Changes in the swing
Golfers who have been hitting with 42-inch shafts and switch to a 48-inch shafts have to make major changes in their swing. In addition to standing further away from the ball, the golfer must also increase the swing speed in order to get the club head to meet the ball squarely on the tee or the fairway. A golfer who does not make square contact with the ball will send it veering off course. Most of that time, the club head will be facing to the golfer's right, causing a slice.
Getting more loft
When swinging a longer club, one of the goals is to gain more loft. This will happen if the golfer changes his angle of attack and adds more swing to his speed. If the golfer does not alter his angle to the ball and sticks with the same swing he had with the 42-inch driver, the result will be a low show that slices to the right.The golfer must get underneat the ball when playing with a longer shaft.
Driving with the hips
The best golf swings take place when the golfer uses his hips to start the backswing and then start the downswing. When a golfer uses a longer golf club and is trying to generate more clubhead speed, he often does it by trying to swing harder with his hands and a shoulder turn instead of with his hips. As a result of the faster hands and slower hips, the ball tends to slice.
About The Author
Steve Silverman is an award-winning writer, covering sports since 1980. Silverman authored The Minnesota Vikings: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Who's Better, Who's Best in Football -- The Top 60 Players of All-Time, among others, and placed in the Pro Football Writers of America awards three times. Silverman holds a Master of Science in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism.
