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Add 15 Yards to Your Drives by Extending Your Swing - Think Target Extension

By Eric M Jones

The overwhelming majority of golfers cost themselves 15 to 30 yards off the tee by making a simple mistake: they accelerate their clubhead to the wrong target.

The goal of the golf swing is not to hit the ball. Rather, it is to move the ball to a target. The ball is not the objective. The objective is the target. Your clubhead needs to move through the ball, to the target.

The Cast and the Early Release

When you accelerate your club to the ball your clubhead will reach its maximum velocity before it makes impact. Accelerating too early will result in either a "cast" from the top, or an "early release." In either case, the club is actually slowing down by the time it makes impact with the ball.

The Whoosh Drill

You can prove this to yourself by using the "whoosh" drill. Simply flip your driver upside down and take your grip on the shaft, just above the club head. Make your normal driver swing and listen for the whoosh. The shaft will make its loudest sound at the fastest point of acceleration.

If your shaft whooshes at the top of your swing, you are casting. If it whooshes half-way down or near the bottom of the downswing, you have an early release.

If your shaft whooshes anywhere before the ball position, you are wasting clubhead speed and losing distance on your drives.

Conversely, if you can train yourself to make the whoosh happen past the ball position, you will be accelerating through impact and picking up more yards on your drives.

The Goal is to Whoosh Past the Ball

You can train your swing to accelerate through the ball easily using the whoosh drill by simply changing your thought process.

Since you will not be hitting a ball with the end of your shaft it is not difficult to think about swinging the end of the shaft out towards the target. This thought process will result in target extension - that is, the end of your club will be extended further towards the target.

The challenge is what happens when there is a ball on the ground.

Change Your Thought Process to Swing to the Target

If you pay attention, however, once you can feel the difference between the way your body moves when it has a target focus vs. the way it moves when it has a ball focus, you are on your way towards holding lag and accelerating through the impact position.

What you will feel, ultimately, is your hands and arms extending farther away from your body after impact, reaching more towards the target. That is the feeling of target extension.

When you get a feel for target extension, you can flip you club back to its normal position and use the newly created association of target extension while hitting a golf ball.

Think Target Extension to accelerate through the ball, to the target, and pick up additional clubhead speed through impact. You'll hit longer, more accurate drives with less effort.

ERIC M JONES is a Class "A" PGA Professional who is dedicated to helping golfers learn, play better golf, and have more fun.

Winner of the 2003 Re/Max World Long Drive Championship, 2004 LDA Tour Rookie of the Year, and the 2006 Players Tour Championship, Eric is a recognized expert on distance. He has helped thousands of golfers add 20 to 50 yards to their drives with the techniques, drills, and videos in the his acclaimed e-book "The 5 Keys to Distance" available at http://www.TargetCenteredGolf.com. Pick up your copy today!

Eric has a Masters Degree in Sport Psychology and teaches golf in Pleasanton, CA. See more of his instructional videos at http://www.youtube.com/seavergolf.

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