Introduction

In my over twenty years of teaching golf, I have learned that almost all golfers want to hit the ball longer.

Most of them express the desire to do this without expending any more effort than they currently do. And while this is completely possible by becoming more efficient, you can also increase your clubhead speed without any extra conscious feel of effort.

After getting a strong background in Kinesiology, specifically exercise physiology, I learned the science of the perfect golf swing from the legendary Mike Austin.

Mike is best known for hitting a 515 yard drive at the 1974 National Senior Open at the age of 64.

It was calculated later that Mike would have needed at least 150 mph clubhead speed to perform the feat, which is actually what pioneer photographer Doc Edgerton measured him at around 1939 in Chicago.

Of course, keep in mind the tools that were available in the early 70's – small persimmon headed drivers with heavy steel shafts. They were also 43” standard, instead of the 45” modern standard. Mike used a Titleist 100 balata ball as well, which were extremely mushy.

Most experts agree that between the modern multi-layer ball and titanium drivers with graphite shafts, professional golfers have probably picked up around 50 yards since that era.

Austin's Guinness record held up for decades as the longest drive ever struck in a round of tournament golf. Several years ago, Mighty Mike Dobbyn eclipsed it with a 539 yard blast in a Harmon Tour event – ironically also in Las Vegas. It is unknown if Guiness has put their blessing on it.

Even in his late 70's, Dr. Austin was still swinging faster than Tiger Woods in his prime – 133 mph. This not only speaks highly of his technique, but also for his longevity.

During this stage of his life he toured with the legendary 350 Club created by protege Mike Dunaway. Mike was still averaging over 310 yards per drive, while the longest hitter on the PGA Tour was only averaging around 280.

Mike lived from 1910 to 2005, and while his degrees in all applicable sciences have yet to be confirmed, somehow he amassed a PhD level of knowledge in the sciences of human movement.

Some believed that Mike's teaching was 50 years into the future. And as we near the 50 year anniversary of the 515 yard drive, technology that can measure golf swings in nearly every way imaginable is now being utilized by top teachers and players.

Trackman, Boditrak, and Gears 3d are able to measure many aspects of the swing extremely accurately. We now have a much greater insight into what the most optimal golf swing might be – and so far, Mike Austin's teachings have only been confirmed.

In my teaching career I have worked with seniors in their 80's all the way to pro long drivers who regularly smash drives over 400 yards. I can count at least 6 world champions I've measured with my Trackman launch monitor.

The following are my 50 best tips for driving the ball longer. Longer drives, for most golfers, means lower scores – this has been proven statistically. A longer tee shot could mean reaching all the holes in regulation. It might mean reaching par 5's in two shots and putting for eagle! And of course long drives impress your buddies and enable you to win bets off them.

I've had students pick up nearly 100 yards in 30 minutes with the ideas in this book, while others worked tirelessly for weeks to eke out a 15 yard increase. So needless to say, your mileage may vary.

I certainly hope some of these tips really hit home for you and get you to where you want to go with your driving. If so, I'd love to hear about your successes and exploits. Please send me an email to [email protected]. 50 Tips for Hitting Your Longest Drives Ever!

1. Grip the club across the base of the fingers, not in the palm. In the left hand (for a right handed golfer), it will feel like you're holding a hammer. You will achieve the quickest, most powerful snapping of the wrists through the ball this way.

The right hand will also sit at the base of the 3rd through 5th fingers, while the thumb and forefinger gently 'pinch' the sides of the grip.

Gripping across the palm greatly curtails the snapping or whirling motion we need for great clubhead speed, and furthermore interferes with our control over the squareness of the clubface.

2. Bend at the hips, not at the knees and certainly not at the spine in order to get the club down to the turf. This will encourage the shoulders to tilt up and down at the proper angle to ensure the correct path and plane. This will also help your chances at making solid contact.

3. Narrow up your stance. Too many golfers, especially very strong men, think that a super-sized stance will make them more powerful. However, we do most powerful motions in balance when our feet are under our hips. Look at a boxer making a knockout punch for example.

