Maintain your Leverage

Hitting the ball a good distance is a topic that most golfers would love to do a little better. In real terms there are often a number of things that need to considered or altered in a golfers swing for them to realise their true distance hitting potential.

Leverage can be defined as the mechanical advantage of a lever, in this case were looking for a power or energy advantage. In simple golf swing terms it’s the cocking of the wrist that is gaining the power source using the lead arm and club as levers. Unfortunately a lot of golfers let this energy go a bit too early at the start downswing and un-cock their wrists as soon as the club starts on its downward path. The ideal way to make this transition is using the lower half of your body and maintaining the angle of your wrist cock momentarily at the start of the downswing.

Here is a drill to help you get the feel of this.

Do this drill slowly to begin with to get the best awareness of feel. Put yourself into the top of the backswing with a good wrist cock. You are going to start the motion of the downswing with a movement of your weight over from your right foot to your left foot (right handed golfer) using the lower half of your body. This should create a pulling down motion on your arms but as your feel this pull let your right hand come off the club very slightly. Your left hand should continue to move in a downswing direction but your right hand stay in its top of the backswing position. The shaft of the club will slide through the right hand. Do this until the lead or left hand gets to about waist high or the 9 o’clock position. You should now get a really good sense of the power still being stored in the wrist area.

Paul Thompson has been the Fellow PGA Professional at Powerscourt Golf Club in Wicklow since 1995. In addition to providing coaching on-site he also is a coach with The Golfing Union of Ireland. Appointments with Paul 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.