Tension and How it Powers Your Driver Swing

Tension is the number one enemy in the game of golf, and when golfers search for distance, the muscles tend to tighten instead of relax. Effort is not the answer! There are three key essentials for power with the driver; relaxed arms, full turn back and through, and the release.

Number one is to have relaxed arms. Power comes from relaxed muscles not tight muscles. Number two is the turn. You have to load the power to be able to dump the power. You will need to get a full shoulder turn in the backswing to load up the energy. Lastly, take the energy and release it through impact with forearm rotation.

There are two major reasons that prevent golfers from hitting the ball solidly. These reasons included tension in the arms and an incomplete backswing shoulder turn. When you set up at address, make sure your arms, shoulders and chest are nice and relaxed. Take a deep breath and key on lighter grip pressure. Awareness of the body’s state of relaxation is vital for power.

In your backswing, you want to focus on a complete shoulder turn. Feel the left shoulder rotate behind the golf ball and to a point approximately over the right knee. The left shoulder is going to move the golf club back! Now it’s time to release the energy through the golf ball with forearm rotation. The release of energy is a combination of the body turning and the arms rotating from impact to the finish of the golf swing. So the key essentials for power with the driver; deep breathing to induce relaxation, full trunk rotation back and through, and the forearms releasing the energy by rotating through the ball.