Here, Larry Holmes swings at Ali. His stance here would be perfect for a driver in golf.

4. Setup with the hips and shoulders parallel to the intended line of flight with the right shoulder slightly lower than the left.

Rather than tilting the head backwards towards the right foot to achieve the tilt, instead slide the left hip an inch target ward and flex the right knee to gently tilt the spine and drop the right shoulder and hip. This will encourage the proper under, up, and out track of the clubhead into the ball. Most golfers line up with the right shoulder too high and the shoulder line open, leading to a downward strike with the driver that cuts across from the outside in. You will lose a lot of distance setting up and swinging this way.

5. Take the club back low to the ground and on a mild inside arc. To hit a golf ball straight, the clubhead must follow an arc to the inside, and return from the inside as well.

You can place a tee 24 inches behind the ball just inside the target line and practice sweeping just over it on the way back. Allow the left shoulder to start winding under the chin early.

There are no straight lines in the golf swing – only planes and arcs. The only line in golf is the one between your ball and the flag that you're trying to hit along.

6. Always strive to swing faster on the downswing, rather than harder. Thinking 'swing hard' often translates into an attempt to be 'strong' which in turn leads to rigid muscles. Swinging 'fast' changes the image to one of supple quickness, like when you crack and whip or swat a fly.

It takes a quick explosive burst of muscle contraction to power the club down into impact. How quickly you can go from contraction towards relaxation in the hands and forearms great influences what clubhead speed you can attain.

7. Better technique will almost always provide the most substantial gains in distance, especially for the golfer who shoots above 80. I have worked with many golfers who drive over 400 yards, who can squeeze out a ton more yardage simply by making their motion more efficient. They often think they need to get stronger, or swing faster. But there is a lot more to it than that. Efficiency is king!

You should regularly review the 'textbook' fundamentals of grip and setup.

8. After technique, a comprehensive flexibility program will net you the most gains in speed and distance. Stretch all the golf muscles daily, or even twice a day, for 15 minutes. Hold the stretches for at least 30 seconds for a more permanent lengthening of the muscle. Focus especially on the back and hips. Strive for normal range of motion at all the skeletal joints. Being hyper flexible is not required to hit long, but being extremely tight often leads to short hitting.

Miguel Angel Jimenez has a pretty wacky routine but it has kept him performing at a high level into his 50's. This is a lat stretch primarily.

9. After flexibility, speed training will provide a good boost in clubhead speed and eventually distance. Practice swinging your driver without a ball as fast as you can 5 to 10 times in a row without stopping.

Purposely go beyond 'control' into 'reckless abandon'. Perform at least 3-4 sets of these 3x a week at minimum. When you're really ready to get serious, work up to 15-20 sets of 5.

You should see gains of 5-8 mph in about 6 weeks. As you get closer to elite level of clubhead speed, say above 115 mph, your gains will start to diminish. Players above 130 mph have to put in a lot more work to get just 1 more mph.

10. Weightlifting, in many cases provides only small gains in clubhead speed and golf power. Additionally, it takes weeks or months or hard work to see these gains. This is especially true at the elite level, where technique, ball contact, and supple quickness usually win.

Untrained beginners and senior golfers will get a nice benefit out of a comprehensive resistance workout program, which may also boost overall health as well.

Explosive exercises such as deadlift (pictured here), power cleans, medicine ball throws, and battle ropes or chains are among the most popular.

But don't worry too much about weightlifting for gaining speed until you have exhausted your gains from the above methods. 11. Your longest drives will usually be hit while swinging within yourself, or under control. Smooth rhythmic tempo and balance gives you your best chance of striking the ball squarely and solidly. This often trumps you highest clubhead speed swing.

Watching golfers hit on the Trackman launch monitor, it seems as though most golfers only have a small difference between their all out swing and their smooth fast swing. Sacrificing 3-4 mph of clubhead speed can often lead to gains up to 5- 10 mph of ball speed through better contact and club face timing.

12. Swing into the ball from the inside. The difference between swinging 5 degrees outside to in, or 5 degrees inside to out is approximately 25 yards at 90 mph. If you swing faster than this, you will have to rein in your path to 2 or 3 degrees or less to keep the ball straight consistently.

