There are plenty of golf fitness gurus out there who insist that you can gain greater distance by doing a few exercises and stretches.  This will be true if you already have a good golf swing.  But, the bottom line is, if you have a faulty swing, you can exercise until you are blue in the face, and it won't matter.

A week ago I was in Dallas attending the Hank Haney "Teaching the Teacher" seminar that he holds annually.  We all had the opportunity to work with Hank's staff on our swings.  Fortunately, I also had the opportunity to get a full swing lesson from Hank in front of the rest of the pros.  He analyzed video of my swing, showed me my faults, then showed me how to improve my swing.  He essentially gave me the same lesson that one of his instructors, Doug Alexander, had given me a couple days earlier.  However, it did reinforce what I needed to work on.

A couple hours later, I took these ideas to the driving range.  I struggled for a while, mainly because I was not getting the release at impact correct, and my follow through was off.  After a while though, it finally clicked.  I ripped four straight 5-irons with a slight draw, and decided to pull out the driver.  I made perfect contact with the driver, and the ball flew dead straight.  I have no idea how far it went, but the ball flight was beautiful, and the ball shot off the clubface like a bullet.  The beauty of all this was that the physical effort required to hit these shots was far less than with my old swing. 

So, first thing is first.  If you want more distance, improve your swing.  Then, when you want to take it to the next level, work on your fitness. 

Scott Cole
www.powergolftraining.net