Efficient Impact
Golfers looking for increased distance off the tee can sometimes focus too much on getting higher club head speed. Picking up more distance with a driver or any club is about getting the most out of the ball by improving spin and increasing ball speed.
You have maybe heard coaches discussing ‘Smash Factor’ maybe you even know this is a calculation of clubhead speed and ball speed what should be more of a focus is the fact that this is a calculation of efficiency.
Efficiency is the forces applied to the ball by our body’s biomechanics and a well-suited club, combined with the correct angles and speed. This is the reason most amateur golfers hit offline and lose that all important distance from the tee. It’s better to control the club and hit with a smoother swing. This will help you hit the ball with a square clubface and out the middle. Swinging at 80% will result in much cleaner strikes. If you are not hitting out the middle or with a square face, there is most likely a swing balance issue with the club/s. Other things that become important are the loft of the head, less loft equals more smash this normally means you need to get your hips and hands ahead of the head to create less loft at impact.
When you have all these things to think about and more, there is one more thing to add which is a major factor of the swing. Balance, nothing I have mentioned is important if you do not have a good level of balance. You cannot be efficient without this, imagine driving a bike across a roped bridge while it is moving, could you stay on? Maybe, would you get to the other side as quick if the bridge was still? I would guess the answer to be a big NO.