Most golfers swing outside to in, curtailing their distance. The tell tale sign of this pattern is hitting pulls and slices.

13. Most golfers who swing on an outside-to-in path do so because they don't release the clubhead properly with their hands, allowing the club face to square up with the target at impact.

The ball goes right, and the golfer tries to adjust to this eventuality by swinging more to the left. Of course, this just tends to make the problem worse, or at least more complex.

Combining an inside out path with a proper release for a soft draw, I've helped hundreds of students pick up 60-80 yards over their old swing.

14. Before going for a really big hit, take a deep cleansing breath before walking into your setup position. The will relax the muscles of the body, allowing you to be suppler, and as a result, quicker.

A deep breath can lower physical arousal and calm nerves on a key drive. It also tends to narrow our focus.

Build this breath into your preshot routine. After hundreds of repetitions, it will slowly become a reflex that you don't even think about.

15. As you set up to the ball, stay in motion until you finally draw the club back to swing. Standing still over the ball for more than a second will cause the body to tighten up and the muscles will act more rigid.

Once you walk into a shot, employ at least one to two waggles before pulling the trigger, just to keep the body loose and the muscles responsive.

16. Allow the wrists to quickly rehinge in the early follow through. Aim to have your right forearm and club shaft form a 90 degree angle by the time the forearm reaches 2 o'clock as someone would look at you from face on.

Holding a straight line from club shaft out to the hands on the follow through requires the wrists to tense up and actually contracts the muscles that act as a braking mechanism. The clubhead can never achieve it's highest possible acceleration.

17. Train with a lighter driver to swing above your normal swing speed. From either cheap components at a golf store, or online, you can build a driver that is 10% or so lighter than your normal driver.

So if you swing with a 65 gram shaft normally, look for a 50-55 gram shaft for your training club. Even shafts as light as 39 grams are available nowadays.

Use a lighter head weight as well. The standard driver is around 200 grams. Cleveland Golf came out with the Hibore XL 270 which featured a lighter head. Keep an eye on Ebay and grab a used one for super cheap. These were a terrible idea and while they did allow faster clubhead speed, ball speeds went way down.

You can add a lighter grip, like a Winn Lite. You can get grips that weight 35 grams instead of 50.

Do your speed training swings with this lighter club and your top speed will increase more rapidly. Training with a shaft or a driver upside down is simply too light and lacks the specific balance of a real driver.

18. Train with a heavier driver for resistance. You can also build this training driver from heavier components, like an 80 gram shaft and a leather wrap grip.

Another great alternative is to use an old persimmon wood, or even an early metal headed driver with a steel shaft, like Tiger used early in his career. Typically a steel shaft weighed over 120 grams and is plenty of weight to achieve your +10-12% weight. Again, check on eBay – these older clubs can come up for sale for under $20. Condition doesn't matter.

Swinging two clubs at a time or some of the super heavy training drivers will not work well as they are actually too heavy. The neuropathways developed are different than your normal swing, and there will be little carry over.

Additionally, swinging heavy weight exponentially increases the chance of injury. I know a pro long driver who had injured himself with one of these. After a more sensible and specific speed training program, he ended up winning the world championship!

20. Release the clubhead from the top of the swing! Consciously trying to 'lag' or delay the release of the clubhead causes most people to be late. This is the number one myth ever conceived about the golf swing.

Golfers who keep insisting that doing this is a good idea are now commonly called 'handle draggers' among teachers. Mike Austin prove this concept was wrong with EMG or electromyography. It has been recently proven with other types of technology, but myths in golf take forever to dispel.

In most cases delaying will results in many heel strikes with a slice bias. Sometimes a late releaser will learn how to flip the club over or bow the left wrist to square up the face on time. But this will wreck your ability to hit high shots, create a steeply downwards angle of attack, bring a duck hook into play, and lower your ball speed.

Lastly, you will achieve your highest clubhead speed too late, and therefore hit all your drives slower than your potential.

