Driving Distance — the thing golfers from the pro level all the way down through the recreational ranks want more of. Yet so often it alludes us.
Enter Lucas Wald and his student 2018 Masters World Long Drive Champion Eddie Fernandes. The pair were the most recent guests on Chris Como’s Golf Channel show “Swing Expedition” (which you can catch on Golf Channel on Monday at 7 p.m. ET), and in it they walked through some of the swing keys they work on to crank up the speed.
Here are a few of the swing thoughts the pair highlighted:
- Allowing the lead heel to lift on the backswing.
- Allowing the lead knee to ‘float’ toward the trail knee.
- Straightening the trail leg on the backswing, while keeping the trail hip inside of the trail foot.
- Good sequencing from the backswing to the downswing.
These elements are present in every great swing, Wald says. When you’re trying to swing harder or, in Eddie’s case, chase 150 mph swing speed, you’ll try to “exaggerate some of the speed elements,” Wald says.
“But the engine of the swing is still the same.”
And when he does dial it up, there’s one swing thought that Eddie says he always comes back to:
“I almost want to feel like that clubhead is touching my left knee,” he says. “And then sequence and let it rip.”
So there it is: Try to touch your left knee with your clubhead. A simple swing thought to try for yourself if you’re chasing distance.
Watch the full clip below, and tune in on Golf Channel on Monday:
