Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.
I don’t hit the ball super far. A typical drive carries between 225 and 235 yards. I’m not the shortest hitter out there, but I certainly don’t have the power of some of my peers.
That said, I’m always looking for ways to squeeze a few extra yards out of my drives. If I could just hit it a little farther, golf would be a lot easier. As we shot content at our Top 100 Teacher Summit last fall, I solicited some advice from Bernie Najar on an easy way for adding swing speed. Check it out below.
A quick tip to add swing speed
You’ve likely heard the advice to take the club back “low and slow” in order to produce a proper takeaway. But according to Najar, that advice is a bit misguided.
“A lot of times, that makes it tough to get energy into the clubhead,” says Najar, who coached World Long Drive champion Kyle Berkshire for more than a decade. “What I want you to focus on is getting energy into the club.”
After watching me take a couple swings, Najar noticed I was “setting” my wrists later in the backswing than he’d like. He told me to focus on cocking the club back earlier in the backswing instead to help generate that quicker takeaway.
To help teach me the correct feel, Najar stood across from me and held a shaft against my club to provide some resistance as I took the club back. During the takeaway, he had me push as hard as I could into that secondary shaft before he pulled it away, and then I cocked my wrists after that.
“A lot of times if the club goes back too low for too long, it’s getting behind you and it gets really heavy,” he says. “By getting that clubhead into the air quicker and [creating] a little more energy early, it’s going to help you hit longer and straighter drives.”
After practicing this takeaway move a few times, I noticed a marked difference in my swing speed. Give it a try yourself and I’m sure you will, too.
