Keep Your Left Knee Stable
Along with your hips, your left knee helps drive your swing. In order to get maximum distance on your swing, you have to rotate your weight to the right side of your body before transferring it to the left side of your body. Golfers do not have to collapse the left knee in order to get the weight on the right side. While that may be the tendency of most golfers, it will cause your to dip your right shoulder and hit your shots high up into the air. Keep your left knee stable during the backswing in order to hit the ball straighter and further.
Hit Down on the Ball with Irons
Many golfers don't realize how to take advantage of the loft on their irons. In order to get the ball to fly the prescribed way that you want when swinging with irons -- longer and lower for irons with low numbers; shorter and higher for clubs with higher numbers -- you have to hit down on the ball and then through it. Many golfers will stop after hitting down on the ball and lose distance, while other golfers will sweep through the ball and lose the impact of the loft.
Release with Your Hands
Once golfers understand that the hips are the primary driver of the golf swing, they may forget about using the rest of the body. In particular, they forget to release through the ball with the right hand. Golfers who want more distance must snap their right wrist through the ball and finish high in order to get everything they can out of their shot. Release your hands all the way through the ball.
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.