Applying torque with the wrists to uncock the club from at least shoulder high on the downswing will allow for good timing and a strike on the ball that is square and upwards.

The downswing is essentially a race between the handle of the club and the head of the club. At the finish line we must achieve a tie.

Two time world long drive champion Jamie Sadlowski is shown above. You can see in frame 5 that he is 'retaining' well over 90 degrees of wrist cock halfway down.

However, the rotational force, or torque, was first applied by the hands into the grip shortly after frame 4, right after he steps down onto the left heel. It takes a split second to see the response to this torque as the wrists straighten out.

The handle of the club is advanced around the arc by the torso turning the left arm into impact. The faster you turn, the faster the handle moves.

It is the job of the hands to apply torque to the handle to cause the clubhead to catch up to the handle at impact. The faster you release, the quicker the clubhead catches the handle.

Of course, if the handle path is poor it is much more difficult for the clubhead to catch up. Squaring up feels more forced.

We now have real world studies proving that the 'lag' you might see on video of a pro's swing is just an illusion. The wrists are actively working to throwaway the angle very early.

21. Contact the ball at least 5 degrees on the upswing with the driver. Trackman has shown that the optimal angle of attack for the greatest distance is upward.

Your best chance of reaching an optimal angle of attack is to: -Have an aggressively forward ball position at address. -Position the navel several inches ahead of the chin at impact, creating a secondary spine tilt of about 20 degrees. -Release the head of the club on time. -Create an optimal handle path. -Allow the left shoulder to raise skywards through impact, which will torque the clubhead down and around.

Justin Thomas is displaying great form for hitting up here. You can see the side tilt of the spine and the left shoulder pulled up.

A sign that you're hitting up is that you will leave the tee in the ground like he has.

Here are a few ways players will create less than optimal AoA: -Using a traditional left instep ball position, or worse, playing the driver in the middle of your stance will make it nearly impossible to achieve +5 AoA.

-Trying to keep the spine vertical with no side tilt by limiting lateral hip motion during the downswing also tends to create a downwards strike.

-Allowing your head to sway towards the target as you make your downswing will really make you steep and hit down.

22. Most swing aids sold in stores or on the internet have no basis in the science of physiology or biomechanics. Save your money and steer clear of heavy training clubs, power fans, or anything that doesn't swing like a real driver.

They may say that they will add distance to your game, but there is seldom any good scientific proof behind their claims. Often any distance gains made are anecdotal, or fall under the category of 'practice effect' or 'warm up effect.'

A good training aid will stay within about 15% more and less than your regular driver in weight. I've seen training drives that were more than double a standard weight driver! This really increases the risk of injury and lowers the potential carryover to the real event – you may get faster swinging the aid, but won't see a lot of gains hitting a golf ball.

23. Copy someone with a powerful and efficient golf swing. Watch them on TV or Youtube and study their swing often.

It is especially useful if you can find a loop of the swing to watch repeatedly as your brain tries to absorb the same timing and sensations.

I highly recommend watching the swings of Fred Couples, John Daly, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Bobby Jones, Byron Nelson, and Mike Austin. Count Yogi, if you can find him, is another really nice swing to model.

It also could be your local pro or that 16 year old phenom who hits on your range everyday. In any case, the best golfers to copy are the ones who can hit the ball really far with the least amount of perceivable effort, staying in rhythm and balance.

24. If you are experienced in baseball, imagine the golf swing in baseball terms. A proper golf swing will feel like you are hitting the baseball just right of second base with the club face pointing at second base at impact.

If you are a slicer, you may need a more radical image. Try swinging the clubhead behind the runner leading off from first base with the clubface pointing at 3rd base at impact. Left handers would reverse this.

25. If you are experienced in tennis, imagine the golf swing in tennis terms. A proper golf swing will feel like you are hitting a slight topspin forehead a little bit cross court.

Again, if you are a slicer, you may need a more radical image. Imagine you're in the left corner of the court, hitting an extreme topspin lob cross court into the other corner.

26. The tricep on the rear of the upper arm is a key muscle for gaining great speed. Contracting it causes the elbow to go from bent to straight.

