The Distance-Bound Golfer

Last week I wrote about the ball-bound golfer.

This week I want to write about another tendency that haunts us all–hitting the ball a long way.

We all want to hit the ball a long way. It impresses our friends and makes us feel supreme. But if distance is on your mind when you’re swinging, your “swing the club” thought will get overridden.

You have to realize that any golf club can only hit the ball so far. You’re definitely not going to hit your eight iron as far as your driver. They’re different clubs designed to hit the ball a different distance.

Similarly, your eight iron is not designed to hit the ball as far as your seven iron. If you really do need to hit the ball farther, put away the eight and take out the seven.

When you know you have enough club in your hand, you can put an unforced swing on the ball without having to worry about how far the ball is going to go because you know it will go as far as it needs to.

Then there’s the driver. Too many golfers think the point of that club is to hit the ball as far as they can. Not really true.

Like all your other clubs, the driver is designed to hit the ball a certain distance. Once you find out what that distance is, which you do by swinging it like your 6-iron, say, and seeing how far that is, plan to hit it that distance and no more.

Whichever club you have in your hand, hit the ball with your swinging stroke, not your hitting stroke, and take the distance you get. If you can be at peace with how much distance you get out of any club, you’ll get more distance out of it than if you TRY to get more, which usually gets you less.

All that said, it might be true that there is something missing from your swing that is not letting you get all the distance you could be getting. You might not be hitting up to your potential. Get lessons to find that out if that is so, and what to do about it.

My overall point is, the people you play with are undoubtedly going to be impressed by anyone who can hit the ball a very long way, but they’ll be more impressed by someone who puts the ball in the fairway and hits greens, regardless of how far they it the ball.

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