Centredness of impact

Centredness of impact

The question “how do I hit it further with my driver?” is a common query. In truth it comes down to a number of factors and most of these will be individual like ranges of motion, swing path, leverage influences, spin rates and so on. Although these sorts of things affect everybody’s driving length how they are used by individuals varies substantially.

One of the major factors in how far we hit the ball is how fast the clubhead is traveling through the impact area. However increasing ones clubhead speed may not give you more distance if it is not used efficiently. One of the characteristics of consistent long hitters of a ball is they have good centeredness of impact. This type of efficiency will affect all our shots but will have a bigger impact with the driver than any of our other clubs.

Here is an illustration giving you the loss in miles per hour if you are not hitting from the centre of the club. You can clearly see that hitting the ball low on the face has the biggest loss. The small loss of speed (-1) may be worth the trade off to increase launch angle and reduce spin rate.

Centredness of impact

 

You can buy specific impact tape that you stick on the face to show you where you are hitting it, but you could also use a wet and wipe board marker pen and mark the ball so it leaves a mark on the face after you have hit it. I use a foot powder spray that I put onto the face of the club and I find this works the easiest. Below are 2 illustrations from one of our very low handicap members (I won’t mention his name). The first picture shows the club after one drive and the second shows the club after four drives. It will take patience and practice to get this consistent but it ensures your efforts in your swing are not wasted.

Centredness of impact

 

Appointments with Paul for golf lessons in Wicklow can be booked via Powerscourt Golf Club Reception: Tel (01) 204 6033 or the Golf Shop Tel (01) 204 6031. Read more about lessons from Paul Thompson by visiting the Powerscourt Golf Club Website.

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