The rear elbow should be bent around 90 degrees at the top of the swing. In a powerful swing, it rapidly straightens in a snapping motion almost as soon as the downswing starts, becoming fully extended around 30 inches past the ball. The extending elbow will transfer its energy to the right wrist which will then palmar flex. So the faster the elbow extends, the faster the wrist and clubhead move.

27. Start the swing on a two foot balance, about equally weighted. Arrive at the top of your swing on a rear foot balance, and a front foot balance at the end of the swing. The weight shift is key to making a powerful swing look graceful and balanced.

I would estimate that the shift of weight and turn of the body comprises about 30% of your total clubhead speed. So a golfer who can stand on one foot and drive 200 yards will be able to hit it around 310 yards when a strong pivot and complete windup of the torso and arms is made. Shifting aggressively to the front foot gives you a great brace to hit against. The heavier your left foot pushes into the ground, the more braced you become, and the more you can use the ground for additional leverage.

You can clearly see the complete weight shift in the Mike Austin sequence above. Mike's compound pivot is quite unique and we believe that there is more potential for clubhead speed.

It seems like a no brainer, but many golfers either shift very little during the swing using mostly the arms, or they even fall back to the rear foot.

28. Finish your swing with your chest and belt buckle facing down the fairway. Since the rotation of the hips and torso does provide some speed, any less than this and your clubhead speed will suffer.

You can try for more rotation than this, but your spine and joints will probably experience more shearing and torsion forces, increasing the risk of injury.

It is unnecessary to over turn to create great clubhead speed. Young players will only get away with it for so long – but they are actually slowly injuring themselves. It may take 5 or 10 years, but they are headed for trouble.

The most susceptible joints in the body are the L4-L5 junction, and the L5-S1 junction, and their corresponding discs. These are the most commonly injured areas of a golfer's body. Pro golfers will see some left knee injuries as well. 29. Tee the ball up higher than usual. Since we now know that the optimal angle of attack is 5 degrees or more upwards, we will need access to the dimples below the equator of the ball as we strike up.

Proper tee height will vary from driver to driver, as some have taller (called deeper) faces than others. But try to get between half the ball and ¾ of the ball above the top of the crown.

Any less than this amount will make it harder to hit up without catching the ball low on the face, and any higher (like the entire ball above) will increase the chance that you can sky your drive.

30. Use the new golf tee technology now widely available. Tees that reduce friction are proven to give you longer drives and can be found at nearly all golf stores now. While this only amounts to 2-3 yards for the average golfer, it all adds up!

I like Zero Friction tees, but the most popular tee in long drive is the Tornado Tee – Google them! It has actually been shown to reduce backspin as well.

When a ball gets compressed, some of the energy goes downwards into the tee and therefore lost.

31. Tee the ball up more forward than what has been standard practice. A left heel ball position will make it more challenging to catch the ball on the upswing enough. Go ahead and move it all the way to the big toe or even middle toe of the front foot.

32. Get properly fitted for a driver. If you get fitted by someone at a golf 'supermarket' while hitting into a net or one of their simulators, the net result will be hit or miss. The best way to get fit is on a Trackman launch monitor outdoors with a pro who is knowledgeable about both the machine, the equipment, and new ball flight laws.

Just like an auto mechanic, find a fitter who you trust, and stick with him/her. I have personally seen gains up to 35 yards of distance immediately when a golfer switches to a well fit driver for their swing. And I estimate 80% of golfers will pick up 10-25 yards.

33. A new swing will require a new driver. Be open to this. If you had a typical down and across slicer's swing before, and now your new swing hits up, you will probably have too much loft and spin.

An efficient swing often requires a lower lofted club in order to fully realize the benefits that comes with that new swing.

The good news is that so many club companies have introduced adjustable drivers. Now you can move the loft of the club as much as +/-2 degrees, and even adjust the weighting of the driver. Keep an eye out on your ball flight as you modify your swing, or have an occasional Trackman session to check your numbers.

34. Most of the major golf club companies produce drivers that help the average golfer get the ball up in the air easily. They do this by playing with how they weight the head and the overall center of mass.

