More Distance

The two best words for any amateur golfer have to be: More distance.

Mike Rothera, director of golf instruction at Pinehills Golf Club, has a few simple instructions for how to add those two buzz words to your arsenal.

“Everybody is interested in getting that ball an extra 10 or 20 yards off the tee,” Rothera said.

The first tip is to attempt to launch the ball at a higher angle. Rothera likes to see a golfer set up with the ball a little forward in their stance, meaning off the inside of the front foot. Secondly, Rothera teaches golfers to tilt their body angle back to get a feeling that you are behind the ball.

“What this is doing is it is getting a spine angle that has more of a look of a reverse-K,” Rothera said. “You really want to have a nice, stable base at the bottom.”

This will allow you to hit up on the ball a little bit more. It’s good to rehearse that in a practice swing before hitting your tee shot.

“What we are really trying to do is rehearse swings that we are swinging up on the ball a little more, swinging up and to the right a little bit more,” Rothera said. “That should get the feeling that you are launching the ball up into the air to that most amount of carry that you can get.”

Rothera said these tips might help you produce a draw and increase the spin on the ball when it hits the ground to give you a little more roll out. So for the slicers, these are great tips to help cure that problem as well.

“When you make your back swing make a nice shoulder turn and from here you are just making a nice swing up and out to the right,” Rothera said.