Justin Tang teaches up in Singapore at the PCF Studio and plays out of Keppel Golf Club. He is a young gun proponent of the Long Drive school so we asked him how he manages to propel the little white pill so far. At this point I hand the reigns over to Justin.

Armed for Power

I've been asked many times how I can at 1.75m and 70kg hit the ball as far, if not further than guys bigger than me. I have been clocked at a swing speed of 132 mph and have a personal best of 342 yards.

The long ball is sexy. It is something that many strive for but few attain. First, I want to thank resident Golf Guru, Paul Smith for extending this opportunity to share on long driving.

This article assumes that readers have faithfully followed the articles in this series. I will assume that you have a flat left wrist, have lag and your club shaft is on plane. If you lack any of these and are not even sure what they are, please drop the Guru an email and he will sort you out.

Big Muscles for Big Distance?

The main thesis of this theory is that the big muscles should control and power the swing.

Consider this – Do you reach for a cup of coffee while pondering how high to raise your deltoids – even though they are raised as your hands reach for the coffee?

However, when you reach for the cup of coffee with your hands your body does move in response to what your hands are doing. Your hands are the most sensitive extremities in your body. Why shouldn't you use them in your golf as you do in daily living?

Research has shown that the body only contributes 10% of power to the golf swing, whereas the speed of the hands and their actions contribute 90% of power. Further "transferring" your weight from the back foot to the front foot creates only 2mph of body speed – which only increases clubhead speed if your timing is inch perfect.

The physics formulas involved show that the work necessary to propel the clubhead from 80 mph to 110 mph will be doubled. Which is why the 10% speed that the body supplies cannot add much clubhead speed.

I've absolutely no doubt that many will read this and misconstrue what I say to the effect of: "He says to just use the hands and not the body." An emphatic no – I said use the hands and the body will follow with all its might.

I've had the privilege of speaking with high level hockey, tennis and softball coaches. Never do they teach their players to "use the body"; instead the emphasis is always on the hands and to move them faster.

Be Hip?

If I could have all the golfers in the world stop thinking of sliding and rotating the hips and instead make an underhand pitch motion (as shown in Fig 1) with their right forearm on the Downstroke back to where they should be at impact, the handicap average will plummet! The motion I wish to drive the right arm with is ala top level softball pitchers who can really get the ball to travel!

First of all I set the scene for the stroke by working out my impact position which I show in Figure 2. It sounds simple but to be able to hit the ball where I have aimed it, I need to return my hands at impact to the same spot with the same alignments. This I illustrate show in Figure 2, left hand on the club and my right arm on plane near the top which can now work out how to get back to where the left hand is at impact. This active pitching look is shown in Figure 3.

Hip Rotation on the downstroke for power is one of the greatest errors ever taught to golfers and has been perpetuated to the point where it is rarely even challenged.

The moment you start rotating your hips on the Downstroke, your shoulders follow suit and you will inadvertently make an Over the Top move – which engenders all kinds of problems and is illustrated below in Figure 4 – the hips have literally dragged the shoulders around and I am now looking to hit the ball into the fence. On the other hand, if you can make an underhanded pitch as described above, the hips will slide and rotate the optimum amount.

Therefore even though magazine sequences say that Mr. Tour Player is "rotating hard into the ball and giving it a body blow", it's a confused and parroted statement. On that note, if Iron Mike Tyson believed in "body blows", we wouldn't have heard of him. If Mr. Tour Player is not using his hands, then please enlighten me as to why his forearms are so huge and muscular compared to a hacker?

Prove It to Yourself

To prove this to yourself, just take a shaft and tuck the butt end into your armpit. Now, try to create a "swish" sound just by rotating your body hard.

Next, just take the very same shaft and swing it with either your left or right arm as you prefer. Which procedure created the louder sound? You should be very convinced now.

I say it again, the body responds to the demands of the hands. So what do the hands actually do?

The Role of the Hands

The job of the hands are to maintain a Flat Left Wrist, a clubhead that trails the hands and a clubshaft that stays On Plane while controlling the golf club – consisting of the shaft, head and the face – through Address, the Top of the stroke and the Finish.

How to use the Arms Correctly for Power

Now with the preliminaries out of the way, we will get into the actual techniques on how to use the arms correctly for power.

There are only 4 things in total that you need to do with your hands during a stroke to use your hands effectively.

Simultaneously on the backstroke:
1) Immediately feel that you turn the left hand clockwise so that the back of it faces the sky as shown in Figure 5. (Please note that this shot shows me in an off plane position with a very exaggerated left wrist turn to give the idea of a turned wrist).

2) Now aim the butt end of the club at inside aft quadrant of the ball, as shown in Figure 6. (Hence the need to so 1 and 2 simultaneously which now has me on plane)

Now on the downstroke:
1) Underhand pitch, making the right forearm go back to impact position

2) Make a full conscious roll of the left forearm post impact as shown in Figures 7 and 8. This makes sure that the clubface is closing through impact so the ball gets crushed on the face for longer meaning less power leakage can occur. If your clubface is instead looking down the target line, it will end up a weak and likely high right shot.

Do not make a conscious effort to "hit" at the ball. Just aim the butt end at the ball with relaxed wrists so that the left wrist can uncock automatically and the clubhead will "fly" out nicely. Doing these four things will cause your hands to come down the correct plane and hit the ball with the clubhead moving from an inside out path, a squaring clubface AND your body behaving correctly.

*Remember feelings are different from reality so when you actually execute #1, you won't even look like that. It's just the F-E-E-L we are after.

Troubleshooting

Q. I am slicing and pushing the ball?

A. Check to see that your ball position is not too far back in your stance and that you are actually executing #3 – you have to prepare to execute it no later than the top of your backswing and not after impact. Impact interval is only 4/10,000th sec, feedback of impact takes 1/2000th sec, by then executing #4 is of no use.

Q. I am pulling and hooking the ball?

A. Check to see that your ball position is not too far forward in your stance and that you are not executing #4 at impact – it must be post impact. Also check that you executed #1? If not, your trailing shoulder most likely is coming over the top causing a pull.

Both of the above mistakes will cause you to hit the ball with a square or closed clubface. The idea is to impact the ball with the clubhead coming from an inside out path with a squaring clubface.

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