Better golfers and powerful swingers don't need this help getting the ball airborne – instead they usually need help keeping the ball from climbing.

Often they come out with two different heads – one for the masses and one for better players which is weighted differently. One example was the Callaway Epic driver which had medium high spin, while the Epic Subzero, built for stronger players, had one of the lowest spin rates ever. Taylormade usually releases two drivers at a time as well. Their latest offerings are the M3 and M4.

35. While the 'hotness' of today's drivers is now capped at a COR (coefficient of restitution) of 0.83, shafts have not been restricted by the rules of golf.

Although aftermarket shaft upgrades can be expensive, you can definitely utilize them to modify your spin rate and accuracy. Higher ball speeds may also be achieved. A really good driver shaft will have 3 degrees of torque or less, while a cheaper shaft may have up to 8. This means the clubhead is more likely to twist because the shaft itself is twisting at impact.

If you swing at high speeds you want a shaft that has a really strong and stable tip section. Stronger golfers should take advantage of shaft technology and consider a better shaft than many that come with the driver.

36. Teeing the ball up on the correct side of the tee box is one subtle way to gain distance on some holes. If a hole doglegs to the left, for example, you probably want to tee up on the extreme right hand side of the tee box to straighten out the hole a bit. This way you can be more aggressive with your swing.

Now if your normal tee shot curves a lot, favor the side of the tee box your shot curves towards. This will give you the best angle for your ball to curve a lot and still hit the fairway, and you can be more aggressive.

37. Mental imagery can be very powerful. Practice visualizing hitting your best drive on your favorite hole. Imagine as much detail as you can, down to the chirping of the birds and the swaying of the trees. See the flight of the ball, rocketing towards your all time record and bouncing down the fairway. Can you see it in color? Can you see a 'video' or a 'still image'? Does your imagery have sound?

When you step up to that tee for real, recall the imagery and let your body absorb the sensations of that daydream.

Think of the brain as simply another muscle of the body. You must train it regularly for weeks or months before your automatic mental responses change permanently.

Our brains are malleable, or reprogrammable if given enough time. Your repeated positive mental images will cause the brain to physically change its structure to allow for more positivity.

Eventually, with hard work over months in the 'mental gym', you will be able to step up to any hole and automatically be calm and picturing that perfect drive.

38. Clubhead speed is not everything, but just one piece of the long driving puzzle. Just because one golfer can swing faster than another does not mean he will outdrive the other.

Instead, focus on creating faster ball speed with a properly timed solid strike that launches and spins optimally for the best carry and roll.

You might actually be able to keep up with that faster swinger with your smooth swing. I've seen this happen many time at the highest level of pro long drive.

Find a Trackman in your area to practice on at least occasionally, as it will be able to tell you how efficiently you are driving. 39. Find an empty football field, park, or open space. Make sure no one is around. Take an old club that you can afford to lose or break. Practice throwing it as far as you can, making it fly end over end like a helicopter.

A football field is great for this exercise because you can measure your record distance with the yard lines and strive to break it each session.

You will notice that you will have the urge to toss it upwards to get the most distance. This is the same feeling we want while hitting a golf ball as well.

40. The movement of the navel is the key to efficient weight shift. For the best results, the body's center of mass should swing back to the big toe of the rear foot at the top of the swing, and then over to the big toe of the front foot by the time you reach impact.

If you can do this while keeping the head reasonably centered throughout the swing, you will create a whole lot of leverage.

We now have reasonably priced force plates that can measure your weight shift patterns right on the range. Up until recently, force plates were tens of thousands of dollars and found mostly in university labs.

Some teacher's describe this as 'using the ground' which has become a very fashionable term lately, even changing what we thought to be optimal swing model. There's no question that some long hitters squat and jump, getting completely airborne. However, I think this concept, while biomechanically valid, is way beyond 99% of golfers capability to learn.

I believe we should simply move the joints of the body efficiently, and in turn the forces into the ground will take care of themselves.

