How to Drive Your Ball Longer: The importance of attack angle

Jan 31

One of the fastest ways to increase your driving distance is to increase your attack angle. Take Rory McIlroy for example, the best driver of the golf ball in my opinion. He is 5’9” and weighs roughly 160 pounds (not that big compared to guys like Brooks Koepka); he was second in driving distance average on the PGA Tour at 315.3 yards. The question is, how can a guy that short, who weighs that little still hit the ball that far? Speed is one obvious reason, but the big factor is attack angle. He hits up on the ball 4 – 5 degrees (PGA Tour average -1.3* in attack angle).

In this tip, I will show you how we can get you hitting up on the ball and increasing your driving distance going into 2020!

Setup:
This is vital in how to hit up on the golf ball.

Add right lateral side bend (if you are right-handed, left bend if you are left-handed). This will put your lead shoulder higher than your trail shoulder (similar to a side oblique bend where your trail shoulder moves closer to your trail hip). A big key when doing this is keeping your pelvis level and keeping it centered between your feet.

Drop your trail foot slightly behind your lead, which will allow you to swing more from the inside and up coming into impact.

Drill:

Find an uphill lie.
Place your feet, hips and shoulders parallel to the ground. You will feel like you are more behind the ball at address.
Drop your trail foot six inches behind where it would normally sit.
From here, feel like you are swinging with the slope which equates to swinging up at impact and increasing your attack angle.
After doing this 5 – 10 times, take this same feel to a standard tee shot lie and watch the ball soar higher than you ever seen (if you don’t already swing up through impact)!

Give this setup and drill a shot if you are that player who launches the ball too low. This is a guaranteed solution to increase your attack angle and moving closer to driving the ball like the talented Rory McIlroy!

Here’s to bombing it past your competitors in 2020!