This is the home of Long Drive Golf in the UK

To join the Long Drive tour in the UK you dont need to be a particular shape or size, you will need the correct equipment, alot of practice, training at the gym and of course talent, Chris Roberts tells us more -

LONG DRIVE TIPS
by CHRIS ROBERTS

Firstly, your standard driver won't hack it on the long drive tour. Go out and get your self a longer shaft (48"USGA limit / 50" limit vertically measured) and a lower lofted head (USGA conforming). Most cometitors are using 50" shafts with lofts between 4-8 degrees. with a longer shaft you will gain clubhead speed - which means DISTANCE!

You should also try and get these drivers custom fitted to you. With a custom fitted driver, you will get better swing speed, ball speed, launch angle and spin rate wich means BIG drives.

Now that your equipment is on a level playing field with the other long drivers, you must improve your swing to gain distanceand accuracy..........

The top longdrivers all have a wide swing, full shoulder turn, extra wrist hinge, extra weight transfer and extra release.............. but every golfer is different and unique, you can be tall, small, fat or thin and still be a longdriver! - You must utilise your strengths. If you have strong legs, try and drive your knees through the ball. strong arms/wrists, try and snap your wrists through the impact zone. Strong shoulders, make sure you get a full shoulder turn and create resistance between your shoulders and hips. Get yourself to the gym, lets face it we can always improve fitness and strength and starting to compete in Long Drive is as good a reason as any other to get in shape.

In my opinion, the key to distance is getting a powerful impact position. If you look at tiger woods at impact - his arms and legs are fully extended (notice both heels off the ground), his head is behind the ball and his right shoulder is beneath his left, which shows he is hitting upwards on the ball - hitting upwards on the ball will give you a high drive with little backspin - it will go LOOOONG!!

The only way to gain accuracy is PACTICE! the more you practice the more muscle memory you get. you will get a more repetetive swing, gain confidence and have 100% trust in your swing. Another important aspect of Long Drive and using a 48-50" club is that when you go out on the course in a competition with your standard driver you are going to be able to hit it much more easily, having practiced with a LD club you will find your accuracy and distance with your normal driver will improve beyond belief!

Very importantly, you must be fully warmed up before practicing and competing - injuries are very common in long drive (neck, back, wrist, shoulder etc.....) DO SOME STRETCHING EVERY DAY!!!!! - flexibility is just as important as strength!!

When competing you must be confident and in a positive frame of mind. you must belive that you are the best and you are going to win, dont get angry with your self and do not get tense (tense musclues move much slower compared to relaxed muscles!!), every time you swing the club rate your tenseness out of ten, try not too increase the tense rating on each subsequent swing, a big error is when you just hit a massive drive (with a low tense rating) you think to yourself hey I can go much further than that, then you try that little bit harder and we all know the result - tense rating goes up, ball goes nowhere near as far or your body has gone out of alignment and you block or hook the ball - stay relaxed!

Even if you hit 5 balls out of bounds, you must trust your swing on your 6th ball!!!!!!!!

hit em hard

Chris Roberts

You can ask Chris questions directly in our forums, click here to join!