Driving The Golf Ball – Kenny Perry
Driving the golf ball can be a difficult task for all of us. If you are struggling to drive the golf ball don’t worry you are not alone and even the best drivers have gone through some tough times. There are some common mistakes that many amateur golfers have and in this video Kenny Perry speaks about two of them.
Kenny Perry has been on the Tour for over 2 decades and is one of the leading drivers in terms of distance and accuracy. His latest win on the tour came in February 2012 in Naples, Florida. The Naples golf conditions were kind over the tournament but he still shot a 20-under-par to take out the ACE Group Classic. Over the Classic his average driving distance was over 300 yards and he was tied for 2nd on GIR. These are great numbers and I stumbled across this video where he gives you some driving tips.
There are two main things he focusses on when he drives the ball: balance and tempo.
Balance
Perry explains that you need to always swing in balance. One of the ways to do this is try and keep your head nice and still. There are many teachers out there that do not mind if the head moves a little from side to side (looking from the front view) but they all say the head should never move up or down. Moving the head up or down causes your feet to lose some contact with the ground and your balance is affected accordingly. In golf we hit a stationary ball, and keeping our balance is crucial to making good contact with the ball.
Swing Tempo
Perry says that he plays in lots of ProAm’s and as a result he sees lot of interesting swings. What he has noticed though is that so many amateur golfers have poor tempo. He says that they normally have a back swing that is far too quick and this causes them to have virtually no acceleration to the golf ball. As you will be aware, if you want to hit a long drive, you need to have maximum speed into the golf ball.
This is one of the things Perry on each time he drives the ball. He ensures that he is very slow and deliberate in the back swing and then he accelerates in the down swing. This causes him to have maximum speed at impact as results in lots of long drives.
It is as simple as that. It is fantastic how the pros keep the golf swing so simple. If you want to drive a long ball, don’t over swing and keep your balance. Remain steady and deliberate in the back swing and then accelerate into the golf ball.
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Filed under: Golf Driving Tips
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Such simple advice but very smart. A similar rhythm and tempo no doubt is required for all shots on the golf course. It’s more important for the driver as you are hitting with a lot less loft and there is more room for error.
Yeah great point Troy. I love it how the pros make the swing so simple. Sometimes we can get carried away with over thinking things.
Great tips. Especially the one regarding tempo. Keeping a relaxed grip aids is a good tempo. Too many amateurs, including myself, have too much tension in our swing.
Great point Scott. So much of the tension comes from being nervous about the shot. After a couple of poor shots it can be difficult to relax.