1 Simple Key to Hitting More Bombs: Become a ‘Pressure’ Player

The key to powerful strokes is knowing where and, more importantly, when to apply pressure in your swing.

I have a simple way to explain both, using a homemade training aid (a transmitter wrapped around my driver’s hose) to explain.

At the start of the delivery, the clubhead moves back, away from the target, and at the end of the backswing, it has traveled back towards the target. The secret to applying pressure to create power is moving your pressure with the clubhead. So as you swing the club back, away from your target, your pressure (or, if you prefer, your weight) should do the same.

In the photo above, you can see (with the help of the streamer) that the club is moving away from the target and that I have accommodated this movement by shifting my pressure away from the target, into my trail foot.

However, once your club reaches parallel to the ground on your backswing, the clubhead actually begins its journey toward the target, culminating at the top of your backswing. So it’s at this point—the first time the club becomes parallel to the ground—that you should start moving forward.

This may be sooner than you ever imagined. The timing of this pressure change (back to front) activates the jets on your downstroke. Bombs away!

Dom DiJulia is director of instruction at Jericho National GC in New Hope, Pa.