Hi, my name is Jim Roy, former PGA and Champions Tour player.
I'm here in Syracuse, New York, at my home course, Bellevue Country Club, and I'm going
to talk a little bit about, in this video, about how to increase our distance with our
driver.
I know that's a popular subject with a lot of golfers out there.
We all would love to hit the ball a little bit farther.
So, hopefully, I can share, give you some insights on how, maybe, you can achieve that.
I want to start by a little funny story.
When I was on the Champions Tour, I was in California, working on my swing, and pretty
much having a miserable time.
I was trying to make this big shoulder turn, trying to make a big hip turn.
I wasn't hitting it very good.
And legendary teacher, Jim Flick, came up to me, asked me what I was working on, and
I told him, and he said, "You know, I think you're going about it the wrong way.
I think what you're trying to do is fine, but I'd like to see you do it differently."
And I said, "Well, what does that mean?"
And he said, "Well, you're trying to use too much of your body, and I want to see you use
more of your arms."
And he went on to say that he worked with Jack Nicklaus for a number of years.
And Nicklaus said that he wanted to feel the club release, and the arms are releasing,
and that's when he felt he hit it his farthest, and his body just went along for the ride.
So, Mr. Flick asked me, he goes, "Can you hit the ball off your knees?"
And I said, "Yeah, I'm not that bad at it."
So, I did.
So, I haven't done it in a while, so let me demonstrate real quick.
So, he had me on my knees with the driver, and I took a swing, and I smashed it down
the middle of the fairway, like that.
And he asked me, "Well, how much body did you use there?"
And I go, "Not much."
It was all arms, and yet the ball still went 240, 250 yards.
So, a light went on in my head, and I said, "You know, I've got to get my arms swinging
a little bit more.
That's what's attached to the club."
Relaxed arms, relaxed wrists, more speed.
So, let me show you a couple other things that I do, just to activate my arms a little
bit, which I think is going to help increase speed.
So, on this shot, I'm just going to have really relaxed arms, and I'm going to swing the club
almost as fast as I can with just using my arms.
So, without any massive shoulder turn, that ball went pretty good.
So, the secret to me is, how do we combine this with our regular swing?
So, I'll make a couple of swings like that, practice swings where I'm going to swing my
arms fast.
(You can really hear that noise out there.)
That helps just increase speed, right?
So now, I'm going to get up here, stay in balance, with that nice thought of swinging
my arms and being patient.
So, that shot went really, really good.
I'd be really happy with that one.
So, what does this kind of thought process help with?
Well, number one, we've got to get our arms active.
We're not going to hit it far with the body.
If I just move my body, the club's not doing anything, but if I get my arms and wrists
involved, I can create speed, and speed is distance.
The key to that is to let it gradually happen in the swing.
Jack Nicklaus said, when he wanted to hit a long one, he thought, "Slower."
And why he thought that is because it gave him time to gather everything, to create that
nice lift, to get to the top, and be patient.
Then, from there, he wanted to let that club go.
So, we want the backswing to be patient, nice and slow, gather everything so we get our
shoulder turn.
From here, now we can let it rip.
We want to get this club head as far away from us as possible.
Nicklaus wanted a full release.
Watch today's players, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson.
That club head is far away from them there.
Those arms are extended.
Just like baseball, homerun hitters stride, extend the arms, it goes forever, right?
So, with that, let me hit one more here.
My thought is going to be, I'm going to take my time on the backswing, arms and shoulders
are relaxed.
I'm going to give the backswing time to gather, and then I'm going to fling this club head
as far as I can past my body.
Okay, let's see if we can get another 20 more yards out of this one.
That's all I got.
So, I hope those tips help you.