Steve Pratt's Hit it longer.com

Most golfers who wish to hit the ball longer, especially amateurs, can sometimes focus too much on getting higher clubhead speed.  Here is my short guide to picking up more yardage on your drives by getting the most ball speed possible.

You have probably heard of the term 'smash factor' before, but I still see that many golfers still don't understand well what it is.

It is a quotient, a ratio.  Simply put, smash factor is the ball speed divided by the clubhead speed.  You can also consider it a measure of your efficiency.

Another simple rule of thumb is that the lower the loft on the club, the higher your smash factor tends to be.  On a sand wedge, you are lucky to exceed a smash factor of 1.00.  In otherwords, the ball is traveling about the same speed off the clubface, as the clubhead was traveling into the ball.  Higher loft, lower smash.

Now let's move on to the driver.  A really good smash factor on a driver for the average amateur is around 1.46.  In fact, the average smash for the PGA Tour hovers between 1.46 and 1.47.  The difference is that they do it everytime, while the typical hacker can sometimes drop down as low as 1.30.

Can golfers get a higher smash ratio than the PGA Tour?  Absolutely.  Long drivers commonly achieve smash factors of 1.50 and above, meaning that they are producing more ball speed and distance for their efforts.

How are they doing this?  Well, remember a few lines ago where I wrote that loft has much to do with smash factor?  Long drivers typically use driver lofts of 6 degrees and lower, with reigning world champion Joe Miller of England wielding as low as 3.5 degrees on his driver.  He and a few other behemoths of ball speed can consistently reach 1.52 and even 1.53!  Of course, they use much harder golf balls than do PGA players.

So here are a few tips for reaching your best ball speeds, and therefore, highest smash factor:

1.  Hit the sweet spot.  In order to achieve your maximum efficiency, you must hit the ball precisely in the sweet spot.  The two biggest factors for doing this are good swing mechanics, and lots of repetition.  The average golfer cannot determine by feel where he is hitting the ball on the clubface of his driver - he/she can only tell you if they hit the sweet spot or not.  For this reason I highly recommend the periodic use of face stickers, so you can accurately determine where on the face you are hitting the ball.  Missing the sweet spot by even a quarter inch will cost you ball speed.  Missing by more than this and your clubhead speed hardly matters at all - you will not be a long hitter.

Here is what face impact tape looks like on a driver.  My mentor, Mike Austin, almost never missed the exact sweet spot of the club - which is one reason why he hit the ball so long, and was so efficient.  Employing Mike Austin principles in your swing will enable you to hit the sweet spot more often too.

2.  Hit the ball with a square face.  When a driver is hit with an open or shut clubface, it creates sidepin, which is a waste of energy.   While hitting the ball in the sweet spot would be considered 'solid', contact with a clubface that is aimed at your target, and a reasonable path would be called 'square.'  Hit the ball solid and square and you will reach higher smash factor for sure.

3.  Increase your angle of attack, and use less loft.   Many golfers are fit with too much loft for creating their highest smash factors and driving distance.   It isn't that they are poorly fit - in fact, their club may be perfectly fit for their swing.  The problem is that most average golfers are nowhere close to the optimal angle of attack of 5 degrees upward.  Many are actually swinging down on the driver, causing them to need much more loft.  At 90 mph, hitting down, you may need as much as a 12 degree driver to reach an optimal launch angle.  The problem is, you will be wasting lots of energy creating backspin.

The solution is to start hitting up!  I recently wrote a guide for achieving the optimal angle of attack - you can find it here.  Once you attain an upward strike of 5 degrees, you can ditch that high lofted driver and increase your ball speed, smash, and overall distance by up to 30 yards without increasing swing speed!

Here is Aaron Baddeley striking downwards with his driver.  Compare this with long drive star Mike Bauman, who is consistently 80 yards longer and hits up:

4.  Swing within yourself.  Nearly all golfers, including pros and long drivers, will attain their highest ball speeds by swinging at 70-80% of their maximum effort.  Trackman has shown me that 100% effort results in only a minor increase in clubhead speed, maybe 3-5%.  However, most golfers do not duplicate the ball speeds they reached with the smooth swing, because they do not hit the ball solid and square.  In most cases, it becomes a net loss of distance by swinging 'harder.'  I recommend that the average weekend type golfer sticks to 70% of his maximum effort, while a better player (single digit handicap) can push to 80% safely.

Legendary long driver Bobby Wilson prefers a solid, smooth swing that pures the ball out there when he is in competition.  His results speak for themselves, as he has won numerous world titles and is favored to win a couple more this year.  He would be the first  person to tell you to swing within yourself if you want to achieve your longest drives consistently.

I believe if you follow this simple steps, your smash factor will increase, as well as your driving average!