41. Choose a golf ball that best matches your swing speed. Today we have technology to maximize distance for everyone individually. Just because a tour player plays a certain model ball does it mean that it you should too. If you are average in swing speed, you will get more distance out of models that are engineered for your speed versus a tour ball.

A tour model golf ball such as the Titleist ProV1 responds best to golfers swinging at 105 mph and up. It has multiple layers requiring the golfer to compress through to reach the hard mantle or inner core. If you don't have the speed to reach the core, the ball will not respond as well.

Most ball companies make models that will fit slower swingers. Titleist makes the NXT, Callaway makes the Chrome Supersoft. Etcetera.

42. Every golfer has an optimal launch angle that will give them the most distance. Too high and you will lose roll. Too low and you will lose carry.

The faster you swing, the lower your optimal launch angle will be. For example, a golfer swinging around 80 mph may find that a launch of 16 or 17 degrees may be the best. This will look like a high flying rainbow.

A golfer swinging at 135 mph requires a much lower launch, say 10-11 degrees. This will resemble more of a penetrating line drive.

43. Of course the optimal launch angle will vary depending on wind and course conditions. So in the real world, it would be beneficial to be able to hit low or high on command.

Hard ground, associated with hotter dryer climates can be taken advantage of by hitting slightly lower drives that will roll a long way.

There are a number of ways to hit lower if your home course is like this. You could lower the loft of your driver. You could play the ball a bit less forward in your stance. Or you could strive to make impact with the hands slightly forward leaning.

We now know that you can reduce the spin loft of a driver by leaning the shaft forward and yet still hit up on the ball.

Of course you would reverse all these ideas for soft ground or tailwind. 44. The rate of backspin is crucial for hitting your longest drives. Too much backspin is often the bane of long drivers, as their ball will balloon up in the air and drop to the ground too steeply without much roll.

However, if you had too little backspin your ball would simply fall out of the sky prematurely, losing you precious air carry.

The optimal amount of spin will depend on how high you launch the ball, your angle of attack, and your clubhead speed. But when you get it nailed down, you can hit some really efficient long drives!

Other factors that influence spin are the spin loft of the driver you play, and the contact point on the face. Hitting the ball low in the face, for example, can potentially double your spin rate in rpms – i.e. it has a massive effect.

An 80 mph swing may be served well with 3000 rpms of spin, while a 110 mph swing would get distance with less – around 2000 rpms. The exact amount is unknowable unless you plug in all the variables that influence the flight of the ball.

45. Avoid doing any deep stretching right before hitting any drive. Scientific studies show that this dulls the explosive response of muscles for a short period of time.

To prepare for your longest drives, instead warm up the body with movement similar to the golf swing – trunk twists, warm up swings, arm circles.

Develop and follow a consistent warm up routine, and allow enough time before you tee off to complete it without rushing.

After a long wait on a hole, stay loose and moving. Don't sit down for too long. Make a couple of really fast practice swings to get completely loose again.

46. A body that is warmed up properly will always respond more powerfully to one that is cold. Muscles are like rubber bands – the warmer they are, the more elastic they become. Cold rubber bands, like muscles, stretch less and are more likely to tear. A good rule of thumb for best athletic performance is if you are breaking a sweat.

Basketball players and boxers already have beads of sweat on their foreheads before the contests start. So should you if you want to hit your longest drives. Obviously, proper clothing plays a key role in warming up and retaining heat. Light layers do well to retain heat, but do not restrict range of motion.

On colder days, go with function over form. That ugly ski hat may not be too fashionable on the course, but it will sure keep you warm!

47. Clubhead speed is ultimately a function of how well you can whirl, whip, or snap the clubhead around the wrists freely and supply. Most of the speed in a good golf swing is generated by the wrists and forearms, not the shifting of weight or turning of the body.

The clubhead can articulate around the wrist joints 180 degrees or more and you should utilize this to your full potential.

Quick and supple hands are the key, combined with the rotation of the torso. Practice getting your snap both looser and quicker every day.

48. Trying to consciously control the head or face of the club is total folly. The club moves much faster than the eyes or conscious brain can keep up with, and trying to keep up with it will just slow it down.

