While it’s important to work on lots of areas of your game throughout the autumn and winter, the driving range is the perfect place to develop your long game in a controlled environment with a consistent starting position.
When we think about maximising driving distance, producing an efficient ball flight – with the correct launch, decent angle and spin – is essential.
A great way to visualise how you need to launch the ball is to pop a soft obstacle – such as a folded towel – around 2ft in front of the ball. With this in position, let your instincts take over. Your weight will subconsciously shift to your right side a little more (for the right-handed golfer) and your right shoulder will move down in order to increase the launch angle and produce a ball flight which will miss the obstacle. From here, make a few swings and adjust your weight and shoulder angle until you find the ball flight for you.
You can further refine this by using a launch monitor to work on your exact launch angle, spin rate and angle of descent – and speak to a custom fitter to make sure your equipment is setup to help you create the ideal set of numbers to maximise your driving distance.
