Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.
Hitting the ball long off the tee is not just fun, it’s also good for your score. The closer you can get the ball to the green, the closer you’ll be able to hit the ball to the hole (on average). And the closer your approach shots are hit, the more birdies you’ll make.
There are a variety of avenues you can pursue to add a few extra miles per hour to your clubhead and ball speeds, but for the sake of this column, we are going to cover it from an instruction angle. That way when you’re under the gun and need to fly a hazard on the course, you can lean on your technique.
For more on that, we turn to world long drive champ Kyle Berkshire.
A hack for more distance
The golf swing has many moving parts — and for maximum efficiency, all these components need to work in just the right manner. Berkshire likes to compare the golf swing to a symphony, with each part of the body representing a different instrument.
“When you get to the last part of the symphony, the wrist is what dictates how much of that power is released into the club,” Berkshire says.
The release of the wrists may not seem like a huge power driver, but in reality, these small muscles are crucial. The wrists are the last part of the body that moves energy out toward the clubhead, so releasing them in the correct way is essential for generating power.
“If you have wrists that don’t really rotate, you’re really going to be losing a tremendous amount of power,” Berkshire says. “It’s your last point of multiplication of the force.”
Berkshire explains that when he is swinging the driver, he likes to feel like his wrists are very “soft.” And if you want to add power to your swing, you should strive to feel that softness, too.
“I like to have very loose and relaxed wrists,” Berkshire says. “I feel like that’s a good visual to have.”
So, next time you want to add a little power to your drives, remember to keep your wrists soft. It’s a feel that the one of the longest drivers in the world uses — and it’ll work for you, too.