The more you can feel a loss of control in your downswing, the more control you will actually have as your turn the swing over to gravity and centrifugal force.

Your fastest swings will be the product of a reflex like action, like automatic pilot. The less thinking you do during a powerful golf swing, the faster you'll move.

49. Finish your swing completely up on the tip toe of your rear foot. Many golfers I have coached never get off their rear instep. Full on the toe, our foot can only support 5 to 10 lbs of force before the toe feels like it will break.

Finishing a golf swing in this position therefore ensures that the abundance of your body weight has been transferred over to the front foot. Comparatively, I can support my entire body weight on the balls of one foot – not necessarily keeping balance, but definitely supported. Finishing with your rear foot in this position cannot guarantee that you have shifted weight fully or properly.

50. Practice and play in good golf shoes. Many type of shoes that I have seen golfers play and practice in do not have enough support to encourage proper footwork.

Some tennis shoes, sandals and even the 'comfort' style golf spikes can create poor patterns of weight transfer and not allow you to hit your longest drives.

It is challenging to find a golf shoe that is both comfortable and supportive. Generally you have to pay more to get both. You are looking for a shoe with enough stiffness, but easy enough to walk 18 holes without discomfort.

If you can fold a shoe in half pretty easily, understand that it might be really comfortable, but may not enough balance and support for a fast swinger.

And make sure your golf shoes are at least ½ size big – your feet will slightly swell after walking a few miles. Bonus Tips!

51. You will hit your longest drives at an optimal level of physical arousal. If you aren't pumped up enough you will not be as explosive as you can be. Too pumped up and you will make tense and overly fast swings that aren't in proper rhythm.

Physical arousal can be controlled by breathing, self-talk, and mental imagery. If I want to swing fast, and raise my arousal level, I will speed up my breathing and exhale forcefully. I will picture anger, and picture something powerful.

If I need to bring myself down, I will slow my breathing, my walk, and imagine something very serene and calm.

52. When you step up to the tee, you will perform your best if you get yourself locked into your target with a narrow external focus. The smaller the target you focus on, the keener you will lock on.

Pick out a patch of discolored grass, or a single tree in the distance. Close your brain from all unnecessary conscious thought. Stand behind your ball and picture the ball flying and landing on the target while you imagine yourself performing in 3rd person. Then step in and repeat it for real.

Check out a really cool product called the Focus Band. You wear it on your forehead like a sweat band, and it reads your brain waves. Then it reports it to an app on your phone.

When you get calm and narrowly focused, you will start to hear crashing waves louder and louder. You train to create this mental state until it happens easily and on command.

53. The actions at the wrist we are looking to make extremely quick and explosive are as follows (for a right handed golfer):

Left wrist: Ulnar deviation, dorsiflexion, forearm supination. Right wrist: Ulnar deviation, palmar flexion, forearm pronation.

There are assorted exercises that can help train you to make these muscles super powerful and fast. But keep them supple at the same time! 54. The handle of the club has an optimal path, and is just as important as the path of the clubhead. This 'handle path' goes around you in an arc and then abruptly slows and turns up and back in towards the golfer.

When your handle path is good, you will experience added speed and accuracy. When one of my students fixed his handle path, he was swinging at his all time high speed but felt like he was just cruising.

The handle acts kind of a like a pivot, or a counter weight versus the head of the club. If it is on a bad path, the clubhead will be harder to whip around, and square up with the target line. Many players who miss off to the right often have their handle too far from the correct arc.

55. Swinging in perfect balance allows not only more consistency and accuracy, but your highest swing speeds as well.

I have experienced this first hand while speed training. My speed dropped as much as 5 mph or more when I didn't finish in good balance.

Custom orthotics actually help with balance and have been shown in scientific studies to increase clubhead speed.

And that's it! 50 of my best tips to help you gain distance off the tee. I'm really passionate about helping golfers get better, and I hope you have found a few good kernels in this book. If so, I would love to hear from you! Email me directly at [email protected]. If you'd like to learn more about driving longer and straighter, and lowering your scores, please check out my online coaching program!

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