thought we were done? Hybrids are a new type of club, used by pros and amateurs alike. You see, the long irons 1, 2 and 3 are notoriously difficult to use and can make for pretty erratic shots.

Hybrids increase control without compromising distance or trajectory. Sounds good to us.

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You can search it out. Putting distance variability is greatly influenced by putter face contact with the ball. Hit 50 balls with each club and log the distance of each ball. Most players, even golf professionals, underestimate the effects of the wind. Get your day free trial. The owners of the course cite some stats on their website which I would challenge as not being correct.

Every golfer is different. Knowing which club to use is about knowing how far you hit the ball with each different club. The best way to find out? Head for the driving range. Hit 50 balls with each club and log the distance of each ball. Eliminate the longest and shortest five distances, then average the rest. Hey presto, you have your average yardage.