3 Tips For Longer Drives On The Golf Course

Hitting a long drive straight down the fairway is easily a top 5 moment for me, any day of the week. Nothing feels better than smashing a drive further than your friends, or even further than your personal best. That said, hitting longer drives takes some effort, otherwise everyone and their mother would be crushing the ball 300 yards off the tee. 

Here are 3 tips for longer drives off the tee, giving you a much better opportunity to shoot lower scores.

1.  Manage Your Tee Height

If you didn’t know it already, the height of the tee in relation to your driver has a significant impact on what part of the clubface the ball is hit with, and in turn the trajectory. The recipe for a long drive is low spin and a high launch trajectory.  

If you tee the ball up too low, you’ll end up putting more backspin on the ball, which will reduce the time your ball has in the air. Ultimately teeing the ball up a bit lower might be a safe play, but it’s not the way to hit a long drive. The ball needs to be teed up higher for the perfect launch angle.

2.  Hit the Gym

When you look at guys like Dustin Johnson, Rory Mcilroy and Brooks Koepka, all 3 of them are capable of hitting monster tee shots- in some conditions they can smash the ball over 400 yards. While you’re (probably) not a pro and frankly won’t be able to do that, you can at least manage your fitness level. Pro golfers have become way more fitness focused in the last decade or two, and there are serious benefits to your whole golf swing from hitting the gym.  

Doing some golf focused exercises will help you get a better rotation and a more powerful golf swing through the ball, which directly translates to longer drives. I started doing golf related workouts about 2 years ago, and I’ve easily gained 25-35 yards off the tee without feeling like I’m swinging out of my shoes. Some key things to work on include hip mobility, as well as core, leg and back exercises. We’ve got a complete guide on golf workouts for you to check out, which covers this topic in much more detail.

3.  Make Great Contact

Yes, you probably know this. Making great contact is one of those common sense things, but it’s still something you need to hear. You can have the fastest and most powerful swing in the world, but if you consistently miss the center of the clubface you will not be happy with your drives.  

While sometimes you can see the scuff mark of where the ball hit the clubface, a good way to measure if you’re really hitting center is by getting some driver impact tape. Slap that on and head to the range, and see where you really hit the ball from. I bet you’ll be surprised. If you’re missing the center, my suggestion is to slow down your swing a bit to make sure you can hit the center of the clubface consistently. Even with a slower swing, that center hit will fly off and give you longer and straighter drives.  

Author Bio:

Brandon DiCroce runs a golf website called Fairway Approach, focused on helping golfers take a smarter approach to golf by offering game improvement guides and equipment reviews. He’s been playing amateur golf for over 15 years, and is originally from Syracuse, NY. During the day he’s a technical recruiter within the financial industry, helping software engineers land jobs.  

Follow Brandon on Instagram: @fairwayapproach