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By Tyler Ferrell
Titleist Performance Institute

There are two basic objectives in the golf swing; to generate a force and then to control that force. The method of controlling the force is easy. Clubface position dictates approximately 70% of where the ball is going to start (Callaway). Other factors include club path and point of impact on the face. That is a discussion for you and your golf pro, so I won't go into that here.

This article is designed to help explain what is perhaps the more complicated objective, how to generate a force and apply it into the golf ball. Plainly speaking I want you to know how to hit the ball farther regardless of technique. This method applies to one plane, two plane, in the slot, over the top...etc.

The standard analogy for how to generate force is the analogy of snapping a whip. A true chain of events would start at the ground and friction, but for simplicity, let's start with the arm.

I would want to accelerate my arm as fast as possible, but then in order to transfer that speed to the towel, I would have to DECELERATE my arm. If I kept my arm moving, like in a circle, then the towel would never snap.

Today, it is well understood that the best ball strikers in the world transfer energy similarly to this whip move. The whip in the golf swing starts by accelerating the hips and then decelerating the hips. This passes the energy on to my torso which then accelerates and then decelerates. The energy goes form there to the arms, which snap the club through impact carrying the speed and energy of the legs, core, and upper body.

Wait a minute; are you saying that I need to SLOW down my hips to hit the ball farther?

Yes. Working at Clubgolf, I have seen hundreds of golfers hit the ball shorter than they should because they continue to accelerate their hips through the golf ball, which makes decelerating the upper body and arms very difficult.

Conceptually, this is easy to see if you know how to look at it, but how do I FEEL the towel snap.

Here's the drill.

Grab an impact bag and a golf club, I usually recommend a mid iron, and let's get started.

In order to learn how to stop, we're going to start by doing the hit and recoil

Use a 3/4 swing and try to really hit the bag but at the moment you make contact with the bag try and swing the club back up to the top of the swing. Two tricks that help this move are a stable left hip and a solid release.

The more advanced version of this drill is the hit and stop. In this drill, use the same 3/4 swing but when you make contact with the bag this time. FREEZE. This drill will help you feel what it's like to speed up the clubhead regardless of technique.

Bye the way, please do not try this with a golf ball. The torque required to decelerate your body could cause injury.